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

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

President to send Kwame Kilpatrick to investigate allegations of meth, porn, guns and graft inside Department of Interior's Spill Control Agency

Citing growing public anger over allegations of drug abuse, Internet porn surfing and outright graft inside the Department of Interior, President Obama today dispatched former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to the Gulf region.

"No one is more qualified to deal with these kinds of outrageous activities than my good friend Kwame," the President said in a prepared statement delivered at the White House. "And his efforts will be just as effective as my referring these kinds of cases to the Director of the Minerals Management Service."

Okay, I've got to come clean: I made up the part about Kilpatrick -- but not the outcome of the "investigations".

The Minerals Management Service, the federal agency responsible for all offshore oil and gas regulation, has dined, partied, fired off shotguns, hunted, golfed, and shared Web porn -- and in a couple of cases even done cocaine and meth -- with employees of the very companies they're supposed to be regulating, according to a newly released Interior Department report...

The report also describes the case of a MMS clerical employee who used cocaine and meth with an inspector... And then there's the porn problem. The report describes numerous incidences of porn being forwarded from government computers...

...The biggest offenders were fired some time ago, but despite all these transgressions, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Louisiana declined this case for prosecution in October 2009. The report explains that "This case is being referred to the Director of the Minerals Management Service for any action deemed appropriate."

The report casts a blinding light on the Mineral Management Service's tarnished record as it becomes clear that ethical and regulatory lapses are common in the agency. A regional MMS office in Alaska featured a cake with the words "Drill Baby Drill" at a recent reception, for example, and MMS officers were accused in 2008 of accepting sex and ski trips from oil company representatives.

Gee, Fredo, I can't wait to what kind of devious s*** the 111 new federal health care agencies -- staffed with thousands of SEIU members -- come up with.

We're in the very best of hands.


Update: Kinda, sorta related -- well, not really: Somali Coast Cruise Package.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Imagine

Imagine that FDR's New Deal had ended the Great Depression prior to World War II.

Imagine that the trillions of dollars contributed by Americans to FDR's Social Security system hadn't been stolen by Congress, leaving the system underfunded by tens of trillions of dollars.

Imagine that LBJ's "Great Society" program -- consisting of endless housing projects and massive wealth transfers -- had propelled poor inner-city residents to prosperity.

Imagine that the Democrats' efforts to legalize 'Chain Migration' had not dramatically increased illegal immigration and resulted in the the Balkanization of large swaths of the United States.

Imagine that LBJ's Medicare program had been designed for efficiency and cost-effectiveness; had not resulted in fraud approaching $100 billion a year; and its trust fund had not been stolen by Congress and spent in the general fund with no regard for future needs.

Imagine that the Democrats' multi-decade push for welfare benefits hadn't resulted in a culture of dependency; hadn't encouraged more single-parent families; and hadn't resulted in more inner-city violence, crime and imprisonment.

Imagine that the United States Post Office is a paragon of efficiency, generating profits for taxpayers year after year.

Imagine that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac hadn't gone bankrupt, resulting in one of the most catastrophic financial crises in American history; that it hadn't been a "job shop for out of work Democrats"; that it hadn't been protected from audits by Barney Frank, Maxine Waters, and other Democrat politicians; and that it hadn't been mercilessly abused by Clinton administration cronies including Franklin Raines, Jamie Gorelick and Jim Johnson.

Imagine that the SEC and other financial regulators had discovered Bernard Madoff's fraud before it imploded; that it hadn't somehow ignored the impending derivatives meltdown; and that it had adequately policed AIG, Goldman Sachs and other "too-big-to-fail" companies that were backstopped by the taxpayers.

* * * * * * * * *

Can you imagine a United States of America where all of these big government, social engineering programs were successful?

I can't. In fact, none of them have been successful. That's a .000 batting average.

Nor can they ever be successful. Central planning fails every time when you compare it to free markets, private property, individual liberty and the magnificent system of government our country's founders created.

We know central planning fails. Every effort by the Soviet Union, by Cuba, by Venezuela, by North Korea, by Zimbabwe, and by Democrats in this country have failed, utterly and completely.

So how could anyone support the trillion-dollar "Stimulus" program, Cap-and-Trade, socialized medicine, a 2000-page "financial overhaul", and "comprehensive immigration reform" when Democrats rely upon big government to make things right?

We know with absolute certainty how all of these ill-fated programs will end up. They will be bankrupt, maddeningly inefficient and reminiscent of the DMV at the end of the month.

It's November or never to unwind them. Our children and grandchildren are depending upon us.


Thursday, May 20, 2010

President of Mexico and Barack Obama Jointly Announce a Formal Declaration of War on Arizona

Has a sitting President ever allowed another head of state to visit the people's house and insult Americans, then -- worse -- join in an attack on one of the United States? But, let's not forget -- he's a uniter, not a divider.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has used the start of a state visit to the US to renew his attack on Arizona's controversial new immigration law... Mr Calderon said migrant workers were forced to "still live in the shadows and, occasionally, as in Arizona, they even face discrimination"...

Would this be the same Mexico that routinely imprisons immigrants for six or more years if they don't have their papers? That performs racial profiling as a matter of national law? That is so corrupt and rife with violence that police are routinely found beheaded by drug gangs?

Who the f*** is does this clown think he is? Coming into our country and telling us what to do when Mexico is about to fall into complete chaos?

Why don't you go camp out on the border, Calderon, and see how you like it, you disgusting twit? You can't even run your own damn country and you want to tell us how to run ours?

But it gets better, as President Axelrod echoed the Mexican President's message, claiming Arizona's border isn't worth protecting.

...President Barack Obama emphasised a message of solidarity, saying the US and Mexico would "stand together"... Mr Obama has also already been critical of the law, although it had not been expected that he would raise it in discussions with Mr Calderon.

Mr Obama said in a news conference that he had discussed the "misdirected" law with Mr Calderon, and that his administration was "taking a very close look at it", including the civil rights implications... "No law-abiding person... should ever be subject to suspicion simply because of what they look like," Mr Obama said... "The Arizona law has the potential of being applied in a discriminatory fashion."

Apparently, like party hack Eric Holder and the incompetent Janet Napolitano, he hasn't read Arizona's bill either.

He just heard about it on MBSNC.

It's as simple as this: Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress are actively working with foreign entities to encourage the violation of federal laws. These violations not only endanger the security of American citizens... not only are massive economic drains on health care, prison, law enforcement and welfare budgets... not only reduce employment opportunities for legal citizens... but are actively encouraged by Democrats in order to override the votes of American citizens.

That's the modern Democrat Party in action.

It's November or never. The clock is ticking.


Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Perfect timing for Democrats' health care cramdown as 'Medicare begins to implode'

The Houston Chronicle reports that the Medicare system in the state of Texas has flatlined. That's the same system Democrats ignored, presumably because they were too busy ramming an unconstitutional socialized medicine bill down the throats of taxpayers.

What do you call a Midas Touch with a slight twist -- anything that the person touches turns to diarrhea? Yes, it's an unpleasant image, but perfectly apt for the modern, Obama-Pelosi Democrats.

Texas doctors are opting out of Medicare at alarming rates, frustrated by reimbursement cuts they say make participation in government-funded care of seniors unaffordable.

