10 points on Health care

1. A Massively Engorged Government, to the tune of $2.5 trillion in new entitlement spending. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), new entitlement spending in the plan would cost $216 billion by 2019, then increase by 8 percent every year thereafter.
2. A Cornhusker Kickback for All. No, special deals aren’t removed from Obamacare this time around. Instead, the House bill extends new federal funding for Medicaid to all states. Incidentally, you’re paying for it.
3. A Freight train of taxes, slamming the American people in 2018. You’ve heard of the “Cadillac” tax on high-cost insurance plans? It will be pushed back to 2018, and given the way “high-cost” plans will be defined, a large segment of the middle class would get hit with the tax over time.
4. Beware the shape-shifting tax monster. New taxes will take many forms, including taxes on prescription drugs, medical devices (like wheel chairs), and health insurance.
5. Unconstitutional mandates, courtesy of Congress. Don’t want to buy health insurance? Congress will penalize you if you don’t, regardless of income.
6. Lock your back door. Higher health care costs will be sneaking in. The plan gives subsidies to low-to-moderate wage families, but the subsidies will increase at a lower rate than the rate at which premiums increase. In other words, those families will pay more every year.
7. Lights out for small businesses? Companies that hire certain low-income Americans will have to pay $3,000 per employee, per year, even if the company offers insurance.Oh, and if a company employs 50 or more workers, they’ll face higher tax penalties to the tune of $2,000 per full-time employee.
8. Abortions. You will pay for them, like it or not. The House bill includes major funding for community health centers with no restrictions on federal taxpayer funding of abortions.
9. Want to play the stock market? Maybe not, after you hear this. The House bill slaps a 3.8% tax on investment income.
10. It’s not a federal system, after all. States will have less power. They’ll no longer have authority to regulate health care premiums. Instead, the federal government will take on the job. States and local governments won’t be able to control their own employee health plans; they’ll have to abide by new federal regulations.

Remember that health care is 1/6 of our economy and this 2000+ page bill could fundamentally change the United States forever.  What we should be doing is taking our time, listening to the people, and coming up with REAL solutions to health care reform.  Because lets face it, people need health care.  However, we shouldn't be trying to rush a bill that no one can understand to the Presidents desk.  I would also like to remind you that health reform is not going to take affect until 2014.  If we are in such a rush to give people care then the bill should take affect immediately.  

The bill is full of kickbacks, and shady deals.  Here are a few:

*Nebraska’s Hospital Helper. Via Rowan Scarborough at the Washington Times:

The Obama administration has delivered another budget plum to Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson and the state of Nebraska, adding more than a half-billion dollars for a new veterans hospital in Omaha.

The move reverses a decision by Mr. Obama’s own Veterans Administration of a year ago, which called for repairing an existing hospital.

The Veterans Administration made the budget switch during internal deliberations in 2009 at a time when the White House was wooing the moderate Democrat to vote for President Obama’s health care overhaul bill.

Mr. Nelson was among the last of the Senate Democrats to sign on to the health bill, deciding to vote “yes” after securing special Medicaid payments for Nebraska in a deal known as the “Cornhusker Kickback.” Health care reform opponents have widely panned that deal.

At the time that deal was being made, Mr. Nelson was getting another boost from the VA as it formulated its next budget.

Jake Thompson, a spokesman for Mr. Nelson, rejected the idea the new hospital was awarded in exchange for the senator’s health care vote.

Deny, deny, deny.

*Tennessee’s Hospital Helper. Via the Tennessean:

Bye bye, Cornhusker Kickback. Hello, special treatment for Tennessee and North Dakota.

Democrats unveiling revisions Thursday to their health-care overhaul bill decided to kill the extra $100 million in Medicaid funds for Nebraska that has become a symbol of backdoor deal making. But the 153 pages of changes to the package include an additional $99 million in 2012 and 2013 for Tennessee hospitals that treat many poor people.

Retiring Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., has fought for the funds for years to bring the state’s aid up to par with the rest of the country, spokeswoman Emily Phelps said. She said their inclusion had nothing to do with his announcement Thursday that he will vote for the final health legislation after opposing an earlier version in November.

Deny, deny, deny.

Tom Bevan notes the irony of Gordon’s little deal and a NASA slot rumor.

*North Dakota’s Student Loan Loophole. With a sick stomach, Scott Johnson at Power Line reports:

Although the package nationalizes the student loan system, one bank — the state-owned Bank of North Dakota — would be allowed to continue making student loans. Such a deal for North Dakota’s Democratic congressional delegation facing massive opposition to Obamacare back home.

North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan has already announced his retirement rather than try to defend Obamacare to his constituents. Kent Conrad — North Dakota’s other Democratic senator — is employing the full Nelson, declining the bribe. Referring to “an overly heated partisan environment,” he asked the House to remove the buyoff from the legislation.

