Ted Cruz Tells Greta He Is Going to do Everything in His Power to Defund ObamaCare

By Gary P Jackson

Senator Ted Cruz talked to Greta Monday night. He’s looking to defund ObamaCare, in order to save the economy. Great interview:

Video courtesy SarahNET.

CNS News has more of Senator Cruz on ObamaCare here.

Forbes’s Strawman Attack on Governor Palin and Death Panels

by Whitney Pitcher

An article at Forbes today discusses a Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) in health care, which are created to, as the author says, “ which gather doctors and other caregivers under one umbrella and are paid byMedicare and private insurers to treat groups of patients.” ACOs are non-government organizations that work to treat older patients and assist with end-of-life care using Medicare payments. There is nothing in ACOs that is government mandated or legislated in their structure other than Medicare as the payor. As a whole, the article talks about Donald Berwick, formerly head of Medicare under President Obama, as a proponent of care coordination. However, Berwick is a proponent of full blown government coordinated healthcare, which is completely different.

Beyond the crux of his misguided argument, the author, Bruce Jaspen, decides to build and attack a strawman of Governor Palin’s actual criticism of Obamacare:

A key part of Dr. Donald Berwick’s approach to health care delivery is outlasting intense criticism from Sarah Palin, the former 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate who contributed much-publicized demagoguery in regard to advanced directives to forego life-sustaining care.

As many in the media have done before, the author misrepresents Governor Palin’s criticism of President Obama’s version of healthcare reform. In her famous “death panel” Facebook post, she wrote (emphasis added):

The Democrats promise that a government health care system will reduce the cost of health care, but as the economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out, government health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost. And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.

It is pretty clear that Governor Palin is talking about rationing of care as a general health care construct, not end-of-life care as a specific medical discussion. However, as many have done, the Forbes author criticizes the Governor for an argument that she never made. When the New York Times  more than two years ago tried to make  a similar argument as Forbes today, I wrote:

Shortly following this post from Governor Palin, Medicare funded end-of-life counseling was removed from the Senate version of the health care bill in August of 2009. While Governor Palin’s Facebook no doubt had an impact on the removal of that section of legislation, it was not specifically what she first opposed, which was rationing of care based upon decisions of government bureaucrats. Governor Palin has continued to oppose “death panels” including most recently expressing opposition to Medicare’s Independent Payments Advisory Board in her op-ed support Congressman Ryan’s Roadmap.

It must be noted, however, that in the Fall of 2009 following the removal of the end of life counseling provision in the bill, Governor Palin did express opposition to such government funded counseling, even providing a written statement to the New York Senate Aging Committee which in part said:

I have been vocal in my opposition to Section 1233 of H.R.3200, entitled “Advance Care Planning Consultation.”[1] Proponents of the bill have described this section as an entirely voluntary provision that simply increases the information offered to Medicare recipients. That is misleading. The issue is the context in which that information is provided and the coercive effect these consultations will have in that context.
…

To understand this provision fully, it must be read in context. These consultations are authorized whenever a Medicare recipient’s health changes significantly or when they enter a nursing home, and they are part of a bill whose stated purpose is “to reduce the growth in health care spending.”[4] Is it any wonder that senior citizens might view such consultations as attempts to convince them to help reduce health care costs by accepting minimal end-of-life care? As one commentator has noted, Section 1233 “addresses compassionate goals in disconcerting proximity to fiscal ones…. If it’s all about obviating suffering, emotional or physical, what’s it doing in a measure to ‘bend the curve’ on health-care costs?”[5]

Essentially what such legislation would do is provides physicians with a potential financial incentive to initiate end of life counseling discussions with patients. The argument against this counseling is if patients were to opt not to seek certain treatments at the end of their life, it would save Medicare money. This would be due to potential coercion rather than autonomous or solely family influenced decision making.

[...]

He then went on to cite Governor Palin’s and Congressman Boehner’s opposition to such provisions and also noted that decision was more political than ideological, essentially conceding that the Obama administration still approved of the regulation even though they weren’t implementing it. The end of life provision in the House bill that Governor Palin expressed opposition to in her written statement to the New York Senate was dropped from the bill, and she has not claim (sic) that it was still present in the bill later signed by President Obama. The Medicare advisory board that she referenced in her op-ed supporting Ryan’s Roadmap was in the final legislation, and she expressed opposition to that. In a piece entitled, “Sarah Palin Proves Lying Can Be Effective”, the Washington Post parroted the misrepresentation from the New York Times.