Two years after a survey found nearly half of Texas doctors weren't taking some new Medicare patients, new data shows 100 to 200 a year are now ending all involvement with the program.

This new data shows the Medicare system is beginning to implode,” said Dr. Susan Bailey, president of the Texas Medical Association. “If Congress doesn't fix Medicare soon, there'll be more and more doctors dropping out and Congress' promise to provide medical care to seniors will be broken.”

...The largest number of doctors opting out comes from primary care, a field already short of practitioners nationally and especially in Texas. Psychiatrists also make up a large share of the pie, causing one Texas leader to say, “God forbid that a senior has dementia.”

The opt-outs follow years of declining Medicare reimbursement that culminated in a looming 21 percent cut in 2010.

These deadly changes represent only the tip of the administration's central planning iceberg, the real goal of which is to implement a single-payer system.

The health-reform law caps how much insurers can spend on expenses and take for profits. Starting next year, health plans will have a regulated "floor" on their medical-loss ratios, which is the amount of revenue they spend on medical claims. Insurers can only spend 20% of their premiums on running their plans if they offer policies directly to consumers or to small employers. The spending cap is 15% for policies sold to large employers...

...Restrictions on how insurers can spend money are compounded by simultaneous constraints on how they can manage their costs. Beginning in 2014, a new federal agency will standardize insurance benefits, placing minimum actuarial values on medical policies. There are also mandates forcing insurers to cover a lot of expensive primary-care services in full. At the same time, insurers are being blocked from raising premiums...

...The Obama health plan puts expensive new mandates on doctors, such as a requirement to purchase IT systems and keep more records. Overhead costs already consume more than 60% of the revenue generated by an average medical practice, according to a 2007 survey by the Medical Group Management Association. At the same time, reimbursement under Medicare is falling. Some specialists, such as radiologists and cardiologists, will see their Medicare payments fall by more than 10% next year. Then there's the fact that medical malpractice premiums have risen by 10%-20% annually for specialists like surgeons, particularly in states that haven't passed liability reform.

Unintended consequences like these are the inevitable result of central planning. Which masterminds among us could possibly predict the impact of these dictates upon hundreds of millions of affected individuals? Nancy Pelosi? Bart Frickin' Stupak? Harry Flipping Reid? Barack Milhaus Obama?

Not only is the free market the only system that has ever worked to improve the human condition, it is also the only system codified in our Constitution and Declaration. Indeed, it is the only system consistent with American values.

Everyone knows that ObamaCare is doomed to failure. The only open question is how much damage it does before patriots can put the brakes on.


Hat tip: Memeorandum. Linked by Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

Friday, May 14, 2010

ObamaCare Today: Democrats unveil National Abortion Database (NAD) to track all terminated pregnancies in the United States

One of the lesser known aspects of the Democrats' massive new health care bill is its mandate for a national health care database.

...it requires doctors to record patients' treatments in an electronic medical database and monitors doctors' decisions. Dr. David Blumenthal, the Obama administration's National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, explained in the New England Journal of Medicine last April that "embedded clinical decision support" — his euphemism for computers telling doctors what to do — will manage the quality of doctors' decisions.

ObamaCare dictates that every detail for every patient is recorded and maintained in a super-secure government database, which literally has zero chance of ever being compromised.

Feminists, who shouted "hands off my uterus" during the sixties' pro-abort demonstrations, are beginning to realize what the national health care database means.

Put simply, Democrats have put in place the mechanism for a National Abortion Database (NAD) to track all terminated pregnancies in the country.

But not to worry: the government is quite skilled at protecting personal information and would never, ever use that sort of personal information for political ends.

In fact, I hear rumors that NAD will be stored on a super-secure USB flash drive at the White House itself, where Rahm Emanuel will personally oversee security.


Saturday, May 08, 2010

Internal AT&T presentation: we'll save $4.1 billion a year if we drop all employee health care benefits

You know how President Obama relentlessly marketed his health care takeover with the slogan 'If you like your current health care plan, you'll be able to keep it™'?

Here's a news flash that you won't see in the legacy media: he lied.

Someone inside AT&T leaked an internal Powerpoint presentation that measured the financial impact of DemCare.





AT&T estimates that it can save upwards of $4 billion annually by dropping health care coverage and paying the penalty tax instead.

They'd be foolish to keep their health care benefits and, in fact, shareholders should demand the company capture that income and return it in the form of increased dividends and R&D.

Like the Soviet central planners of a bygone era, today's Democrats are marching us into an abyss of unintended consequences for our entire health care system. They're pushing us, shoving us, against our will, over a cliff of fiscal irresponsibility. They're killing a legacy of prosperity that we could otherwise bequeath to subsequent generations.

The modern, hard left Democrat Party leadership is intentionally trying to destroy the Republic: open borders, votes for felons, statehood for Puerto Rico -- using any and all means to gain the votes necessary to stay in power, no matter how catastrophic the effects are on the country.

As someone told me a while back: it's November or never.


Hat tip: William Teach.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

I'm floored: under DemCare, whistleblower lawsuits set to explode as lifetime employment act for ambulance-chasing, slip-and-fall lawyers enacted

Writing at Maggie's Farm, Bruce Kesler observes that the new health care takeover is poised to create an explosion in lawsuits. Put simply, the new law promotes whistle-blower suits -- especially of the unprovable, frivolous malpractice variety -- that drive good doctors out of business.

As if the US didn’t already have enough lawsuits, and as if excess litigation isn’t one of the prime drivers of medical costs, and as if the Democrats didn’t garner 90% of tort lawyers’ contributions, ObamaCare will create a new boom in lawsuits.

A Qui Tam action is brought by a private citizen against a company for fraudulent claims on a federal agency in violation of the False Claims Act. If triumphant, the claimant gets part of the court award.

Qui tam (Black's Law Dictionary pronunciation: kwày tæm) "is a writ whereby a private individual who assists a prosecution can receive all or part of any penalty imposed."

[Until] now, it was necessary for the claimant to be the provider or original source of otherwise unknown information. If not, the claim was denied court jurisdiction.

Now, the failure to be the provider or original source will not deny jurisdiction, and should there be such dismissal the government can oppose the dismissal and allow the court case to proceed.

Consider this the Who Wants to be a Billionaire? act for the trial bar -- a nice, juicy reward for the tens of millions that the slip-and-fall attorneys have donated to Democrats.

The equation is simple: more money for lawyers and Democrats; fewer doctors; more misery for patients and the American taxpayer.

But, remember, they're doing it for the children.


Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Britain's National Health Service Suffered the Most Data Breaches of any UK Organization since 2007: 287

The Beeb confirms what you could probably guess: Britain's National Health Service does a really lousy job of protecting its patients' sensitive health records.

The NHS has reported the highest number of serious data breaches of any UK organisation since the end of 2007 [with] 287 breaches ... in the period.

That accounts for more than 30% of the total number reported.

The NHS - the UK's largest employer with 1.7m staff - is in the process of rolling out digital patient records. [Ed: what could possibly go wrong?]

Most of the breaches (113) were the result of stolen data or hardware, followed by 82 cases of lost data or hardware...

