By Marion Algier - Ask Marion - h/t to MJ
Betsy McCaughey – Author of Obama Health Law
McCaughey was a guest on the Mark Levin Show and talked about how O-care funds are being used – and that the illegal immigration bill also contains the same slush fund mechanisms in it. Here’s a very brief write-up...
Betsy McCaughey, one of the few people on Earth who’s actually read the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” (aka Obamacare), wrote this recent article which I believe is worth adding to the echo chamber.
If you have to keep it a secret, you probably shouldn't be doing it.
But the California legislature and the new Covered California health insurance exchange are conspiring to keep secret how they will dole out more than half a billion dollars in taxpayer dollars to contractors. The lion's share of the money is going for what the exchange budget terms "outreach."
In truth, the money is going to build Democratic Party enrollment.
The Obama administration granted a whopping $910 million to California to set up its insurance exchange. That money is not for bandages, surgery, nurses and doctors to care for the sick. Nor is it for insurance plans, though $910 million could buy generous coverage for at least 113,000 people!
Shockingly, the $910 million is slated for bureaucracy, including rich compensation packages for exchange employees ($360,000 a year for the executive director) and contracts for computer equipment, public relations and "outreach."
Outreach is the largest expenditure and where the real monkey business occurs.
Amazingly, California legislators passed a law that the exchange could keep secret for a year who received the contracts and indefinitely how much they were paid. California's open-records laws would otherwise prohibit such secrecy.
Last week, Republican U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and four other Republican senators on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee called for an investigation of California's concealing information on contracts awarded using federal taxpayer money.
What is known so far suggests that California politicians are exploiting health reform to enroll millions of the uninsured in the Democratic Party and fill the coffers of left-wing interest groups with taxpayer money.
Here are the facts to back up that cynical picture:
California lawmakers passed a law (Senate Bill 35) requiring that voter registration be part of the health insurance exchange.
Last month, Covered California announced $37 million in grants to 48 organizations to build public awareness about the opening of the health exchange on Oct. 1.
Of the 48 organizations that got grants, only a handful are health-care related. The California NAACP received $600,000 to do door-to-door canvassing and presentations at community organizations.
Service Employees International Union, which says its mission is "economic justice," received two grants totaling $2 million to make phone calls, robo-calls and go door to door.
The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor AFL-CIO got $1 million for door-to-door, one-on-one education and social networking. It describes its role as "engaging in both organizing and political campaigns, electing pro-union and pro-worker candidates."
Community Health Councils, a California organization with a long history of political activism against fracking, for-profit hospitals, state budget cuts and oil exploration, got $1 million to conduct presentations at community and neighborhood meetings and one-to-one sessions.
These organizations, closely allied with the Democratic Party, are being funded by your tax dollars to conduct "outreach," meaning the kind of phone banking and door-to-door canvassing that activists do to turn out the vote. They will turn out the uninsured to enroll on the exchanges and in the Democratic Party.
The $37 million awarded last month is only the first installment of California's $190.4 million to be spent on contracts for "outreach" through December 2014.
In addition to outreach, California's actual enrollment process is also outsourced to employees of community organizations, unions and health clinics. These enrollment "assisters" will be paid $58 for each enrollee they sign up. An additional $49 million is budgeted to pay them the first year, but in future years, assisters will be paid out of the premiums collected by the exchange.
The template is repeated in every state. The Obama health law creates a permanent stream of funding for unions and community activists by outsourcing insurance enrollment to them.
Assisters will also guide the uninsured to sign up for whatever non-health social services they may be eligible for, including welfare, food stamps and housing assistance, according to the manual prepared by the Community Health Councils for California's implementation.
Anyone who remembers the days of James Curley, Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall gets the picture. If you were poor or a newcomer to this country, you went to the local ward boss and got whatever you needed in exchange for your vote.
The difference is that back then, politics was local. Now the Obama health law is institutionalizing this corrupt style of politics across the country. Whether you live in California or New York, local community activists and unions will be recruiting people to enroll in ObamaCare and sign up to be part of the permanent, beholden Democratic voting majority.
And just ask anyone who comes from a country with a one-party system… they will tell you horror stories upon horror stories.
Her basic premise is that Obamacare is not about health care (even a synopsis of the bill tells you that), it’s about funding a permanent Democrat majority.
