The 'kill granny' bill

The 'kill granny' bill - By BETSY MCCAUGHEY, NY Post, 10/05/09

As the health-reform bills move through Congress, the prognosis for Medicare patients gets worse and worse.

The Senate Finance Committee bill (generally called the Baucus bill, after Chairman Max Baucus) robs the elderly to cover the uninsured -- like snatching purses from little old ladies. The House bills already cut future funding for Medicare by $500 billion over the next decade. The Baucus bill would slash a similar amount, just when 30 percent more people enter the program as baby boomers turn 65.
The Baucus bill also puts new limits on what doctors can do for patients in Medicare:

* A "race to the bottom" provision (p. 102 of the revised chairman's mark) would take effect each year for the next five years. The provision penalizes doctors who end up in the 90th percentile or above on the cost of what they use to treat their patients, compared with national averages. The intent is to force down the cost of care, year by year. Yet this blunt instrument can't determine which care is actually wasteful -- it will punish doctors for treating high cost patients with complex conditions. Inevitably, it will lower the quality of care.

* Even more devastating is the amendment Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) got inserted into the bill (revised chairman's mark, pp. 102-

3). It gives the Secretary of Health and Human Services the power to define quality, cost-effective care for each medical condition and penalize doctors who spend more on their patients.
The law establishing Medicare in 1965 barred the federal government from interfering in doctors' treatment decisions. Slowly, Medicare regulations have begun unraveling that protection. Now the Cantwell amendment finishes the job.

This is the most extreme change to Medicare ever. Dr. David McKalip, a Florida neurosurgeon and a board member of the Florida Medical Association, predicts: "The only doctors left in Medicare will be those willing to ration care and practice cookbook medicine."
It's reasonable for Medicare administrators to strive to get value for dollars spent. In recent years, Medicare has taken a slow, tight-fisted (and sometimes arbitrary) approach to paying for new drugs or medical devices. But Cantwell aims directly at doctors' decisions.
That's not surprising. President Obama and his advisers vilify doctors for over-treating patients. Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, brother of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and a key Obama health-care adviser, argues that the Hippocratic Oath is largely to blame for the "overuse" of medical care.

In his view, doctors focus too much on the needs of their own patients; they should be taught to ask whether the money they're spending on a patient is worth it. To curb doctors' spending, the stimulus legislation launched a process of sending doctors protocols via computer on what the government deems "appropriate" and "cost-effective" care. Doctors who are not "meaningful users" will be punished financially.

When I warned that this meant the government would be interfering in doctors' treatment decisions, CNN and FactCheck.org said that was untrue. But Dr. David Blumenthal, appointed in March to head the new system of computer-guided medicine, settled that debate. In the New England Journal of Medicine (April 9), he confirmed that "embedded clinical-decision support" (his term for computers telling doctors what to do) would be used to reduce costs, and he predicted that some doctors might rebel against tight controls.
The Baucus bill completes the framework for tying doctors' hands when treating the elderly.

Driving all this is the misconception that doctors spend wastefully on patients who are about to die. Newsweek's recent cover story, "The Case for Killing Granny," argues that "the need to spend less money on the elderly at the end of life is the elephant in the room in the health-reform debate."

Numerous studies prove that is false. In 2006, Emory University researchers examining the records of patients in the year before they died found that doctors spend far less on patients who are expected to die than on patients expected to survive.

The Emory researchers said it's untrue that "lifesaving measures for patients visibly near death account for a disproportionate share of spending." They also found that doctors often can't predict when a patient is in the last year of life.

In any case, the health-reformers' plan to cut spending on patients 65 and older won't simply reduce end-of-life care, it will also eliminate care for patients who are perfectly capable of surviving their illness and going on with life.

The 'kill granny' bill - By BETSY MCCAUGHEY, NY Post, 10/05/09
Betsy McCaughey is chairman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths and a former New York lieutenant-governor.

Posted: True Health is True Wealth

Related Resources:

• People with this Factor Will Live Past 100
• Go Granny Go
• ObamaCare and me – Doctor Zane F. Pollard, MD
• Prescription for Truth – Daniel Hannan From England: HealthCare Worse for Elderly
• Unease in Britain Following Assisted Suicides
• Overhauling health-care system tops agenda at annual meeting of Canada's doctors

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

Related Resources:

• Free Our Health Care Now - Petition
• 'STOP OBAMACARE' PETITION
• HR-3200 - full report

  Other Breakdown Articles of HR-3200 Bill

• DETAILED ANALYSIS OF THE 1000 PAGE HEALTH CARE PLAN BY AND ATTORNEY & DEAN AND PROFESSOR OF LAW
• *Letter to Your Congress Person on Health Care (Obamacare) HR3200
• *A Look at What is Really in the Health Care Bill (HR 3200): Chilling!