Dean: Employers will drop coverage under Obamacare

The reason Democrats fought so hard to dismiss the McKinsey survey when it was released is because its conclusion undermines two major claims Obama made during health care debate: "If you like your health plan, you can keep it" and "It will not add one penny to the deficit."

Washington Times article here: http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/dean-employers-will-drop-coverage-under-obamacare#.TnkIMVmsHCk.twitter

Shout out to Twitters @bconsdr8 http://twitter.com/#!/bconsdr8 for this too TY!
Howard Dean reveals the #Obamacare goal for all to see & hear - YouTube http://ht.ly/6APdH #hcr #politics #aarp #tweetcongress

White House Defensive Against New Study Saying HCR Will Be Disruptive To Workers http://ht.ly/6ARjq #obamacare #4jobs #tweetcongress

Rassmussen Poll: Public Still Not Buying ObamaCare

Opinion Journal: Still Not Buying ObamaCare 2/7/2011 12:43:22 PM

Today's Rasmussen poll finds that Americans still favor repeal of the President's health-care reform.

PLEASE CONTACT your congressman on the Health-care fence. Useful information is attached

Short & Sweet, regarding your consideration of the proposed Health-care bill:
I hold you ACCOUNTABLE for the quality of the coverage, its expense and morality and it's CONSTITUTIONALITY (that you've been sworn to uphold.) http://ow.ly/1nToH

Facts on Healthcare. Exactly what you are BEING FORCED INTO?

Dramatic CHANGES, see what is the in Heathcare Bill and call your Congressman AND Senators! https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

HR 3962 Health-Care Bill (PDF file)

Another "shovel ready" component of the Stimulus/Bailout package

http://ow.ly/yNAA

A letter to AARP Executive Director, Mr. Rand

RE: AARP Executive Director Mr. Rand

Dear Mr. Rand,
Recently you sent us a letter encouraging us to renew our lapsed membership in AARP by the requested date. While we have proudly maintained our membership for several years and have long admired the AARP goals and principles, regrettably, we can no longer endorse it's abdication of our values. Your letter specifically stated that we can count on AARP to speak up for our rights, yet the voice we hear is not ours. Your offer of being kept up to date on important issues through DIVIDED WE FAIL presents neither an impartial view nor the one we have come to embrace. We do believe that when two parties agree all the time on everything presented to them, one is probably not necessary. But, when the opinions and long term goals are diametrically opposed, the divorce is imminent. This is the philosophy which spawned our 200 years of government.

Once upon a time, we looked forward to being part of the senior demographic. We also looked to AARP to provide certain benefits and give our voice a power we could not possibly hope to achieve on our own. AARP gave us a sense of belonging which we no longer enjoy. The Socialist politics practiced by the Obama administration and empowered by AARP serves only to raise the blood pressure my medical insurance strives to contain. Clearly a conflict of interest there!

We do not understand the AARP posture, feel greatly betrayed by the guiding forces whom we expected to map out our senior years and leave your ranks with a great sense of regret. We mitigate that disappointment with the relief of knowing that we are not contributing to the problem anymore by renewing our membership. There are numerous other organizations which offer discounts without threatening our way of life or offending our sensibilities.

This Presidential Administration scares the living daylights out of us. Not just for ourselves, but for our proud and bloodstained heritage, but even more importantly for our children and grandchildren. Washington has rendered Soylent Green a prophetic cautionary tale rather than a nonfiction scare tactic. I have never in my life endorsed any militant or radical groups, yet now I find myself listening to them. I don't have to agree with them to appreciate the fear which birthed their existence. Their borderline insanity presents little more than a balance to the voice of the Socialist mindset in power. Perhaps I became American by a great stroke of luck in some cosmic uterine lottery, but in my adulthood I CHOOSE to embrace it and nurture the freedoms it represents as well as the responsibilities it requires.

