Showing posts with label Healthcare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Healthcare. Show all posts

Thursday, July 30, 2009

ObamaCare™ Today: 7.4 Million in Britain Can't See a Dentist


Another success story for government-run health care! The UK charity network Citizen's Advice reported last year that "7.4 million citizens could not get access to a government (NHS) dentist."

Millions of adults in England and Wales haven’t been to an NHS dentist since April 2006 mainly because they couldn’t find one to treat them, says new research carried out for national charity Citizens Advice as it urges Primary Care Trusts to spend newly allocated resources to improve access.

...It was mentioned by 31% of respondents in England and Wales who have not been to an NHS dentist since April 2006. This is the equivalent of approximately 7.4 million people who have not been to an NHS dentist since April 2006 because of difficulties in finding one. Of these, the equivalent of approximately 4.7 million have sought private treatment instead and the equivalent of approximately 2.7 million have gone without treatment altogether...

...A [charity] in North Yorkshire reported a pensioner on a low income who needed emergency dental treatment in hospital. They advised her she would need further treatment and would need to find an NHS dentist. There were two available in the area but both have 12 month waiting lists...

Gee, socialized medicine sounds great, don't you think so?

Greedy British. How many teeth do they think a person needs?

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Barney Frank Calls Barack Obama a Liar


Cornered by health care advocacy group Single Payer Action, Barney Frank blurted (or, more correctly, slobbered) out the real motivation behind Obamacare's "Public Option".

Interviewer: Don’t you think we should scratch everything and start anew with single payer? Why not?

Frank: No…because we don’t have the votes for it. I wish we did. I think if we get a good public option it could lead to single payer, and that’s the best way to reach single payer. Saying you’ll do nothing until you get single payer is a sure way never to get it.

Interviewer: Right now, it’s not a strong public option, is it?

Frank: Well, we don’t know what the plan is. I’m for a strong public option. I think your strategy is suicidal for trying to get single payer. I think the best way we’re going to get single payer – the only way – is to have a public option demonstrate its strength and power.

So here's Barney Frank, the brains behind Fannie Mae and the financial meltdown, flat out admitting that the way to single-payer is to fool voters with "a public option". And he flatly states that the public option will overwhelm and eradicate private insurance plans.

Now Barack Obama's been saying for weeks that the public option won't hurt private insurers, which everyone knows is a bald-faced lie.

Mr. Obama dismissed the idea of a government takeover of health care, saying a public insurance system would complement, not replace, private companies.

“It will keep government out of health care decisions, giving you the option to keep your (private) insurance if you’re happy with it,” he said.

You're not going to get to keep your private insurance -- and everyone knows it. And Barney Frank just confirmed it, calling Barack Obama a liar.

At an AARP-sponsor townhall event, Obama was also confronted -- stunningly -- with a direct question about rationing care for the elderly

Q: The other has to do with the knowledge that there will be millions of dollars of cuts in Medicare over the years to accommodate baby boomers. So the question is, does this translate into dictation of what can and cannot be given to a senior as service? For example, will there be fewer hip and knee replacements? Even if I decide when I'm 80 that I want a hip replacement, am I going to be able to get that? Am I going to be able to see a cardiologist if I have a heart condition, or other specialist? Or is that going to all be primary care? I'm calling it rationing of care, I'm coining [sic] it that.

Obama: ...My interest is not in getting between you and your doctor, although keep in mind right now, insurance companies are often getting between you and your doctor. So it's not as if these choices aren't already being made; it's just they're being made by private insurance companies, without any real guidance as to whether the decisions that are being made are good decisions to make people healthier or not...

This answer is, at its heart, dishonest.

You and your doctor make the decisions on your treatment. If you have insurance, you will try to get your insurance company to pay for as much treatment as you can, depending upon your policy. And, if you're denied, you can appeal and even go to state regulators to insist upon treatment if you feel you're treated unfairly.

But in the Obama plan, all decisions are made by five unelected bureaucrats who can deny you treatment based upon a formula, the same way that Canada and Great Britain's national health services operate. They will absolutely deny you tests, medications, innovations, and so forth -- because that's precisely what happens in Canada and Britain!