Governor Palin was right in her opposition to both rationing via “death panels” or Medicare funded end-of-life counseling, and the media continues to fail to understand her opposition, nor the truth that lies in it. Her initial opposition and continued opposition is against undue influence by government who willingly admit that rationing is desired at the expense of quantity of care. However, her influence and truthful statements proved to have an impact on end of life counseling regulation and continues to be at forefront of everyone’s mind when health care reform and rationing are discussed.

Not only does Jaspen misrepresent Governor Palin’s argument, he also tries to promote end-of-life care, advanced directives and the like coordinated without government involvement, other than Medicare being the payor, and without financial incentive.Actually, Governor Palin supports this general principle as well, as she wrote in August of 2009:

I agree. Last year, I issued a proclamation for “Healthcare Decisions Day.” [6] The proclamation sought to increase the public’s knowledge about creating living wills and establishing powers of attorney. There was no incentive to choose one option over another. There was certainly no financial incentive for physicians to push anything. In fact, the proclamation explicitly called on medical professionals and lawyers “to volunteer their time and efforts” to provide information to the public.

More than three and a half years later, the media and pundits continue to try to misrepresent the Governor, but it’s rare that the media’s argument is so convoluted that they ultimately end up agreeing with the Governor without even realizing it.

Steve Flescher at C4P has a good post up on this article as well. See here.

Ha! Secret ObamaCare Provision Protects Gun Owners from the Evil Liberals Wish to Do

By Gary P Jackson

Most days when I see, hear, or think of Harry Reid, I think about gallons of hot tar, truck loads of feathers, and the most productive use of such things. Today however, if he was here, I’d kiss the rotten, crooked son-of-a-bitch!

One of the reasons Reid was able to win re-election in 2010 over Tea Party favorite Sharron Angle was Reid had the powerful backing of the National Rifle Association. The video below shows Reid at the opening of a shooting range in Nevada, a range partially funded by tax payer dollars Reid earmarked.

Before the healthcare bill passed, Conservatives were up in arms because absolutely no one in Congress had read the 2800 page monstrosity in full. Nancy Pelosi infamously proclaimed: “We’ll have to pass the bill to see what’s in it!” Well, guess what is in the ObamaCare bill …. 2md Amendment protection for gun owners, that’s what!

ObamaCare prohibits the federal government from collecting firearms registration data. CNN’s Jim Acosta explains:

Though both Reid and the NRA’s LaPierre declined to comment, CNN’s Acosta reports that Reid slipped this little jewel into the ObamaCare bill in order to make the NRA “benign” during the ObamaCare debate. You known, because “conspiracy theory nuts” might have said Obama would try to grab guns someday!

BTW, as I write this, the main headline on Drudge reads [ in bold red letters] as follows:

WHITE HOUSE THREATENS ‘EXECUTIVE ORDERS’ ON GUNS

Above the headline are the following photos:

Directly from the Affordable Care Act [ObamaCare] legislation: [emphasis mine]

SEC. 2717 ø42 U.S.C. 300gg–17. ENSURING THE QUALITY OF CARE.
….
( c ) PROTECTION OF SECOND AMENDMENT GUN RIGHTS.—As
added by section 10101(e)(2)

(1) WELLNESS AND PREVENTION PROGRAMS.—A wellness and health promotion activity implemented under subsection (a)(1)(D) may not require the disclosure or collection of any information
relating to—

(A) the presence or storage of a lawfully-possessed
firearm or ammunition in the residence or on the property of an individual; or
(B) the lawful use, possession, or storage of a firearm or ammunition by an individual.

(2) LIMITATION ON DATA COLLECTION.—None of the authorities provided to the Secretary under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or an amendment made by that Act shall be construed to authorize or may be used for the collection of any information relating to—
(A) the lawful ownership or possession of a firearm or
ammunition;
(B) the lawful use of a firearm or ammunition; or
(C) the lawful storage of a firearm or ammunition.

(3) LIMITATION ON DATABASES OR DATA BANKS.—
None of the authorities provided to the Secretary under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or an amendment made by that Act shall be construed to authorize or may be used to maintain records of individual ownership or possession of a firearm or ammunition.

(4) LIMITATION ON DETERMINATION OF PREMIUM RATES OR
ELIGIBILITY FOR HEALTH INSURANCE.

—A premium rate may not be increased, health insurance coverage may not be denied, and a discount, rebate, or reward offered for participation in a wellness program may not be reduced or withheld under any health benefit plan issued pursuant to or in accordance with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or an amendment
made by that Act on the basis of, or on reliance upon—

(A) the lawful ownership or possession of a firearm or
ammunition; or
(B) the lawful use or storage of a firearm or ammunition.