Richard Vautrey, the deputy chair of the British Medical Association's GPs committee thinks the number of breaches reflect the size and complexity of the NHS as well as its culture of openness.

But don't worry, folks. President Obama has re-tasked Joe "BFD" Biden, moving him from stimulus fraud-fighting to streamlining our transition to a national health records database.


Sunday, April 25, 2010

Your handy guide to navigating DemCare's 159 new agencies, offices, boards, commissions, programs, committees, task forces, councils and bureaus

Mike M.:

1. Grant program for consumer assistance offices (Section 1002, p. 37)
2. Grant program for states to monitor premium increases (Section 1003, p. 42)
3. Committee to review administrative simplification standards (Section 1104, p. 71)
4. Demonstration program for state wellness programs (Section 1201, p. 93)
5. Grant program to establish state Exchanges (Section 1311(a), p. 130)
6. State American Health Benefit Exchanges (Section 1311(b), p. 131)
7. Exchange grants to establish consumer navigator programs (Section 1311(i), p. 150)
8. Grant program for state cooperatives (Section 1322, p. 169)
9. Advisory board for state cooperatives (Section 1322(b)(3), p. 173)
10. Private purchasing council for state cooperatives (Section 1322(d), p. 177)
11. State basic health plan programs (Section 1331, p. 201)
12. State-based reinsurance program (Section 1341, p. 226)
13. Program of risk corridors for individual and small group markets (Section 1342, p. 233)
14. Program to determine eligibility for Exchange participation (Section 1411, p. 267)
15. Program for advance determination of tax credit eligibility (Section 1412, p. 288)
16. Grant program to implement health IT enrollment standards (Section 1561, p. 370)
17. Federal Coordinated Health Care Office for dual eligible beneficiaries (Section 2602, p. 512)
18. Medicaid quality measurement program (Section 2701, p. 518)
19. Medicaid health home program for people with chronic conditions, and grants for planning same (Section 2703, p. 524)
20. Medicaid demonstration project to evaluate bundled payments (Section 2704, p. 532)
21. Medicaid demonstration project for global payment system (Section 2705, p. 536)
22. Medicaid demonstration project for accountable care organizations (Section 2706, p. 538)
23. Medicaid demonstration project for emergency psychiatric care (Section 2707, p. 540)
24. Grant program for delivery of services to individuals with postpartum depression (Section 2952(b), p. 591)
25. State allotments for grants to promote personal responsibility education programs (Section 2953, p. 596)
26. Medicare value-based purchasing program (Section 3001(a), p. 613)
27. Medicare value-based purchasing demonstration program for critical access hospitals (Section 3001(b), p. 637)
28. Medicare value-based purchasing program for skilled nursing facilities (Section 3006(a), p. 666)
29. Medicare value-based purchasing program for home health agencies (Section 3006(b), p. 668)
30. Interagency Working Group on Health Care Quality (Section 3012, p. 688)
31. Grant program to develop health care quality measures (Section 3013, p. 693)
32. Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (Section 3021, p. 712)
33. Medicare shared savings program (Section 3022, p. 728)
34. Medicare pilot program on payment bundling (Section 3023, p. 739)
35. Independence at home medical practice demonstration program (Section 3024, p. 752)
36. Program for use of patient safety organizations to reduce hospital readmission rates (Section 3025(b), p. 775)
37. Community-based care transitions program (Section 3026, p. 776)
38. Demonstration project for payment of complex diagnostic laboratory tests (Section 3113, p. 800)
39. Medicare hospice concurrent care demonstration project (Section 3140, p. 850)
40. Independent Payment Advisory Board (Section 3403, p. 982)
41. Consumer Advisory Council for Independent Payment Advisory Board (Section 3403, p. 1027)
42. Grant program for technical assistance to providers implementing health quality practices (Section 3501, p. 1043)
43. Grant program to establish interdisciplinary health teams (Section 3502, p. 1048)
44. Grant program to implement medication therapy management (Section 3503, p. 1055)
45. Grant program to support emergency care pilot programs (Section 3504, p. 1061)
46. Grant program to promote universal access to trauma services (Section 3505(b), p. 1081)
47. Grant program to develop and promote shared decision-making aids (Section 3506, p. 1088)
48. Grant program to support implementation of shared decision-making (Section 3506, p. 1091)
49. Grant program to integrate quality improvement in clinical education (Section 3508, p. 1095)
50. Health and Human Services Coordinating Committee on Women’s Health (Section 3509(a), p. 1098)
51. Centers for Disease Control Office of Women’s Health (Section 3509(b), p. 1102)
52. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Office of Women’s Health (Section 3509(e), p. 1105)
53. Health Resources and Services Administration Office of Women’s Health (Section 3509(f), p. 1106)
54. Food and Drug Administration Office of Women’s Health (Section 3509(g), p. 1109)
55. National Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health Council (Section 4001, p. 1114)
56. Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health (Section 4001(f), p. 1117)
57. Prevention and Public Health Fund (Section 4002, p. 1121)
58. Community Preventive Services Task Force (Section 4003(b), p. 1126)
59. Grant program to support school-based health centers (Section 4101, p. 1135)
60. Grant program to promote research-based dental caries disease management (Section 4102, p. 1147)
61. Grant program for States to prevent chronic disease in Medicaid beneficiaries (Section 4108, p. 1174)
62. Community transformation grants (Section 4201, p. 1182)
63. Grant program to provide public health interventions (Section 4202, p. 1188)
64. Demonstration program of grants to improve child immunization rates (Section 4204(b), p. 1200)
65. Pilot program for risk-factor assessments provided through community health centers (Section 4206, p. 1215)
66. Grant program to increase epidemiology and laboratory capacity (Section 4304, p. 1233)
67. Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee (Section 4305, p. 1238)
68. National Health Care Workforce Commission (Section 5101, p. 1256)
69. Grant program to plan health care workforce development activities (Section 5102(c), p. 1275)
70. Grant program to implement health care workforce development activities (Section 5102(d), p. 1279)
71. Pediatric specialty loan repayment program (Section 5203, p. 1295)
72. Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment Program (Section 5204, p. 1300)
73. Allied Health Loan Forgiveness Program (Section 5205, p. 1305)
74. Grant program to provide mid-career training for health professionals (Section 5206, p. 1307)
75. Grant program to fund nurse-managed health clinics (Section 5208, p. 1310)
76. Grant program to support primary care training programs (Section 5301, p. 1315)
77. Grant program to fund training for direct care workers (Section 5302, p. 1322)
78. Grant program to develop dental training programs (Section 5303, p. 1325)
79. Demonstration program to increase access to dental health care in underserved communities (Section 5304, p. 1331)