Your website generously offers us the opportunity to receive all communication in Spanish. ARE YOU KIDDING??? Someone has broken into our 'house', invaded our home without our invitation or consent. The President has insisted we keep the perpetrator in comfort and learn their language so we can communicate our reluctant welcome to them.
I DON'T choose to welcome them. I DON'T choose to support them. I DON'T choose to educate them. I DON'T choose to medicate them, pay for their food or clothing.
American home invaders get arrested. Please explain to me why foreign lawbreakers can enjoy privileges on American soil that Americans do not get? Why do some immigrants have to processed to be welcomed and others only have to break & enter to be welcomed?

We travel for a living. Walt hauls horses all over this great country, averaging over 10,000 miles a month when he is out there. He meets more people than a politician on caffeine overdose. Of all the many good folks he enjoyed on this last 10,000 miles, this trip yielded only ONE supporter of the current administration. One of us is out of touch with mainstream America. Since our poll is conducted without funding, I have more faith in it than one which is power driven.

We have decided to forward this to everyone on our mailing list, and will encourage them to do the same. With several hundred in my address book, I have every faith that the eventual exponential factor will make a credible statement to you.

I am MAD as hell, and I'm NOT going to take it anymore!

White House Issues a GAG Order to Humana for informing patients of the possibilities

A special shout out to Bconsdr8 (on Twitter) for this story. Insurer Humana receives a W.H. "Gag Order" for speaking about how coverage might be effected. Read the whole article http://ow.ly/qBh2

Side bar: A government agency working WITH a privately funded group that benefits from that alliance is 'COLLUSION'.

Mitch McConnell addresses President Obama for violating the 1st amendment with this outrageous gag order MUST SEE http://ow.ly/qCeF

The Republican party rushed to defend Humana with this letter...


September 22, 2009

Charlene Frizzera
Acting Administrator
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
7500 Security Boulevard
Baltimore, MD 21244

Dear Acting Administrator Frizzera,

I am writing to express my deep suspicion that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) may be selectively and inappropriately using its regulatory powers to intimidate and silence those who under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution are expressing legitimate facts about the Medicare cuts proposed by President Obama and Congressional Democrats.

This morning, CMS acknowledged it has initiated an investigation into one Medicare health care plan provider, Humana, because it contacted some of its 1.5 million Medicare Advantage (MA) beneficiaries to inform them that these cuts could negatively impact seniors' benefits and out-of-pocket costs.

Given the importance of health care to America's seniors, I am sure you will agree seniors currently enrolled in MA have a right to know about how pending policy changes could affect them. I am certainly aware that MA marketing regulations are supposed to be used to ensure that communications from plan sponsors or affiliated groups do not include inaccurate information that would inappropriately steer seniors to certain MA plans. I have read the letter from Humana to its members and it does neither.

Moreover, I am concerned that CMS has taken action for political purposes, which threatens the integrity of the agency and of our democracy. To my knowledge, Humana is the only such plan to be targeted for investigation for speaking out against the Administration and Congressional Democrat's plan. However, today CMS issued a ban on all MA health plans from distributing similar information.

I note that no such pressure has been applied to those supportive of the President's Medicare cuts. AARP, which has the largest MA plan in Medicare at 1.7 million enrollees, has been a vocal advocate in favor of the President Obama and Democrats' health care proposals. They have spent millions of dollars communicating to its members the group's support of President Obama's proposed changes to Medicare via bulletins, television ads, newsletters, and its website. According to USA Today, AARP sent 8 million direct letters about health care reform and Medicare policies under consideration in Washington to its members over Labor Day. Additionally AARP has a "Health Action Now!" website that asks seniors to contact Members of Congress using an AARP-drafted letter that seniors can send via e-mail. These communications seem to be largely similar to the communications sent by Humana, other than they are in support of President Obama's position.

For example, AARP's website states that it's a "myth" that "health care reform will hurt Medicare", saying that it's a "fact" that "none of the health care reform proposals being considered by Congress would cut Medicare benefits or increase your out-of-pocket costs for Medicare services." This flies in the face of what the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has found as it relates to the MA cuts.