How? McCaughey believes that this is done through “awareness” programs using typical Democrat muscle (unions, community organizations, the usual suspects) to receive much of this government funding to help get the word out about Obamacare. It’s a money laundering scheme using taxpayer’s money to ultimately assist Democrat get-out-the-vote drives, very much like what the Stimulus was used for.
Audio: Mark Levin Discusses What's Really Going on with Obamacare with Betsy McCaughey Part I
Audio: Mark Levin Discusses What’s Really Going on with Obamacare with Betsy McCaughey Part 2
Sean Hannity, Neil Cavuto, Governor Huckabee and Rush Limbaugh also featured similar discussions on their radio shows this past week:
Rush Limbaugh/EIB:
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I hate to do this to you, but the Investor's Business Daily had an editorial yesterday, and they have discovered the purpose of Obamacare. It has nothing to do with health care. The purpose of Obamacare got nothing to do with your health, and nothing to do with your insurance.
It's about building a permanent, undefeatable, always-funded Democrat majority. One example: The exchanges. We're being told that the government's running way behind on setting up the exchanges, and we're being told it's because the bill so complicated, big, unmanageable. Nobody could possibly get this done on time. IBD has tracked how these exchanges are being set up, and basically the health care exchanges in these states are going to be Democrat political action committees, funded with your tax dollars.
They're going to operate under the guise of selling you your health insurance when in fact what they're going to be doing is providing employment for Democrats and Democrat voters and Democrat operatives. They are going to use the exchanges to give out money to sympathetic Democrats and people who vote for other Democrats. I'll give you the details. It's on a par with how I've tried to explain that the stimulus was a money-laundering operation for Democrat campaign coffers.
Because the vast majority of stimulus money went to keep government union employees working. It went to make sure they weren't laid off in a really bad and down economy. State and local union employees pay dues. They're required to pay it. The dues are collected by Democrat union leaders. They run all the union organizations, and the dues are what fund Democrat campaigns. Well, you can't collect dues if the people aren't working. If you're the Democrats, you can't (not yet, anyway) just write a check for $900 billion to the US Treasury and then start giving it away.
But you can come up with a "stimulus" bill that you tell people it's all about creating jobs and roads and bridges and building up infrastructure. Then you get the check, and you are in charge of how the money is spent and where it goes, and you see to it that it ends up ultimately in the back pockets of union employees so that they continue to be employed and paying dues. So it's a roundabout way of getting $900 billion, or a percentage of it, back to the Democrat Party in campaign contributions.
That's what the stimulus bill was!
I'll take a break. Take a couple phone calls, and then I will share with you the dirty details of the Investors Business Daily editorial on what is really happening with Obamacare and the exchanges.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Now, on to the Investor's Business Daily. They have an editorial that explains in quite extensive detail how Obamacare is actually a funding operation for Democrat Party operatives and a technique for improving increasing Democrat Party voter registration.
"The Obama administration granted a whopping $910 million to California to set up its insurance exchange. That money is not for bandages, surgery, nurses and doctors to care for the sick. ... Shockingly, the $910 million is slated for bureaucracy, including rich compensation packages for exchange employees." In fact, the executive director of the exchange in California will make $360,000 a year. The exchange money, this $910 million, is being used for computer equipment, public relations, and outreach.
What is the exchange? It's supposedly where you go, by mandate, to buy your health insurance. The exchange is supposed to just be a catalog, basically. And the only thing in the catalog are insurance policies, and you go there and you pick yours. You go there, decide what you want. That's what the exchange is. Instead, the regime has decided to use these exchanges, probably part of the original plan, as Democrat get-out-the-vote efforts complete with walking-around money and employment for loyal Democrats.
"California lawmakers passed a law (Senate Bill 35) requiring that voter registration be part of the health insurance exchange." California lawmakers, again, passed Senate Bill 35 that requires voter registration be part of the health insurance exchange. Now, you think you're going to the exchange to pick your insurance policy. Guess what? You're gonna get pressured to register to vote, if you're not, and maybe even if you already are. "Last month, Covered California announced $37 million in grants to 48 organizations to build public awareness about the opening of the health exchange on Oct. 1."
In other words, they're treating this as the grand opening of a great shopping center, a great mall. They're doing this to attract all kinds of people. It's a government bureaucracy. It would be no different than if the DMV started running ads to get you to show up.