80. Grant program to promote geriatric education centers (Section 5305, p. 1334)
81. Grant program to promote health professionals entering geriatrics (Section 5305, p. 1339)
82. Grant program to promote training in mental and behavioral health (Section 5306, p. 1344)
83. Grant program to promote nurse retention programs (Section 5309, p. 1354)
84. Student loan forgiveness for nursing school faculty (Section 5311(b), p. 1360)
85. Grant program to promote positive health behaviors and outcomes (Section 5313, p. 1364)
86. Public Health Sciences Track for medical students (Section 5315, p. 1372)
87. Primary Care Extension Program to educate providers (Section 5405, p. 1404)
88. Grant program for demonstration projects to address health workforce shortage needs (Section 5507, p. 1442)
89. Grant program for demonstration projects to develop training programs for home health aides (Section 5507, p. 1447)
90. Grant program to establish new primary care residency programs (Section 5508(a), p. 1458)
91. Program of payments to teaching health centers that sponsor medical residency training (Section 5508(c), p. 1462)
92. Graduate nurse education demonstration program (Section 5509, p. 1472)
93. Grant program to establish demonstration projects for community-based mental health settings (Section 5604, p. 1486)
94. Commission on Key National Indicators (Section 5605, p. 1489)
95. Quality assurance and performance improvement program for skilled nursing facilities (Section 6102, p. 1554)
96. Special focus facility program for skilled nursing facilities (Section 6103(a)(3), p. 1561)
97. Special focus facility program for nursing facilities (Section 6103(b)(3), p. 1568)
98. National independent monitor pilot program for skilled nursing facilities and nursing facilities (Section 6112, p. 1589)
99. Demonstration projects for nursing facilities involved in the culture change movement (Section 6114, p. 1597)
100. Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (Section 6301, p. 1619)
101. Standing methodology committee for Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (Section 6301, p. 1629)
102. Board of Governors for Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (Section 6301, p. 1638)
103. Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund (Section 6301(e), p. 1656)
104. Elder Justice Coordinating Council (Section 6703, p. 1773)
105. Advisory Board on Elder Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation (Section 6703, p. 1776)
106. Grant program to create elder abuse forensic centers (Section 6703, p. 1783)
107. Grant program to promote continuing education for long-term care staffers (Section 6703, p. 1787)
108. Grant program to improve management practices and training (Section 6703, p. 1788)
109. Grant program to subsidize costs of electronic health records (Section 6703, p. 1791)
110. Grant program to promote adult protective services (Section 6703, p. 1796)
111. Grant program to conduct elder abuse detection and prevention (Section 6703, p. 1798)
112. Grant program to support long-term care ombudsmen (Section 6703, p. 1800)
113. National Training Institute for long-term care surveyors (Section 6703, p. 1806)
114. Grant program to fund State surveys of long-term care residences (Section 6703, p. 1809)
115. CLASS Independence Fund (Section 8002, p. 1926)
116. CLASS Independence Fund Board of Trustees (Section 8002, p. 1927)
117. CLASS Independence Advisory Council (Section 8002, p. 1931)
118. Personal Care Attendants Workforce Advisory Panel (Section 8002(c), p. 1938)
119. Multi-state health plans offered by Office of Personnel Management (Section 10104(p), p. 2086)
120. Advisory board for multi-state health plans (Section 10104(p), p. 2094)
121. Pregnancy Assistance Fund (Section 10212, p. 2164)
122. Value-based purchasing program for ambulatory surgical centers (Section 10301, p. 2176)
123. Demonstration project for payment adjustments to home health services (Section 10315, p. 2200)
124. Pilot program for care of individuals in environmental emergency declaration areas (Section 10323, p. 2223)
125. Grant program to screen at-risk individuals for environmental health conditions (Section 10323(b), p. 2231)
126. Pilot programs to implement value-based purchasing (Section 10326, p. 2242)
127. Grant program to support community-based collaborative care networks (Section 10333, p. 2265)
128. Centers for Disease Control Office of Minority Health (Section 10334, p. 2272)
129. Health Resources and Services Administration Office of Minority Health (Section 10334, p. 2272)
130. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Office of Minority Health (Section 10334, p. 2272)
131. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Office of Minority Health (Section 10334, p. 2272)
132. Food and Drug Administration Office of Minority Health (Section 10334, p. 2272)
133. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Office of Minority Health (Section 10334, p. 2272)
134. Grant program to promote small business wellness programs (Section 10408, p. 2285)
135. Cures Acceleration Network (Section 10409, p. 2289)
136. Cures Acceleration Network Review Board (Section 10409, p. 2291)
137. Grant program for Cures Acceleration Network (Section 10409, p. 2297)
138. Grant program to promote centers of excellence for depression (Section 10410, p. 2304)
139. Advisory committee for young women’s breast health awareness education campaign (Section 10413, p. 2322)
140. Grant program to provide assistance to provide information to young women with breast cancer (Section 10413, p. 2326)
141. Interagency Access to Health Care in Alaska Task Force (Section 10501, p. 2329)
142. Grant program to train nurse practitioners as primary care providers (Section 10501(e), p. 2332)
143. Grant program for community-based diabetes prevention (Section 10501(g), p. 2337)
144. Grant program for providers who treat a high percentage of medically underserved populations (Section 10501(k), p. 2343)
145. Grant program to recruit students to practice in underserved communities (Section 10501(l), p. 2344)
146. Community Health Center Fund (Section 10503, p. 2355)
147. Demonstration project to provide access to health care for the uninsured at reduced fees (Section 10504, p. 2357)
148. Demonstration program to explore alternatives to tort litigation (Section 10607, p. 2369)
149. Indian Health demonstration program for chronic shortages of health professionals (S. 1790, Section 112, p. 24)*
150. Office of Indian Men’s Health (S. 1790, Section 136, p. 71)*
151. Indian Country modular component facilities demonstration program (S. 1790, Section 146, p. 108)*
152. Indian mobile health stations demonstration program (S. 1790, Section 147, p. 111)*
153. Office of Direct Service Tribes (S. 1790, Section 172, p. 151)*
154. Indian Health Service mental health technician training program (S. 1790, Section 181, p. 173)*
155. Indian Health Service program for treatment of child sexual abuse victims (S. 1790, Section 181, p. 192)*
156. Indian Health Service program for treatment of domestic violence and sexual abuse (S. 1790, Section 181, p. 194)*
157. Indian youth telemental health demonstration project (S. 1790, Section 181, p. 204)*
158. Indian youth life skills demonstration project (S. 1790, Section 181, p. 220)*
159. Indian Health Service Director of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Treatment (S. 1790, Section 199B, p. 258)*

