A post by Maynard
By now you’ve heard Nancy Pelosi’s speech announcing the latest 1990-page $1.055 trillion health bill. From her opening remarks:
“Here’s what our health insurance reform legislation will mean to American families, workers, and the economy. [To heckler:] Thank you, insurance companies of America. [Laughter and applause.]
“This is why this legislation is important: affordability for our middle-class that lowers costs for every patient, reins in premiums, co-pays, and deductibles, limits out of pocket costs, and lifts the cap on what insurance companies cover each year. Affordability for the middle-class and security for our seniors. By strengthening Medicare, it secures the financial stability and solvency of Medicare for years to come, provides seniors with better benefits and guaranteed access to their doctors. And in this legislation, we will immediately begin to close the donut hole.
“Affordability for the middle-class, security for our seniors, and responsibility to our children. It reduces the deficit, meets President Obama’s call to keep the cost under $900 billion over 10 years, and it insures 36 million more Americans. [Applause.]
“That said, the bill is fiscally sound. It will not add one dime to the deficit as it expands coverage, implements key insurance reforms, and promotes prevention and wellness across the health system. The bill will expand coverage, including a public option to boost choice and competition in the health insurance reform. [Applause.]
“It covers 96 percent of all Americans and it puts affordable coverage in reach for millions of uninsured and underinsured families — lowering health care costs for all of us.
“One other very important feature is that it ends discrimination for pre-existing medical conditions. [Applause.] It opens doors to quality medical care to those who were shut out of the system for far too long. And because of the work of our Members and our meetings across the country, we know that prevention and wellness are important part of this legislation and it puts a major new emphasis on preventive care, expands access to screenings and other treatments to keep Americans healthy, and promotes workplace wellness.
“The drive for health care reform is moving forward. The Affordable Health Care Act will ensure, again, affordability for the middle-class, security for our seniors, and responsibility to our children…”
Seems to cover everything. More for everyone. Cheaper for everyone. Better for everyone. Security for everyone. Fully inclusive. Everything budgeted; no deficit. Big savings. Maybe a small “millionaires’ tax”.
No reasonable person could object. No reasonable person could want to criticize. It’s done. It’s perfect. As a time-saving measure, Pelosi has already done all the necessary compromising on behalf of the political opposition. So there will be no changes. Just rubberstamp it.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that there’s been plenty of time for amendments already, so neither her caucus nor members of the minority party should expect a chance to amend the health care bill when it gets to the House floor. “I’ve considered all of that input as our amendment process,” Pelosi said on a conference call with bloggers, citing “probably 78 caucuses on this subject where we’ve listened to members [and] 2,000 town meeting on this subject.”
What do you say in times like these? The problems here are so glaring and obvious that it shouldn’t be necessary to respond. But I guess I have to say something.
I’m just wondering…is there anyone out there, on either side of the issue, that actually believes Pelosi’s words have any connection with the truth? If you heard Pelosi’s delivery, it doesn’t even sound like she believes what she’s saying. I mean, yeah, we know some people want the government to run the system. But you can’t repeal the law of gravity. Governments are notoriously inefficient. That a government program will deliver more goods of a higher quality at a lower cost to a greater number of people, all the while avoiding further debt, is a ludicrous claim. Already the existing Medicare program is on course to bankrupt the country. Yet they say they’re going to pay for this plan by making Medicare more efficient.
The man on the street understands: Of course the plan will cost more. Of course it will increase the deficit. Of course there will be taxes, fees, shortages, delays, bureaucratic micromanagement, etc. etc. Obviously anybody who is happy with their current health care (which is a large majority of us) are likely to see our situations deteriorate.
And we who are philosophically opposed to the plan understand the danger of a government that controls access to health care. Because once government becomes that powerful, then government alone decides who lives and who dies. And a government that holds the power of life and death over every one of us individually is an anathema to Americans. Because we understand that government always services its elites and its cronies first. We see it in every dollar the government spends and in every contract the government awards. The government that controls health care will likewise pick its favorites. In the long run, the politically favored will live, and the out-of-favor will die.
People, open your eyes to the horror that is to be our fate. This is assuming we avoid national bankruptcy, which is looking less and less likely.
Some people will think I’m being too extreme in my warning. I think it’s obvious enough, but set it aside if you must. One way or another, nobody believes what the Washington leadership is saying. Everybody knows we’re being railroaded. So we’re not really seeing a debate, are we? Washington is just going through the motions. This is an exercise in power. It’s like those sham elections in the various hellholes of the world, where democracy is merely a façade.
Outside of Washington, I think a majority of us are deeply frustrated because we mostly believe that a sensible government really could have played a constructive role in refereeing the playing field and helping the nation get to a better place. Some topics where we could find much common ground would be, for example, tort reform, or more portable insurance, or allocated risks, or premiums based on lifestyle choices. And most people also understand that illegal immigrants are a significant drain on public services.
Why is government incapable of working on the commonsense issues on which there is so much public consensus? Wouldn’t a targeted approach go a long way towards defusing and perhaps even solving the endless “crisis”?
And then there are sensitive topics, such as abortion funding and what is politely referred to as “end of life counseling”. I don’t even want to go there.