Obama's federal health board will get between you and your doctor and will ration treatments to you based upon your age. Obama knows it -- and he doesn't care whether you think he's lying or not. Obama went on to say:

We also want to start rewarding doctors for quality, not just the quantity, of care that they provide. Instead of rewarding them for how many procedures they perform or how many tests they order, we'll bundle payments so providers aren't paid for every treatment they offer with a chronic -- to a patient with a chronic condition like diabetes, but instead are paid for how are they managing that disease overall. And we'll create incentives for physicians to team up and treat a patient better together, because we know that produces better outcomes.

So Obama himself confirms that his federal health board will, in fact, interfere with your doctor's relationship. It will dictate every facet of care based upon not you as the individual, but you as a nameless statistic, a record in an actuarial table.

And if a Politburo in Washington refuses you care, it means no! Unlike an insurance company, you have no recourse whatsoever!

Obama's disingenuous tripe continued unabated at the AARP town hall.

But we all know that right now, we've got a problem that threatens Medicare and our entire health care system, and that is the spiraling cost of health care in America today. As costs balloon, so does Medicare's budget. And unless we act, within a decade -- within a decade -- the Medicare trust fund will be in the red.

There is no Medicare "Trust Fund". They already stole all the money!

So why, then, is the answer to impose a Medicare-like system on the entire nation?

Why would you take a failed model, fraught with billions in fraud, and expand it?

Because Obama and the Democrats care about expanding their own power. They could care less about your health care, your doctor, your treatments, medical innovations and anything else. They care about expanding government's power at the expense of you, the individual, and your liberty.


Hat tip: Mark Levin.

U.S. Soldier Demands Apology From Claire McCaskill


Ed Morrissey writes, "...in almost six years of blogging, rarely have I seen anyone pack as much letter-perfect constitutional instruction as one soldier did at an ObamaCare townhall/protest yesterday in St. Louis. It doesn’t surprise me at all that a young soldier would understand the concepts and the historical context of the Constitution. It surprises me that he has to explain it to the people in Congress."

Given the egregious posse of Boxer, Dodd, Feinstein, Frank, Mollohan, Murtha, Obey, Pelosi, Rangel, Reid and Waters -- so crooked you can open wine-bottles with 'em -- I think Ed is vastly overestimating Democrats in Congress.

They appear to be interested in only one thing: personal enrichment. The Constitution can go to hell as far as they're concerned.


Tuesday, July 28, 2009

RED ALERT: Government-Run Health Care Backroom Deals Underway!


Steve Elliott, President of Grassfire.org, writes:

Two shadowy back-room deals are being struck right now in Congress as part of the Obama-Reid-Pelosi push to advance socialized healthcare before the August "recess."

In the House, Blue Dog Democrats are reviewing a private "compromise" that would advance ObamaCare to the House floor as soon as this Friday. Meanwhile in the Senate, six Senators are working behind closed doors on a bill that would allow the Senate to move ObamaCare through committee in the next few days.

THAT MEANS TWO CLOSED-DOOR, BACK-ROOM
DEALS ARE BEING STRUCK RIGHT NOW TO PUSH
US TO THE BRINK OF OBAMACARE THIS WEEK!

In both cases, details have not been released. We are simply told to trust members of Congress with the future of our health care and then accept their final vote.

If they get ObamaCare passed through the House and through the Senate Finance Committee this week, most of their work will be done. The Democrats will then simply iron out the differences (i.e. revert to the full ObamaCare blueprint).

Next 48 hours crucial

The next 48 hours are crucial and we must now fight this battle on two fronts -- the House and the Senate.

That's why we have just expanded our FaxFire campaign to include the six Senators who are striking the back-room deal.

Even if you have done so already, please go here right now to send your faxes opposing socialized health care to key members of this House committee along with the six Senate negotiators, your two Senators and Representative:

http://www.grassfire.net/r.asp?U=20543&CID=122&RID=21768021

(As always, if you want to send your own faxes, we have provided the fax numbers and sample text for you. Just click here to access that information:

http://www.grassfire.net/r.asp?U=20544&CID=122&RID=21768021

Action #2 -- Call your Representative and the "Senate Six"!

Also, call the "Senate Six" and tell them you do NOT want any government mandate program that further burdens our economy, undermines the private sector and creates a federal healthcare mandate on businesses or individuals.