CBO'S findings about the $156 billion in MA cuts contained in H.R. 3200, the House Democrats' health care bill, should be of great concern to senior citizens. According to CBO, the legislation "could lead many plans to limit the benefits they offer, raise their premiums, or withdraw from the program." CBO also predicts that H.R. 3200 will result in 3 million seniors currently enrolled in MA losing their coverage.

Given the requirement that communications by MA plans, or their affiliates, to current and potential MA enrollees, not contain inaccurate information, it would seem that CMS' resources would be better served ensuring AARP no longer falsely suggests that the President's plans to cut $500 billion from Medicare will not have any negative impact on MA enrollees.

In light of CMS' seemingly uneven and potentially politically-motivated use of its regulatory authority, I therefore request that:

1. CMS immediately suspend this virtual gag order on efforts by an MA plan to let its enrollees know how they could be hurt by the health reforms plans being pushed by President Obama and Democrats in Congress;

2. CMS immediately publicly indicate that the providing of accurate information by MA plans to its enrollees is not prohibited by applicable federal rules and regulations and that no adverse action will be taken against any plan choosing to do so;

3. Provide, in writing, by September 28, 2009, an explanation of whether similar enforcement activities were taken against other MA plan and its affiliates, including AARP, and if not why no such action was taken.

I look forward to your timely response.

Sincerely,
DAVE CAMP
Ranking Member
Committee on Ways and Means

Top 10 Reasons why Government Health-Care Is Wrong for America

Top 10 Reasons Obamacare Is Wrong for America
http://ow.ly/iN4L

1. Millions Will Lose Their Current Insurance. Period. End of Story: President Obama wants Americans to believe they can keep their insurance if they like, but research from the government, private research firms, and think tanks show this is not the case. Proposed economic incentives, plus a government-run health plan like the one proposed in the House bill, would cause 88.1 million people to see their current employer-sponsored health plan disappear.
2. Your Health Care Coverage Will Probably Change Anyway: Even if you kept your private insurance, eventually most remaining plans--whether employer plans or individual plans--would have to conform to new federal benefit standards. Moreover, the necessary plan "upgrades" will undoubtedly cost you more in premiums.
3. The Umpire Is Also the First Baseman: The main argument for a "public option" is that it would increase competition. However, if the federal government creates a health care plan that it controls and also sets the rules for the private plans, there is little doubt that Washington would put its private sector "competitors" out of business sooner or later.
4. The Fed Picks Your Treatment: President Obama said: "They're going to have to give up paying for things that don't make them healthier. ... If there's a blue pill and a red pill, and the blue pill is half the price of the red pill and works just as well, why not pay half for the thing that's going to make you well." Does that sound like a government that will stay out of your health care decisions?
5. Individual Mandate Means Less Liberty and More Taxes: Although he once opposed the idea, President Obama is now open to the imposition of an individual mandate that would require all Americans to have federally approved health insurance. This unprecedented federal directive not only takes away your individual freedom but could cost you as well. Lawmakers are considering a penalty or tax for those who don't buy government-approved health plans.
6. Higher Taxes Than Europe Hurt Small Businesses: A proposed surtax on the wealthy will actually hit hundreds of thousands of small business ownerswho are dealing with a recession. If it is enacted, America's top earners and job creators will carry a larger overall tax burden than France, Italy, Germany, Japan, etc., with a total average tax rate greater than 52%. Is that the right recipe for jobs and wage growth?
7. Who Makes Medical Decisions? What is the right medical treatment and should bureaucrats determine what Americans can or cannot have? While the House and Senate language is vague, amendments offered in House and Senate committees to block government rationing of care were routinely defeated. Cost or a federal health board could be the deciding factors. President Obama himself admitted this when he said, "Maybe you're better off not having the surgery, but taking the painkiller," when asked about an elderly woman who needed a pacemaker.
8. Taxpayer-Funded Abortions? Nineteen Democrats recently asked the President to not sign any bill that doesn't explicitly exclude "abortion from the scope of any government-defined or subsidized health insurance plan" or any bill that allows a federal health board to "recommend abortion services be included under covered benefits or as part of a benefits package." Currently, these provisions do not exist.
9. It's Not Paid For: The CBO says the current House plan would increase the deficit by $239 billion over 10 years. And that number will likely continue to rise over the long term. Similar entitlement bills in the past, including Medicare, have scored much lower than their actual eventual cost.
10. Rushing It, Not Reading It: We've been down this road before--with the failed stimulus package. Back then, we also heard that we were in a crisis and that we needed to pass a 1,000-plus-page bill in a few hours--without reading it--or we would have 8% unemployment. Well, we know what happened. Now, one Congressman has even said it's pointless to read one of the reform bills without two days and two lawyers to make sense of it. Deception is the only reason to rush through a bill nobody truly understands.