*Section 10221, page 2173 of H.R. 3590 deems that S. 1790 shall be deemed as passed with certain amendments.

Yes, it's just that simple. You can't find an elegant organizational design like this one outside another centralized, authoritarian, Politburo-style national government.


Sunday, April 18, 2010

Another screw-up heard from: DemCare Bill forgot to include a religious exemption clause

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as DemCare, has all sorts of hidden secrets. The immense and hastily drafted law, passed through the Senate on Christmas Eve with bribes aplenty, has hundreds of new mandates and some accidental omissions.

• Businesses with over 50 employees are required to construct dedicated "breastfeeding rooms" (which cannot be bathrooms).

• Congress forgot to exempt themselves and their staff members from the bill's effects, which means they "will not be able to keep the insurance they like, and may lose it even before there are any alternatives for them."

• Millions of seniors will lose their Medicare Advantage coverage, while millions more with Health Savings Accounts will be fined or have to buy new policies. There are 19 new taxes including penalties for individuals and families who do not buy "government-approved" policies; and businesses with 50 or more employees must pay a $2,000-a-head fine if they don't offer approved coverage.

• There is a huge new tax on investment income, which is not indexed for inflation. It will therefore hit more and more people every year -- just like the AMT.

• There is a new tax on home sales of 3.8%. This will hit middle-income people who are "'rich' for only one day" as they sell a house and buy a new one.

• There are $15.2 billion in new taxes on the middle class as DemCare severely restricts the medical expense deduction, which is widely used by families who have a serious illness or are elderly.

• According to Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA), there is a huge new loophole in the bill as nothing prevents health care companies from raising rates by any amount.

• The bill will lead to a dramatic shortage of doctors -- around 150,000 doctors almost immediately -- because the pool of newly insured welfare DemCare recipients has expanded so dramatically.

Now it appears the bill contains another surprise: the "religious exemption" that allows individuals to conscientiously object to joining DemCare was screwed up as the bill is written. Based upon the letter of the law as it was written and passed, there is no religious exemption.

‘(A) RELIGIOUS CONSCIENCE EXEMPTION- Such term shall not include any individual for any month if such individual has in effect an exemption under section 1311(d)(4)(H) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which certifies that such individual is a member of a recognized religious sect or division thereof described in section 1402(g)(1) and an adherent of established tenets or teachings of such sect or division as described in such section.

Problem is, there's no section 1402(g)(1) in the bill. That goes for the certified copy of the bill, not just the one online.

The U.S. Report also noticed the screw-up.

Another apparent omission relates to a section about exemptions for “a recognized religious sect or division thereof...” That section in HR 4872 references descriptions of such a sect in “section 1402(g)(1),” but the section appears to either be missing or to be part of an extraneous document. That section could not be located in HR 3590 either. We utilized a document search and we also combed through both bills. If it’s there, we could not locate it. What religions are exempted?

We must point out this religious exemption is unconstitutional, in our opinion. Attorney Marci Hamilton, writing for FindLaw, agrees with me and she does a fine job explaining why. Hamilton also believes this is a danger to children, “The sad truth is that members of Congress either do not know this religious-exemption provision exists within the mammoth health care bill, or else they are willing to pander to a small religious group at the expense of children's well-being.”

Now, what the staffers who wrote the bill probably meant to say is Section 1402(g)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code, which deals with Members of certain religious faiths and exemption from the code.

Any individual may file an application (in such form and manner, and with such official, as may be prescribed by regulations under this chapter) for an exemption from the tax imposed by this chapter if he is a member of a recognized religious sect or division thereof and is an adherent of established tenets or teachings of such sect or division by reason of which he is conscientiously opposed to acceptance of the benefits of any private or public insurance which makes payments in the event of death, disability, old-age, or retirement or makes payments toward the cost of, or provides services for, medical care (including the benefits of any insurance system established by the Social Security Act).

But, as the law is written, there are no religious exemptions.

No one gets to opt out: not the Amish, not the Muslims, not the Atheists.

How many other mistakes have the master planners made? How many omissions have the geniuses, who think they can proscribe the operation of one-sixth of the economy, made?

The horrors associated with this disastrous bill won't become fully evident for years, but it's safe this "law" marks the end of the United States as a Constitutional Republic.


Friday, April 16, 2010

DemCare's Secret $1.62 Trillion Immigration Time-Bomb

Nancy Pelosi wasn't kidding when she said, "We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it."

Buried deep within the the Democrat health care bill is a secret payoff to immigrants that defies American traditions and was heretofore undisclosed.

Hidden within the 2,400-page DemCare legislation is a bullet to the head of the longstanding "public charge" doctrine. The doctrine states that "no alien can be allowed into the United States if he is going to become a burden on the US taxpayer upon entry -- a public charge."

Congress and Bill Clinton strengthened the doctrine in 1996. They levied a five-year threshold on public benefits for aliens: put simply, new immigrants were unable to take advantage of the public dole until they'd supported themselves for at least five years. Reasonable enough?

Using every surreptitious means possible -- and discovered only recently -- the DemCare bill eradicates the "public charge" requirement. Why?

Simple: to build a permanent Democrat constituency dependent upon "free" health care. It means 10.8 million new immigrants on the public dole.

The "public charge" time-bomb was intentionally buried in the new legislation -- so deeply that it took weeks to discover it. As they unveil "immigration reform", President Obama and his drones in Congress will claim it costs Americans nothing. That immigrants will do "the jobs Americans won't". And other lies.

What will the bill cost taxpayers? The ObamaCare bill assumes a toll of $15,000 a year for middle class families.

By granting amnesty for at least 10.8 million illegal immigrants, the Democrat health care bill will cost $162 billion a year -- or $1.62 trillion, which the CBO never took into account.

Unless we fire the Democrat Party in November, I fear the magnificent American experiment may be at an end.

 

Sign spotted outside Hutchinson, Kansas, 35 miles northwest of Wichita

Sent in by Stretch.



Monday, April 12, 2010

SEIU invested tens of millions on Obama and DemCare in order to replenish its woefully underfunded pensions -- on your dime

The SEIU spent $85 million on Barack Obama's campaign and millions more on pushing for DemCare. Among its biggest rewards will be millions of medical civil servants -- and millions of new, dues-paying members. The Wall Street Journal's September 10, 2009 op-ed ("Read the Union Health-Care Label -- Get ready for Detroit-style labor relations in our hospitals"), describes state-run health care as opening "the door to implement forced unionization schemes" by reclassifying in-home health-care (and child-care) contractors as union members.

But why is the SEIU so desperate for state-run health care? Put simply, union bosses appear to be underfunding their members' pensions, deliberately and systematically, while enriching their own plans. And someone has to make up the shortfall. That someone is you.

Of all major unions, the SEIU appears to be one of the worst at the practice of underfunding its retirement obligations. Aside from being a major supporter of the far left Democrat agenda, it is tied to ACORN and its variants, the the disgraced posse of community agitators. So the act of skirting ethical, legal and moral hurdles doesn't appear to be a stumbling block for this crew.

The Rank Hypocrisy of the SEIU

The SEIU argues on its website that 401(K) plans are bad for workers. It claims that defined benefit funds are superior tools to assure workers' pensions. It would seem reasonable that the SEIU, then, would ensure that its 2 million members would benefit from generous, well-funded pensions.

But that is not the case -- at least for rank-and-file union members. ATR reports that:

• In 2006, the average SEIU members' pension plan was only 82% funded with assets of about $19,000 per person.
• Separate funds for employees of the SEIU itself were 105% funded, with about $85,000 per person.
• And funds covering SEIU officers and employees were 123% funded, holding roughly $80,000 per person.

However, only ten years earlier, in 1996, the SEIU National Industry Pension Fund possessed nearly 110% of the funds it would need for all of its pension obligations.

The Reason for the Disconnect Between Union Bosses and Members

So why are the union bosses' pension plans overfunded at 123% and the rank & file union members plans are near "endangered status" at 82%?

While the union blames market conditions, actual fund performance metrics demonstrate that this is not the case. It appears, instead, that the playing field has been tilted to reward the union bosses and union employees at the expense of the rank-and-file.

The problem exists not only in the SEIU's national plans. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce revealed that 13 SEIU local pension plans were less than 80% funded. Six were less than 65% funded, clearly in a danger zone.