(5) LIMITATION ON DATA COLLECTION REQUIREMENTS FOR
INDIVIDUALS.

—No individual shall be required to disclose any
information under any data collection activity authorized
under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or an
amendment made by that Act relating to—

(A) the lawful ownership or possession of a firearm or
ammunition; or
(B) the lawful use, possession, or storage of a firearm
or ammunition.

An Executive Order cannot supersede legislation, but we’ll have to watch every piece of legislation from now until Obama is out of office, and possibly beyond, because as easy as it was to hide this protection within ObamaCare, it’ll be just as easy to hide in another bill. Remember, the fiscal cliff death that just passed was around 159 pages, and no one even saw the final draft until about 3 minutes before the vote, meaning absolutely no one read the entire bill before voting, an act that should be a felony, and a jail-able offense. But I digress.

Breaking: NC Residents Urge Local Officials to Say NO to Obamacare

By Gary P Jackson

here’s a breaking news release from North Carolina. Folks are going to protest the implementation of Obamacare.

H/T: SarahNET

For More Information Contact:
Lori Bardsley

c4anorthcarolina@gmail.com

NC Residents Urge Local Officials to Say NO to Obamacare

Rally on January 9th to reject the implementation of Obamacare in North Carolina January 7, 2013– On opening day of the North Carolina General Assembly from Noon to 4PM, North Carolina conservatives, libertarians, and others seeking government accountability will gather together to remind the incoming General Assembly to honor the Oath they have just sworn.

The January 9th, 2013 rally will be held at Halifax Mall in Raleigh, NC, where North Carolina residents along with the group Coalition for Accountability North Carolina, will call on Governor Pat McCrory and other local leaders to make North Carolina the next state to reject the implementation of Obamacare.

Confirmed speakers so far include Rep. Walter Jones, Dr. Greg Brannon, Rep. Michael Speciale, Rep. Larry Pittman, and Sen. Rabin.

North Carolina residents are supporting this effort through phone calls, social media, and letters to local officials, holding them-accountable to the principles on which they were elected, to protect the state of North Carolina from federal intrusiveness.

Lori Bardsley, Communications Director for Coalition for Accountability North Carolina, said “We made history in November by helping put into office a new conservative Governor, Lt. Governor, and a Republican super-majority in the legislature. We have new Republican legislators from districts who haven’t elected a Republican in 100 years. Much of this success is thanks to the grassroots teams who put everything they had into restoring North Carolina. It is now time to help our representatives implement American principles, and our first and most critical issue is Obamacare. There is still time for our new Governor Pat McCrory to opt out of the setting up of health care exchanges in North Carolina.”

More information on the January 9th rally, click here

Happy New Year! Democrats’ $1 TRILLION Dollar ObamaCare Tax is Now in Full Force

By Gary P Jackson

Happy New Year …. suckers!

While most of the country has been focused on the “fiscal cliff” kabuki theater, a new set of taxes have quietly become law. ObamaCare, the most evil piece of legislation yet devised by Congress, raises taxes on all Americans by $1 TRILLION. This doesn’t count all of the new taxes the Obama regime wants, and the feckless Senate voted to pass last night.

I blame Chief Justice John Roberts for all of this. Evidently more worried about how the Court would look, rather than keeping to the Constitution, he and he alone, made all of this possible. He was the Republic’s last line of defense from such tyranny and failed miserably.

Here are but a few of the taxes you’ll now pay:

Obamacare contains twenty new or higher taxes. Five of the taxes hit for the first time on January 1. In total, Americans face a net $1 trillion tax hike for the years 2013-2022, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The five major Obamacare taxes taking effect on January 1 are as follows:

The Obamacare Medical Device Tax: Medical device manufacturers employ 409,000 people in 12,000 plants across the country. Obamacare imposes a new 2.3 percent excise tax on gross sales – even if the company does not earn a profit in a given year. In addition to killing small business jobs and impacting research and development budgets, this will increase the cost of your health care – making everything from pacemakers to artificial hips more expensive.

The Obamacare Flex Account Tax: The 30-35 million Americans who use a pre-tax Flexible Spending Account (FSA) at work to pay for their family’s basic medical needs will face a new government cap of $2500. This will squeeze $13 billion of tax money from Americans over the next ten years. (Currently, the accounts are unlimited under federal law, though employers are allowed to set a cap.)

