Monday, August 31, 2009

I Read the Heath-Scare Bill & Obama Is Lying!

Concerned American to Concerned American:

Obama says "I am in the way" of his Health-Scare Bill because I have questions and concerns. Well Mr. Obama I have read your Health-Scare Bill and want to know why you are lying and not telling me what is in the bill. Saying one thing and writing another. Why are you scared, putting my Constitutional Right to Free Speech under attack, suppressing and censoring my concerns?

I AM NOT IN THE WAY!

Who am I? I am an American just like you. Americans in town hall meetings all across the country want to know what Obama the White House and Democrat Politicians in Washington are planning to do to their health.

What am I concerned about? A "government run" public insurance option that will destroy private insurance and the cost every American will pay in increased taxes.

What am I doing? I am on the front line to fight back against the media onslaught that calls Obama a god. We must have free and open communication of all the Health-Scare Bill information without government or government condoned private censorship.

TELL CONGRESS TO REJECT THE SOCIALIZED HEALTH SCARE
SEND YOUR FAXES NOW!

"No government ought to be without censors, and where the press is free, If virtuous, it need not fear the fair operation of attack and defense. Nature has given to man no other means of sifting out the truth whether in religion, law or politics." - Thomas Jefferson 1792

I do not want a White House with conflicts of interest and a senior advisor to the president David Axelrod making millions from big players in the health care debate. Axelrod's old firm AKPD owes him $2 million, which it's due to pay in installments beginning Dec. 31. It is currently receiving huge fees "from Healthy Economy Now, a coalition that includes the Washington-based Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America, known as PhRMA," as well as AARP, the SEIU and others.

Here are a few of the shocking health controls per the Chosen One: Obama:

  1. Pg 425 Lines 17-19 Government will instruct & consult regarding living wills, durable powers of atty. Mandatory! He will control your living wills
  2. Pg 30 Sec 123 of HC bill - THERE WILL BE A GOVT COMMITTEE that decides what treatments/benefits you get (Unions are EXEMPTED)
  3. Pg 42 of HC Bill - The Health Choices Commissioner will choose your HC Benefits for you. You have no choice! Government, not you, will decide what health care you are allowed.
  4. PG 50 Section 152 in HC bill - HC will be provided to ALL non US citizens, illegal or otherwise Obama wants illegal aliens covered, with YOU paying
  5. Pg 170 Lines 1-3 HC Bill Any NONRESIDENT Alien is exempt from individual taxes. (Only Americans will pay) Illegal aliens get health care FREE.
  6. Pg 241 Line 6-8 HC Bill - Doctors, doesn't matter what specialty you have, you'll all be paid the same Government gets to set pay rates-this guarantees fewer specialized doctors, mandating a lower quality of care.
  7. PG 272 SEC. 1145. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN CANCER HOSPITALS - Cancer patients - welcome to rationing! City of Hope and other cancer hospitals controlled by government--very young and elderly, due to other parts of Obamacare, will be forced to die since they will not be allowed health care.
  8. They will teach you to die. PG 425 Lines 4-12 Government mandates Advance Care Planning Consult. Think Senior Citizens and end of life.
  9. They will stop assistance to special needs children. Pg 354 Sec 1177 - Government will RESTRICT enrollment of Special needs people!
What type of society in the past operated like this--killing the young, the elderly, and the special needs? This is not health care; it is Obama's version of "A Heath Scare".

"Government has laid its hand on health, housing, farming, industry, commerce, education, and to an ever-increasing degree interferes with the people's right to know. Government tends to grow, government programs take on weight and momentum as public servants say, always with the best of intentions. But the truth is that outside of its legitimate function, government does nothing as well or economically as the private sector of the economy." - President Ronald Reagan

Lagging in the poles and losing support Obama has called for Obamites in local communities to lobby for Socialized and Rationed Health Care.
Obama believes that home is where the radically liberal administration of Barack Hussein Obama is strongest. But Americans do not agree with him or socialized healthcare and the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that not only are Obama's disapproval ratings soaring but support for his health care plan is now less than 46 percent, a new low.

He claims that our grass roots effort to inform all Americans of the true cost of his plan are full of those who profit from the status quo, or see this debate as a political game, and they will stop at nothing to block reform. Obama is not addressing the bold face lies of his plan documented by FactCheck.org and instead says you are filling the airwaves and the internet with outrageous falsehoods to scare people into opposing change.

Obama is very nervous that our campaign of truth about the health care is working. He claims that some people, not surprisingly, are getting pretty nervous, as well they should. So Obama says he wants his socialist movement to "get out there, fight lies with truth, and set the record straight."

Folks that is what AmeriPAC has been doing all along setting the record strait. We believe you are entitled to know everything in this bill and how much you stand to lose and how much it will cost you.

Be sure you counter Party Obamites, tell everyone the truth about this bad bill, and make certain your members of Congress know that you're counting on them to act and STOP THIS BILL.

But we have a chance TODAY to stop them as well!

TELL CONGRESS TO REJECT THE SOCIALIZED HEALTH SCARE
SEND YOUR FAXES NOW!

More than 88 million Americans could LOSE their private, employer-based coverage, according to a new analysis of "The American Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009" released this week by The Heritage Foundation.

While Obama, Pelosi and Reid insist that "if you like your health insurance coverage, you'll get to keep it," it's now very clear: once again, THEY'RE LYING.

Is THIS "change we can believe in"??? NO -- and that means WE have to take action NOW!

We can't AFFORD Obama's plan to socialize health care in America!
How can anyone in Congress vote for a new entitlement program for health care when Congress has not even begun to face up to this unfunded liabilities problem?
Well, they're trying to -- but WE can stop them, with YOUR help!

We CANNOT let the radical liberals in Congress -- and the White House -- force this plan for socialized health care on the American people! That's why we've set up our website to enable you to send a strong message to every single member of Congress, in both Houses, OPPOSING this outrageous plan.

For about what it would cost you in time and telephone charges, you can send Blast Faxes to Democrats, Republicans, Independents -- EVERYONE in the U.S. House AND the U.S. Senate, DEMANDING that they REJECT this socialized health care plan NOW!
Can it work? Can we stop Congress from forcing this down our throats, even though the GOP is in the minority?

YES -- thanks to "blue dog Democrats," who are more conservative than their "leaders" like Pelosi and Reid. Already, they've been holding up the bill in committee; now, they're saying that Pelosi might not have the votes she needs in the House! And on the Senate side, thanks to the overwhelming opposition of the American people to this bill, Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), chair of the Senate Finance Committee, was overheard jokingly telling House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, "let me tell you, praying might be helpful here."

TELL CONGRESS TO REJECT THE SOCIALIZED HEALTH SCARE
SEND YOUR FAXES NOW!

Please, take action right away to STOP this bill dead in its tracks!
For more information, click here.
Defend America,

Alan Gottlieb
AmeriPAC
President and Founder

P.S. America needs health care reform. But new government programs, mandates, and price controls would deny patients control over their most important and personal medical decisions -- and it's "reform" that we cannot afford.