Obamacare advidsor Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel's ETHICAL(?) approach to Health Care Rationing

Is this an ETHICAL approach?
NOTE: Click the right hand corner to enlarge textPrinciples for Allocation of Scarce Medical Interventions ">

Missing the Facts on Townhall Concerns

* Taxpayer-funded benefits for Illegal immigrants

* Government Takeover of Health Care Systems

* Funding Abortion with Taxpayer dollars

Organizing for America and liberal community organizers are actively being cheered on by President Obama's supporters http://ow.ly/kRRR

Missing the Facts on Townhall Concerns » The Foundry

Be sure to listen to Congressman Mike Rogers statement http://ow.ly/kShi

AMERICA'S 'LEFT' IS UNITED AGAINST CONSERVATIVES

http://ow.ly/kM85

* listen & respond *

The status quo will watch America dissolve under their beliefs and organization. Stand firm and take action today.

Specifics on this terrible Government Takeover attempt of Health-Care

CLICK THIS LINK TO REFERENCE PAGES MENTIONED BELOW! http://ow.ly/juhn

USE THIS LINK TO SEND A CUSTOMIZED EMAIL, click on: 'TAKE ACTION' http://ow.ly/jvjb


• Government access to individual's finances & a national health care ID card (p.58).

• Government use of ACORN & AmeriCorps, to register individuals for the govt health care plan (p. 95).

• No company or business can sue the federal government for price fixing (p. 124).

• Any nonresident alien is exempt from the individual taxes and fines which are required of every legal, U.S. citizens (p. 170).

• Government will restrict the enrollment of special needs people (p. 354).

• Government mandates Advance Care Planning Consultation-that is, end-of-life counseling on "the use of artificially administered nutrition and hydration" and other end of life treatments. (Section 1233).

• "Advance Care Planning Consultation" may include a government order for end of life plans (p. 429).

• Government Marriage & Family therapy sessions (p. 489).

• Government will design and implement the Home Visitation Program for families with young children and families expecting children, parenting counseling is included (p. 838-845).

• Government-established National Medical Device Registry (p. 1001).

* H.R. 3200 would allow bureaucrats to make personal medical decisions for patients.

* H.R. 3200 does not require Members of Congress to get their health insurance through the proposed government-run plan.

* H.R. 3200 forces Americans to "hurry up and wait," the rationing mechanism when average waiting time for a medical treatment exceeds the average wait times in private plans.

* H.R. 3200 provides no effective means of preventing taxpayer-funded health benefits from going to illegal immigrants.

* H.R. 3200 does not guarantee that workers who like their current health plan can keep it.

* H.R. 3200 does not prevent seniors from being stripped of their health care choices through the Medicare Advantage program.

* H.R. 3200 does not guarantee that Americans can continue to enroll in private individual market health plans.

* H.R. 3200 does not waive the employer mandate if it will cause layoffs, worker salary cuts, or reductions in hiring.

* H.R. 3200 would allow community groups, such as ACORN and AmeriCorps, to register individuals for the government health care plan (p. 95).