There is one group of FSA owners for whom this new cap will be particularly cruel and onerous: parents of special needs children. There are several million families with special needs children in the United States, and many of them use FSAs to pay for special needs education. Tuition rates at one leading school that teaches special needs children in Washington, D.C. (National Child Research Center) can easily exceed $14,000 per year. Under tax rules, FSA dollars can be used to pay for this type of special needs education. This Obamacare tax provision will limit the options available to these families.

The Obamacare Surtax on Investment Income: This is a new, 3.8 percentage point surtax on investment income earned in households making at least $250,000 ($200,000 single). This would result in the following top tax rates on investment income:

…. Capital Gains …. Dividends …. Other ……

2012 …. 15% ………… 15% …….. 35%

2013 forward 23.8% ….. 43.4% ……. 43.4%

The table above also incorporates the scheduled hike in the capital gains rate from 15 to 20 percent, and the scheduled hike in dividends rate from 15 to 39.6 percent.

The Obamacare “Haircut” for Medical Itemized Deductions: Currently, those Americans facing high medical expenses are allowed a deduction to the extent that those expenses exceed 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income (AGI). This tax increase imposes a threshold of 10 percent of AGI. By limiting this deduction, Obamacare widens the net of taxable income for the sickest Americans. This tax provision will most harm near retirees and those with modest incomes but high medical bills.

The Obamacare Medicare Payroll Tax Hike: The Medicare payroll tax is currently 2.9 percent on all wages and self-employment profits. Under this tax hike, wages and profits exceeding $200,000 ($250,000 in the case of married couples) will face a 3.8 percent rate instead. This is a direct marginal income tax hike on small business owners, who are liable for self-employment tax in most cases.

Read more here.

Besides being immoral, ObamaCare will bankrupt many Americans at the very same time Obama and his democrat party are bankrupting America itself. Liberals mean to destroy the United States, tear down her very foundation brick-by-brick. This vile, Un-American legislation puts them well on their way.

Burge: Brits 5 Times More Likely to Die From Government Run Health Care than Americans from Gunshots

By Gary P Jackson

A recent tweet from Iowahawk not only puts all of the idiotic hand-wringing by liberals over guns in America into perspective, but reminds us all of the evil about to be visited upon all Americans via ObamaCare.

A Briton is 5 times more likely to die from government health care than an American is to die from a gunshot. thompsons.law.co.uk/clinical-negli…

—
David Burge (@iowahawkblog) December 28, 2012

Happy New Year America!

Basic errors killing 1000 NHS patients a month a study has revealed

The largest and most detailed survey into hospital deaths has revealed that almost 12,000 patients are needlessly dying every year as a result of poor patient care.

The researchers from The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine based the study on 1,000 deaths at 10 NHS trusts during 2009. The study revealed that basic errors were made in more than one in 10 cases, leading to 5.2% of deaths, which was the equivalent of nearly 12,000 preventable deaths in hospitals in England every year.

The research published in the British Medical Journal’s Quality and Safety publication found that errors occurred when hospital staff made an incorrect diagnosis, prescribed the wrong drugs, failed to monitor a patient’s condition or react when a patient deteriorated. Errors in omission were more frequent than active mistakes.

The majority of patients who died were elderly suffering with multiple health conditions, but the study found that some patients whose deaths were preventable were aged in their 30s and 40s.

More here.

Our Future Under ObamaCare? 19 Year Old Woman Wakes Up as Doctors Prepare to Harvest Her Organs

‘Those bandits in white coats gave up too quickly because they wanted an organ donor,’ her father Kim told the Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet.

The family’s lawyer Nils Fjeldberg said that Ms Melchior keeps asking if doctors were trying to kill her.

By Gary P Jackson

Need more proof allowing government to run health care is a horrific mistake? Well, here you go.

From the UK Mail:

The girl who wouldn’t die: Incredible story of the 19-year-old who woke up as doctors were preparing to harvest her organs

*Carina Melchior was in a coma and was not expected to wake up

*Doctors at the Danish hospital had started preparing her for organ donations and the family agreed for life support to be switched off

*Less than 24 hours after the breathing equipment was turned off, Carina opened her eyes

*Her parents are now suing the hospital for damages

A teenage girl in a coma after a catastrophic car crash came round just as doctors were about to declare her brain dead.

Carina Melchior had had life support withdrawn on the advice of medics and was being prepared for organ donation.

But to the astonishment of staff at the Aarhus Hospital, in Denmark, the 19-year-old suddenly opened her eyes and started moving her legs.

She is now making a good recovery at a rehabilitation centre and is able to walk, talk and even ride her horse Mathilde.

Her family is now suing the hospital for damages, claiming that doctors had been desperate to harvest her body parts.

