An Ol’ Broad’s Ramblings
Archive for Health Care
We Said NO!
House may try to pass Senate health-care bill without voting on it
After laying the groundwork for a decisive vote this week on the Senate’s health-care bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested Monday that she might attempt to pass the measure without having members vote on it.
Instead, Pelosi (D-Calif.) would rely on a procedural sleight of hand: The House would vote on a more popular package of fixes to the Senate bill; under the House rule for that vote, passage would signify that lawmakers “deem” the health-care bill to be passed.
The tactic — known as a “self-executing rule” or a “deem and pass” — has been commonly used, although never to pass legislation as momentous as the $875 billion health-care bill. It is one of three options that Pelosi said she is considering for a late-week House vote, but she added that she prefers it because it would politically protect lawmakers who are reluctant to publicly support the measure.
“It’s more insider and process-oriented than most people want to know,” the speaker said in a roundtable discussion with bloggers Monday. “But I like it,” she said, “because people don’t have to vote on the Senate bill.”
I wonder which bloggers she was bumping her gums to/with? I can pretty much bet it wasn’t Michelle Malkin, Gateway Pundit, anyone from Pajamas Media. I can pretty much guarantee they didn’t invite Texas Fred. (Why does the mental image of Fred and the Ninny, together in the same room, make me laugh so hard? Hmm… Heh!)
First thing, go read that “self executing rule“. Seriously. GO READ IT! I’ll wait.
Of COURSE Ninny likes it!
Contemporary Use. Self-executing rules are still employed on matters involving House-Senate relations. They have also been used in recent years to enact significant substantive and sometimes controversial propositions.
Now I know just how so many of our freedoms have been eroded. Yes, perhaps I have been oblivious, not noticing the use of such an under handed tactic. Hey! I’m human. The examples provided in this .pdf, are rather small, compared to how they want to use it this time around. Banning smoking on domestic flights less than 2 hours long, while prohibiting personal choice, is NOT the same thing as taking over 1/6 of the American economy!
“When we have a bill, then we will let you know about the votes. But when we bring the bill to the floor, we will have the votes,” she told reporters.
Pelosi said Monday that House Democrats have yet to decide how to approach the vote. But she added that any strategy involving a separate vote on the Senate bill “isn’t too popular,” and aides said the leadership is likely to bow to the wishes of its rank and file.
Here’s a novel concept, you old windbag! Scrap that piece of crap at least 53% of the American people oppose! Those findings include 23% who Strongly Favor the plan and 46% who Strongly Oppose it.
And……Obama flaps his gums:
“I don’t know about the politics, but I know what’s the right thing to do,” he said, nearly shouting as the crowd cheered. “And so I’m calling on Congress to pass these reforms — and I’m going to sign them into law. I want some courage. I want us to do the right thing.”
Bud the ONLY thing you know about is campaigning! You don’t know JACK about true leadership! While you may have won the election, you have lost the nation, as a whole. Oh sure, there are still some who buy into all that phony Hope-n-Change, but a vast majority have woken up from our stupor, and are now fighting for our very survival, as FREE Americans!
Asked whether he was reconsidering his position, Kucinich demurred. But Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said Kucinich is coming under intense pressure from Ohioans who want Congress to act, and from his colleagues in Washington.
“All of us — the governor, the congressional delegation, the president — are making clear to Dennis that we won’t have another chance for a decade if this doesn’t happen,” Brown said.
Do you get the impression that the Dems know they are going to lose the majority this year? If this happen, and I truly pray it does, it will take YEARS to attempt to undo the damage they have wrought on this country. Now is as good time as any to restore the U.S. Constitution to it’s rightful place….the LAW of the Land!
Just A Few Items
Page 87 – TREATMENT OF STATE BENEFIT MANDATES
Insofar as a State requires a health insurance issuer offering health insurance coverage to include benefits beyond the essential benefits package, such requirement shall continue to apply to an Exchange-participating health benefits plan, if the State has entered into an arrangement satisfactory to the Commissioner to reimburse the Commissioner for the amount of any net increase in affordability premium credits under subtitle C as a result of an increase in premium in basic plans as a result of application of such requirement.
Just my opinion, but don’t the words “benefit” and “mandate” kind of cancel each other out?
Page 167-168 – TAX ON INDIVIDUALS WITHOUT ACCEPTABLE HEALTH CARE COVERAGE.
‘‘(a) TAX IMPOSED.—In the case of any individual who does not meet the requirements of subsection (d) at
any time during the taxable year, there is hereby imposed a tax equal to 2.5 percent of the excess of—
‘‘(1) the taxpayer’s modified adjusted gross income for the taxable year, over
‘‘(2) the amount of gross income specified in section 6012(a)(1) with respect to the taxpayer.
If you can’t afford their version of “acceptable health care”, they will make you pay an increase in taxes you can’t afford to pay? 2.5% of the excess income? Do you have excess income? Well, those who live on our dime up there in D.C. might have some extra, but I don’t know anyone out here in the real world doesn’t it.
Page 1180 – SEC. 227. SENSE OF THE HOUSE REGARDING ENROLLMENT OF MEMBERS IN THE PUBLIC OPTION.