* H.R. 3200 exempts nonresident aliens from the individual taxes, insurance purchasing mandates, and fines which are required of every legal, U.S. citizens (p. 170).

* H.R. 3200 will restrict the enrollment of special needs people (p. 354).

* H.R. 3200 mandates Advance Care Planning Consultation-that is, end-of-life counseling on "the use of artificially administered nutrition and hydration" and other end of life treatments. (Section 1233). which may include a government order for end of life plans (p. 429).

* H.R. 3200 provides for government Marriage & Family therapy sessions (p. 489).

* H.R. 3200 allows government to design and implement the Home Visitation Program for families with young children and families expecting children, parenting counseling is included (p. 838-845).

* H.R. 3200 authorizes a government-established National Medical Device Registry (p. 1001).

* H.R. 3200 also provides for the following seriously disturbing items:
allows government real-time access to individual's finances and a national health care ID card (p.58).

* Since no company or business can sue the federal government for price fixing, there will be no judicial review against a government monopoly of the health care industry (p. 124).

The Blue Dog Coalition at odds with Waxman & Obamacare

Blue Dog Coalition: 'We have not had legitimate negotiations'

Blue Dog Democrats stormed out of a healthcare reform meeting with Democratic leaders, accusing the leaders of negotiating in bad faith.

The Hill:

House healthcare negotiations dissolved in acrimony on Friday, with Blue Dog Democrats saying they were “lied” to by their Democratic leaders.

In advance of a subsequent press conference called by House leadership, Blue Dog liaison Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-Calif.) said the healthcare bill should be staying in committee.

"I expect the committee process to proceed," Cardoza said.

The seven Blue Dogs on the Energy and Commerce Committee stormed out of a Friday meeting with their committee chairman, Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), saying Waxman had been negotiating in bad faith over a number of provisions Blue Dogs demanded be changed in the stalled healthcare bill.

“I’ve been lied to,” Blue Dog Coalition Co-Chairman Charlie Melancon (D-La.) said on Friday. “We have not had legitimate negotiations.

“Mr. Waxman has decided to sever discussions with the Blue Dogs who are trying to make this bill work for America,” Melancon said.

Although those Blue Dogs were supposed to be headed back into another meeting of the Energy and Commerce Democrats, their anger was visible.

If the two sides cannot reach an agreement, the only hope for passage of the bill in the House will be to go straight to the floor, an option leaders shied away from endorsing but said was an option.

But the Blue Dogs issued dire warnings to leaders contemplating that approach.

"Waxman simply does not have votes in committee and process should not be bypassed to bring the bill straight to floor,” Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.), the lead Blue Dog negotiator, said on Friday. “We are trying to save this bill and trying to save this party.”

Seems that according to Waxman if the blue Dog Coalition doesn't fall in line, the party line, they are "aligning" themselves with Republicans.

More from The Politico:

Arkansas Rep. Mike Ross, the top negotiator for conservative Democrats in the 52-member Blue Dog Coalition, told reporters Friday that the negotiations "pretty much fell apart this afternoon."

The finger-pointing commenced shortly afterward, with Melancon believing he'd been lied to while Waxman complaining that "some Democrats would rather align with the Republicans."

The breakdown came in a Friday negotiating session after a broad swath of Democrats agreed to iron out regional disparities in Medicare reimbursement rates, a compromise that attracts more lawmakers to the bill.

Asked how this leaves negotiations, Ross said it "leaves the chairman with not enough votes to get it out of committee."

Waxman's own words confirm his mindset when he told reporters "We're either the majority party and work together, or we're not."

(That is codespeak for toe the line, no independent thought is welcome and do as we say because we say to do it or you aren't a "real" Democrat.)

Democratic leaders also threatened to bring it to a vote without getting it through the Energy and Commerce Committee.

The problem with that is there are between 40 and 45 members of the Blue Dog group that would vote against it and Republicans are united in their opposition to the bill, as written, which means the House does not have the votes needed to pass it.