THIS ATTEMPT BY LIBERALS IS OUTRAGEOUS -- and it MUST be stopped! Send your faxes right away to make sure these Senators get a STRONG message, to REJECT the socialized plan of "Obamacare" NOW -- Thank you!

TELL CONGRESS TO REJECT THE SOCIALIZED HEALTH SCARE

SEND YOUR FAXES NOW!

Please make checks payable to AmeriPAC:
American Political Action Committee (AmeriPAC)
PO Box 1682
Dept Code 2907
Bellevue, WA 98009-1682

Paid for by AmeriPAC, a federally-authorized and qualified multicandidate political action committee. Contributions to AmeriPAC will be used in connection with federal elections. Maximum contribution per individual per calendar year is $5,000. Contributions from foreign nationals and corporations are prohibited. Contributions are not deductible for federal income tax purposes.

Posted: Daily Thought Pad – Cross-Posted: Knowledge Creates Power

For those of you who have followed our blogs, Daily Thought Pad, Knowledge Creates Power and some others we contribute to have known that these items and more undesirable items are in the health care and associated bills. But those of you who are new readers or who just wanted to believe that it wasn’t so… here it is again from another source, AmeriPac

If you do not want AmeriPac to send your faxes, below is the contact information for you to fax, call and email directly and then mail them out to… so as many legislators as you can!!

No ObamaCare

No Cap and Trade

No Additional Stimulus Bills and Give Us Back Whatever Hasn’t Been Spent

No Rockefeller-Snowe Cybersecurity Bill

No More New Legislation Until we stop the free fall of our Economy

Get Rid of the Czars

No Fairness Doctrine, Localism or any Other Restriction of Radio or TV

Leave Our Freedoms Alone

No Additional Gun Control Legislation

No Cash For Appliances

No Middle Class Tax Increases

Support Our Allies

Fight Our Enemies

Stop Apologizing for the United States

Govern by and Enforce the U.S. Constitution!!

And anything else you want to add…

Call the switchboard for Congress in Washington today... your Senator, your Congressperson and Nancy Pelosi and tell them "NO on ObamaCare, NO on Cap and Trade" & NO on the Carbon Tax!!!

1-202-224-3121- Switchboard - House

1-202-225-3121- Switchboard - Senate

(202) 225-0100 - Speaker of the House Pelosi

Speaker Nancy Pelosi
http://speaker.house.gov/contact or http://www.speaker.gov/contact

Info for Senators, Find Senators from your State.

Call the White House at 202-456-1111 & tell President Obama you have had enough!

And if you can Join up with the Tea Party Express as it passes your area:

Join the Tea Party Express

Tea Party Express Tour Schedule

or better yet… See You in Washington D.C. on 9/12

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50 Ways to Boost Your Noodle

Want to keep your brain in shape? Work it

One of the best ways to stay sharp is to exercise that muscle between your ears, research indicates. And discussions with some of the top scientists studying the brain reveal that you can work your noggin in many different ways, every day.
Here are 50 of them:


1. Snack on almonds and blueberries instead of a candy bar. As they lower blood sugar, healthy snacks can improve cognition. In this case, the omega-3s in the almonds and the antioxidants in the blueberries can keep your brain functioning correctly.
2. Ballroom dance like the stars. Dancing is a brain-power activity. How so? Learning new moves activates brain motor centers that form new neural connections. Dancing also calms the brain's stress response.
3. Love the crunch of croutons on your salad? Try walnuts instead. Omega-3s in walnuts have been found to improve mood and calm inflammation that may lead to brain-cell death. They also replace lost melatonin, which is necessary for healthy brain functioning.
4. Take your dog—or yourself—for a walk. Walking for just 20 minutes a day can lower blood sugar. That helps stoke blood flow to the brain, so you think more clearly.
5. Add Chinese club moss to your daily vitamin regimen. Taking less than 100 micrograms of the herb daily may protect your brain's neurotransmitters and keep synapses firing correctly, tests suggest. But this herb is powerful, so check with your doctor for drug interactions.
6. Volunteer to answer questions at the library, arboretum, museum, or hospital.Playing tour guide forces you to learn new facts and think on your feet, helping to form new neural pathways in your brain. What's more, interacting with others can ease stress that depletes memory.
7. Grab a video-game joystick. New video games, such as the Wii and Ninetendo DS, offer brain teasers that make you learn the computer's interface as you master the brain games. That's a double boost to the formation of new neural connections and to response time and memory.
8. Leave your comfort zone. Getting good at sudoku? Time to move on. Brain teasers don't form new neural connections once you've mastered them. So try something that's opposite your natural skills: If you like numbers, learn to draw. If you love language, try logic puzzles.
9. Get support for stressors. You may love your ailing family member, but the chronic stress of facing the situation alone can shrink your brain's memory center. Interacting with others activates many parts of the brain—and learning new ways of coping forms new neural connections.
10. When you look around, really look. Stare straight ahead, and now—without moving your eyes—see if you can make out what's at the periphery. Do this regularly and you'll stimulate the neural and spatial centers of the brain, which can atrophy as you age.
11. When you look forward, also look around. Walking down the street, don't just keep your eyes forward. Scan to the left and to the right. These actions can activate rarely used parts of the brain. That in turn can spur brain cell growth and new neural connections.
12. Show, don't tell. When you woke up this morning, how bright was the light in your room? What did the air smell like when you opened the window? How many colors could you discern in your garden? Notice and report these details to others to prompt cell growth in the visual, verbal, and memory parts of the brain.
13. Listen for details when a friend tells a story. Heed changes in the person's tone and register small facts you might otherwise gloss over. Conjure a mental image of the story. By doing this, you activate multiple areas in the brain and encourage memory formation.
14. Drink two cups of gotu kola tea daily. This ayurvedic herb, used for centuries in India, regulates dopamine. That's the brain chemical that helps protect brain cells from harmful free radicals, boosts pleasurable feelings, and improves focus and memory.
15. Try some new tea. Tulsi tea, made of an Indian herb called holy basil, and ginseng tea both contain herbs that can help reduce overproduction of the stress hormone cortisol, which can hamper memory. The herbs also help keep you alert.
16. Sit quietly, choose a word that calms you, and when your mind starts to wander, say the word silently. A form of meditation, this type of activity can reduce the stress hormone cortisol, which zaps memory. Meditation also helps mitigate focus-stealing feelings like depression and anxiety.
17. Get with the times—keep calendars in every room. Checking calendars keeps you focused and oriented, while creating a mental picture of the day in your head.
18. Get some class. Live near a college? Research shows that taking courses—even just auditing them—can stave off dementia at an early age. Don't go in for formal learning? Check out book readings, seminars, and other educational events.
19. Wear a helmet. Riding your bike is great for your health—until you fall and get a concussion. Even one serious concussion could increase your risk of developing dementia. So protect your physical brain as meticulously as you would protect its functioning by doing brain teasers.
20. Sip red wine, judiciously. Up to two glasses for women and up to three for men weekly delivers the powerful antioxidant resveratrol, which may prevent free radicals from damaging brain cells. But beware: Drinking more than that could leach thiamine, a brain-boosting nutrient.
21. Check your thyroid. It's a tiny little gland in your neck, but it could have a big effect on brain health: Thyroid hormones (T4 and T3) help nerve cells make connections. If you don't have enough of them you may be depressed, tired, and foggy-headed.
22. Choose lean pork loin crusted in peanuts and broccoli over fries and a burger.The pork and peanuts are high in thiamin, a nutrient that reduces inflammation that damages brain cells. The folate in broccoli is good for keeping synapses firing correctly.
23. Replace candy with a sweet pick-me-up of pears, apples, oranges, and cantaloupe. The combination prevents elevated blood sugar that could impede brain cells from firing correctly. It also provides fiber and antioxidants that help scrub plaque from brain arteries and mop up free radicals that inhibit clear thinking.
24. Top rolled oats with cinnamon for a brainy breakfast. The oats scrub plaques from your brain arteries, while a chemical in cinnamon is good for keeping your blood sugar in check—which can improve neurotransmission.
25. Turn up the tunes. TV may provide a lot of stimuli, but watching too much can dull brain transmission. Instead, spend an afternoon listening to your favorite music. Music can lower stress hormones that inhibit memory and increase feelings of well-being that improve focus.
26. Curry up. The active ingredient in Indian curry, turmeric, contains resveratrol, the same powerful antioxidant that makes red wine good for brain health. Eat curry once a week, or sprinkle it on salads, to protect brain cells from harmful free radicals.
27. Take a food break. Research shows that people who fast one day a week or month unlock a unique form of blood glucose that helps the brain more efficiently transmit information. Then break your fast with brain-healthy blueberries, walnuts, and maybe a glass of red wine.
28. Replace the olive oil in your favorite vinaigrette with walnut oil. Walnut oil, which is chock-full of brain-healthy omega-3s, cuts brain inflammation, a precursor to many cognitive problems. It also keeps oxygen-rich blood flowing to your brain by thinning the blood slightly.
29. Go wild with fish. While fish is generally good for you, the metals that accumulate in farmed fish like tilapia may contribute to cognitive impairments. So when you're shopping, check that the fish is from the wild, not domestically raised, and stick with heart- and brain-healthy fish like salmon and sardines.
30. Redecorate and redesign your environment. Plant new flowers in front of your house. Redecorate the kitchen. Rearrange your closets and drawers. Replace the candles in your living room with some that have a different scent. Making such changes can alter motor pathways in the brain and encourage new cell growth.
31. Choose a side. Talk sports, business, or politics. If you can do it without getting angry, which raises the memory-hindering hormone cortisol, engaging in a good debate can form new neural pathways and force you to think quickly and formulate your thoughts clearly.
32. Sleep. Shut-eye isn't a luxury. It's when your brain consolidates memories. Poor sleep, caused by medical conditions, worry, depression, or insomnia, can interfere with your rest. So treat yourself to relaxing scents like vanilla before bed. They raise the chemical dopamine and reduce cortisol, a stress hormone.
33. Check your neck. It may sound crazy, but a clot in your neck can stunt your memory by preventing enough blood and oxygen from getting to your brain. At your next checkup, ask your doctor to use the other side of his stethoscope to ensure that all's clear in your carotid artery—the main one in your neck.
34. Take a mental picture. Connect names with faces by creating mental images that trick your mind into remembering. For instance, remember Mr. Bender with the curly hair by imagining him bent over, with his curly hair facing you.
35. Read the news. Keeping up with the latest not only activates the memory part of the brain but also gives you something to talk about with friends and family. That kind of socializing can activate multiple parts of your brain and encourage cell growth.
36. Turn off the TV and pick up an instrument. Frequently tickling the ivories or blowing a horn—especially if you're trying to master it—is associated with lower dementia risks. What's more, it eliminates boredom, a brain state that can cause some thinking skills to atrophy.
37. Join a book club. Pick up a good book to cut down on brain-withering boredom. Frequent reading is associated with reduced risk of dementia. And meeting new people forces new neural connections. Besides, you might enjoy the book.
38. Play Yahtzee! Whether you choose Risk, Pictionary, Scrabble, or Boggle, board games are associated with a lower risk of developing dementia. They activate strategic, spatial, and memory parts of the brain, and require you to socialize, which can help form new neural pathways.
39. Parlez-vous brain health? You don't have to be a linguist to benefit from learning a new language. Adopting a foreign tongue boosts the verbal, language, and memory parts of the brain.
40. Savor a sensory experience. Those with the best memories take advantage of all their senses. That's because memorization is a cohesive brain effort. So head to the garden or the kitchen and take in the sights, smells, sounds, tastes, and sensations.
41. Quick temper? Instead of yelling, take a few minutes to cool down. The stress of chronic anger can actually shrink the memory centers in the brain. Get to know the signs that you’re seething and address the problem before it erupts.
42. Replace your salt shaker with a sodium-free alternative. We all know that hypertension can lead to heart problems, but new evidence suggests that decreasing the salt in your diet can also improve blood flow to the brain and decrease dementia.
43. Have a chat. Instead of popping in another movie rental, pick up the phone. Talking with someone else not only gets you out of your rut—lack of activity can decrease brain-cell formation—but the socializing can also reduce potentially memory-sapping depression.
44. Check your meds. It may not be you having the memory problems; instead, it could be your medications impeding your memory. Older antidepressants, anti-diuretics and antihistamines—all block a critical brain chemical from doing its job. Ask your doctor for an alternative.
45. Bear some weight. Adding a little strength training to your daily walks can help protect brain cells from damage done by free radicals—and encourage new brain-cell growth. So strap some weights on your ankles or wrists as you walk, or practice gentle yoga.
46. Let yourself sleep in. Research shows that when you're chronically sleep-deprived, your body doesn't have the time to build proteins and other brain- boosting components. So instead of waking yourself early, sleep until you wake naturally.
47. Take an afternoon catnap. Most of sleep's boost to concentration and memory happens in the first stage, so even a snooze as short at 30 minutes can benefit your brain.
48. Switch hands. It may be uncomfortable, but writing with your nondominant hand or operating a computer mouse with that hand can activate parts of the brain that aren't easily triggered otherwise. Anything that requires the brain to pay close attention to a formerly automatic behavior will stimulate brain-cell growth.
49. Shake your body. Gentle bouncing of your knees and shaking out of your limbs reduces the brain-sapping stress hormone cortisol, research shows. It also triggers relaxation and alertness that keeps your brain sharp. Do it for a few minutes in the morning and at night.
50. Tour your neighborhood. If your neighborhood is growing, check it out. The exploration will change your mental map of the neighborhood. Along with learning new and better routes to your favorite stores or restaurants, you'll forge new neural pathways in your brain.

By: Heather Boerner

Posted: TrueHealthIsTrueWealth

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Sunday, August 30, 2009

HR 3200 (ObamaCare) and Illegals

Just about the time the Center for Immigration Studies was holding a press briefing at the National Press Club about the immigration and health reform connection, proponents from President Obama on down were denying that illegal aliens would receive taxpayer-funded health care under pending legislation.

I’m here to tell you, as I told the Press Club crowd, the legislation on the table does, honest to goodness, effectively extend coverage to illegal aliens.