We await word from Rep. Earl Pomeroy, the state’s lone member of the House. Before the package was announced, Pomeroy was an enthusiastic advocate of the buyoff. “We want what’s taking place in North Dakota protected,” Pomeroy said. It is not clear whether Pomeroy shares Conrad’s second thoughts

And Congress will now expressly fund racial discrimination in higher education:

The new package also promises new aid for colleges serving minority students, using money the government is supposed to save by no longer paying banks to make student loans. Included are annual payments of $100 million for schools with large numbers of Hispanic students, the same amount for colleges with many black students, and millions more for schools with large numbers of native Americans and other minorities.

Newspapers running stories on these deals such as the Washington Post’s “Cornhusker Kickback gets the boot in health bill” really ought to provide nausea warnings and motion sickness bags.

*The La Raza Lollilop. Open-borders congressional reps made a show of protesting the phony immigration enforcement provisions in Demcare. But purported opponents of the bill led by Illinois Democrat Rep. Luis Guiterrez are falling in line. Just as the congressional Hispanic Caucus announced it support of Demcare, Obama announced his vow of support for their new shamnesty push.

All they needed was a cheap and easy promise from Obama. Chumps.

*Water Wheeling & Dealing. IBD editorializes today:

On Tuesday, the Department of the Interior announced it was increasing water allocations for the Central Valley of California, a region that depends on these water allocations for local agriculture and jobs. The timing adds to our suspicions.

According to the Interior announcement, “Typically (the Bureau of) Reclamation would release the March allocation update around March 22nd, but moved up the announcement at the urging of Senators (Diane) Feinstein and (Barbara) Boxer, and Congressmen (Jim) Costa and (Dennis) Cardoza.”

Blue Dog Democrats Costa, who represents California’s 20th Congressional District (Fresno), and Cardoza, who represents the 18th (Stockton to Modesto), are both listed as “undecided” in the upcoming vote on health care reform, whether it be on the Senate bill itself or the “deem and pass” resolution known as the Slaughter rule, after Rules Committee Chairman Louise Slaughter.

The rule subverts the Constitution by allowing the bill to pass without members actually having to vote on it. Interior’s announcement gives Costa and Cardoza something to assuage the wrath of angry constituents just in time for any vote. They chose what was behind door number one.

This isn’t the first time. To get them out of the “undecided” column in last December’s House vote, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic leadership promised $500 million for a new University of California-Merced Medical School. Costa and Cardoza then voted “aye.”

Taken from MICHELLE MALKIN

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Silly liberals pay checks are for workers

I read a story today on www.newsbusters.org claiming because there is a mandate for car insurance, why is it so bad to have a mandate for health insurance.

Now follow me here (even though I know that a 4 yr old could get this one).  Yes car insurance is required when you purchase/lease a car, new or old, what have you.  However, and this is a BIG however, the Government can not force you to by a car.  And if you do not have a car you still do not have to purchase car insurance.  Just as if I was to purchase a house I would need to buy insurance, but if I am without a house at ANY TIME the Government can not fine me because I do not declare a residence.

You got that silly LIBERAL?

Yesterday I went to the Royal Oak Tea Party located on 13 mile road and as we were standing there my sister Emily asked a very good question or made a VERY good observation.  She asked, "Is this ice..."  Kidding.  No she asked, "If the Government everyone to get healthcare but the people who still can not afford it can not get it and they have to pay their fine, how are they going to pay it."

I gave her a one word answer, "YOU."  They will tax the working people more, to cover costs.

It's sad really seeing the 400+ people at the rally knowing what the future holds for them and then seeing the hundreds driving by who don't even have a clue.

K L Daniels

The Slaughter rule

Today on Fox News Mark Levin discussed the Unconstitutional slaughter rule the Democrats are thinking about doing since they seem to not have enough votes for the Health Care.

What is the Slaughter Rule? The Slaughter solution attempts to allow the House to pass the Senate bill, plus a bill amending it, with a single vote. The senators would then vote only on the amendatory bill. But this means that no single bill will have passed both houses in the same form.

But this is Unconstitutional because in order for a bill to become law—hence eligible for amendment via reconciliation—the Senate health-care bill must actually be signed into law. The Constitution speaks directly to how that is done. According to Article I, Section 7, in order for a “Bill” to “become a Law,” it “shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate” and be “presented to the President of the United States” for signature or veto. Unless a bill actually has “passed” both Houses, it cannot be presented to the president and cannot become a law.

Now everyone who has watched school house rock, or I don't know passed high school civics knows this, yet our Congress seems to have forgotten the rules of which we are to play by. Are they brain dead or do they just not care? I seem to remember a 17 page document called the Constitution that Congress is supposed to follow, yet I don't think ANY of our elected officials have actually read it.

Remember to call your congressmen ALL day tomorrow

Senator Debbie Stabenow
Phone: (202) 224-4822

Gary Peters
Phone: 202-225-5802


I want health care reform but I want it done the right way, no back room deals, no kickbacks, no abortion funding, no lies, no public option. We want real reform that helps economic growth not hinders it. I want this Congress to focus on the real issues like; Iran, Afghanistan, Israel, the ECONOMY, and JOBS. Enough of the nonsense get these things done.

NOVEMBER 2nd, 2010 (A DAY OF RECKONING)

K L Daniels

The Mini Chip

Good news for people with leaky heart valves, you may soon be able to get a leaky valve fixed without open heart surgery. The Mini Chip implanted through the artery is safer and nearly effective as surgery.