‘Those bandits in white coats gave up too quickly because they wanted an organ donor,’ her father Kim told the Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet.

The family’s lawyer Nils Fjeldberg said that Ms Melchior keeps asking if doctors were trying to kill her.

‘Of course this is a great trauma, both for her and her parents who were convinced that there was nothing else that could be done and agreed to donate her organs,’ he told the newspaper.

Ms Melchior, now 20, crashed her car in October last year.

She was in hospital for three days before doctors realised her brain activity was fading and consulted her family about stopping treatment.

It was at this point they agreed to donate her organs.

In a documentary about her life called ‘The girl who wouldn’t die‘, Carina says she is convinced she will recover and that hopes to move in to her own flat in the future.

‘And I will be working as a graphic designer and be able to ride Mathilde properly,’ she said.

This is incredible.

A Danish commenter to the article added:

I live in Denmark and I saw this documentary. When the family were asked by the doctors if they would agree to donate her organs, Carinas father asked if there was just a little hope for a miracle and the doctor promptly said no.

I got angry watching this documentary! Within approximately 5 minutes, the doctor gave the family the sad news that they were absolutely sure that very soon, Carina would be braindead AND withing those 5 minutes they asked if they would be willing to donate her organs!!

I mean, show some compassion?!

The family has just been told the most horrific news about their beloved daughter/sister and the doctor then asks if they will donate her organs? Give the family a break! In a danish newspaper, it was said, that after the documentary was aired, Carina’s doctor had called in sick for work and is now seeing a psychologist. It also said that “the first time 20 year old Carina Melchior showed any emotions about her accident was when she cried watching the documentary.”

- Michaela , copenhagen, Denmark, 17/10/2012 23:24

How absolutely ghoulish!

Of course, the doctors are calling it all nothing more than mere “miscommunication“:

One Danish doctor who spoke to MailOnline said it was an unfortunate case of miscommunication between Carina’s family and the doctors at Aarhus.

‘The story says a lot about the importance of communication in a doctor-patient relationship,’ the doctor said. ‘If the doctors had expressed themselves differently, the parents would not have felt so maltreated.’

‘From a medical point of view, no mistakes have been made. The girl was never declared brain-dead, that was never the case.

‘In fact, the doctors saved her life with the treatment they gave her.

‘And they were not going to ‘take’ her organs, it was merely a conversation about organ donation if she would become brain dead.’

The doctors at Aarhus hospital has apologised for the failures in communication during Carina’s treatment and have said they made a mistake.

More, including video, here.

Great Britain has a notoriously horrific government run health care system, which may explain the slant to the story.

The Australian International Business times reports this isn’t the first time something like this has happened, even as doctors at Aarhus Hospital claim they would never falsely diagnose someone as brain dead!

The doctors admitted their humiliation about what happened. Chief Medical Officer Claus Thomsen released a statement regarding the shocking incident: “We are overjoyed that the young woman survived and that she is moving on after the accident. But we made a mistake underway and made the family believe that their daughter and sister would die.“

Now, Carina’s family decided to press charges against the hospital for damages. “Those bandits in white coats gave up too quickly because they wanted an organ donor,” Carina’s father told the Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet.

Adding more negative media hype to the hospital, one Danish tabloid exposed about another unnamed patient who was also mistakenly diagnosed brain dead back in 2002. As Aarhus University Hospital thoroughly investigates both incidents, the hospital firmly confirmed that procedures in the earlier case were accurately followed.

Carina Melchior’s shocking incident resulted to organ donation chaos where around 500 people instantly withdraw their names on the list of Denmark’s organ donor. With the organ donation issue at stake, the hospital established a new course of action where relatives of the patient will only be asked about organ donation if treatment options are no longer available. Aarhus University Hospital insisted that “there was no risk of a false diagnosis of brain death.“

From the English [Google] translation of the Ekstra Bladet article:

In five days it’s exactly a year ago that today 20-year-old Carina Melchior lost control of his car on a road in Jutland.

A few days after the family was the stark message that brain death would probably occur within a few days.

They were therefore asked to consider organ donation.

But Carina would be different. She survived and struggling today back to life.

After a year of sadness, frustration, joy and relief, the family once again ripped up the case, the DR documentary ‘The girl who would not die‘ was shown last night.

- We have moved forward, but it’s a bit like a dog that dies and is buried, and the neighbor comes in and wants to talk about it. You feel like it hardly says Carina’s father Kim Melchior to ekstrabladet.dk Thursday morning.