Take the premium subsidy in the House bill, H.R. 3200. This lies in the part of the legislation (Division A, Title II) that creates a Health Choices Administration, adds the infamous “public option,” sets up and runs the “exchange” clearinghouse for getting insurance, and controls a graduated premium subsidy program through allocation of “individual affordability credits.”

The subsidy, found in Section 242, will give a voucher to people earning between 133 percent of the official poverty level and 400 percent of that income level (or, up to about $88,000 a year for a family of four).

Legal immigrants certainly qualify under H.R. 3200 for this subsidy. Section 242(a)(1) makes eligible "an individual who is lawfully present in a State in the United States (other than as a nonimmigrant described in a subparagraph (excluding subparagraphs (K), (T), (U), and (V)) of section 101(a)(15) of the Immigration and Nationality Act)."

A political fig leaf purports to keep illegal aliens from receiving the subsidy. Section 246 says, "Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States."

However, reading the legislation as a whole, its glaring omission is any requirement to verify someone’s immigration or citizenship status. For instance, H.R. 3200 makes no reference to the verification system in current law that’s used for nearly all government welfare and other public programs. If lawmakers wanted enrolling agents, including bureaucrats at the new Health Choices Administration, to use the Systematic Alienage Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system, the bill should include a reference and authorize SAVE’s application to this government program.

In other words, the silence of H.R. 3200 regarding SAVE and mandatory verification makes Section 246 just empty words. In fact, the Ways and Means Committee outright voted down an amendment by Rep. Dean Heller to require eligibility verification before qualifying someone to receive a taxpayer subsidy. Also, "lawfully present" covers a lot of ground. Does it include someone here under Temporary Protected Status, for instance? Again, the absence of eligibility verification requirements leaves open a lot of room for waste, fraud, and abuse.

A similar situation of setting up blinders occurs in H.R. 3200’s Medicaid provisions. Division B’s Title VII, Section 1701 expands Medicaid eligibility to those with incomes a third above the federal poverty level. This provision dictates that "the State shall accept without further determination the enrollment under this title of an individual determined by the Commissioner to be a non-traditional Medicaid eligible individual." In other words, the bill prohibits asking any further questions about new Medicaid enrollees.

Rather, the bill section promotes "presumptive eligibility" concerning Medicaid expansion. Read it for yourself, right from Section 1702(a):

(ii) PRESUMPTIVE ELIGIBILITY OPTION- Pursuant to such memorandum, insofar as the memorandum has selected the option described in section 205(e)(3)(B) of the America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009, the State shall provide for making medical assistance available during the presumptive eligibility period and shall, upon application of the individual for medical assistance under this title, promptly make a determination (and subsequent redeterminations) of eligibility in the same manner as if the individual had applied directly to the State for such assistance except that the State shall use the income-related information used by the Commissioner and provided to the State under the memorandum in making the presumptive eligibility determination to the maximum extent feasible. (emphasis added)

And, once again, the lack of any provision mentioning or requiring verification, mandatory use of the SAVE system under this part of the bill, or any other accountability requirement opens the process up to signing up illegal aliens for Medicaid.

In the Energy and Commerce Committee, a mandatory verification amendment was voted down when Rep. Nathan Deal offered it. A political fig leaf amendment was added by voice vote, but the loopholes and potential for waste, fraud, and abuse remain wide open in the Medicaid provisions.

Whatever you think of health reform, a combination of things makes it certain that illegal aliens will receive government health coverage. The most obvious is the omission — heck, the outright rejection of corrective amendments — of eligibility verification requirements. The other factor is the designed ease of enrolling people in Medicaid, for "affordability credits," and the like.

Bottom line, the health legislation Congress is considering establishes an "enroll now, don’t ask questions later" regime. That’s a recipe for covering more people, but many of whom may not actually qualify. A huge number are almost guaranteed to be illegal aliens or legal immigrants still in their first five years in the country who are supposed to turn to their visa sponsor for financial support. And having more people in a public program translates pretty quickly into higher costs. In this case, we’re talking on the order of tens and hundreds of billions of dollars.

Please read more, where C

Does AARP Support This?

Heck Yes!! They are busy trying to play both sides of the fence! – Tell AARP Goodbye and Checkout ASA: American Seniors Association

-------------

Health Care Bill Requires Free Translation Services

For anyone who still doesn’t believe that ObamaCare intends to cover illegal aliens while rationing elderly Americans and Legal Aliens… check this out: free translation services of non-English Speaking patients?!?

Take Action!

Strike Section 1221 (b) from H.R. 3200

Urgent alert! Please act now!

Health Care Reform legislation now pending in Congress would require doctors and hospitals to provide interpreters and translation services free of charge to non-English speaking patients.

That will add $billions to the cost of health care and give immigrants even less incentive to learn English.

The "America's Affordable Health Choices Act," H.R. 3200, Section 1221 (b) says Medicare health care providers that fail to "substantially provide language services to limited English proficient beneficiaries" face severe fines and penalties.

This is outrageous. Medicare is already bankrupt. Now medical providers also will have to provide free translation services.

Send a free email message to your congressional representatives and demand that they remove entitlements to language translation services from health care reform legislation!

Please "Take Action" now!

And please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to ProEnglish. We receive no government support and depend entirely on voluntary contributions from people like you. Click here to make a secure donation online. Thank you!

Source: Daily Thought Pad – Cross-Posted: Knowledge Creates Power

Posted: True Health Is True Wealth

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Read the Bill - HR-3200 - full report

Breakdown Articles of HR-3200 Bill

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Thursday, August 27, 2009

Why Won’t ABC and NBC Run This Ad?


ABC, NBC Won't Air Ad Critical of Obama's Health Care Plan

The refusal by ABC and NBC to run a national ad critical of President Obama's health care reform plan is raising questions from the group behind the spot -- particularly in light of ABC's health care special aired in prime time last June hosted at the White House

The refusal by ABC and NBC to run a national ad critical of President Obama's health care reform plan is raising questions from the group behind the spot -- particularly in light of ABC's health care special aired in prime time last June and hosted at the White House.

The 33-second ad by the League of American Voters, which features a neurosurgeon who warns that a government-run health care system will lead to the rationing of procedures and medicine, began airing two weeks ago on local affiliates of ABC, NBC, FOX and CBS. On a national level, however, ABC and NBC have refused to run the spot in its present form.

"It's a powerful ad," said Bob Adams, executive director of the League of American Voters, a national nonprofit group with 15,000 members who advocate individual liberty and government accountability. "It tells the truth and it really highlights one of the biggest vulnerabilities and problems with this proposed legislation, which is it rations health care and disproportionately will decimate the quality of health care for seniors."

Adams said the advertisement is running on local network affiliates in states like Louisiana, Arkansas, Maine and Pennsylvania. But although CBS has approved the ad for national distribution and talks are ongoing with FOX, NBC has questioned some of the ad's facts while ABC has labeled it "partisan."

"The ABC Television Network has a long-standing policy that we do not sell time for advertising that presents a partisan position on a controversial public issue," spokeswoman Susan Sewell said in a written statement. "Just to be clear, this is a policy for the entire network, not just ABC News."