The "Senate Six":
Max Baucus: 202-224-2651
Chuck Grassley: 202-224-3744
Kent Conrad: 202-224-2043
Jeff Bingaman: 202-224-5521
Olympia Snowe: 202-224-5344
Mike Enzi: 202--224-3424

Talking Points:

#1 -- I am outraged that the House and Senate are fast-tracking the President's socialized healthcare plan this week.

#2 -- I do not want the government to have more control and influence over my health care. That is why I reject House health care bill (H.R. 3200) and the soon-to-be-released Senate "compromise" plan that still creates a federal mandate.

#3 -- America cannot afford the $1.5 trillion price tag of socialized health care during these difficult economic times. I flatly reject any health care proposal that increases costs or imposes new taxes on any American.

Again, we are now fighting a two-front battle THIS WEEK that could determine whether socialized ObamaCare becomes a reality this year.

Please... schedule your faxes right now:

http://www.grassfire.net/r.asp?U=20545&CID=122&RID=21768021

And please alert your friends. Thanks for taking action.

Call now. Operators -- that you are paying for -- are standing by.


Related Reading:
• 07/25/2009: Amnesty disguised as Health Care Reform
• 07/22/2009: Good News: Abortions and Assisted Suicides will NOT be Rationed!
• 07/21/2009: Obama's Ominous Implication: Euthanasia of the Elderly May Be Necessary
• 07/15/2009: A Quick Tour of Democrat Socialized Health Care
• 07/05/2009: Democrat Health Care, By The Numbers


Hat tip: Jasmine Sea. Linked by: Ben Barrack. Thanks!

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Amnesty disguised as Health Care Reform


What could be the real rationale for Democrats ramming health care reform down our throats? A witness to a conference in Washington last month described the nature of their efforts.

I want to tell you that last week I attended a conference on health care reform sponsored by La Raza. And I will tell you that what they had to say, Mark, is scarier than anything that's been said so far on the health care plan.

The kind of comments that were made and the notes that I took... they started the conference out by saying "America does not need health care reform, but Latino immigrants need health care reform."

And someone from Menendez' office [Ed.: Sen. Robert Menendez, D-NJ] promised that he would make sure that "the useless barriers of citizenship would not be in this bill" and that he would make sure that they would use keywords like "streamline"...

It was La Raza, the Childrens Defense Fund and Senator Menendez from New Jersey, a representative from his office...

...Yes [they said they would get free health care for illegal aliens], these are my notes, Mark. They actually got up and said "Latino children need health care more than whites". And then they would say things like "you must go out into your communities, use words like 'streamline', use phrases like 'all workers' and 'all families'," because they said -- and I quote -- "If the American people find out that this bill is about giving health care to non-citizens, they will rise up against it."

...One of the quotes they said was, "We want to make sure we take care of barriers like verification, but we can streamline programs to the more affluent" and, quote, "Useless treatments for the elderly can be gone because we don't need to spend money for people who are going to die anyway."

That's a direct quote from that meeting. They also said, "We are very concerned there will be an effort to include" the illegal immigrants in this argument, so "we must make sure that we focus this" to the American people that it's looking like we want "health care for everyone".

And they also said that 75% of the children who will be picked up in this will be non-citizens and that 44% of the uninsured are non-citizens and they can't possibly allow the American people to know this." [Ed: Oops!]

Menendez' office said that he's going to make sure that "a family of four that makes $66,000 a year or less will pay nothing at all for the new health care. And he was the one who said he was going to get rid of specifics like "citizenship status" and focus on, quote, "equity for all workers".

And he said he's going to make sure that the Latino immigrants are the focus of the health care reform.

And La Raza said if they get this, they don't even care about amnesty, because they've fixed it so that one family member can apply for all extended family members. And... Mark, if you think we have a problem with illegal immigration now, wait 'til you see the borders when this thing gets passed.

"If the American people found out?"

Gee, what a surprise. A group that preaches racial superiority and divisiveness wants to enact a stealth illegal immigration bill -- not dissimilar to chain migration. The bill will reward illegal immigration to the direct detriment of all American taxpayers and especially the elderly.

Kind of puts Judge Sotomayor's membership in La Raza in a new light, doesn't it?