"Of the 48 organizations that got grants, only a handful are health-care related." For example, Covered California announced $37 million in grants to 48 organizations to build public awareness about the opening of the health care exchange. Now, why in the world would the California NAACP get $600,000? But they did. The California NAACP got $600,000 of Obamacare money, California exchange money, to go door-to-door canvassing and registering voters, and to create presentations at community organizations, presentations about the Democrat Party, presentations about registering and supporting the Democrat Party and its candidates.
"Service Employees International Union, which says its mission is 'economic justice,' received two grants totaling $2 million to make phone calls, robo-calls and go door to door." Now, what in the world does a health exchange need a union going door-to-door for? I'm talking about in the strict structure of these exchanges. Remember, our low-information people have no clue what's gonna hit them here, folks.
You think they know what a health care exchange is? You and I know what it is. It's a place where we're gonna have to go to get our insurance policy. Little do we know that when we show up we're going to be hit with Democrat Party propaganda. Little do we know that the insurance exchanges are gonna be giving money to the NAACP and the Service Employees International Union to go out and do "voter outreach," voter registration drives, show up at community organizing centers.
They're gonna be making robo-calls, phone calls all about getting out the vote. "The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor AFL-CIO got $1 million for door-to-door, one-on-one education and social networking." For what? An insurance policy? "It describes its role as 'engaging in both organizing and political campaigns, electing pro-union and pro-worker candidates.'" That's the AFL-CIO. That's how it describes itself.
So we have the NAACP in California getting 600 grand to go door-to-door to register voters, to do this or that. "Service Employees International Union, which says its mission is "economic justice," received two grants totaling $2 million to make phone calls, robo-calls and go door to door," to the outreach, open community centers, make phone calls, robo-calls, register voters, get them to the polls. The AFL-CIO getting another million. So just in three groups, we're at $3,600,000 from a health exchange to basically gin up support for the Democrat Party.
"Community Health Councils, a California organization with a long history of political activism against fracking, for-profit hospitals, state budget cuts and oil exploration, got $1 million to conduct presentations at community and neighborhood meetings and one-to-one sessions." So health care exchange money for California has been given to a group that opposes fracking, for-profit hospitals, and opposes state budget cuts, opposes oil exploration.
They get a million bucks to "conduct presentations at community and neighborhood meetings" against all of these things. In other words, Community Health Councils, California group, got a million dollars to promote the Democrat Party. The AFL-CIO, $1 million to promote the Democrat Party. The Service Employees International Union, $2 million to promote the Democrat Party. The NAACP, $600,000 to promote the Democrat Party.
It's $910 million total of taxpayer money to the state of California -- and by the way, gonna happen in every state. This is not just California. But you might be asking, "Wait a minute, Rush! Wait a minute! What about getting people actually signed up for health care, insurance policies?" Well, guess what? That has also been assigned to constituencies in the Democrat Party. Basically what's happening is Obamacare's exchanges are being funded, money is being given.
The same people who got stimulus money, folks. You didn't. Your shovel-ready job didn't. Your school didn't. Your road, your bridge, none of those things got it. Your job didn't get it. Democrat loyalists got the money. The same thing is happening with the Obamacare exchanges. Democrat supporting groups are being given millions of dollars to promote the Democrat Party, register Democrat voters, and get them to the polls on Election Day. The purpose? To set up a permanent one-party system in this country.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: The Investor's Business Daily. This story, it's actually an editorial, it's written by Betsy McCaughey. And folks, what's happening with these health care exchanges, again, we're gonna link to this Investor's Business Daily editoral at RushLimbaugh.com and it's gonna be in our Rush in a Hurry. You know what? I don't pitch this enough, but I really should.
We have an e-mail alert that we send out within a half hour of every program, and it's free. All you have to do is go to our website and sign up for it. And there are no strings attached to it. Now, it does have banner advertising in it, but there are no strings. You don't have to sign up for anything else. It's called Rush in a Hurry, and it is a summary with some transcripts and some audio, and it has links to the full website, with full details on everything. But it is a great, comprehensive summary of the highlights, which is everything that happened on this program every day. Millions of people already get it, and you can get it, too. So when I sit here and tell you, "Well, you don't want to miss this IBD editorial," if you're subscriber to Rush in a Hurry, it automatically comes to whatever e-mail address you submit, and the link to it will be right there about 30 minutes after the program.