NBC, meanwhile, said it has not turned down the ad and will reconsider it with some revisions.

"We have not rejected the ad," spokeswoman Liz Fischer told FOXNews.com. "We have communicated with the media agency about some factual claims that require additional substantiation. As always, we are happy to reconsider the ad once these issues are addressed."

Adams objects to ABC's assertion that his group's position is partisan.

"It's a position that we would argue a vast majority of Americans stand behind," he said. "Obviously, it's a message that ABC and the Obama administration haven't received yet."

Dick Morris, a FOX News political analyst and the League of American Voters' chief strategist, conceptualized the advertisement and said its purpose was to "refocus" the debate on health care reform.

"I feel the whole debate on health care reform needed to be refocused on the issue of Medicare," he told FOXNews.com. "Most of the debate had been on issues of socialized medicine and cost. I felt that the impact of the legislation in cutting the Medicare program and enforcing rationing needed to be addressed."

Morris, a onetime advisor to former President Bill Clinton, said he was particularly troubled by ABC's decision not to air the spot.

"It's the ultimate act of chutzpah because ABC is the network that turned itself over completely to Obama for a daylong propaganda fest about health care reform," he said. "For them to be pious and say they will not accept advertising on health care shuts their viewers out from any possible understanding of both sides of this issue."

By Joshua Rhett Miller - FOXNews.com

Posted: True Health Is True Wealth

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Tuesday, August 25, 2009

ObamaCare and me – Doctor Zane F. Pollard, MD – For Anyone Who Still Doesn’t Believe in Rationing and Death Panels if ObamaCare Passes

I have been sitting quietly on the sidelines watching all of this national debate on healthcare. It is time for me to bring some clarity to the table by explaining many of the problems from the perspective of a doctor.

First off, the government has involved very few of us physicians in the healthcare debate. While the American Medical Association has come out in favor of the plan, it is vital to remember that the AMA only represents 17% of the American physician workforce.

I have taken care of Medicaid patients for 35 years while representing the only pediatric ophthalmology group left in Atlanta, Georgia that accepts Medicaid. For example, in the past 6 months I have cared for three young children on Medicaid who had corneal ulcers. This is a potentially blinding situation because if the cornea perforates from the infection, almost surely blindness will occur. In all three cases the antibiotic needed for the eradication of the infection was not on the approved Medicaid list.

Each time I was told to fax Medicaid for the approval forms, which I did. Within 48 hours the form came back to me which was sent in immediately via fax, and I was told that I would have my answer in 10 days. Of course by then each child would have been blind in the eye.

Each time the request came back denied. All three times I personally provided the antibiotic for each patient which was not on the Medicaid approved list. Get the point -- rationing of care.

Over the past 35 years I have cared for over 1000 children born with congenital cataracts. In older children and in adults the vision is rehabilitated with an intraocular lens. In newborns we use contact lenses which are very expensive. It takes Medicaid over one year to approve a contact lens post cataract surgery. By that time a successful anatomical operation is wasted as the child will be close to blind from a lack of focusing for so long a period of time.

Again, extreme rationing. Solution: I have a foundation here in Atlanta supported 100% by private funds which supplies all of these contact lenses for my Medicaid and illegal immigrants children for free. Again, waiting for the government would be disastrous.

Last week I had a lady bring her child to me. They are Americans but live in Sweden, as the father has a job with a big corporation. The child had the onset of double vision 3 months ago and has been unable to function normally because of this. They are people of means but are waiting 8 months to see the ophthalmologist in Sweden. Then if the child needed surgery they would be put on a 6 month waiting list. She called me and I saw her that day. It turned out that the child had accommodative esotropia (crossing of the eyes treated with glasses that correct for farsightedness) and responded to glasses within 4 days, so no surgery was needed. Again, rationing of care.

Last month I operated on a 70 year old lady with double vision present for 3 years. She responded quite nicely to her surgery and now is symptom free. I also operated on a 69 year old judge with vertical double vision. His surgery went very well and now he is happy as a lark. I have been told -- but of course there is no healthcare bill that has been passed yet -- that these 2 people because of their age would have been denied surgery and just told to wear a patch over one eye to alleviate the symptoms of double vision. Obviously cheaper than surgery.

I spent two years in the US Navy during the Viet Nam war and was well treated by the military. There was tremendous rationing of care and we were told specifically what things the military personnel and their dependents could have and which things they could not have. While I was in Viet Nam, my wife Nancy got sick and got essentially no care at the Naval Hospital in Oakland, California. She went home and went to her family's private internist in Beverly Hills. While it was expensive, she received an immediate work up. Again rationing of care.

For those of you who are over 65, this bill in its present form might be lethal for you. People in Britain face rationing of care in that there is an eight month wait for cataract surgery, 11 for hernia and the same for disc and total hip The government wants to mimic the British plan. For those of you younger, it will still mean restriction of the care that you and your children receive.

While 99% of physicians went into medicine because of the love of medicine and the challenge of helping our fellow man, economics are still important. My rent goes up 2% each year and the salaries of my employees go up 2% each year. Twenty years ago, ophthalmologists were paid $1800 for a cataract surgery and today $500. This is a 73% decrease in our fees. I do not know of many jobs in America that have seen this sort of lowering of fees.

But there is more to the story than just the lower fees. When I came to Atlanta, there was a well known ophthalmologist that charged $2500 for a cataract surgery as he felt the was the best. He had a terrific reputation and in fact I had my mother's bilateral cataracts operated on by him with a wonderful result. She is now 94 and has 20/20 vision in both eyes. People would pay his $2500 fee.

However, then the government came in and said that any doctor that does Medicare work cannot accept more than the going rate ( now $500) or he or she would be severely fined. This put an end to his charging $2500. The government said it was illegal to accept more than the government-allowed rate. What I am driving at is that those of you well off will not be able to go to the head of the line under this new healthcare plan, just because you have money, as no physician will be willing to go against the law to treat you.

I am a pediatric ophthalmologist and trained for 10 years post-college to become a pediatric ophthalmologist (add two years of my service in the Navy and that comes to 12 years). A neurosurgeon spends 14 years post-college, and if he or she has to do the military that would be 16 years. I am not entitled to make what a neurosurgeon makes, but the new plan calls for all physicians to make the same amount of payment. I assure you that medical students will not go into neurosurgery and we will have a tremendous shortage of neurosurgeons. Already, the top neurosurgeon at my hospital who is in good health and only 52 years old has just quit because he can't stand working with the government anymore. Forty-nine percent of children under the age of 16 in the state of Georgia are on Medicaid, so he felt he just could not stand working with the bureaucracy anymore.

We are being lied to about the uninsured. They are getting care. I operate at least 2 illegal immigrants each month who pay me nothing, and the children's hospital at which I operate charges them nothing also. This is true not only on Atlanta, but of every community in America.

The bottom line is that I urge all of you to contact your congresswomen and congressmen and senators to defeat this bill. I promise you that you will not like rationing of your own health.