For example, the Massachusetts Service Employees Pension Fund fell from nearly 110% to 70% funded in 10 years; and the SEIU 1199 Upstate Pension Fund fell from 115% to 75% since its inception in 1999.

To regain some semblance of fiscal stability, the SEIU has wagered heavily on forcing other employees to help fund its shattered pension reserves. That was the motivation behind the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) ("Card Check"), a major Democrat initiative for 2009, and one on which the SEIU spent tens of millions of its members' money.

Since Card Check is in serious trouble with lawmakers, state-run health care must suffice.

• The public option could force hospital and other health care workers into underfunded pensions, putting their retirements at risk
• The average union pension has resources to cover only 62% of what is owed to participants
• Less than one in every 160 union-represented workers is covered by a union pension with required assets
• The PBGC already supports upwards of 30,000 pension plans
• Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC), the governmental pension insurer, will assume $86.7 billion in liabilities by 2015
• The PBGC limits the benefits in multi-employer plans to $13,000 a year per retiree, compared with roughly $52,000 for single-employer plans.
• In 2007, the PBGC reported a deficit of $955 million, a $216 million increase from the previous year
• In July of 2009, the PBGC agreed to take on $6.2 billion in pension liabilities from bankrupt auto supplier Delphi Corp

DemCare was a Democrat payoff to union bosses, who fear what will happen to them when the massive pension disparity between workers and bosses becomes widely known.

DemCare was designed, first and foremost, to reward the SEIU. It's not about health care. It's about the redistribution of tax dollars from your wallet into the unions' coffers. And, no matter how these central planners, these masterminds, swirl the money around, their unfunded pension liabilities will crush taxpayers as certainly as night follows day.

Friday, April 09, 2010

'Brave, brave Sir Stupak ran away. Bravely ran away, away. When danger reared it's ugly head, he bravely turned his tail and fled.'

The Tea Party Express is celebrating the retirement of Bart Stupak.

Bravely bold Sir Stupak
Rode forth from Marquette
He was not afraid to fold
Oh Brave Sir Stupak
He was not at all afraid to be mocked in nasty ways
Brave, Brave, Brave Brave Sir Stupak.

He was not in the least bit scared to be bribed
Or to have his fealty questioned, and his elbow twisted
To have his integrity jeered and his honesty burned away
And his veracity derided and mangled, Brave Sir Stupak.

Brave Sir Stupak ran away. Bravely ran away, away.
When a tough vote reared its ugly head, He bravely turned his tail and fled.
Yes Brave Sir Stupak turned about, He gallantly chickened out.

Bravely taking to his feet, He beat a very brave retreat.
Oh bravest of the brave, Sir Stupak.

I hear what cinched Stupak's decision was President Obama's promise to campaign for him.

 

Wednesday, April 07, 2010

I want my robust, free health care without preconditions

Expect, oh, every doctor, nurse, hospital, insurer and pharmacist in the country to field millions of questions like these.

It was the most memorable time of my life, I...

...it was a touching moment because I never thought this day would ever happen. I won't have to work out how to put gas in my car, I won't have work out how to pay my mortgage. If I help him, he's gonna help me.

Sorry, wrong quote. These are the kind of questions to expect, multiplied by fifty or sixty million:

Questions reflecting confusion have flooded insurance companies, doctors' offices, human resources departments and business groups.

"They're saying, 'Where do we get the free Obama care, and how do I sign up for that?' " said Carrie McLean, a licensed agent for eHealthInsurance.com. The California-based company sells coverage from 185 health insurance carriers in 50 states.

McLean said the call center had been inundated by uninsured consumers who were hoping that the overhaul would translate into instant, affordable coverage....

"We tell them it's not free, that there are going to be things in place that help people who are low-income, but that ultimately most of that is not going to be taking place until 2014," McLean said...

The Obama administration is embarking on a years-long public education campaign about the overhaul, including a Web component. However, much of the guidance will depend on Department of Health and Human Services regulations that are still being developed.

Add all of those video and web production jobs to the swelling ranks of IRS employees and Labor Department snitch-handlers, and we're looking at boom times, baby!

If you're still not convinced this yet-to-be developed scheme to overhaul the entire health care system will actually work, I'd like to remind you that President Obama supports tough, direct presidential diplomacy with health insurers without preconditions.


Linked by: Michelle Malkin.

Sunday, April 04, 2010

'The price of their infidelity will be high'

Adapted for the web from a speech by Rep. Paul Ryan at the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs on March 31, 2010

Last week, on March 21st, Congress enacted a new Intolerable Act. Congress passed the Health Care bill - rather, one political party passed it - over a swelling revolt by the American people. The reform is an atrocity. It mandates that every American must buy health insurance, under IRS scrutiny. It sets up an army of federal bureaucrats who ultimately decide for you how you should receive Health Care, what kind, and how much... or whether you don't qualify at all. Never has our government claimed the power to decide when each of us has lived well enough or long enough to be refused life-saving medical assistance.

This presumptuous reform has put this nation, which was once dedicated to the life and freedom of every person, on a long decline toward the same mediocrity that the social welfare states of Europe have become.

Americans are preparing to fight another American Revolution, this time, a peaceful one with election ballots. But the "causes" of both are the same:

Should unchecked centralized government be allowed to grow and grow in power -- or should its powers be limited and returned to the people?

Should irresponsible leaders in a distant capital be encouraged to run up scandalous debts without limit that crush jobs and stall prosperity -- or should the reckless be turned out of office and a new government elected to live within its means?

Should America bid farewell to exceptional freedom and follow the retreat to European social welfare paternalism -- or should we make a new start, in the faith that boundless opportunities belong to the workers, the builders, the industrious, and the free?

What kind of nation do we wish to be? What kind of society will we hand down to our children and future generations? In the coming watershed election, the nature of this unique and exceptional land is at stake. We will choose one of two different paths. And once we make that choice, there's no going back.

This is not the kind of election I would prefer. But it was forced on us by the leaders of our government.

These leaders are walking America down a new path: creating entitlements and promising benefits that model the United States after the European Union: a welfare state society where most people pay little or no taxes but become dependent on government benefits ... where tax reduction is impossible because more people have a stake in the welfare state than in free enterprise ... where high unemployment is accepted as a way of life, and the spirit of risk-taking is smothered by a tangle of red tape from an all-providing centralized government.

Am I exaggerating? Are we really reaching this "tipping point"? Exact and precise measures cannot be made, but an eye-opening study by the Tax Foundation, a reliable and non-partisan research group, tells us that in 2004, 20 percent of US households were getting about 75 percent of their income from the federal government. In other words, one out of five families in America is already government dependent. Another 20 percent were receiving almost 40 percent of their income from federal programs, so another one in five has become government reliant for their livelihood.

All told, 60 percent - three out of five households in America - were receiving more government benefits and services (in dollar value) than they were paying back in taxes. The Tax Foundation estimates that President Obama's budget last year will raise this "net government inflow" from 60 to 70 percent. Look at it this way: three out of ten American families are supporting themselves plus - through government - supplying or supplementing the incomes of seven other households. As a permanent arrangement, this is individually unfair, politically inequitable, and economically dangerous.