Groups like La Raza encourage the Balkanization of America. They promote mutually hostile political groups that do not form a "melting pot", that do not utilize a common language, and that do not share the principles of America's founding.

Fifty years from now, if La Raza gets its way, America will look more like Yugoslavia in 1993 than America.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Action: Contact Senator Robert Menendez at 202 224-4744, 973 645-3030 and 856 757-5353 and politely tell him we know what he's up to with this health care bill, that illegal immigration is not tolerated by the citizens of New Jersey, and that we will expose him -- as the anti-American traitor that he is -- to the public.

As for those who belong to or support either La Raza or The Children's Defense Fund, I would strongly encourage you to drop your membership and support. The racial divisiveness promoted by these outrageous groups is antithetical to America's civil society.

It's time to politically punish these cretins who are out to dismantle our country.



Update: A press release issued by La Raza on 6/15 mirrors the caller's report (hat tip: Oil for Immigration):

As our nation’s leaders consider health care reform in the coming weeks, NCLR (National Council of La Raza), the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States, strongly urges President Obama and Congress to make every effort to ensure that health care reform reaches all communities. No single community stands to gain as much from this important debate as Latinos. In the U.S., one out of every three uninsured persons and roughly 40% of all uninsured children are Latino. NCLR stands for health care reform that makes coverage affordable and accessible for everyone—all families and all children.

..."This debate should be about health care for all, and setting the nation on a pathway to future health and well-being. Adding layers of immigrant verification and bureaucratic red tape to a new health care system would guarantee that millions of citizen children are effectively barred from accessing preventive care and would raise the cost of health care... we are extremely concerned that some view health reform as a way to scapegoat immigrants... Making health care easier to use and accessible for all workers and children is simple common sense."



Will Democrat-Care work as well as the "Stimulus" package?


Second quarter revenue at construction equipment manufacturer Caterpillar tumbled more than 30 percent from a year earlier. And profits were down a stunning 66%.

Think about those figures for a moment. We were supposed to be in a Stimulus-inspired building boom.

There were supposed to be "shovel-ready construction projects" and infrastructure remediation projects aplenty.

So why isn't Caterpillar swamped with orders?

Because the "Stimulus" was a sham. As fraught with waste, fraud and abuse as 'The Big Dig', only a hundred times bigger.

$8.5 billion is destined for ACORN, a group with as troubled a history of law-breaking and scandal as one could imagine. A group whose very intent appears to be undermining the rule of law and interfering with American elections.

Billions to build battery plants for electric cars that may or may not attract buyers.

Hundreds of millions of dollars gift-wrapped and sent to Fatah (and possibly Hamas), as bloodthirsty a bunch of anti-American terrorists that exist anywhere on the planet.

And as much as $300 million was sent to Columbia's National Police Force in the form of Sig Sauer sidearms.

Bill Gross, the head of the world's largest manager of bonds -- which also manages commercial-paper assets for the Federal Reserve -- says that Washington is running a "Ponzi-style economy".

Now this ridiculous cast of losers, scam artists and dimwits wants to take over 18% of the economy: the entire American health care system?

Will it work as well as the "Stimulus" package?

Consider: they couldn't even get a relatively simple "Stimulus" program of infrastructure projects to work. A tidal wave of unemployment is swamping the economy and the unemployment system itself is breaking down.

Letting this crew of government hacks create a government-run health care system? As Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) stated this morning, "It's a prescription for disaster."

That's putting it kindly.


Linked by: Dan Riehl. Thanks!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Fitting Accoutrements for Obamacare


You can avoid long lines for medical care with Self-Treatment Kits, available only from Government Pharmacies™.




Hat tip: Reliapundit.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Good News: Abortions and Assisted Suicides will NOT be Rationed!


The Economic Policy Journal points us to Peter Fleckstein, who twittered the contents of the House Socialized Medicine bill. Oh, what a treat your family is in for.