Furthermore, how can you trust a physician that works under these conditions knowing that he is controlled by the state. I certainly could not trust any doctor that would work under these draconian conditions.

One last thing: with this new healthcare plan there will be a tremendous shortage of physicians. It has been estimated that approximately 5% of the current physician work force will quit under this new system. Also it is estimated that another 5% shortage will occur because of the decreased number of men and women wanting to go into medicine. At the present time the US government has mandated gender equity in admissions to medical schools .That means that for the past 15 years that somewhere between 49 and 51% of each entering class are females. This is true of private schools also, because all private schools receive federal funding.

The average career of a woman in medicine now is only 8-10 years and the average work week for a female in medicine is only 3-4 days. I have now trained 35 fellows in pediatric ophthalmology. Hands down the best was a female that I trained 4 years ago -- she was head and heels above all others I have trained. She now practices only 3 days a week.

(Now there will also be mandated racial equity in admissions… rather than admissions based on ability).

By Zane F Pollard, MD – American Thinker

Background: Dr. Zane F. Pollard
I did my undergraduate work at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. I graduated Tulane University medical School Alpha Omega Alpha ( medical school's top 10% of graduating class). Internship at the Univ. of Southern California in Los Angeles, one year of General surgery residency at the U. of California in San Francisco. Two years in the US Navy. Residency in Ophthalmology at the U.of S. California in Los Angeles, fellowship in pediatric Ophthalmology at the Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia. In practice with Eye Consultants of Atlanta for the past 35 years. Published 90 papers in peer reviewed Scientific Ophthalmology Journals. Member of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, American Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Ophthalmological Society. Board certified in Ophthalmology.

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Barbara Wagner wanted to live, but Oregon Government-Run Healthcare would not pay for her cancer treatments. What they would do, was give her the meds for assisted suicide.

Video: Oregon says no to chemotherapy, offers assisted suicide instead

Read Full Story: Woman in Oregon Told Healthcare Would Not Pay for Cancer Treatment But Would Pay for Assisted Suicide… Welcome to Government Controlled Healthcare

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Over the weekend the Veteran’s Manual was exposed

Full Article: Outcry Over Vets’ ‘End of Life Care’

Click here to read the "Your Life, Your Choices" guide.

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IT'S ALL A DEATH PANEL: THE TRUTH ABOUT OBAMACARE

Washington is all atwitter about "death panels": President Obama derides the idea that his health-care reform calls for them; the Senate is stripping "end of life" counseling language from its bill -- and last Friday the voice of the liberal establishment, The New York Times, ran a Page One story "rebutting" the rumor that ObamaCare would create such boards to decide when to pull the plug on elderly patients.

But all those protests miss the fundamental truth of the "death panel" charge.

Even without a federal board voting on whom to kill, ObamaCare will ration care extensively, leading to the same result. This follows inevitably from central features of the president's plan.
Specifically, his decisions to (1) pay for reform with vast cuts in the Medicare budget and (2) grant insurance coverage to 50 million new people, vastly boosting demand without increasing the supply of doctors, nurses or other care providers.

Click here to order a copy of CATASTROPHE now!Whether or not he admits it even to himself, Obama's talk of cutting "inefficiencies" and reducing costs translates to less care, of lower quality, for the elderly. Every existing national health system finds ways to deny state-of-the-art medications and necessary surgical procedures to countless patients, and ObamaCare has the nascent mechanisms to do the same. With the limited options that Obama's vision would leave them, many will find that "end of life counseling" necessary and even welcome.

"Reform" would cut care to the elderly in several ways:
* Slash hundreds of billions from Medicare spending, largely by lowering reimbursement rates to doctors and hospitals for patient care.

If a hospital gets less money for each MRI, it will do fewer of them. If a surgeon gets paid less for a heart bypass on a Medicare patient, he'll perform them more rarely. These facts of the marketplace are not only inevitable consequences of Obama's cuts but are also its intended consequence. Without them, his savings will prove illusory.
* Expanding the patient load by extending full coverage to 50 million Americans (including such "Americans" as illegal immigrants) without boosting the supply of care will force rationing decisions on harried and overworked doctors and hospitals.

People with insurance use a lot more health-care resources -- so today's facilities and personnel will have to cope with the increased workload. Busy surgeons will have to decide who would benefit most from their treatment -- de facto rationing. The elderly will, inevitably, be the losers.

* The Federal Health Board, established by this legislation, will be charged with collecting data on various forms of treatment for different conditions to assess which are the most effective and efficient. While the bills don't force providers to obey the board's "guidance," its recommendations will still wind up setting the standards and protocols for care system-wide.

We've already seen Medicare and Medicaid lead a similar race to the bottom with their formularies and other regulations. With Washington dictating what every policy must cover and regulating all rates, insurers and providers will all have to follow the FHB's advice on limiting care to the elderly -- a de facto rationing system.
* In assessing whether to allow certain treatments to a given patient, medical professionals will be encouraged to apply the Quality-Adjusted Remaining Years system. Under QARY, decision-makers seek to "amortize" the cost of treatment over the remaining "quality years of life" likely for that patient.
Imagine a hip replacement costing $100,000 and the 75-year-old who needs it, a diabetic with a heart condition deemed to have just three "quality" years left. That works out to $33,333 a year -- too steep! Surgery disallowed! (Unless of course, the patient has political connections . . . )

Younger, healthier patients would still get the surgery, of course. The QARY system simply aims to deny health care to the oldest and most infirm, "scientifically" condemning them to infirmity, pain and earlier death than would otherwise be their fate.

In short, ObamaCare doesn't need to set up "death panels" to make retail decisions about ending the lives of individual patients. The whole "reform" scheme is one giant death panel in its own right.

Order a copy of Catastrophe

In Britain, there is a total dollar amount that government will pay for each person.

Canadian Healthcare is going Bust…

The new president of the Canadian Medical Association, Dr. Anne Doig, has made comments that indicate that Canada's public run healthcare system is running on empty.

We all agree that the system is imploding, we all agree that things are more precarious than perhaps Canadians realize...We know that there must be change...We're all running flat out, we're all just trying to stay ahead of the immediate day-to-day demands.

These comments come as the outgoing CMA President Dr. Robert Ouellet, is expected to report that Canada's government-run system needs to become more patient-centered.

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  • And the list goes on… The more time we have to study ObamaCare and other government run healthcare systems, the more negative and scary information keeps surfacing.

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Dr. & RepTom Price: Americans Need Patient-Centered Reform, Not Democrats’ Costly Government Takeover of Health Care

WASHINGTON, DC - Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) today delivered the weekly Republican address on the need for real health care reform that makes coverage more affordable and accessible for middle-class families and small businesses. In the address, Price – who served Atlanta-area patients as a physician for more than two decades – fact-checks a number of myths about the Democrats’ government takeover of health care and presents the Republicans’ case for reform that keeps patients and doctors – not government bureaucrats – in charge of personal medical decisions. Audio of the address is available here and video of the address will be available here once the embargo is lifted at 6am Saturday.

Following is the text of Rep. Price’s address:

“Hello, I’m Congressman Tom Price. And I have the privilege of representing the Sixth District of Georgia. Before coming to Congress I was a physician, taking care of patients on the north side of Atlanta for more than twenty years.

