EXCLUSIVE: Freedom Works Co-Chair Dick Armey Discusses His Controversial Remarks On Health Care and Immigration
Thursday, March 18th, 2010
Former House Leader and current FreedomWorks Co-Chairman Dick Armey discusses his National Press Club interview: Is health care doomed to pass? Does he support Amnesty? Should citizens bother going to DC this Saturday for another push on The Hill? He also talks about Michelle Malkin’s perspective and why he feels that America is at a pivotal point in history.
Listen here.
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The Greater Good Means Too Bad For The Children
Thursday, March 18th, 2010Senator Lieberman tried yet again to save D.C.’s school children and it fell on the deaf progressive ears of President Obama. Why does President Obama hate children? Why does he treat his own girls one way and act with willful indifference to needy minority kids going to the same school as them?
Right now, today, some 1,900 Washington children are sitting in calm, safe, orderly classrooms in neighborhoods other than their own, because of this program. The cost, in the scheme of things, is laughably small.
Yet congressional Democrats and Obama are killing it. This week, Lieberman’s colleagues voted down his attempt to attach a voucher-saving amendment to a larger piece of legislation.
It is a scandal. That the children already enrolled in the scheme will be able to finish 12th grade with the scholarship is small comfort; why only them? Why not their younger brothers and sisters, who will not have the same chance? Why leave these children behind?
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/Only-some-children-left-behind-88189257.html#ixzz0iXHrtiBQ
When you hear liberals talk about loving the little children, keep in mind that, as usual, they only love some children–mostly their own.
That’s what happens when decisions are made for the greater good. The ruling class gets one set of health care, education, tax break, government deal, home, car, etc. and then the regular folks get what the “greater good” gets–which is usually nothing.
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Obama Goes Belly Up
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010How much do people hate health care reform? They hate it so much they’re starting to hate President Obama because he won’t shut up about it. Gallup has the distressing news for President Obama: 47% disapprove. 46% approve.
Three more weeks of health care haggling? That should put President Obama over 50% disapproval or more.
I’ve heard people say that approval goes up as soon as it passes. Um, I doubt it.
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Health Care Reform: About Doctors
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010My last post focused on jobs generally. Now, what about Doctors? Everyone wants to know about doctors because it’s already tough to get a doctor if you’re on Medicaid or Medicare.
According to the New England Journal of Medicine, it’s going to get worse:
Physician Support of Health Reform in General
• 62.7% of physicians feel that health reform is needed but should be implemented in a more targeted, gradual way, as opposed to the sweeping overhaul that is in legislation. [NOTE: I think this reflects the American public, too. No one is saying to do nothing. This bill is just not the "something" that needs to be done.]
• 28.7% of physicians are in favor of a public option.
• 3.6% of physicians prefer the “status quo” and feel that the U.S. health care system is best “as is.Health Reform and Primary Care Physicians
• 46.3% of primary care physicians (family medicine and internal medicine) feel that the passing of health reform will either force them out of medicine or make them want to leave medicine.Health Reform, Public Option, and Practice Revenue/Physician Income
• 41% of physicians feel that income and practice revenue will “decline or worsen dramatically” with a public option.
• 30% feel income will “decline or worsen somewhat” with a public option.
• 9% feel income will “improve somewhat” with a public option, and 0.8% feel income will “improve dramatically” with a public option.Health Reform, Public Option, and Physician Supply
• 72% of physicians feel that a public option would have a negative impact on physician supply, with 45% feeling it will “decline or worsen dramatically” and 27% predicting it will “decline or worsen somewhat. [NOTE: This is the part that is most concerning. What will then happen is that the United States will recruit less-qualified drones to fill the jobs. As the role of physician becomes commoditized, the person seeking that job will change.]
• 24% of physicians think they will try to retire early if a public option is implemented.
• 21% of physicians would try to leave medicine if a public option is implemented, even if not near retirement age at the time.Health Reform and Recommending Medicine to Others as a Career
• 36% of physicians would not recommend medicine as a career, regardless of health reform.
• 27% would recommend medicine as a career but not if health reform passes.
• 25% of physicians would recommend medicine as a career regardless of health reform.
• 12% would not recommend medicine as a career now but feel that they would recommend it as a career if health reform passesSource: The Medicus Firm “Physician Survey: Health Reform’s Impact on Physician Supply and Quality of Medical Care,”
The Medicus Firm, www.TheMedicusFirm.com
This does NOT bode well for the future of American medicine. More importantly, it harms the care Americans will receive.
By the way, Democrats know this. This bill is NOT about health care. It’s about transitioning costs away from the unions and the ballooning aging Boomer population to the younger, healthier people.
Health care reform is a tax plan.
Up To 700,000 Lose Jobs Due To Health Care Reform
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010Health care reform will be a disaster for Americans. We already know this. What we are having trouble quantifying is HOW bad health care reform will be for the country.