It’s obvious that whatever is happening makes no sense whatsoever. Obama has pledged to pass a big bill, and now we’ve got a Frankenstein monster that serves only cronies and special interests. Everyone sees what’s happening, everyone knows it’s a catastrophe, nobody can stop it. What are we supposed to do now?
See now President Obama, isn’t it a good thing we didn’t hurry and pass that bill before the August recess? Now it’s perfect. On to social security reform! On to immigration reform! On to climate change reform! This Congress will solve every problem. All they need is enough paper to print the legislation and the money.
Congress = the largest Makework Population on the planet. Busy, busy, busy stealing our liberty. “Protect the Constitution from enemies foreign and domestic” MY ASS. Great work guys! Hey guess what – the secret is out: YOU are the enemy.
I’m just a lowly “worker”…but if I were you, I’d start making friends in low places (you guys are used to that) because come fall of next year – you’ll be the ones looking for work. No normal employer (small, American company) is going to hire you because you have shown yourselves for the criminals you are, and you’ll have put all of the large publicly owned companies (like GM, insurance companies) out of the picture.
If you haven’t stolen enough of our tax money and ferretted it away, it may be a good time to get to know the lady in the soup kitchen (and I’m not talking about Mrs. god and her $500 sneakers). I’d also recommend removing “…served as Senator/Congressman”, whichever, from your resume.
But then again – thank God, I’m NOT you. I, and millions like me, abhore you. You make us sick to our stomachs and we are AWAKE. We are not ripe for the picking. Did you see us on September 12? I’m quite sure you did even with the sad and useless media trying to cover it up. You can act like we weren’t there and aren’t here. You can try and cover us up. You can turn off our microphone. We don’t need it. We have one voice. We are not stopping. We are coming. We are coming for YOU.
Then, the Conservatives will save this Nation and turn back all this (pg 13) shit you have laid on our backs. We will not take it. We will not let you destroy the greatest Country on the planet. We are not global citizens. We are American Citizens with an American Constitution, with an American Declaration of INDEPENDENCE, with a Bill of RIGHTS. Americans crave FREEDOM. That is what brought our Forefathers here. That is what brings EVERYBODY here. We will never bow to socialism. Never.
You’ve taken the words out of my mouth. You speak for so many of us frustrated, disgusted Americans having to put up with this Administration and Congress. I don’t know how I am going to get through the next 3 years. I wish I could hibernate until 2012. One thing is for sure, I don’t want to miss Urkel’s concession speech.
Sanmaz: what a sweet thought (…”I don’t want to miss Urkel’s concession speech.”) But, will he really give a concession speech? I imagine he and Michelle would have to be dragged out of the WH by their hair…..
Are you kidding? The once can’t stand being in the WH! He can’t be dragged INTO the place! They’ll likely be on a “date” somewhere on OUR dime and will be giving us the finger as someone else takes the podium. Freaks.
Democrats only, until time to pay the tab. What else?
Attacking the fixed income elderly, the monstrous inflation printed up and poised in the nations banks like a biblical flood, and the administration demanding it be loosed, teamed with the Obama social security freeze.
His announced intention to send electricity prices through the roof.
Winter setting in and despite all the lies they are getting colder.
(Read about the Maunder minimum or the Dalton minimum over at iceagenow.com)
It’s not genocide. What’s the term for deliberately hastening death in older generations?
What’s the term for deliberately hastening death in older generations?
Whatever it’s called, it’s the same way the Nazis started their mass murder spree. The elderly and infirm were the first to go. Great idea Democrats!
The term is what you said: murder. The Statists like to refer to it as population control. Actually, didn’t Hitler start his spree by killing off all his senior military dudes? Can’t recall – maybe that was Stalin. Ahhhh…..what’err. Bet I know who the once would like to start with: us.
This is what I wrote to my Rep, Lipinski(D-Chicago)
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“What are we supposed to do now?” Maynard
I believe that answer will come and be so obvious when its time to act. I’m not sure what it is now.
Ahahahahahahahahahaha. Oh….this is good you guys. Dick Durbin had a poll on his website about healthcare – clearly laid out to get a “2 thumbs up” review he could tout. It’s possible, my answers may have skewed his results a tad; I mean – I’m only one voter, right?
Here’s the funny part – in order for your “vote” to be “counted”, you have to register, right? So, I put in my email address, first name as “Leaveus” last name as “Alone”.
I received a response in my email box: Dear Leaveus: Thank you so much for joining our movement, blah, blah, blah, help America grow stronger, blah, blah, blah. What a CROCK!
It will be interesting to monitor what sort of crap the idiot’s campaign “workers” put out. If any of it serves up humor, I’ll be sure to share! Man, what a bunch of morons.
I suppose I’ll get used to it, but I sure missed my Saturday morning Tammy fix.
After you become aware of the liberal philosophy inherent in much of the entertainment options they become unpalatable to some degree. I avoid much of it, as it offends me that it carries attacks against conservatives or conservative thought. It’s like being under an unending barrage of propaganda.
I never watched one episode of West Wing because I knew intuitively what it would be.