TAKEN FROM FOX NEWS

The device is already on sale in Europe, and its maker, Abbott Laboratories, hopes to win approval to sell it in the United States next year. Elizabeth Taylor reportedly got one last fall — the 77-year-old actress told fans about it on Twitter.

About 8 million people in the U.S. and Europe have leaky mitral valves — the valve between the heart's left upper and lower chambers. Not all are so bad they need treatment, but the worst cases can lead to heart failure over time.

In the study, six times more people who had surgery suffered complications during the next month than those who got Abbott's MitraClip. Deaths, strokes and blood transfusions were less common with the device. The clip was not dramatically less effective than surgery after one year.

Doctors called the study a watershed — the first big test of repairing or replacing heart valves through arteries rather than drastic surgery.

The MitraClip is only for the mitral valve. Other devices for other heart valves are in late-stage testing, and many doctors believe they will transform how these conditions are treated in the near future.


"We have opened the door for a new therapeutic option for patients," said Dr. Ted Feldman of NorthShore University Health System in Evanston, Ill.

He led the new study and gave results Sunday at an American College of Cardiology conference. The study was sponsored by Evalve Inc., which developed the device. Evalve was sold last year to North Chicago, Ill.-based Abbott, and Feldman consults for the firm.

Some surgeons were not convinced the device is close to surgery's effectiveness, and said patients need to be studied for more than one year.

"It's a partial victory for the device," Dr. James McClurken, a surgeon at Temple University in Philadelphia, said of the result. McClurken also is the conference chairman.

The study used an outdated method of surgery that minimizes its true benefit, said Dr. J. Scott Millikan, a surgeon at the Billings Clinic in Montana.

"Clearly this is a very exciting technology," but the study's leaders "set the bar for success way too low" for the device, he said.

The mitral valve is like a saloon door that opens to let blood flow into the heart's main pumping chamber. When the flaps of the door don't swing completely shut, blood flows back into an upper chamber of the heart.

Medicines can ease symptoms but do not keep the valve problem from getting worse. Bad cases are treated with open-heart surgery: Doctors partly stitch the flaps together in the middle, allowing blood to flow on either side but keeping them aligned during each heartbeat.

The MitraClip imitates those stitches. With the patient under general anesthesia, doctors push a tube into a blood vessel in the groin and guide it into the heart. The device, a fabric-covered metal clothespin, is mounted on the end of the tube and clips the two flaps of the valve together.

In the study, 184 people were assigned to get the clip and the procedure was successful in 136. Major complications occurred in 10 percent of people treated with the clip compared with 57 percent of 79 other patients treated with surgery. Two surgery patients died, two suffered major strokes, and four needed emergency heart surgery; none of the clip patients had those problems.

That made the device much safer than surgery, researchers said.

As for effectiveness, the study was only designed to see if the device was not substantially inferior to surgery and by that measure, it passed.

After one year, valve problems were sufficiently resolved in 72 percent of device patients and 88 percent of surgery patients.

Surgery is better, "but it's not so much better that patients, given the choice, want to undergo the open-heart procedure," especially given the difference in safety, Feldman said. "Part of what makes this attractive is that when the clip doesn't work, surgery remains an option," so the less drastic treatment could be tried first, he added.

The results are "very enticing and very exciting," although longer-term study is needed, said Dr. Robert Bonow, a former American Heart Association president and chief of cardiology at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

"The surgeons would argue this is less good of a result. But from the patient's point of view, this might be exactly what you need" to turn a big problem into a mild one that does not need further treatment, Bonow said.

HOW COOL IS THAT?

The Great Textbook Debate

This week if you have not been following the news the Texas State Board of Education has been deciding what makes it into our school text books. Since Texas is the largest supplier of text books in the nation, parents should be following this story VERY closely. Now if you followed the main stream media you would think that the "Religious far right" has some how  corrupted our children's text books. It's up to you to be the judge here.

From now on this is what the schools will be teaching.

Teachers in Texas will be required to cover the Judeo-Christian influences of the nation's Founding Fathers, but not highlight the philosophical rationale for the separation of church and state. Curriculum standards also will describe the U.S. government as a "constitutional republic," rather than "democratic," and students will be required to study the decline in value of the U.S. dollar, including the abandonment of the gold standard.

"American exceptionalism" and the U.S. free enterprise system, suggesting it thrives best absent excessive government intervention.

The origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its impact on global politics."

Former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir.

A reference to the Second Amendment right to bear arms in a section about citizenship in a U.S. government class.

Is this what you want your children to be learning? The left doesn't want this. Why? Is teaching the truth really that bad?

In the last few years I have become an advocate for private schools or home schooling. The Government is WAY TO FAR into our school system and teaching our children nonsense.

Now I know a lot of people do not like Glenn beck but EVERY American and especially PARENTS should watch this.

http://www.watchglennbeck.com/video/2010/March/Watch-The-Glenn-Beck-Show-March-5-2010/
PLEASE COPY AND PASTE INTO YOUR BROWSER TO VIEW

K L Daniels