In the documentary emphasizes Dr. Benedicte Dahlerup at Aarhus University Hospital, several indicators pointed to Carina, if she survived, would be ‘a heavy 24-hour care patient’.

Benedicte Dahlerup defend such that doctors stopped reading and turned off the respirator, although scanning images showed that the brain had not taken so much damage that Benedicte Dahlerup concluded.

- I think doctors wandering. They are screwed. It seemed like they just wanted Carina parts, said a clearly bitter and frustrated Kim Melchior, who along with the rest of the family have complained to the Patient treatment.

He believes that doctors describe the process around the critical days of the neurological department wrong.

- The match of course, as you would do if you for an exam coming up in something you had not prepared themselves, he added.

A new child

After the first hard rehabilitation on Hammel Neuro Centre, rehabilitation of Carina now at Rehab South in Ebeltoft, although the family had hoped that she could get at the treatment center Baltic forest near Hobro.

Syddjurs municipality sent Carina at Rehab South in Ebeltoft, although it is primarily a place for elderly patients with brain damage, and not a place that provides optimum conditions for a young 20-year-old woman.

- When she arrived in an ambulance for Hammel, it was like getting a new child of 19 years. Then, it was small leap forward, but now the local authority to carry out the task, and the powers it. The local box thinking, but professional help costs, and the money we have not said Kim Melchior.

The family hopes instead that Carina can get on the rehabilitation center Vejle Fjord, where several of the brain-damaged young people from Præstø accident re-trained.

- Her short-term memory is not yet as well. She may be many things that you did not think she could, but there are also some things you thought she could, as she can not, Kim Melchior.

Carina has made so much progress that she hopes to complete its third year of high school, as she was doing when the accident happened

It’s interesting to me how the article tends to give one the feeling miraculous recoveries like Carina’s are rare, as are people rehabbing from brain injuries. Maybe in America we just take our excellent health car for granted?

This is indeed a miracle, and it is incredibly heartwarming to learn Carina is on her way to recovery. A true blessing.

Months ago a poll of doctors showed 83% were considering quitting if ObamaCare was not stopped, and even the left leaning Forbes warns of a mass exodus of experienced physicians because of ObamaCare. None of this bodes well for the American people. Especially if they are ever unlucky enough to become ill in any way.

As Joe Biden would say: Gird your loins people. Gird. Your. Loins.

Obamacare Insurance Exchanges Are Corporatism Disguised as “Competition”

by Whitney Pitcher

Earlier this week, I noted how Cook County board president and Obama mentor Toni Preckwinkle secured a $100 million Obamacare waiver to implement Medicaid expansion in the county a year early and cover a gap in the county budget. The conflicts of interest in Obamacare adds yet another layer as insurance exchanges are in the process of being implemented before the 2014 deadline. The Hill Healtwatch reports:

The fast-approaching deadline gives the administration little time to scrutinize private-sector partners for conflicts of interest.

The purchase of one of these contractors, Quality Software Services, Inc. (QSSI), by UnitedHealth Group, a major healthcare conglomerate, has sparked concerns about a potentially uneven playing field.

QSSI, a Maryland-based contractor, in January won a large contract to build a federal data services hub to help run the complex federal health insurance exchange.

It will be working with several other contractors, including CGI Federal, Inc., to create the technological architecture for the exchange.

The quiet nature of the transaction, which was not disclosed to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has fueled suspicion among industry insiders that UnitedHealth Group may be gaining an advantage for its subsidiary, UnitedHealthcare.

The article aptly compares these health insurance exchanges to websites like Travelocity or Expedia where consumers can pick and choose the best deals for airline tickets or hotels. With the potential conflict of interest in the health care exchange, it would be akin to Travelocity or Expedia owning American Airlines or Marriot Hotels and thus potentially driving consumers to purchase their product based upon how that company portrays the available options.  As the article goes on to note:

If an insurance company had influence over the information technology architecture used to run the exchange, it could interpret federal standards in a way to exclude competitors or make it more difficult for them to win approval, say some insurance experts. Or it could have an inside track on knowing how to design plans that meet the standards.

The contractors working on the exchange will also have responsibility over payment calculation for risk adjustment.

This program is intended to redistribute funding from plans that attract younger and healthier participants, and thus have lower costs, to plans that attract people with more chronic diseases.

The draft statement of work for the contract shows QSSI will also work on technical requirements to deliver financial management services, such as payment calculation for risk adjustment.

The prospect that a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group could have a role in calculating the reallocation of federal funds among rival health plans has unnerved some industry insiders.