• Page 22: Mandates audits of all employers that self-insure!
• Page 29: Admission: your health care will be rationed!
• Page 30: A government committee will decide what treatments and benefits you get (and, unlike an insurer, there will be no appeals process)
• Page 42: The "Health Choices Commissioner" will decide health benefits for you. You will have no choice. None.
• Page 50: All non-US citizens, illegal or not, will be provided with free healthcare services.
• Page 58: Every person will be issued a National ID Healthcard.
• Page 59: The federal government will have direct, real-time access to all individual bank accounts for electronic funds transfer.
• Page 65: Taxpayers will subsidize all union retiree and community organizer health plans (read: SEIU, UAW and ACORN)
• Page 72: All private healthcare plans must conform to government rules to participate in a Healthcare Exchange.
• Page 84: All private healthcare plans must participate in the Healthcare Exchange (i.e., total government control of private plans)
• Page 91: Government mandates linguistic infrastructure for services; translation: illegal aliens
• Page 95: The Government will pay ACORN and Americorps to sign up individuals for Government-run Health Care plan.
• Page 102: Those eligible for Medicaid will be automatically enrolled: you have no choice in the matter.
• Page 124: No company can sue the government for price-fixing. No "judicial review" is permitted against the government monopoly. Put simply, private insurers will be crushed.
• Page 127: The AMA sold doctors out: the government will set wages.
• Page 145: An employer MUST auto-enroll employees into the government-run public plan. No alternatives.
• Page 126: Employers MUST pay healthcare bills for part-time employees AND their families.
• Page 149: Any employer with a payroll of $400K or more, who does not offer the public option, pays an 8% tax on payroll
• Page 150: Any employer with a payroll of $250K-400K or more, who does not offer the public option, pays a 2 to 6% tax on payroll
• Page 167: Any individual who doesnt' have acceptable healthcare (according to the government) will be taxed 2.5% of income.
• Page 170: Any NON-RESIDENT alien is exempt from individual taxes (Americans will pay for them).
• Page 195: Officers and employees of Government Healthcare Bureaucracy will have access to ALL American financial and personal records.
• Page 203: "The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax." Yes, it really says that.
• Page 239: Bill will reduce physician services for Medicaid. Seniors and the poor most affected."
• Page 241: Doctors: no matter what speciality you have, you'll all be paid the same (thanks, AMA!)
• Page 253: Government sets value of doctors' time, their professional judgment, etc.
• Page 265: Government mandates and controls productivity for private healthcare industries.
• Page 268: Government regulates rental and purchase of power-driven wheelchairs.
• Page 272: Cancer patients: welcome to the wonderful world of rationing!
• Page 280: Hospitals will be penalized for what the government deems preventable re-admissions.
• Page 298: Doctors: if you treat a patient during an initial admission that results in a readmission, you will be penalized by the government.
• Page 317: Doctors: you are now prohibited for owning and investing in healthcare companies!
• Page 318: Prohibition on hospital expansion. Hospitals cannot expand without government approval.
• Page 321: Hospital expansion hinges on "community" input: in other words, yet another payoff for ACORN.
• Page 335: Government mandates establishment of outcome-based measures: i.e., rationing.
• Page 341: Government has authority to disqualify Medicare Advantage Plans, HMOs, etc.
• Page 354: Government will restrict enrollment of SPECIAL NEEDS individuals.
• Page 379: More bureaucracy: Telehealth Advisory Committee (healthcare by phone).
• Page 425: More bureaucracy: Advance Care Planning Consult: Senior Citizens, assisted suicide, euthanasia?
• Page 425: Government will instruct and consult regarding living wills, durable powers of attorney, etc. Mandatory. Appears to lock in estate taxes ahead of time.
• Page 425: Goverment provides approved list of end-of-life resources, guiding you in death.
• Page 427: Government mandates program that orders end-of-life treatment; government dictates how your life ends.
• Page 429: Advance Care Planning Consult will be used to dictate treatment as patient's health deteriorates. This can include an ORDER for end-of-life plans. An ORDER from the GOVERNMENT.
• Page 430: Government will decide what level of treatments you may have at end-of-life.
• Page 469: Community-based Home Medical Services: more payoffs for ACORN.
• Page 472: Payments to Community-based organizations: more payoffs for ACORN.
• Page 489: Government will cover marriage and family therapy. Government intervenes in your marriage.
• Page 494: Government will cover mental health services: defining, creating and rationing those services.

What is it with Democrats? The only medical services that they don't want to ration are abortion and assisted suicide!