“Right now, Americans from coast to coast are debating the monumental task of reforming our health system. Folks of every political persuasion understand the imperative of reform. But they want reform that keeps what’s good with our current system – and fixes what’s not working – without destroying our quality of care.

“The status quo in American health care is clearly unacceptable. Rising costs, shrinking access, and third-party decision making are driving patients away from their doctors and the desired care that they seek. The challenge, however, is providing Americans more accessible and affordable care without impairing the quality, innovation, and choices that define American medicine. And this is simply impossible with the one-size-fits-all approach taken by the President and Democrats in charge of Congress.

“Experience tells me that as a doctor, no two patients are exactly alike. While the same diagnosis can be reached for two people, the proper treatment for each may be completely different, based on a countless number of factors that only a patient, their family, and a caring and compassionate physician truly understand. Having navigated federal health care programs for two decades, I can tell you that Washington is incapable of processing the personal and unique circumstances that patients and doctors face each and every day. That is why a positive solution will put power in the hands of patients, not insurance companies or the government.

“Unfortunately, the plan being promoted by the White House would give Washington the power to make highly personal medical decisions on behalf of patients – on behalf of you. Now whether it’s the government choosing what should be in your family’s health care plan, or a bureaucratic board deciding what treatments are appropriate and who should receive them, the President’s plan is a 1,000-page expression supporting the notion that Washington knows best when it comes to your family’s health care. And that’s simply not true.

“As opposition to the Democrats’ government-run health plan is mounting, the President has said he’d like to stamp out some of the disinformation floating around out there. The problem is the President, himself, plays fast and loose with the facts. So as someone who’s taken care of patients, I’d like to take a moment to clear up a couple of the President’s worst offenses.

“On the stump, the President regularly tells Americans that ‘if you like your plan, you can keep your plan.’ But if you read the bill, that just isn’t so. For starters, within five years, every health care plan will have to meet a new federal definition for coverage – one that your current plan might not match, even if you like it.

“What’s more, experts agree that under the House bill, millions of Americans will be forced off their personal, private coverage and shuffled onto the government plan.

“Now the President has also said that he thinks the government should compete with your current health care plan. But we all know that when the government is setting the rules and is backed by tax dollars, it will destroy – not compete – with the private sector. The reality is, whether or not you get to keep your plan, or your doctor, is very much in question under the President’s proposal.

“But perhaps the most striking misinformation the President has put forth is that there are only two options out there for America – that it’s his way or the highway. That it’s either the government running the show – or insurance companies. The truth is there is a third way – a better way, a patient-centered way to reform health care. Rather than allowing insurance companies or the government to call the shots, Republicans want to put patients in charge of their family’s health care. We have plans to increase coverage and lower costs without putting a bureaucrat between you and your doctor. We believe that what’s good for patients is good for American health care.

“If anything has been learned from the debate in August, it’s that the American people think that we can do better. They seek reform, but they reject a government-centered approach. With people on the left, and the right, and everywhere in between dissatisfied with the process, it’s time that we start over to create a truly bipartisan solution that puts patients in charge. Honoring the transparency promised the American people, and the principles of quality care we all hold dear, we can create a patient-centered proposal that all may support. We look forward to working with the President, and on behalf of the American people, to make patient-centered health reform a reality.

“I’m Congressman Tom Price. Thanks so much for listening.”

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    Flu Drugs Inappropriate for Healthy Adults

    The flu drugs Tamiflu and Relenza may not be worthwhile to treat seasonal influenza in healthy adults, British researchers reported on Friday.

    "Recommending the use of antiviral drugs for the treatment of people presenting with symptoms is unlikely to be the most appropriate course of action," wrote Jane Burch of the University of York and colleagues.

    Their study, published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases, supports an advisory from the World Health Organization that says healthy patients who get H1N1 swine flu without suffering complications do not need to be treated with antivirals.

    Tamiflu, made by Switzerland's Roche under license from Gilead Sciences Inc., is a pill that can both treat and prevent influenza A viruses of all kinds. Zanamivir, made by GlaxoSmithKline under license from Australia's Biota and sold under the brand name Relenza, is an inhaled drug in the same class.

    WHO strongly recommends both drugs for pregnant women, patients with underlying medical conditions and children under 5, as they are at increased risk of more severe illness.

    Burch's team reviewed many different published studies on Tamiflu and Relenza. "We present the results for healthy adults and people at-risk of influenza-related complications," they wrote.

    Both drugs shaved about half a day, on average, off the time patients were ill, they found. Influenza usually affects people for about a week.

    The drugs worked a little better in people who have a high risk of complications, such as patients with diabetes or asthma, with Relenza cutting sickness by almost a day and Tamiflu by three-quarters of a day, on average.

    This suggests the drugs should be reserved for people who need them the most, the researchers concluded.

    Copyright Reuters

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    Popcorn May Help Prevent Cancer


    popcorn.jpg

    Eating popcorn is good for you and may even help prevent cancer.

    Scientists have long known that whole grains are heart-healthy, but a first-of-its-kind study from the University of Scranton found that popcorn, breakfast cereals, and other grain-based snack foods are packed with antioxidants called polyphenols.

    Polyphenols in foods such as fruits, vegetables, wine, coffee, tea, berries, olives, and chocolate are thought to help reduce the risk of many diseases. They remove free radicals — the chemicals that can cause damage to cells and tissues — from the body.

    Until now, no one knew that commercial cold and hot whole-wheat cereals and snack foods also were a good source of polyphenols. This is important for health because the average American diet consists of a high percentage of these foods.

    “Cereals, pasta, crackers and salty snacks constitute over 66 percent of whole grain intake in the U.S.” said Joe Vinson, a chemistry professor at the University of Scranton.

    “Early researchers thought the fiber was the active ingredient for these benefits in whole grains — the reason why they may reduce the risk of cancer and coronary artery disease,” he said. “But recently, polyphenols emerged as potentially more important.”

    “This is the first study to examine total phenol antioxidants in breakfast cereals and snacks,” Vinson said. “We found that, in fact, whole-grain products have comparable antioxidants per gram to fruits and vegetables.”

    The study found that whole grains are very high in antioxidants, with the most antioxidants in cereals made with wheat, corn, oats, and rice, in descending order. Whole grain snacks have slightly lower levels than cereals.

    Popcorn has the highest antioxidant level of all whole grain snack foods — more than five times higher than its nearest rival. Tortilla chips, for example, lagged far behind popcorn, with 10 times less antioxidants than popcorn.

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    Sunday, August 23, 2009

    Senator Lieberman: Postpone Universal Healthcare

    One of the Senate's most powerful Democrats said Sunday that President Obama should take an "incremental" approach to fixing health care and argued that the country should postpone adding nearly 50 million new patients to the government system until after the recession is over.

    "We morally, every one of us, would like to cover every American with health insurance," Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, told CNN's John King on the "State of the Union" program.

    "But that's where you spend most of the $1 trillion plus, a little less that is estimated, the estimate said this healthcare plan will cost," he said.