It raises a subtle but real threat to self-government when the few are paying more and more of the bill for government services and subsidies to the majority: "He who pays the piper calls the tune." The next chapter is the rule of "crony capitalism," where those who pay most taxes get the privileges, and government by and for the people is replaced by government by and for the few. The end of this story is soft despotism.

We already see enough of "crony capitalism." When government sends bailout money to Wall Street firms they label "too big to fail," that's "crony capitalism." When government buys shares in General Motors, names their management, and dictates their salaries, that's "crony capitalism." When big health insurance companies, instead of competing for market, team up with Congressional Health Care writers to order every individual to buy their products, that's "crony capitalism." When thousands of small businesses have to meet bottom lines with no government bailout, well, you're too small to succeed: good luck!

The Democratic leaders of Congress and in the White House hold a view they call "Progressivism." Early Progressives wanted to empower and engage the people. They fought for populist reforms like initiative and referendum, recalls, judicial elections, the breakup of monopolies, and the elimination of vote buying and urban patronage. But Progressivism turned away from popular control toward central government planning. Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson would have scorned the self-proclaimed "Progressives" of our day for handing out bailout checks to giant corporations, corrupting the Congress to purchase votes for government controlled health care, and funneling billions in Jobs Stimulus money to local politicians to pay for make-work patronage. That's not "Progressivism," that's what real Progressives fought against!

Does anyone recall Norman Rockwell's famous "Freedom of Speech" painting of an average working Joe standing and speaking his mind at a town hall meeting? Today's Progressivists ridicule average Americans speaking out at tea parties across the nation and denounce their criticisms as "un-American." Millions of average Americans reject their big government solutions, and that scares them.

Progressivists say the Founders' Constitution -- including its amendments, with its principles of equal natural rights, limited government, and popular consent -- is outdated. We should have a "living constitution" that keeps up with the times. Progressivists invent new rights and enforce them with a more powerful central government and more federal agencies to direct society through the changes of history. And don't worry, they say. Bureaucrats can be controlled by Congressional oversight.

Would you like an example of how successful Congressional oversight is? Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Government-Sponsored Enterprises (or GSEs), underwrote trillions of dollars in junk mortgages. Year after year their officials and others from HUD, Treasury, and other agencies who supervise them marched up to Congress for hearings. Red flags were raised. The oversight committees had other priorities and dismissed them out of hand. With the housing market already tanking, Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank said: "This ability to provide stability to the market is what, in my mind, makes the GSEs a congressional success story." Less than 18 months later, the ‘market-stabilizing' GSEs went belly-up due to their shoddy business practices, collapsing the mortgage credit industry and sparking the worldwide financial meltdown. No one knows the ultimate cost to the taxpayers but it will be gigantic.

If Congress can't control what a few mortgage finance bureaucrats do with your dollars, why would anyone trust Congress to control what tens of thousands of bureaucrats will do with your health?

The Progressivist ideology embraced by today's leaders is very different from everything rank-and-file Democrats, independents, and Republicans stand for. America stands for nothing if not for the fixed truth that unalienable rights were granted to every human being not by government but by "nature and nature's God." The truths of the American founding can't become obsolete because they are not timebound. They are eternal. The practical consequence of these truths is free market democracy, the American idea of free labor and free enterprise under government by popular consent. The deepest case for free market democracy is moral, rooted in human equality and the natural right to be free.

A government that expands beyond its high but limited mission of securing our natural rights is not progressive, it's regressive. It privileges the powerful at the expense of the people. It establishes the rule of class over class. The American Revolution and the Constitution replaced class rule with a better idea: equal opportunity for all. The promise of keeping the earnings of your work is central to justice, freedom, and the hope to improve your life.

In their hearts Americans know this, but people were alarmed in 2008 by rising unemployment, falling home values, a credit crunch, and a financial meltdown.

They voted for a change of parties in the White House, and elected the largest Democratic Congressional majority in more than three decades. So overwhelming was their majority that the opposition is unable to do anything to stop them from running roughshod over our foundations. Harry Reid had a supermajority in the Senate that could not be filibustered. Still, the people's mandate for Congress and the new President was clear, simple, and unmistakable: get employment back on track --- get our economy growing again.

Americans have lost jobs nearly every month since these leaders took over the federal government in January 2009, more than 4 million at last count. The official unemployment rate hovers near 10 percent, but if we add in folks who have stopped looking for work due to lack of job prospects, the rate is a lot higher.

They began by passing the first Stimulus, a taxpayer giveaway to their favorite special interests. The price tag was $862 billion. They pushed through a second stimulus bill that cost you another $18 billion. Let's see: since 4 million Americans have been unemployed since they passed these "stimuli," that averages $220,000 per job lost. Think about that. Democrats can't even put people out of work without spending near a trillion dollars!

Just to return to where we were at the end of 2007, 8.4 million jobs have to be created. To reduce unemployment to its pre-crisis level of 5 per cent by the end of President Obama's term, our economy needs to create 247,000 new jobs per month. But we are headed in the wrong direction --- except in one field: the government is growing at breakneck pace in expanding federal payrolls.

Has any Congress in history enacted, or tried to enact, so many foolish, squalid, and counterproductive programs?

As their first major item of business last year, these leaders pushed through a budget so bloated that it will double the federal debt in five years, and triple it in ten.

Now the Administration has sent Congress a budget that's far worse. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office [CBO] reports that 10 years from now, this budget will drive the federal debt burden up to 90 percent of the nation's entire economic production. It propels spending to a new record of $3.8 trillion next year [FY 2011]. It widens the annual deficit to a new record of $1.5 trillion this year [FY 2010], and raises $1.8 trillion in new taxes through 2020.

Two and a half years after this recession started, and no new private jobs? Think what these mind-boggling tax increases and mountain of debt are signaling to people who want to open or expand job-creating businesses. Congress keeps raising the barriers against work and production - that's your answer.

At a time when economic and job expansion should be Washington's highest priority -- and as if the multi-trillion dollar Health Care debacle were not enough -- the Progressivist leadership in Congress are adding insult to injury by promoting their energy and climate agenda through their Cap and Trade plan. Put aside the fact that there is growing disagreement among scientists about climate change and its causes. This bill is a big mistake for other reasons.

CBO estimates that Cap and Trade's total cost is another near-trillion dollars. By one CBO estimate, the tax and energy cost bills for the average American household may grow by $1,600 a year. Other studies put this cost a lot higher.

If you don't believe me, let me quote Barack Obama:

Under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket. Coal-powered plants...natural gas...whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was...would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers...So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it's just that it will bankrupt them because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted.

Economists across the spectrum tell us that Cap and Trade would make our long-term national economic production fall below potential, causing higher unemployment. Federal spending is on an unsustainable path that can only get worse if this happens. There is general agreement that the environmental improvements from Cap and Trade are either nonexistent or too small to measure.

Congressional leaders are also pushing an unprecedented expansion of the Federal Reserve Board's regulatory powers over financial institutions under the belief that government must protect the people from themselves. The same leaders who never knew the government mortgage giants were supplying credit for worthless mortgages now want Fed bureaucrats to regulate the businesses that supply personal and commercial credit? If that happens, economic recovery will be a longer time coming.