Americans for Tax Reform the Beacon Hill Institute share a study using the assumptions of the CBO and Center for American Progress and the results are stunning. From ATR’s website:
From the Executive Summary:
Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, has urged passage of the massive health reform plan moving through Congress as a way to create up to 400,000 jobs. Speaker Pelosi bases her claim on a report by the Center for American Progress (CAP) in which the Center estimates that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) would create 250,000 to 400,000 jobs per year over 10 years.
This estimate by CAP amounts to a hurried effort to add academic heft to the claim that national health care reform offers a collateral benefit in the form of an economic “stimulus.” It turns out, however, that its methodology, stripped of unsupportable claims about savings in health care costs, shows just the opposite of what CAP intended. PPACA is a job killer, not a job creator.
The result is a loss of between 119,000 and 698,000 jobs between enactment of the bill this year and 2019.
There is much more data at the link.
Far from being the job creator the left would like to imagine this bill being, the legislation is going to kill jobs overall.
And as extensive as this study is, it doesn’t include the losses, specifically from doctors leaving the profession.
A commenter on my site asked how this bill would affect innovation and growth in the American economy. He said this:
If a bill were passed, it would not create new and talented doctors.
It would not create more medical teachers, or degree-granting
institutions. These professions are already at or near full
employment. If the government did go through the effort of increasing
the number of doctors over a period of years, what professions do you
suppose would people not enter, and what would society lack? One
isn’t likely to be a practicing physician and invent an ipod and
design a water treatment plant and write software, etc. In a sense,
for the federal government to favor one profession with grants,
subsidies, etc., is to punish another.
Well, the problem here, again, is that with the government monkeying with business, the results are likely to be incentive based. That is, if doctors get reimbursed less, but work harder, but have more security, the person seeking this job will change. Ditto health related research and development, etc.
Where will incentives lay with health care reform? Well, government workers will increase to try to lower costs from the private sector.
And the incentives in private industry, during a time of economic stress, will be to cut workers. Workers will cost businesses more money, so head count will become increasingly important.
I can see many tiny businesses being set up, to keep the number of employees/business smaller. Also, more workers will be contract workers because businesses won’t want to take on the liability.
All in all, though, this bill will not help business. It will stifle business. It will make it harder to do business.
I’m guessing that 700,000 jobs lost is being generous. I suspect far more workers will lose employment.
More at HotAir.com
America Would Never Be The Same & That’s Why The Democrats Fight To The Death
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010Even though, by now, you’re as disgusted and fed up with the topic of health care as I am, I write about health care. Again. Why? Because it ain’t over ’til it’s over and goodness knows Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barack Obama aren’t quitting. They will never give up until they have the power to control your life from before birth ’til you’re in the grave.
Government run health care is a defining moment in American history.
Today, in my first Daily Caller column, I talk about why this bill is evil:
Health care reform tears at fundamental threads holding our society together. Should it pass, it will reshape the American psyche from a risk-taking, freedom-loving open-mindedness to a self-protective, risk-averting, and provincial desire to protect the tiny piece of pie the citizen is granted.
Health care reform is immoral. It changes the equation from creating a legacy and gift to the next generation, to stealing from them. The debt load is such that our children are enslaved because of their parents greed and lack of restraint.
Health care reform redistributes wealth. The government bequeaths a win on irresponsible unions and businesses hoping to avoid commitments they made. The government decides. Instead of individuals and groups being forced to make the tough decisions, the government rescues them–sends them a lifeline that’s at the other end of a rope that is a noose around the necks of the very same American people.
There is much more at the link. Please go read it all.
We cannot give up. The Democrats never will.
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President Obama Again Challenged By A Citizen: Ingrid Martin Plays Joe the Plumber
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010Matt Lewis gets the exclusive story. Setting: Townhall, Somewhereville, America. Mood: Stacked crowd…except for this lady. Here’s what happened:
Martin said she opposes Obama’s health care plan for philosophical, not parochial reasons, and after his speech, she caught the president’s attention.
“I didn’t clap and I didn’t smile, and I just sort of held firm to my beliefs and held my tongue so I didn’t get into any trouble,” she recalled. “And I think that, being in the front row, he noticed that because when he came down off the stairs and started shaking hands, when he got to me, he said, ‘Thanks for coming,’ and he looked at me and said, ‘Are you okay?’ And I said, ‘Yes sir, I just don’t support your bill’.”
Ingrid Martin said she then entered into about a 2-minute-long debate reminiscent of Obama’s meeting with another Ohioan, Joe Wurzelbacher (a.k.a. “Joe the Plumber“), telling him she worries about the long-term implications of his sweeping legislation. She told the president he was focused on insurance reform, as opposed to the rising cost of health care, which she believes to be the fundamental problem. Martin stressed her view of the need for tort reform. She also noted: “He said things like, ‘Medicare is not going to be affected by this bill,’ which is not right.”
When Obama said that his bill addressed her concerns, “I just kind of shook my head and said, ‘I don’t believe it does’ — oh my gosh, I’m calling the president a liar,” she added with a nervous laugh. Obama then took Martin’s business card and promised to send her information on the bill. While she was not persuaded to change her mind and support Obama’s policy, she was impressed with him for engaging her. “He took the time to stop and listen, which I appreciated,” she said.