    "I'm afraid we've got to think about putting a lot of that off until the economy's out of recession," he added.

    "There's no reason we have to do it all now, but we do have to get started. And I think the place to start is health delivery reform and insurance market reforms."

    John King asked Lieberman if it was "time for the president to hit the reset button? Forget sweeping healthcare reform this year, do three or four incremental things that are less costly?"

    Lieberman responded: "In a word, yes. I don't think -- I give the president tremendous credit for taking on the healthcare problem. And it really is a problem that we've got to deal with. But he took it on at a very difficult time that was not of his making.

    "In other words, we're in a recession. People are very worried about their jobs, about the economic future. They've watched us add to the debt of this country. We're projected to run a $1.8 trillion deficit this year, September 30th, more than $1 trillion next year. You mentioned the 10-year numbers. People are nervous, I think the protests coming out at the public meetings around the country this month are as much to do with that larger environment as they are with questions about healthcare reform. I think great changes in our country often have come in steps. The civil rights movement occurred — changes occurred in steps. Let's focus now on how to reduce costs. That's been a central theme of the president.

    "Let's talk about how to change the way health care is delivered. Let's talk about protecting people from not getting insurance because of pre-existing illness. Let's take off the caps on the amount of insurance coverage you can get over the years. Let's pay for preventive services for health from the first dollar. Here's the tough one. We morally, every one of us, would like to cover every American with health insurance. But that's where you spend most of the $1 trillion plus, a little less that is estimated, the estimate said this healthcare plan will cost."

    Lieberman also said he oppose any attempt his colleagues to use a Senate maneuver called "reconciliation," in which only 51 votes — rather than 60 — would be needed to overcome opposition to a health care bill.

    "I think it's a real mistake to try to jam through the total health insurance reform, healthcare reform plan that the public is either opposed to or of very, very passionate mixed minds about," he said. "It's just not good for the system, frankly, it won't be good for the Obama presidency."

    © 2009 Newsmax

    Support Senator Lieberman!!

    • No Universal Healthcare Reform Until We Are Out of Our Recession
    • Forget the Sweeping Healthcare Reform This Year (or Any Year)
    • Do an Incremental Overhaul of the System We Have Now… 2, 3 or 4 Things This Year… and So On (No Throwing the Baby Out With the Bath Water!!)

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    Read: Catastrophe

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    How Your Dog Can Help You Move Mindlessly

    Moving mindlessly is a BlueZones concept that means integrating low-level physical activity into your daily routine. The healthiest, longest-living people in the world aren't gym-rats; but they have habits that promote or even require moderate, sustained exercise every day.

    What, you don't have a herd of sheep you need to lead out to pasture in the hills every morning? Not to worry! Try thinking of other ways to encourage yourself to move mindlessly! Here are some things my dog has taught me about this subject:

    1. Running is the most fun thing ever.
    2. Running after anything that moves is better.
    3. Have an adventurous spirit - he has never let his lack of opposable thumbs stop him from believing he can climb a tree. After a squirrel.
    4. Drink lots water daily. Lots and lots and lots of water.
    5. Weight training rules - tug of war anyone?
    6. Repeat daily. In his case, repeat ten times daily.

    Pets are a great way to get in the habit of daily motion. Kids are great too. What other aspects of your life encourage this kind of healthy exercise?

    Written by Kathryn Savage

    Posted:  Just One More Pet – Cross Posted:  True Health Is True Wealth

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    Grapefruit Diet Holds Key to Fighting Obesity

    A substance in grapefruit could prove to be the key to fighting obesity and diabetes, according to a new Canadian study.

    The substance, a flavonoid called “naringenin,” is a naturally occurring compound in all citrus fruit, but especially in grapefruit, giving it its characteristic bitter taste. Naringenin, in concentrations far above levels found naturally, makes the liver burn fat instead of storing it, according to a study by Roberts Research Institute at the University of Western Ontario.

    The study used two groups of mice that were fed a typical Western high-fat diet, a diet known to induce symptoms of metabolic syndrome. One group’s diet, however, was treated with naringenin.

    The researchers found that the naringenin corrected elevations in tryclycerides and cholesterol, prevented the onset of insulin resistance, and otherwise normalized the metabolism of insulin. Also, the naringenin completely reprogrammed the livers of the mice so that excess fat was burned rather than stored.

    The “marked obesity that develops in these mice was completely prevented by naringenin," said study leader Murray Huff. "What was unique about the study was that the effects were independent of caloric intake, meaning the mice ate exactly the same amount of food and the same amount of fat. There was no suppression of appetite or decreased food intake, which are often the basis of strategies to reduce weight gain and its metabolic consequences.”

    The famous grapefruit diet apparently headed in the right direction, but the levels of naringenin found in grapefruit were not high enough to produce the results obtained in the study. People wanting to try naringenin for obesity and diabetes benefits will have to wait until a concentrated supplement is developed.

    The study team is trying to develop a naringenin treatment for humans.

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    Menopausal Belly Fat Linked with Testosterone

    In middle-aged women, visceral fat, more commonly called belly fat, is known to be a significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease, but what causes visceral fat to accumulate?

    The culprit probably is not age, as is commonly believed, but the change in hormone balance that occurs during the menopause transition, according to researchers at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

    “Of all the factors we analyzed that could possibly account for the increase in visceral fat during this period in a woman’s lifetime, levels of active testosterone proved to be the one most closely linked with abdominal fat,” said Imke Janssen, assistant professor of preventive medicine and the study’s lead investigator.

    The study, which was published early online in the medical journal Obesity, included 359 women, ages 42 to 60, in menopausal transition. They were split evenly between blacks and whites.

    Fat in the abdominal cavity was measured with CT scans, a more precise measurement than waist size. Blood tests were used to assess levels of testosterone and estradiol (the main form of estrogen). Medical histories covered other health factors possibly linked with an increase in visceral fat.

    Statistical analyses showed that the level of “bioavailable” testosterone, or testosterone that is active in the body, was the strongest predictor of visceral fat.

    A woman’s age did not correlate significantly with the amount of visceral fat. Nor did race or other cardiovascular risk factors. The level of estradiol also bore little relationship to the amount of visceral fat.

    Visceral fat, surrounding internal organs around the waistline, is metabolically different from subcutaneous fat, located beneath the skin. Research has shown that visceral fat is a source of inflammation that contributes to premature atherosclerosis and risk of acute coronary syndrome.

    The study’s findings extend Janssen's earlier research on testosterone’s link with what is called the metabolic syndrome during the menopausal transition, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine in 2008. That study, examining women six years before and six years after their final menstrual periods, found that the rise in metabolic syndrome — a collection of risk factors for heart disease — corresponded with the rise in testosterone activity.

    “For many years, it was thought that estrogen protected premenopausal women against cardiovascular disease and that the increased cardiovascular risk after menopause was related only to the loss of estrogen’s protective effect,” Janssen said. “But our studies suggest that in women, it is the change in the hormonal balance — specifically, the increase in active testosterone — that is predominantly responsible for visceral fat and for the increased risk of cardiovascular disease.”

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