I never watched one episode of JAG or Army Wives.
One that fooled me was Politically Incorrect. I watched two half episodes. Bill Maher would get one conservative and three liberals to filibuster them out of the “conversation.”
At first I thought he had deliberately tricked people like me with the name of the show “Politically Incorrect.” Then I figured it out. To people like hime it really is politically incorrect, to even let one conservative be seen on the show. To let them be heard would be too much I suppose.
I notice lately that there are liberal shows that have names like Real Time and Getting Real.
I wonder if incorporating the word Real in the title is to appeal to a feeling of need the liberal base has, that somehow the ideas and even the news they are being fed daily in their entertainment and the “fringe media” in general leaves them needing more of a connection to reality. You can’t fool all of the people all of the time. Even the most obtuse may find themselves uneasy at one time or another.
If anyone still doubts that the U.N. is a bogus, hypocritical organization and needs to be kicked out of U.S. soil, watch this clip of an eloquent speech from a (Jewish) representative of U.N. Watch, and the outrageous response of the so-called “Human Rights Council.”
http://www.unwatch.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=bdKKISNqEmG&b=1313923&ct=3698367
For those who are interested in following how Medicare rations care to a Stage IV cancer patient, I opened a response in the mail last week, dated October 22, 2009, from Trailblazer/Medicare, regarding my radiation to a small metastatic brain tumor in June of 2009. They have determined that the treatment my Oncologist deemed necessary to kill the tumor was “in excess for what could likely be performed for this type of service” and that “the information provided does not support the need for this many services within this period of time.” So, they will only pay for 2/3 of my radiation because “allowed amounts are determined based on the locality and year in which the services were provided.” That is the Government telling me and my doctor how to treat my cancer based on “one size fits all” calculations. They also tell my doctor that he cannot bill me for the service that they refuse to pay for, he has to essentially “eat it.” I also was reminded that since I turned 50 this year, that I qualify for a pap smear and yearly exam with the GYN every TWO years now, not every year. It doesn’t matter that I am a cancer patient.
I have been a breast cancer survivor for 6 years and a stage IV metastatic breast cancer patient for 5 years. I share my story of how Medicare has, and continues to, ration care to some (if not all) stage IV cancer patients. This is at least the third denial that my doctors have had to face for my care this year. Medicare denies payment to doctors based on generic “one size fits all” treatment guidelines, otherwise known as rationing. It took 15 fractions of IMRT Stereotactic Radio Surgery (5 days of pinpointed targeted radiation) to treat my most recent brain tumor, but Medicare will only pay for 10 fractions… that is all that is approved by them for my diagnosis. My doctor, being that he is MY DOCTOR and is the cancer expert, knows that I need 15 fractions of said radiation to treat my tumor. The Govt says that 15 is excessive, and they will only pay for 10. So after 4 appeals, he gives up and essentially the 5 fractions that the Govt won’t pay for are on his dime. And that is on top of the absurdly miniscule amount that they tell him they will pay him for each treatment, as opposed to what the treatments actually cost. This is paternalistic rationing/eugenics. He will continue to treat me in any way necessary to keep me alive and kicking as long as we can, even though he will be continually screwed by Medicare. He is sadly very accustomed to being screwed by the Govt telling him how to practice medicine for his Medicare patients, but he continues to treat me as medically innovatively and soundly as necessary for us to keep a leg up on the disease. I apologized to his business office yesterday that I had ever opted into Medicare, giving up my private insurance… I want out of Medicare so bad I could vomit. But I don’t have that choice. My private insurance never questioned what the doctor needed to do to treat my advanced cancer. I have a medigap supplement that pays the 20% that Medicare doesn’t pay, and I have Prescription Part D. I pay $320 per month to have as complete coverage as I possibly can, but my longevity and medical care is completely dependent upon what the Medicare guidelines are, not upon what I pay in premiums per month. Anyone who thinks Medicare is “free”, as so many of my liberal friends do, needs to have their head removed and screwed on straight. I opted for my social security disability 3 years ago, and when I became eligible for Medicare a year later, I stupidly and regretfully opted in and canceled my superior private insurance…
Private insurance is allowed to follow Medicare guidelines (and of course they should be, in order to fairly compete), so most of the demonized private denials are based on Medicare denials. Not always, but more often than not. On average, private denies coverage a lot less than Medicare in my experience with the two systems. For medical procedures, private insurance also negotiates the prices they pay the doctor for medical procedures, but they pay a more fair price. Private insurance never denied any part of my radiation, and with private you have a precertification process for surgeries and procedures that you don’t have with Medicare. With Medicare you treat first and find out later if they will pay or deny it. It is a wretched system. For my radiation they dictate per service payment to the doctor at about 1/6th to 1/8th of what private insurance pays. To put it in perspective, a hairdresser like me, in an mid-level salon, charges more for a ladies haircut than Medicare pays my Oncologist for an office visit.
I share this so that folks can get a glimpse of what government healthcare is REALLY like.
What they are about to heap upon us will be so vulgar and obscene. If this passes, and it is unrepealable, we will truly have lost everything American about America… I am devastated by the thought of what these criminals are about to get away with.
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