In mid October, Senator Orrin Hatch sent a letter to DHHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius asking for a full accounting of who received federal Obamacare contracts and what government officials signed off on those contracts. Sebelius has not responded. Hatch has also asked if Steve Larsen, a former official at HHS played a role in this contract:

Larsen left the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, the office tasked with crafting rules for the national exchange, in July to take a job with Optum. It is not clear how long Optum was in consultation with QSSI prior to purchasing it.

Shields Britt, the spokeswoman for HHS, said Larsen would have to comply with stringent rules.

“Former HHS employees are subject to the strict ethics policies put in place at the start of this administration, which are some of the toughest ethics rules ever imposed on executive branch appointees, and those standards certainly apply here,” she said.

Optum, whom Larsen currently works for, is the subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group that bought QSSI, the company who would provide the information infrastructure for the exchanges.How’s that for a revolving door between government and industry? What are those strict “ethical” standards? Those words ring hollow from an administration whose first choice for HHS Secretary, Tom Daschle, was a “policy adviser” (newspeak for lobbyist) at the firm that lobbied for United Health.

The rhetoric behind the Obamacare insurance exchanges is one of competition and consumer choice, but the truth behind it is nothing more than continued corporatism and conflicts of interest.

An Obama Crony Lands a $100 Million Obamacare Waiver

by Whitney Pitcher

Today, Crain’s Chicago Business reports that yet another one of President Obama’s cronies received an Obamacare waiver:

 Cook County hit a $100 million jackpot over the weekend.

In a little noticed but crucial decision announced Friday night, the federal government signed off on a request by county board President Toni Preckwinkle to enroll 114,000 low-income people a year early in the Medicaid program.

For the county, the decision is worth as much as $100 million a year, since its network of hospitals and health clinics already is serving most of the patients free of charge. The tab now will be picked up by federal taxpayers under a provision of Obamacare, rather than by Cook County taxpayers alone.

Ms. Preckwinkle isn’t only the Cook County board President (and Lady Liberty in the picture above). She is also an Obama mentor who infamously said that President Reagan could “rot in hell” for making “drug use political”, as Tony Lee reported at Breitbart.com this past summer:

 Preckwinkle was discussing drug policy and how she felt drug treatment should not be a part of the criminal justice system. She was defending the decision by Chicago city officials to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana. And her comments were in reference to Reagan’s “war on drugs,” which President Richard Nixon started. During Reagan’s tenure, First Lady Nancy Reagan started the “Just Say No” campaign against drugs.

Preckwinkle made those comments in downstate Illinois. Reagan was born in Tampico, Illinois.

Preckwinkle helped Obama challenge the signatures of his primary opponents to run unopposed in his 1996 state senate race. Obama often reminisces about this race as a heroic, Rudy-esque foray into politics in which he overcame all odds to win.

Preckwinkle also supported Barack Obama in his failed primary run against sitting Congressman Bobby Rush in 2000, his 2004 US Senate run and his 2008 presidential run. As The New Yorker stated in a 2008 article, Preckwinkle was the one who suggested Obama begin attending Jeremiah Wright’s church:

On issue after issue, Preckwinkle presented Obama as someone who thrived in the world of Chicago politics. She suggested that Obama joined Jeremiah Wright’s Trinity United Church of Christ for political reasons. “It’s a church that would provide you with lots of social connections and prominent parishioners,” she said. “It’s a good place for a politician to be a member.” Preckwinkle was unsparing on the subject of the Chicago real-estate developer Antoin (Tony) Rezko, a friend of Obama’s and one of his top fund-raisers, who was recently convicted of fraud, bribery, and money laundering: “Who you take money from is a reflection of your knowledge at the time and your principles.” As we talked, it became increasingly clear that loyalty was the issue that drove Preckwinkle’s current view of her onetime protégé. “I don’t think you should forget who your friends are,” she said.

Beyond the cronyism, this “waiver” only serves to place the people of the greater Chicago area and Illinois further underwater fiscally. Most businesses, states, and areas who have sought an Obamacare waiver had done so to delay the implementation of Obamacare. Preckwinkle’s request for a waiver was to begin Medicaid expansion in Cook County early, and subsequently fill a budget gap for Cook County. This is normal for Illinois politicians who often seek federal dollars to cover their own budgetary failures.With Medicaid’s hybrid of federal and state funding, the solicitation of federal dollars has also led to state and local budgetary increases,and, of course, fiscal problems A recent report on state budgets in crisis notes that one of the things that has put Illinois in such great financial peril is Medicaid:

Illinois’ other structural problem is Medicaid. In FY 2010, Medicaid accounted for 23 percent of the state’s budget and that figure is going to grow under the Affordable Care Act. Under the best case scenario Obamacare will only raise spending 3.3 percent above the current baseline by 2019. However other scenarios suggest the increase could be as much as 20 percent by 2020.