Now, we are able to update our website on the fly now because of advancements in website technology. We used to have to wait 'til six o'clock Eastern time every day to have the whole site up. You had to do it all at once and then go live with it. But now we can supplement it as we go, update it as we go. So the Rush in a Hurry is an absolutely great way -- if you haven't had a chance to listen to the program on a particular day, you get the Rush in a Hurry, two things are gonna happen. You're gonna know what happened. You're gonna wish that you had been near a radio. But it is really well done. It is done with html graphics. It's not just a straight, flat text e-mail. It is a miniature website into itself in an e-mail. All you have to do to get it is go to RushLimbaugh.com and sign up for Rush in a Hurry. That's what it's called.
Now, the Investor's Business Daily editorial written by Betsy McCaughey details what the health care exchanges in Obamacare really are about. And she focuses on California because they're getting $910 million to set up the exchanges in California. Now, the exchanges, folks, are for one purpose and that's for you to go get your health care insurance. Every American, if you don't get your health care from your employer, you're gonna have to go to one of these exchanges to get it. It's a marketplace, it's a clearinghouse, theoretically. It's a catalog. You go pick the policy that you want based on what you want to pay -- they're all gonna be expensive. But it turns out these exchanges are just being used for Democrat Party outreach. I've detailed how.
The NAACP is getting $600,000 from the California exchange. The AFL-CIO is getting $1 million. The Service Employees International Union is getting $2 million. And for what? To go door-to-door, to register voters, to show up at community centers and make presentations on the Democrat Party and sell the Democrat Party agenda. A group called Community Health Councils, which is a California bunch that opposes fracking, for-profit hospitals, state budget cuts and oil exploration, got $1 million to conduct presentations at community and neighborhood meetings. "California's actual enrollment process is also outsourced to employees of community organizations, unions and health clinics."
So when you show up to get your insurance at a California exchange, you might be dealing to somebody from the AFL-CIO. You might be dealing with somebody from the Service Employees International Union. Planned Parenthood is trying to get in on some of this money. Planned Parenthood wants some exchange money to promote their cause, which is abortion. It's another slush fund, folks. The health care exchanges are slush funds just like the stimulus bill was.
California's Democrat controlled legislature does not want voters to know who exactly is getting close to $200 million in outreach funding, so they passed a law that creates an exception to the state's open records law. A grand total of $200 million in Democrat Party outreach will be allocated from the $910 million to set up the exchanges. That's the brunt of it, but I tell you, you need to see the whole thing. And we'll link to it at RushLimbaugh.com.
Washington Examiner: "The popularity of Obamacare has crashed to its lowest level in nearly two years, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation poll." Thirty-five percent support Obamacare. "Kaiser's monthly tracking poll found that just 35 percent have a favorable view of the health reform being put into place Jan. 1 while 43 percent view it unfavorably. The favorability rating of Obamacare has been worse only once, in October 2011, when it fell to 34 percent." So it's heading south.
Another story from Wall Street Journal: An ObamaCare Board Answerable to No One.
This is a story about the death panel. "An Obamacare Board Answerable to No One." A story from the Wall Street Journal about death panels. It's a disaster. Immigration reform, it's a disaster. This, Obamacare, is a disaster, folks. No other way to describe it.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: About these health care exchanges, let me present to you a picture. Hypothetically, Obamacare is implemented, and along the way, guess what? Amnesty happens, the Gang of Eight bill is passed, and all of a sudden we've got 11 million people now that we're gonna put on a pathway to citizenship. Who's gonna be in charge of it? Obama, the Democrat Party will be with pamphlets, ads on TV and in publications, about how to go to the pathway to citizenship.
The pathway to citizenship's gonna take 'em right to a health care exchange. They're gonna need health care. They're gonna be sent right to an exchange where they're gonna be hit up by unions to become Democrats. That's the first thing that's gonna happen to these illegals! Once we put 'em on the pathway, they're gonna be met on the path by the nearest union worker with a Democrat voter registration form. That's exactly how this is gonna happen.
END TRANSCRIPT
Video: Dr. Ben Carson Talks Obamacare Future Disaster Waiting to Happen with Neil Cavuto
After the IBD article, Limbaugh and Hannity also featured discussions of the above article on their radio shows and Dr. Ben Carson, who is working on an alternative solution to ObamaCare and our present healthcare system, was a guest on Cavuto. Huckabee featured three doctors on his weekly Fox TV show over the weekend who have found their own solutions to circumvent ObamaCare and the ObamaCare exchanges.
Everything done by this administration is connected and part of a greater agenda… an agenda to control the US economy, create a one party system, and to control everything about our lives, a fundamental transformation of America. Our job is to connect the dots… and then start disconnecting them.
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