Matt has much more at the link.
Why is it that common citizens are the ones asking these tough questions and bringing up the obvious?
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NYT: Millions Spent To Sway Democrats. You Don’t Say? Actually, You DON’T Say
Monday, March 15th, 2010Is it any wonder Americans hate with a pure, enraged hate, the politics of Washington, D.C.? What a disgusting town.
The New York Times reports the obvious, yet again:
The yearlong legislative fight over health care is drawing to a frenzied close as a multimillion-dollar wave of advertising that rivals the ferocity of a presidential campaign takes aim at about 40 House Democrats whose votes will help determine the fate of President Obama’s top domestic priority.
Oh, wait. What’s that? The article is about advertising being spent to sway those on the fence about the health care reform bill? That’s bad?
There aren’t even words to describe my contempt for this purposeful misdirecting piece of garbage cloaked as news.
If Jeff Zelany and the New York times cared about money in politics, they’d investigate the money that the Democrats are throwing around to bribe their fellow Democrats to vote for a piece of legislation that no one wants besides the New York Times editorial board.
What nonsense!
I went to the article figuring they’d be talking about the avarice disguised as sausage-making and they’re taking time to talk about advocacy advertisements and the millions being spent on a bill no one wants?
The outrage should be focused where the American people are focusing: on the nasty pit-vipered swamps of D.C. But no. Focus everywhere else. Blame the American people and advocacy groups for trying to influence this fetid process.
The president’s traipsing through the jobless midwest? Worthless. The Congress Democrats bickering and buying-off and banning Republicans from the process? Worthless. The Press, like the New York Times, spewing empty drivel when Americans know the truth? Worthless.
Push ‘em all into the Potomac and start over. We’d be better off.
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Democrats And Health Care Bill: Bait & Switch & Switch & Then, Probably, Switch Again
Monday, March 15th, 2010Public option: In
School loans: In
And yet, it’s called a “shell” bill that will be stripped. Philip Klein explains it all. Here’s a bit:
Shortly before midnight on Sunday, Democrats released a 2,309 page health care bill that will start the process of reconciliation — but don’t let that fool you, it’s not the actual reconciliation bill with all the changes you’ve been reading about. Instead, as Rep. Paul Ryan, the ranking Republican member on the Budget Committee, explained to me last week, this is just the “shell” bill — the vehicle that Democrats need to get moving on health care. Once the bill gets approved (likely Monday), Democrats will send this phantom bill over to the Rules Committee, where it will be stripped, and then they’ll insert in all of the actual changes that they’ve negotiated.
Despite claims of transparency and calls for a “simple up-or-down vote,” there is nothing simple about this process. This convoluted legislative charade demonstrates how far the Democratic majority has wandered from real health-care reform and cost control, employing any means to achieve political victory.
Then the 2300 page non-bill bill aka “shell” will be sent for mark-ups. Link here.
Now, is the time to fight. Call your representative. Write. Pray. Do not sleep. This bill must die. Or there won’t be much left to fight for.
Michelle Malkin has who to call, where to go and what to do.
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Another Obama Paid Shill: Jonathan Gruber, The Cadillac Tax & His “Sole Source” Contract With HHS
Friday, January 8th, 2010
See that guy on the left? Yeah, he’s the Obama Shill you’ve never heard of until just now. But he’s the one writing Op-Eds in the Washington Post like he’s independent. But no. He’s being paid by President Barack Obama.
More corruption from the new administration of transparency and Savior-like perfection. Jonathan Gruber writes an op-ed for the Washington Post and he’s really an Obama shill. The WaPo presents his editorial unquestioned and without disclosure. Gruber wrote as though he was writing as a professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
But here we find thatJonathan Gruber is actually a White House consultant who was awarded a “sole source” contract and paid $300,000 for his trouble.:
The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), intends to negotiate with Jonathan Gruber, Ph.D. on a sole sources basis for technical assistance in evaluating options for national healthcare reform. The basis for restricting competition is the authority of 41 USC 253(c)(1) 106-1(b) because there is only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy DHHS requirements. The anticipated contract period will be eight months.
ASPE requires a technical memorandum on the estimated changes in health insurance coverage and associated costs and impacts to the government under alternative specifications of health system reform. The requirement includes developing estimates of various health reform proposals on health insurance coverage and cost. The alternative specifications to be considered will be derived from the President’s health reform proposal. This project is a continuation of work that Dr. Gruber is currnetly providing for ASPE.
Now, this is the guy recommending the Cadillac Tax for you and me and has a sweet deal with the government. Via the Politico:
“[D]on’t you think it’s rather, um, dubious that the guy evaluating the heath care reform–for $300,000–is also the package’s single biggest champion? And no one has been transparent about this contract?” writes Firedoglake blogger Marcy Wheeler of the contract, which was first mentioned on DailyKos.
Yes, this is troubling and more evidence of the corruption coming from President Barack Obama. He’ll get this health care passed if he has to lie, coerce and present “experts” as independent, when they’re actually working for him. And paid handsomely with your tax dollars, too.