Rather than address these structural problems, Illinois has resorted to heavy borrowing to cover its obligations. As a result, per capita debt in Illinois is the second highest in the nation at nearly $10,000 (NY is number one). And largely because of this high level of debt, Illinois’ bond rating is the worst in the nation. Moody’s downgraded the state most recently in January of 2012.

In fact, during FY2012, Medicaid was underfunded by $2.1 billion. With the growing pool of patients and a shrinking number of doctors, Obamacare has only proven itself to be nothing more than a politician promising the entire country a new car, but only giving them a set of keys. Real healthcare reform is not expanding insurance while shrinking care and paying back your cronies. Real fiscal reform is not seeking federal dollars as a stopgap measure for a county and state budget drowning in debt.

Video: Rush: Sarah Palin Was Right On Death Panels, NY Times Article Demands Them!

By Gary P Jackson

On Friday, August 7, 2009 Governor Sarah Palin wrote: [emphasis mine]

Statement on the Current Health Care Debate

As more Americans delve into the disturbing details of the nationalized health care plan that the current administration is rushing through Congress, our collective jaw is dropping, and we’re saying not just no, but hell no!

The Democrats promise that a government health care system will reduce the cost of health care, but as the economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out, government health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost. And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.

Health care by definition involves life and death decisions. Human rights and human dignity must be at the center of any health care discussion.

Rep. Michele Bachmann highlighted the Orwellian thinking of the president’s health care advisor, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, the brother of the White House chief of staff, in a floor speech to the House of Representatives. I commend her for being a voice for the most precious members of our society, our children and our seniors.

We must step up and engage in this most crucial debate. Nationalizing our health care system is a point of no return for government interference in the lives of its citizens. If we go down this path, there will be no turning back. Ronald Reagan once wrote, “Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth.” Let’s stop and think and make our voices heard before it’s too late.

~ Sarah Palin

Rep. Bachmann’s speech can be viewed here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CHBvKGmevI

Those two little words “death panels” motivated millions to try and stop the evil we now call ObamaCare, and drove liberals insane.

Sarah recently revisited her 2009 piece with “Death Panel” Three Years Later.

Recently the New York Times published an article by one of President Obama’s flunkies, Steven Rattner not only extolling the virtues of death panels, but demanding them. A caller to the Rush Limbaugh show on Friday mentions this:

Rattner was Obama’s “Car Czar” a job he failed miserably at. Failure in Washington is a résumé enhancement though, hence the New York Times piece: [empahsis mine]

Beyond Obamacare

WE need death panels.

Well, maybe not death panels, exactly, but unless we start allocating health care resources more prudently — rationing, by its proper name — the exploding cost of Medicare will swamp the federal budget.

But in the pantheon of toxic issues — the famous “third rails” of American politics — none stands taller than overtly acknowledging that elderly Americans are not entitled to every conceivable medical procedure or pharmaceutical.

Most notably, President Obama’s estimable Affordable Care Act regrettably includes severe restrictions on any reduction in Medicare services or increase in fees to beneficiaries. In 2009, Sarah Palin’s rant about death panels even forced elimination from the bill of a provision to offer end-of-life consultations.

Now lets stop right there. One of the biggest lies told is that Sarah Palin was talking about end of life counseling when talking about death panels. Just as many ignorant Republican lawmakers and “brand name” television pundits, as liberal moonbats, repeated it though. Sarah Palin was ALWAYS talking about health care rationing, and nothing else. She was talking about exactly what Rattner is demanding.

Read more of the Times article here.

In her 2009 article Sarah Palin mentions Dr Ezekiel Emanuel, Rahm Emanuel’s brother and Obama’s adviser on ObamaCare. Dr Emanuel is the creator of the so-called “Complete Lives System” a document that would make Dr Josef Mengele proud. I suggest everyone read Emanuel’s report entitled: Principles for allocation of scarce medical interventions to understand how these people’s thinking works.

ObamaCare is definitely based on the idea that less productive members of society must be denied care, and left to die, for the good of the collective. It’s a complete, 100 percent communist piece of legislation, and will have the same outcome as it has in other nations that have tried the same scheme, total failure. Millions dead before their time.

People will be allowed to die under ObamaCare. The provisions that set up death panels are right there in the legislation.

Limbaugh audio courtesy DailyRushbo.