And now I want to return to the Health Care Frankenstein. Most Americans understand that government-run Health Care is not free, not cheap, and not compassionate. I think most Americans believe Congress has no idea of what the public demand will be for subsidized Health Care. They are correct. When Medicare was enacted, Congress guessed it would cost about 10 percent of what it turned out to be after 25 years. Heck, Congress couldn't even figure the cost of the 3-month long Cash for Clunkers subsidy last year, underestimating it on the order of 1 to 9. Most Americans know the Congressional majority are clueless about what their government-run Health Care system is going to cost.

The drama that brought this creature to life was part tragedy and part farce. Ethical categories went out the window. Never in history have the deliberations of Congress been subverted on this scale. The secrecy, the lack of transparency, the half-truths were stunning. The votes called at midnight; the two- and three-thousand page bills members of Congress had no time to read before the votes; the sordid backroom deals; the Cornhusker Kickback that shamed Nebraska; the Louisiana Purchase; the "Gator Aid" Medicare privilege for Florida; the additional Medicare dollars for states whose wavering representatives only yesterday were ferociously denouncing earmarks; the federal judgeship dangled for one lawmaker's brother; the raid on the Medicare piggy bank; the lie that $250 billion for "doc fix" shouldn't count as a Health Care cost; the double-counted deficit estimate scam that would land any accountant in jail; the proposed Slaughter rule that Congressmen not record a vote on a bill their constituents hate, just "deem" it passed and vote on the amendments; and to complete the farce, the phony Executive Order pretending not to fund abortions when the Health Care bill, as "the supreme law of the land," does fund abortions. The level of political corruption to buy the votes for this debacle makes all past examples look penny ante by comparison.

Self-government stands or falls on integrity, not only in those who represent you but in the enactment of law. This indecency soiled our freedom and embarrassed the democracy we promote in other nations. And this may not be the last of it. To enact its transformative agenda, this leadership employs the Machiavellian saying that the end justifies the means. America was born in a revolution against that whole idea. Soon it will be the norm.

The Constitution and the consent of the people are all that stand between limited and unlimited government power. Zealous ideologues with the best of intentions brush aside the limits on power in order to get whatever they believe is good for the people -- no matter what the people believe. Our system of freedom can survive an assault, but it won't survive if the people are frightened, or angry, or asleep at the switch. A great Democrat, President Andrew Jackson, once said: "eternal vigilance by the people is the price of liberty." We can thank our current leaders at least for this: they have awakened the nation to the danger of taking self-government for granted.

Congress is not only enacting a social welfare state agenda over the objections of the people. It is failing to address the problems that threaten to engulf our country, principally economic decline and entitlement-driven debt crisis. The coming election will be a referendum on the agenda of our current leadership. Either it will give them a mandate that says "more of the same," or it will end the abuse of power and put America back on the path of growth and freedom.

Supposing the American people use their referendum in November to elect a new majority, what would the next Congress do?

The first order of business will be "repeal and replace." We will work to repeal federalized Health Care and replace it with a robust, competitive open market in health care that puts patients and their doctors at the center - not employers, not insurers, and not government agents. This takes at least two elections, and we must show our perseverance.

A new Congress will then turn to the great problem of our stagnant economy and the debt tsunami bearing down on us. The days of pretending not to notice are over. The next Congress will understand this threat and act after transparent deliberation and real debate.

I have put forward my specific solution, called "A Roadmap for America's Future," to meet this challenge. The CBO confirms that this plan achieves the goal of paying off government debt in the long run - while securing the social safety net and starting up future economic growth.

The problem in a nutshell is this: Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, three giant entitlements, are out of control. Exploding costs will drive our federal government and national economy to collapse. And the recession plus this Congress' spending spree have accelerated the day of reckoning.

Today, Medicare is $38 trillion short of its promised benefits. In five years, the hole will grow to $52 trillion. Your family's share of this gap is $458,000. Medicaid will add trillions more in state and federal debt.

Social Security's surplus is already gone, and its debt is mounting. Unless its finances are strengthened, the government will be forced to cut benefits nearly 25 percent or raise payroll taxes more than 30 percent.

Both Republicans and Democrats have failed to be candid about this. And we have only postponed the crisis by shaking a tin cup at China and Japan.

A new Congress could start by making you the owner of your health plan. Under my Roadmap reform, a tax break that now benefits only those with job-based health insurance will be replaced by tax credits that benefit every American. And it secures universal access to quality, affordable health coverage with incentives that hold down health-care cost increases.

Everyone 55 and over will remain in the current Medicare program. For those now under 55, Medicare will be like the health-care program we in Congress enjoy.

Future seniors will receive a payment and pick an insurance plan from a diverse list of Medicare-certified plans - with more support for those with low incomes and higher health costs. To reform Medicaid, low income people will receive the means to buy private health insurance like everyone else.

Under the Roadmap's Social Security proposal, everyone 55 and older will remain in the existing program with no change. Those under 55 will choose either to stay with traditional Social Security, or to join a retirement system like Congress's own plan. They will be able to invest more than a third of their payroll taxes in their own savings account, guaranteed and managed by the federal government. For both Social Security and Medicare, eligibility ages will gradually increase, and the wealthy will receive smaller benefit increases.

The Roadmap offers taxpayers an option: either use the tax code we have today, or use a simple, low-rate, two-tier personal income tax that gets rid of loopholes and the double taxation of savings and investment. And let's replace corporate income taxes with a simple, competitive 8.5 percent business consumption tax. These low-rate and simple tax reforms would provide the certainty and the incentives for investors to open new enterprises and for workers to find a marketplace expanding in new jobs.

The Roadmap plan shifts power to individuals at the expense of government control. It rejects cradle-to-grave welfare state ideas because they drain individuals of their self-reliance. And it still honors our historic commitment to strengthening the social safety net for those who need it most.

I would welcome honest debate in the next Congress on how to tackle our fiscal crisis - and the larger debate on the proper role of government. It's time politicians in Washington stopped patronizing the American people as if they were children - deferring tough decisions and promising fiscal fantasies. Tell Americans the truth, offer them a choice, and count on them to do what's right.

A political realignment is on the way. Democratic leaders are staking their party's future on their ideological agenda. Financial Services Committee Chairman Frank candidly admits that his party "are trying on every front to increase the role of government." Former President Clinton told a Netroots convention last year that "We have entered a new era of progressive politics, which if we do it right could last 30 or 40 years."

The question is, do we realign with the vision of a European-style social welfare state, or do we realign with the American idea?

My party challenges the whole basis of the Progressivist vision of this country's future. We challenge their attack on American exceptionalism. We challenge their claim that bureaucratic centralization is the only way the US can meet the economic and social challenges of our time.

Those leaders have underestimated the good sense of the American people. They broke faith with independents, Republicans, and their own rank-and-file. They walked away from the foundational truths that made America the wonder and the envy of the world. The price of their infidelity will be high.

Knowing America, I am confident that the American character is up to every challenge. America is not over. This exceptional nation will not go down the way of mediocrity. Ronald Reagan used to say: "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction ... It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for [our children] to do the same." We are that generation. The fight is our fight, and it begins now! The time is at hand to reclaim America for freedom.


Paul Ryan represents Wisconsin's First Congressional District. He serves as ranking member of the House Budget Committee and senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee.