John Thune & The Senate Health Care Bill – New Compromise is Public Option on Steroids - Updated

I am watching the Senate Healthcare Debate. Senators Wyden, Bayh and Collins are offering a bipartisan amendment to allow people who are not getting subsidies from the government to purchase insurance with a high deductible in order to keep costs down. They actually admitted during the debate that premiums would increase for these people without this amendment. We keep saying WE DON"T WANT THIS BILL and they are saying to us, "this will make it better". They are treating us like children who don't want to take our medicine.

This morning on the Senate floor Senator Mitch McConnell said the recent CNN poll showed that 61% of Americans oppose this bill. I wonder if any of the Democratic Senators care?

It was announced on the Senate floor by Senator Enzi this morning that the CMS (Center for Medicare Services) announced that the Reid bill bends the cost curve up and is unsustainable. I hope the Democrats hear this.

I also just heard Senators McConnell and Johannis on Fox News state that this bill will definitely cost everyone more... as we know the entire premise of reform and cutting costs was a big fat lie. The GOP had the CMS go over the bill and the actuary verified that cost would be much higher than the CBO and Congress are saying and that the cost will continue on an upward curve.

Cavuto (FNC) had a surgeon that said there is also a provision in the new Medicare provision of the HC bill that will only someone 90-days in the hospital in one year. So if you have been in perfect health all your life and never collect a dime from insurance, but all of a sudden come down with a major illness, accident or condition, you will have to pay out of pocket for your hospital stay beyond 90-days, if it all falls into one year.

And the bad news just keeps on coming....

At one point the GOP explored the option of expanding Medicare and they were told that it would cause an immediate death spiral to this already ailing program… yet now the Dems are selling this as their Public Option.

Add the above to:

There is a crisis, and it appears to be located in the U.S. Senate. My esteemed Keloland colleague and colleague Emeritus, David Newquist, has this:

John Thune has become the voice of the GOP–Groundless Obstinence and Petulance–according to the Huffington Post. He says his party will unanimously oppose any health care reform, no matter what is proposed.

For someone who complains a lot when he thinks that others have distorted his words, he seems very careless in describing what Senator Thune said or what the Huffington Post said he said. The Huffington Post article he links to makes it clear in the title that Thune was only speaking about "the Newest Heath Care Compromise," and hardly ruling out GOP support for any bill.

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) told the Huffington Post that he did not think the dropping of a public option for insurance coverage from the bill would be enough for Democrats to win even the support of moderate Republican Senators Olympia Snowe or Susan Collins, both of Maine.

"I just think that our side believes that it is a really bad idea to take a program that is already sinking and put more people into it."

Here is how the Washington Post describes the "newest" idea that Reid is floating:

The 11th-hour "compromise" on health-care reform and the public option supposedly includes an expansion of Medicare to let people ages 55 to 64 buy into the program.

This deal, which the WaPo dates back to the Clinton Administration, seems designed to get something like a "public option" into the bill without calling it a public option. Republican opposition may be obstinate and petulant, or maybe not; however, it is hardly groundless. The WaPo points out that it is difficult to tell what effect this "buy in" would have on the reform scheme.

Presumably, the expanded Medicare program would pay Medicare rates to providers, raising the question of the spillover effects on a health-care system already stressed by a dramatic expansion of Medicaid. Will providers cut costs -- or will they shift them to private insurers, driving up premiums? Will they stop taking Medicare patients or go to Congress demanding higher rates? Once 55-year-olds are in, they are not likely to be kicked out, and the pressure will be on to expand the program to make more people eligible. The irony of this late-breaking Medicare proposal is that it could be a bigger step toward a single-payer system than the milquetoast public option plans rejected by Senate moderates as too disruptive of the private market.

As the perhaps obstinate and petulant, but hardly Republican WaPo presents it, there is no way to predict what unintended consequences may follow.

But Republican opposition is based on broader considerations. Expanding Medicare would be a step towards a single payer plan. But it was also mean expanding a program that is on schedule to go broke in only a few years. It also looks like more sleight of hand on the Democrat's part. They are already counting on dramatic cuts in Medicare to make other parts of the bill look more affordable. As the WaPo points out, Medicare reimbursement rates are already too low to sustain hospital and doctor care, which results in a shift of costs to private insurance. The medical establishment is vehemently criticizing the idea.

This looks like a big mess. Rumors that a deal has been reached appear to be greatly exaggerated. I am not even certain that there is a coherent idea here. Meanwhile the petulant and obstinate public continues to oppose the bill by wide margins. Quinnipiac and Rasmussen put the 52% opposed/38% in favor, and 51/41 respectively. Worse news for reform is the CNN poll, which has 61% opposed and only 36% in favor. That's the first time to my knowledge that opposition has risen above 60%. If it's on track, the CNN poll is disastrous news for Harry Reid.

In opposing the Senate reform bill, Senator Thune is not only exercising common sense. He is standing on behalf of the majority of the American people.

Posted by Ken Blanchard

New Compromise… Bet That Makes You Feel Better?!? - Video

Democrats: Medicare Expansion the Ultimate Public Option - Video

WASHINGTON - -- The unexpected new proposal for breaking the impasse over the so-called public option won President Barack Obama's endorsement Wednesday and sent hopes surging among a wide array of Democrats that the way may be clearing to pass their massive Senate health care bill by Christmas.
The deal, which emerged late Tuesday night after days of secret negotiations, would eliminate the new government-run insurance plan that many liberals had seen as the linchpin of meaningful reform.

But paradoxically, what lies at the heart of the compromise may be a more durable, if initially smaller, form of the public option: an expansion of Medicare, the huge federal health insurance program for seniors, to include millions of Americans ages 55 through 64.

And by enlarging Medicare eligibility, the compromise could sharply expand the base of political support, giving ordinary Americans a concrete stake in what many may have seen as a distant battle among drug companies, doctors and other interests.
Under the deal hammered out by 10 Democratic negotiators, potentially millions of Americans 55 to 64 could sign up for a program that has become a vital safety net for the country's retirees since it was created more than four decades ago.
That prospect has excited some proponents of creating a single-payer system, who saw even the weak government program in the original bill as a "camel's nose under the tent" in their drive to ensure that all Americans get a government-provided insurance plan.

"Expanding Medicare is an unvarnished, complete victory for people like me," said Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y. "It's the mother of all public options. We've taken something people know and expanded it. ... Never mind the camel's nose, we've got his head and neck under the tent."

Todd Swim, a partner with the health benefits consulting firm Mercer, said a Medicare expansion could also have profound effects on employers and their workers.

"Access to medical care is one of the biggest inhibitors to retiring early, and a lot of people are going to be looking at that as an option," he said.

Although Americans in this age group are more likely to have insurance than those in their 20s or 30s, they often have a very difficult time getting coverage because many have pre-existing medical conditions.

Next year, most Medicare beneficiaries will pay a monthly premium of $110.50.

"The price point will be much more affordable than any option they have," Swim said.

Chicago Tribune

**Everyone I have heard talk about this today has said that this new Medicare enlargement will absolutely bring us to a single payer system much much sooner than any of the other options in any of the other bills. They took out the "Public Option" wording and intend to roll over us and pass this regardless of what we want. The GOP has been standing up but the Dems are not listening to anything they say. We absolutely need to keep up the pressure and hammer the possible fence sitters letting them know that if they vote for this this are out, even if they are not up for election in 2010.

I heard Lieberman earlier today blabbering on about he didn't know what was in this new version/compromise. Who cares what is in it.... We don't want the whole thing and we know whatever is in it, it is full of lies and bad things. Lieberman needs to vote no and we really need to pressure him!!!!!!!!!!!

A True Tale of Canadian (Socialized) Healthcare - Video

ALSO:

Gleeful Begala: Expanding Medicare is the 'Ultimate Public Option'

Medicare Sausage?

House Democrat: Senate Public Option 'Compromise' Is a Total Victory for Fans of ... Single-Payer

There Was "The Republican Alternative" - (American Spectator)

Barry, Harry, Queen Pelosi… and oh yes Steny (heard him yesterday with Greta Van Susteren) keep telling us that the GOP have had no ideas and no plan for healthcare reform; they are just the party of no. Well, if anyone really believes that then they haven’t paid attention and they really are as dumb or brainwashed as the radical progressive Dems and their followers think we/you are.

In reality, the Republicans had more than several options for bills and pulled them together into HR3400 (summary below) and have introduced amendment after amendment to try to bring the Obamacare bill (written by a Soros/ACORN associated felon and friend of the Obama Administration) into a partially workable bill with at least a little reform in it and to stop the complete erosion of healthcare for the American people, since the Dems are H_ll bent on forcing this disastrous plan down our throats, even tough only 26% of uninformed and Kook Aid drinkers support it.

By the way, there are numerous doctors in the House and Senate, most are Republicans, who have been trying to get a meeting (either individually or in a group) with Obama to review, discuss and give some input to this bill since April 2009(8 months). April is the last time the WH has agreed to a meeting or to including the GOP in any debate or meeting either in the White House or on Capitol Hill. Oh and Obama’s grandstand offer of meeting with anyone who’d like to and going through the HC bill … never happened, because the WH would not even respond to the requests of those wanting to meet.

The Republican Alternative
By Peter Ferrara on 11.18.09 @ 6:08AM

Democrats have been telling us all year that the Republicans have no health reform alternative. They are just the party of no! So we must have all been hallucinating when, lo and behold, just before the recent House vote on the Pelosi/Obama government health care takeover bill, there was a vote on…the Republican alternative.

Exactly the opposite of the House Democrat health plan, the Republican alternative would actually reduce the cost of health insurance and care. It would also expand coverage and provide a safety net ensuring that no one would be excluded from essential health coverage or care. It would also expand consumer choice and control over health care.

At the same time, the Republican plan involves no tax increases, no Medicare cuts, no rationing, and no increased deficits now or in the future. Exactly how all this is accomplished is fully explained below.

Lower Costs

The Republican plan allows insurers to sell health insurance across state lines. This would greatly expand competition, enabling the more than 1,000 private insurance companies to each compete nationally. That vastly increased competition would reduce health insurance premiums and costs. It would also greatly expand consumer freedom of choice.

We hear liberal complaints about areas within some states that only have a couple of insurance companies competing. That is entirely due to government regulation. We see ads for car insurance, and every other type of insurance, competing nationally all the time.

There is no reason why we can't enjoy the same for health insurance.
The Republican plan, of course, includes medical liability tort reform modeled after successful reforms in California and Texas. This would sharply reduce costly junk lawsuits and the resulting costly defensive medicine pursued just to protect against frivolous claims. Democrats crassly oppose this because of the enormous contributions they receive from Plaintiffs' attorneys, which has been openly admitted.

The Republican plan would further reduce costs by enhancing Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), which are themselves a Republican reform fundamentally changing health care by introducing market incentives to reduce costs. Individuals with HSAs keep most of their money for health care in a savings account, earning tax-free interest, with the rest going to purchase a high-deductible, catastrophic insurance policy. The premium cost for such catastrophic coverage, with deductibles generally ranging from $2,000 to $6,000 a year, is much lower than for standard, low-deductible health insurance, allowing the savings in the account to grow quickly to cover the entire deductible. Patients with HSAs are free to use the money in their accounts for any health care, including preventive care, check-ups, prescriptions, dental care, eye care, and the full range of alternative medicine. Nothing could do more to increase consumer freedom of choice and to put patients in control of their own health care.

Money kept in HSAs can be used for health care in later years, or for anything in retirement. So patients are effectively using their own money for non-catastrophic care. That provides powerful incentives to avoid overly costly or unnecessary care and to look for doctors and hospitals that can provide quality care at lower cost, creating real market competition to reduce costs.

The Republican House alternative would allow consumers to use funds saved in HSAs to pay for the catastrophic insurance covering costs above the deductible. Broadly expanding HSAs across the entire health system, including Medicare and Medicaid, would essentially solve the health cost problem.

CBO confirms that this Republican alternative plan would reduce health insurance costs, exactly the opposite of the Pelosi/Obama plan that CBO confirms would increase health insurance costs. The CBO analysis shows that for millions of families health insurance premiums would be almost $5,000 per year less under this GOP plan than the cheapest health insurance under the Pelosi bill.

Expanded Coverage and a Safety Net

The GOP alternative also includes several provisions to expand health insurance coverage. Most important are the Universal Access Programs that would expand uninsurable risk pools to ensure that all Americans would be able to obtain coverage for any pre-existing condition. The uninsured who become too sick to buy private health insurance covering their condition can turn to their state's risk pool for coverage. They are charged premiums for such coverage based on their ability to pay. Each state then subsidizes its uninsurable risk pool to ensure that it could cover all costs.

Few people become truly uninsurable because of their health condition, so the risk pools are a low cost solution. But trying to force these people into the same market risk pools as everyone else through such policies as guaranteed issue (requiring insurers to accept all applicants for coverage regardless of health condition) and community rating (requiring insurers to charge everyone the same regardless of health condition) just ruins health insurance for the general public, making it too expensive and sharply increasing the uninsured as a result. Providing for the uninsurable separately through their own pool is consequently a much better policy.
The GOP plan would also enable small businesses to pool together to offer health insurance at lower prices, like big corporations and labor unions, which would further increase coverage. The proposal would also allow and encourage coverage for young adults on their parents' insurance through age 25. And though this has already been the law for many years, the Republican plan would also expressly prohibit insurers from canceling health insurance policies as long as payments continue, unless the insured commits fraud or conceals a material fact about a health condition.

The lower costs from the provisions above would also expand health coverage, as lower insurance costs reduce the number of uninsured. Wider availability of low cost HSA insurance would also expand coverage.

Blue Dog Fraud

Again, exactly the opposite of the House Democrat health care scheme, this Republican plan includes no tax increases, no Medicare cuts, and no health care rationing. In sharp contrast, the latest numbers from CBO show the costs of the Pelosi plan already exploding. Once that plan is fully phased in, over the first 10 years (2014-2023) total government spending would increase by over $3 trillion, not the $1 trillion that has been so widely reported. Total Medicare cuts over those 10 years would be over $1 trillion, and total tax increases would run over $1 trillion as well.

Yet, not one of the supposedly fiscal conservative Blue Dog Democrats voted for this Republican plan. Every single Democrat in the House voted against it. The so-called Blue Dog Democrat phenomenon is a scam. These Democrats were elected to the House in conservative districts on the promise that they were, honest to God, real conservatives. But once elected, they play a game with the left-wing House Democrat leadership providing just enough votes to pass Pelosi/Obama socialism every time, with the rest free to vote against it to keep the scam going back home. Whenever the leadership needs their vote, however, they are there.

It is these Blue Dog Democrats that keep the ultraleft House Democrat leadership in power, from Speaker Nancy Pelosi from San Francisco, to Banking Committee Chairman Barney Frank from Boston, to Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman from Hollywood, to Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charley Rangel from Harlem, to Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers from Detroit. If this is not the kind of leadership you want for America, then the so-called Blue Dog Democrats all need to be replaced.

The Democrats' Death Panel for Grandma

Whether they vote for any of the Obamacare bills or not, the so-called Blue Dogs in both the House and the Senate are enabling the ultraleft Democrat Congressional leadership in the passage of legislation that imposes government health care rationing on seniors under Medicare, which will deny them essential health care, and begins the implementation of such rationing for everyone else.

Included in these Democrat health bills is a new, unelected, Medicare "Commission" which would implement a new "global budget" for Medicare each year. That global budget would set an arbitrary limit on how much would be spent on health care for seniors every year. The Commission is to enforce that budget by deciding what health care treatments, procedures, surgeries, drugs, etc. would be covered under Medicare and paid for, and which would not. If the Commission decides that the expensive surgery or treatment that Grandma needs to stay alive is just not worth the cost, then the doctors will just come to tell you they are sorry, but there is nothing they can do.

The Wall Street Journal explained the result on Monday by quoting prominent health economist Alain Enthoven, who "has likened a global budget to ‘bombing from 35,000 feet, where you don't see the faces of the people you kill.'" The Journal explained further:
"The hard budget cap means there is only so much money to be divvied up for care, with no account for demographic changes, such as longer life spans, or for the increasing incidence of diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic conditions. Worse, it makes little room for medical innovations. The commission is mandated to go after "sources of excessive cost growth" meaning treatments that are too expensive or whose coverage will boost spending. If researchers find a pricey treatment for Alzheimer's in 2020, that might be banned because it would add new costs and bust the global budget. Or it might decide that "Maybe you're better off not having the surgery, but taking the pain-killer," as President Obama put it in June."

No true liberal would support allowing the government to play God in this way, deciding who will live and who will die. But today's so-called liberals are so fiercely partisan now that they have become mentally disengaged. They refuse to even consider any conservative or Republican arguments on any issue, from global warming, to tax policy, to economic policy, to the budget. As a result, they have become dangerous people. What they are supporting is an outright assault on the health care of America's seniors. But they don't have a clue.

The House Republican health bill alternative not only includes no such rationing or Medicare cuts. It actually tries to roll back rationing provisions that have already been adopted. The Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness is a new bureaucracy created in the so-called stimulus bill. President Obama's Council of Economic Advisors explained the role of "comparative effectiveness" in controlling health costs in a report it issued in June, "The Economic Case for Health Reform." The government bureaucracy in Washington would decide what health care works and what doesn't for everybody. It would then enforce its decisions through the payment system for doctors and hospitals. Those doctors and hospitals that don't follow the received wisdom of the wise and all-knowing federal bureaucrats would be penalized in their payments for your care, if they get paid at all.

The Journal again further explained this policy on Monday, saying:
"The reason that physician discretion -- not Washington's cost minded judgments -- is at the core of medicine is that usually there are no "right" answers. The data from large clinical trials produce generic conclusions that rarely apply to individual patients, who have vastly different biologies, response rates to treatments, and often multiple conditions. A breakthrough drug like Herceptin, which is designed for a certain genetic subset of breast cancer patients, might well be ruled out under such a standardized approach."

You might think that your doctor who knows you and your illness would know what will work for you and what won't far better than faraway government bureaucrats that don't know you at all. But don't tell that to today's Washington Democrats, who know everything about everything, and don't need to hear anything from anybody.
This health care rationing involves a radical decline in America's standard of living. Today, Americans enjoy the best, most advanced, high tech, patient-centered health care in the world, devoted to improving and saving their lives. But after the Democrats get through imposing their throwback socialized medicine philosophy, this will all be gone, and we will suffer with the same third rate health care as in other socialized medicine systems around the world.

This suits President Obama, whose "moral" vision is that America is just another country, and that it is embarrassingly immoral for America to have more prosperity or power than anyone else. That is why all of his policies are leading to this same dead end for America.

Peter Ferrara is director of entitlement and budget policy at the Institute for Policy Innovation, and general counsel of the American Civil Rights Union. He served in the White House Office of Policy Development under President Reagan, and as Associate Deputy Attorney General of the United States under the first President Bush. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School.

If you haven’t figured out, you are being had big time, with this bill. If you have figured it out, you need to signing every petition including for impeachment of the 4 people above and removal of the czar system, joining rallies, sit-ins, tea parties and going to your representatives and Senator’s offices (both local and in DC) and be willing to do whatever it takes to stop this bill from becoming law. Oh and by the way, according to the 10th amendment of our constitution, the government cannot force you to buy healthcare. And demand judicial reviews and the over-turning of any laws and bills that are unconstitutional.

Stand up America, this HC Bill, Cap and Trade (or whatever they call it like the (ClimateGate involved) EPA Greenhouse Gases Declaration) and the non-stop spending to ruin our economy are part of a much bigger plan that has nothing to do with making anything better for the average American, for “YOU”

At the very least: call, fax and email your and the 17 fence sitting senators on this bill and tell them VOTE NO… or you will go, no matter what the amendments they add to this bill to falsify the real goals of the bill and program!! All clear thinking Americans realize that if anything is this secretive and one sided… it has to be bad!!

Update:

(Earlier today they came to a possible compromise… the compromise includes (temporarily doing away with the public option). Instead they will enlarge Medicare, after they already cut a lot of the basic services, to include a lot more people, with a provision that if this does not work… a public option will kick in. And Obama is ready to start transferring all medical records from paper to a central government controlled database which will eventually include all your financial records and give government access to all that info… which they then want to implant on an RFID chip to be implanted under your skin. Provisions for the “overseer and head of the death panel “has already been passed as part of a previous bill in anticipation that this bill would pass and that Americans would rollover!

17 Senators
Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) 202-224-4843, Fax: (202) 228-1371
Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) 202-224-5623
Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) 202-224-2551
Sen. Michael Bennett (D-CO) 202-224-5852
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) 202-224-4041, Fax: (202) 224-9750
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) 202-224-5824
Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) 202-224-6551, Fax: (202) 228-0012
Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) 202-224-2043
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) 202-224-6154
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) 202-224-5274
Sen. John Tester (D-MT) 202-224-2644
Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK) 202-224-3004
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) 202-224-2023
Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) 202-224-6324
Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) 202-224-4024

and Republican:

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME),((202)224-5344, Fax: (202) 224-1946

Info for all Senators (from your State) etc.

Stand Up Straight and Listen to Your Mother – Written in Prison by Robert F. Creamer, author of the ObamaCare Bill

Single Payer System Nightmare… Just Doesn’t Stop

One Day After accusing Republicans of slowing down the process the Senate Finance Committee voted not to post the full Senate (Baucus) Healthcare Reform Bill online for at least a full 72-hours for the public and all Senators to read it before a vote… as they rumbled about how hard they were working and how they would work all day Saturday (9/26/9) and how posting the bill would slow things up… the Senate called it a day, a half-day yesterday (Friday 9/25/09), (for the Jewish Holiday) and now won’t be back until Tuesday from another long weekend…

Does anyone want to yell… stop with the b.s.? Stop with the untruths (lies)? Stop pushing what most people in America don’t want????? People really don’t want to read the Baucus Bill… they want it scrapped.

Hit the RESET Button!!!

(Then start working on some real healtcare reform that people want and that will save money, improve services and cover more people… which is not ObamaCare!)

One Single Payer System (CUTE SONG) From The reasons given not to post the full Baucus HC Reform Bill online for 72-hours before a vote, so people could actually read it were…

1. The people wouldn’t understand it. (They think we are stupid)

2. It would take too long to translate into laymen’s language. (This bill could and should have been written so everyone can understand it in the first place)

3. It will slow up the process of getting it passed. (They are hiding not just one thing, but a long list of things and intend to ram this through to promote Obama’s bigger agenda no matter what Americans really want!!)

On Tuesday they are going to take up the Public Option again… And they won’t tell us what it costs. Big RED Flags!

Once any part of a Public Option… whether it is called a government-run co-op or a trigger, the Camel’s nose will be in the Tent, and it will only be a matter of time before we are on a single payer (socialized medicine) plan, and there will be turning back.

Neither Healthcare Reform or Cap and Trade have anything to do with improving the lot and life of Americans!! Both have everything to do with (in President Obama’s own words 5-days before the election) “Fundamentally changing America!”

The Fight For American Freedoms and Real Healthcare Reform is now!!

---------

Solution to the Healthcare Reform…

1. Address and Clean Up Fraud in All Areas of Medical Care! – Billions are lost and wasted in fraud each year. Read: Stop Paying the Crooks
2. Serious Tort Reform – The lawyers are the winner in Obamacare! Tort Reform is not even being addressed
3. Change Intra-State Insurance Laws; allow true competition to sell and purchase insurance across state lines.
4. Make Health Insurance Portable.
5. Reward Doctors for Results Not Numbers of Procedures.
6. Allow the self-employed and small business owners to form private co-ops to purchase health insurance to cut down costs.

7. These changes alone would improve healthcare and save money to cover the uninsured that could be put on a plan that is a subsidiary of Medicare and Medicaid. Government should act as a neutral regulator only… of insurance companies, Big Pharma and the AMA; not be in competition with them. Exclusions due to previous conditions should not be allowed and honest over-sight (which does not happen now) should be maintained and enforced as far as safety, costs and fraud.

8. Natural supplements and alternative or holistic treatments and preventative measures should also be covered and encouraged instead of forced out by Big Pharma and the AMA.

9. “No” centralization of Medical Records! The opportunity for mis-use of that information is too high. The government could incentivize medical groups and doctors to update their records to more modern systems (in-house/in system). Then those records could more easily be sent or hand carried with the patients consent to be shared.

The Obama administration keeps talking about saving money by reforming Medicare and Medicaid. Let them start there and see what the savings really are without cutting funding or pushing costs over to the states.

ObamaCare is or will eventually be socialized medicine, so we need to fight and stop it now. There will be no going back later.

A Govt-Run Co-Op is the same as a Public Option and a Trigger will end up being a Public Option… the Answer has to be No to all!

Also “NO” on covering illegal aliens or abortions with public funds. (Beware: Obama’s newest ploy is promoting amnesty and citizenship to illegals to cover them, with money we don’t have…)Obama: Legalize Illegals to Get Them Health Care

Call, email, fax and write your Congressman, Senator and all the fence sitter and radical today and everyday!

Call the United States Capitolswitchboard today... everyday at (202) 224-3121 or (202) 225-3121

Senators from your State.

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

ObamaCare heads to (in) committee>>>>

Next week, the Senate Finance Committee will consider the latest version of ObamaCare. Click here for 11 reasons to oppose it.

Please contact the Senators who sit on the committee and urge them to oppose this bill and to start over on real reform that most Americans want and need!

DEMOCRATS

Baucus (MT)

Rockefeller (WV)

Conrad (ND)

Bingaman (NM)

Kerry (MA)

Lincoln (AR)

Wyden (OR)

Schumer (NY)

Stabenow (MI)

Cantwell (WA)

Nelson (FL)

Menendez (NJ)

Carper (DE)

REPUBLICANS

Grassley (IA)

Hatch (UT)

Snowe (ME)

Kyl (AZ)

Bunning (KY)

Crapo (ID)

Roberts (KS)

Ensign (NV)

Enzi (WY)

Cornyn (TX)

RINObamaCare petition tops 20,000

Our national petition calling on Republicans to hold firm against ObamaCare topped 20,000 signatures this week.

President Obama has been inviting select Republicans to the White House as part of his ongoing campaign to get them to cave. We must keep up the pressure.

Help SCF continue to this campaign.

Related Resources:

On, 09/22/09, the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee held a forum to highlight the urgent need for comprehensive health insurance reform. Wendell Potter, Former Communications VP/Spokes... Wendell Potter

CBO Adjusts Their Numbers On Cost of ObamaCare After White House Meeting

ObamaCare: Losing Everyone

Here is a video commentary - the case against ObamaCare with explanation on how to beat it by Dick Morris

To access the video - Go here!

Senators are negotiating on Senator Max Baucus' ObamaCare 6.0 proposal and it hasn't even been written yet.
Of course, to state the obvious, the fact that they're negotiating on something that hasn't been written means no one has read it yet either.
And, to add even more insult to injury, it’s now clear they have no intention of letting you read it.
You read that right. On an almost straight party-line vote, Democrats in the Senate Finance Committee squashed an amendment by Senator Jim Bunning that would have required Baucus’ ObamaCare bill to be posted on the Internet – for all Americans to read – for 72 hours prior to the Committee voting on it.
Not only that. Bunning’s amendment also called for requiring the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office’s official tally of how much Baucus’ ObamaCare 6.0 will cost the American people and what the real impact will be on health costs to be released before the it was voted on.
It's as plain as the nose on your face.
They're leaving the door wide-open to pass Baucus' ObamaCare 6.0 proposal in the dead of night... under the cover of darkness… without even telling you and other concerned Americans what it will cost and how it will affect your health care.
But what really takes the cake is that even after those shenanigans, some Senate Republicans are still going out of their way to play Let’s-Make-A-Deal on Senator Max Baucus’ ObamaCare 6.0 socialized health care scheme.
They're actually fighting tooth-and-nail, not to stop ObamaCare but to negotiate a so-called compromise on this Obama-Baucus scheme to socialize the nation’s health care system.
And that's just one more reason why we must tell our elected officials, right here and right now, that the American people don't want any more negotiations or deals or compromises.
We want ObamaCare off the table and we want it off the table now.

---

Use the hyperlink below to send your urgent Blast Fax messages to each and every Republican Member of the United States Senate - or alternately to President Barack Obama and each and every member of the House and Senate.
Demand that they listen to the American people and defeat ObamaCare once and for all. Tell them that no amount of so-called "compromise" will make government-run health care acceptable to the American people. Let them know that if they spent the same amount of energy to defeat ObamaCare as they are spending negotiating, the job would be done. Demand, once and for all, that they stop negotiating and win this fight against socialized health care for the American people.

If the button above does not work, please use this hyperlink.

---

ObamaCare 6.0: A Stunning Assault On Liberty.

If the previous versions of government-run ObamaCare made you angry… Senator Max Baucus’ ObamaCare 6.0 is likely to make your blood boil.
Much like its predecessors, the Baucus health care reform plan is chock-full of provisions calling for new government mandates, higher taxes, increased spending and government-dictated, rationed health care.
In fact, it’s so bad that Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl said of Baucus’ plan: “This is a stunning assault on liberty!”
Senator Kyl is right. And, the really sad part is this:
As previously stated, the Baucus bill hasn’t even been written yet, much less read by the Senators who are doing the negotiating.
It’s nothing more than a 200-plus-page shell of ideas to be rammed down the throats of the American people with all deliberate speed... before you and other concerned Americans have the time to find out what hit you.
Senator Lindsay Graham, speaking on FOX News, probably gave the best explanation of what exactly is going on: “[T]he Baucus bill… literally changes everyday… we’re making this up as we go… they’re trying to buy votes… the vision here is to pass something… they don’t give a damn what it is and nobody understands what they’re doing.”
These so-called leaders just don’t get it. Republicans and Democrats are quibbling over what type of government-run health care they believe to be best for you and your family and no one is fighting for the American people.
The American people for months have been sending the message loud and clear that they want no part of ObamaCare, period, regardless of what form it takes. The American people have been telling politicians in Washington that no amount of so-called "compromise" will make Obama’s government-run health care scheme acceptable or palatable.
And yet, one of the only things keeping ObamaCare alive is the fact that some Republicans, under the veil of “negotiations,” are keeping it alive.
It’s time for these politicians to finally get the message. The American people do not want them to “fix” ObamaCare… no more so-called “ObamaCare compromises”… the American people want ObamaCare gone… never to be heard from again.

---

Use the hyperlink below to send your urgent Blast Fax messages to each and every Republican Member of the United States Senate - or alternately to President Barack Obama and each and every member of the House and Senate.
Demand that they listen to the American people and defeat ObamaCare once and for all. Tell them that no amount of so-called "compromise" will make government-run health care acceptable to the American people. Let them know that if they spent the same amount of energy to defeat ObamaCare as they are spending negotiating, the job would be done. Demand, once and for all, that they stop negotiating and win this fight against socialized health care for the American people.

If the button above does not work, please use this hyperlink.

---

They Don't Want You To Read The Bill, But Will They Read The Bill?

The Baucus plan, right now, as you read this letter, is rapidly advancing in the Senate – even though the bill hasn’t actually been written and none of the Senators working on it have actually read it.
And, as previously stated, it’s now clear they have no intention of letting you read it either. Here’s what Michael Franc wrote on the Heritage Foundation’s blog, The Foundry:
“During the Senate Finance Committee mark up of the Baucus health bill … Senator Bunning of Kentucky put forth an innovative amendment. This amendment stipulated that before voting on the measure in Committee, legislative language would have to be accessible to the public for 72 hours and that the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) would need to publish an official tally of how much this bill will cost the American people and what the real impact will be on health costs."
Franc continued:
“The amendment failed 11-12 on nearly a party line vote. Senator Blanche Lincoln (AR) was the sole Democrat to support this attempt at transparency. The bottom line: when the committee completes its work on this re-make of one-sixth of our economy, Senators will have voted on a phantom - a bill that does not exist with costs that are unknowable until, that is, the unelected legislative draftsmen write the real bill in some back room on Capitol Hill.” [Emphasis Mine]
Remember what Senator Graham said: “the vision here is to pass something… they don’t give a damn what it is and nobody understands what they’re doing.”
Fortunately, the American people are one step ahead of of our elected officials this time around.
They believe they can work behind closed doors and try to repackage government-run health care and seal it with a nice pretty bow.
But in the end, the American people are on to their game, we won’t be fooled and we can stop them.
No more "negotiating"… no more "compromising"… it’s time to stop ObamaCare once and for all.

---

Use the hyperlink below to send your urgent Blast Fax messages to each and every Republican Member of the United States Senate - or alternately to President Barack Obama and each and every member of the House and Senate.
Demand that they listen to the American people and defeat ObamaCare once and for all. Tell them that no amount of so-called "compromise" will make government-run health care acceptable to the American people. Let them know that if they spent the same amount of energy to defeat ObamaCare as they are spending negotiating, the job would be done. Demand, once and for all, that they stop negotiating and win this fight against socialized health care for the American people.

If the button above does not work, please use this hyperlink.

---

Socialized Health Care Delivered Under A Christmas Tree Filled With Pricey Ornaments…

FOX News anchor Neil Cavuto summed up the mad dash to pass government-run health care – and specifically Baucus’ ObamaCare 6.0:
“Christmas may be months away but that ain’t stopping Senators from trying to outdo each other on health care… all sorts of pricey ornaments… 564 amendments… the pace of this is startling.”
Like the alcoholic who swears he will never take another drink, only to succumb to temptation the very next day, politicians in Washington lead us to believe that they got the message loud and clear... they lead us to believe they would stop ObamaCare.
But instead of stopping ObamaCare cold, they rushed to make deals and propose amendments the second Senator Baucus unveiled his proposal.
Even Senator Hatch, while calling for a so-called “bi-partisan solution” to ObamaCare, inadvertently stated the case as to why continued negotiations on ObamaCare are a dangerous thing:
“Everything is geared to try to get us to a single payer system… if they can’t do it automatically… they’ll do it in increments… a one size fits all health care system right out of Washington.”
Simply put, any compromise that is reached… any deal that is negotiated will simply lead us down the road to government-run, rationed health care for all.
Some will try to tell you that negotiation is simply a strategy… that it is perhaps the only way to stop ObamaCare.
But the truth of the matter is, ObamaCare never needs to come out of the Senate Finance Committee… it never has to see the light of day.
Rule 4 of the Rules of Procedure for the Senate Finance Committee reads: “Rule 4. Quorums. - (a) Except as provided in subsection (b) one-third of the membership of the committee, including not less than one member of the majority party and one member of the minority party, shall constitute a quorum for the conduct of business.”
That means, at least one Republican Senator on the Finance Committee needs to be in attendance in order to pass any legislation out of committee.
In other words, 10 Republican Senators (Charles Grassley, Orrin Hatch, Olympia Snowe, Jon Kyl, Jim Bunning, Mike Crapo, Pat Roberts, John Ensign, Mike Enzi and John Cornyn) could stop ObamaCare cold right now by simply saying they will not support it under any circumstances.
If those 10 Senators would simply say “no,” and deny Democrats on the Finance Committee a quorum; ObamaCare would be done… finished… it would die in committee... but you won’t hear that on the nightly news.
And yet, instead of finding a way to convince these 10 Republicans to stand firm in their opposition to ObamaCare, we’re told it’s more prudent solution to negotiate and make a deal with the opposition and hopefully cushion the blow of something that never has to happen in the first place.
Only in Washington D.C. does such a thing seem even remotely rational. It’s time to tell these Senate Republicans to get serious about stopping ObamaCare.

---

Use the hyperlink below to send your urgent Blast Fax messages to each and every Republican Member of the United States Senate - or alternately to President Barack Obama and each and every member of the House and Senate.
Demand that they listen to the American people and defeat ObamaCare once and for all. Tell them that no amount of so-called "compromise" will make government-run health care acceptable to the American people. Let them know that if they spent the same amount of energy to defeat ObamaCare as they are spending negotiating, the job would be done. Demand, once and for all, that they stop negotiating and win this fight against socialized health care for the American people.

If the button above does not work, please use this hyperlink.

---

Where Have We Seen This Insanity Before?

If this dysfunctional willingness on the part of Republican Senators to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory... to "compromise" on a battle that could be won outright... sounds familiar, it should.
It's happened before. It seems like only yesterday that our elected officials tried to ram amnesty for 12-20 million illegal aliens down the throats of the American people.
Back then, the American people, in resounding numbers (Republicans, Democrats and Independents), told our elected officials to just say "no" to amnesty.
And each time the American people spoke up, our elected officials tried to produce so-called "compromise legislation" ... and they alternately tried to sell it to us or ram it down our throats.
But the American didn't let them get away with it. We all knew that each so-called “compromise” was just as egregious as the first amnesty bill... a few words were changed but every proposal essentially led to amnesty for millions of illegal aliens.
Do you remember their very last attempt to sell all of us on so-called "compromise legislation?"
Do you remember seeing that photograph in the paper of that group of Senators uproariously laughing and slapping each other on the back as they emerged from their closed-door negotiations?
It was almost as if, when they emerged from that room, they were really laughing at all of us.
Of course, back then, you took decisive action... you called... you faxed... and together we finally broke the back of those bogus amnesty compromises.
You did it before. You can do it again. Now is the time to show your outrage. Make your voice heard now and we will defeat ObamaCare once and for all.

---

Use the hyperlink below to send your urgent Blast Fax messages to each and every Republican Member of the United States Senate - or alternately to President Barack Obama and each and every member of the House and Senate.
Demand that they listen to the American people and defeat ObamaCare once and for all. Tell them that no amount of so-called "compromise" will make government-run health care acceptable to the American people. Let them know that if they spent the same amount of energy to defeat ObamaCare as they are spending negotiating, the job would be done. Demand, once and for all, that they stop negotiating and win this fight against socialized health care for the American people.

If the button above does not work, please use this hyperlink.

---

Yours In Freedom,

Jeff Mazzella
President
Center for Individual Freedom

Neither Healthcare Reform or Cap and Trade have anything to do with improving the lot and life of Americans!! Both have everything to do with (in President Obama’s own words 5-days before the election) “Fundamentally changing America!”

Contributing to send out the blasts is probably the most efficient, but if you choose not to go that route, you can contact Washington yourself… or do both until they realize that we will not stand for this betrayal!!

Call, email, fax and write your Congressman, Senator and all the fence sitter and radical today and everyday!

Call the United States Capitol switchboard today... everyday at (202) 224-3121 or (202) 225-3121 (House and Senate)

Senators from your State.

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

The Member of the European Parliament below, Daniel Hannan, became quite well known for his speech denouncing the economic practices of Gordon Brown's Labor government in Britain. This speech has received over 2 million hits, and I have included it below. Watch it and you will see why…

Click Here to view

Hannan has said several times he cannot understand why Americans would voluntarily move to socialized medicine and that once me did… because of the tremendous infrastructure, there would be no going back. He also cannot understand that Americans are not standing up for their Constitution… their Freedoms, of which he is a great admirer and advocate.

Please continue to contact all the Senators on the Finance Committee list above plus your own state Senators.

Source: Knowledge Creates Power & the Daily Thought Pad

Posted: True Health is True Wealth – Cross-Posted: Marion’s Place

REP. TOM PRICE ADMONISHES GOVERNMENT TAKEOVER OF HEALTHCARE

Rep. Tom Price of Georgia admonishes the Democrat government-takeover of health care. Support a real reform for health care. Congressman Price was a 25-year practicing doctor before running for office.

tom.house.gov rsc.price.house.gov (July 16, 2009)

Video: Rep. Tom Price Admonishes Government Takeover of Health Care

There are former doctors in both the House and the Senate. There are present and former Congressman, Senators and Governors that have experience with healthcare reform and there are companies like SafeWay, whose CEO’s testified before Congress. There are also Senators, Congressmen and others with common sense. None of their ideas are being listened to were used as part of any of the Healthcare Reform Bills that I have seen.

Stand-up America and don’t let the present bills pass. As Daniel Hannan of Britain and representative to the EU parliament says, “Once we put socialized medicine into affect there is almost no going back.

Related Resources:

• Rep. Tom Price tells Obama to stop playing the health care blame – video
• Congressman Price Debates Health Care with Ed Schultz – video
• Prescription for Truth – Daniel Hannan From England: HealthCare Worse for Elderly - video
• 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!
• Woman in Oregon Told Healthcare Would Not pay for Cancer Treatment But Would Pay for Assisted Suicide… Welcome to Government Controlled Healthcare
• Obamacare for Illegal Aliens – While Granny Gets Duty to Die Lecture
• What Would Ronnie Do? – Krauthammer on Healthcare
• Kristol: Kill It, And Start Over
• Socialized Medicine Update – From Congressman John Campbell’s Laptop to Yours
• Senator Grassley (and others): Democrats Want to Nationalize Healthcare
• Safeway’s Health Care Program Gets Attention
• Kennedy: Let’s Ration Healthcare
• Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer Say Citizens Exercising Their First Amendment Rights Are “Un-American”… The Desperation is Showing!
• Catholics Fear ‘Stealth’ Abortion Push in Healthcare… Could Add to Doctor and Hospital Shortages
• HR 3200 Kills the Private Insurance Industry
• Little Girl A Plant at Obama HealthCare Town Hall… Wow, Did You Not Learn Your Lesson With the Last Plant, Mr. President?
• The Community Organizer Doesn’t Like People Organizing???
• White House Initiates “Snitch” Program On What They Call Misinformation Being Disbursed on Healthcare Reform
• Sarah Palin: Concerning the “Death Panels”
• USA Today fact-checks Obama’s town-hall assertions
• ‘I Was Lied To!’ Spector Town Hall Gets Heated – Watch Video
• White House Initiates “Snitch” Program On What They Call Misinformation Being Disbursed on Healthcare Reform
• Catastrophe by Dick Morris - Covers the Healthcare debacle

Read the Bill - HR-3200 - full report

Source: Knowledge Creates Power

Posted: True Health Is True Wealth

Senate Conservatives Update

Co-ops = Public Option = Single Payer

Knowing that Americans would reject the idea of a "single payer" government health care system, Democrats began calling their plan a "public option." Now that Americans have rejected that idea too, Democrats are peddling another proposal called health care "cooperatives."

Unfortunately, these federally-backed co-ops are nothing more than a public option by another name. Washington will set up and subsidize them so private health plans are squeezed out of the marketplace. Then, like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the costs will catch up with these government-sponsored entities and Congress will tell us they are "too big to fail" and must be nationalized.

Some Democrats are willing to admit that co-ops are the same as a public option. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said earlier this month that, "We're going to have some type of public option, call it 'co-op,' call it what you want."

Some Democrats are also willing to admit that the public option is the same as a single payer system. Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA)

said this week that, "I think if we get a good public option it could lead to single payer, and that's the best way to reach single payer."
It's becoming clear that no matter what name Democrats put on it, all of their ideas lead to a government takeover of our health care.

Join the Recess Rally

At noon on Saturday, August 22, 2009, citizen rallies will take place outside congressional offices across the country. If you would like to participate, click

here to find your Congressman's local office and get more information.

The latest government bailout

This week, the Senate moved beyond bailing out industries that it has driven into the ground to bailing out its own programs that it has failed to manage.

Proving once again that the federal government is incapable of managing the federal highway system, the Senate passed $7 billion to shore up the failing program. The bill also provides $7.5 billion to bail out the failing unemployment insurance program and $185 billion to bail out several government-managed home-ownership programs.

Only 17 Republicans had the courage to vote against this rip-off. Click

here to see how your Senators voted.

Question: If the government cannot manage these programs, what makes anyone think it can manage our health care?