It is the sense of the House of Representatives that Members who vote in favor of the establishment of a public, Federal Government run health insurance option, and senior members of the President’s administration, are urged to forgo their right to participate in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) and agree to enroll under that public option.
In other words, it would be nice if those who impose this crap on the American people would make use of it, but it’s not really necessary.
Is this thing giving anyone else a headache? I think that’s the whole idea. We’ll be going through this thing with a fine toothed comb, while those who wish to impose this crap on us, are chuckling at the idea that we care enough to read it, when they won’t.
Phone In For TN’s 7th
Just had a nice chat with a staffer at Rep. Marsha Blackburn’s Memphis office. Voiced my opinion, on the most recent shenanigans of the Democrats in D.C. However, that wasn’t my primary reason for calling them, believe it or not. Seems that when an email, inviting constituents to participate in a phone town hall, went out, they forgot to include our little corner of the 7th District. Heh. Well, luckily, they are going to rectify that problem, and Hardin County will be added to the list, with the appropriate phone number to call in tomorrow. 
Just thought if anyone around these parts got the same email, and wants to participate, you’ll be getting an updated email tomorrow morning. At least, I sure hope so! 
Reconcile THIS!
In case you aren’t aware, the bozos up in D.C. have posted the latest version of “destroy America” bill on the internet. All 2,309 pages of it. I’ve been trying to go through it, and actually get a few things done around here at the same time, but let me tell ya, if you thought previous versions were bad, wait till you get a gander at THIS one! TRILLIONS in spending! That’s a whole number, with 12 zeroes!
Student loans? Hispanic serving institutions? I’m sure I’ll be posting things as I come across them, but in the mean time, do a little reading on your own.
Scrap The Crap
Do you ever feel like Alice, falling down the rabbit hole, into an alternate reality, where up is down, and wrong is right? Well, I’m sure that’s how most us feel these days. At least those of us old enough to remember a time when the government pretty much left us alone, and allowed us to make our own decisions. You know, like grown ups.
The more I delve into this whole health care manure, the more I feel like Alice chatting with that hookah smoking caterpillar. There is no reality, and nothing makes any sense.
Message From Marsha
Email from Rep. Marsha Blackburn (TN-7th):
Rumors about what could happen with the health care bill next week are spreading across Capitol Hill. I thought I would pass on those I am reasonably sure are accurate.
We KNOW two pieces of legislation will need to pass the House. The Speaker will need to find votes for the bill that passed the Senate last Christmas Eve (the Senate bill). The Majority is also putting together a second bill, the reconciliation bill, which makes “fixes” to the Senate bill to make it palatable to House Democrats.
We HEAR the Democrat leadership team could make this reconciliation bill available publicly over the weekend. Some Members have indicated that this bill will be publicly available for a week before it comes up for a vote.
We KNOW the Majority had hoped to pass the Senate bill and the reconciliation bill under what is called a “self-executing rule.” In this scenario, the House would first vote for a rule that says any vote to pass the reconciliation bill is essentially a two-fer which would also constitute a vote on the Senate bill. The Speaker then planned to hold the Senate bill until the Senate passed the reconciliation bill, thus guaranteeing the Senate would act on House priorities before the President could sign anything into law. The Senate Parliamentarian popped this balloon yesterday by instructing the Leadership that the President must first sign the Senate bill before the Senate could act on the reconciliation bill.
We HEAR the Parliamentarian’s decision has made things difficult for the Speaker. It is one thing for the Speaker to ask Members to trust her; it is entirely different to ask them to trust the Senate. As one colleague said, “The Republicans are the opposition, but the Senate is the enemy.”
We KNOW the White House had initially set next Thursday as the deadline for House action on the bill- the date the President was scheduled to depart for Asia. The deadline has been pushed back, as has the President’s trip.
We HEAR we can expect a vote next week or possibly next weekend. This will make the week to come very interesting and very important.
As always, I will keep you updated as events develop.
If, and I repeat a HUGE IF, Congress had two brain cells to rub together, common sense, and was actually ethical, this whole piece of crap legislation would never have gotten this far, AND, since it did, they’d scrap the whole thing, and start over with some REAL effort to aid in the costs of health care. That’s not the purpose though, and we know it. They KNOW that we KNOW, but they don’t give a damn.
Remember Those “72 Hours”?
Please, Bury The Rotting Corpse!
That’s corpse, as in dead body, not Corps, and in, well, you know.
Dead Legislation Walking
The Foundry
Another day, another stream of health care fantasy from the White House. A quick look at two health care events from yesterday, one in Glenside, Pennsylvania, and the other in Tawas City, Michigan, clearly exposes the yawing gap between the Obama administration’s health care rhetoric and cold hard legislative reality. First in Glenside, President Barack Obama turned up the volume on his already tired “final push” for health care reform. In addition to the usual litany of false claims about the legislation in Congress (in fact, you don’t get to keep your doctor, it isn’t paid for, it doesn’t reduce costs) President Obama also repeated his new line from his doctors-in-lab-coats address last week:
When Is “NO” Not Enough?
RESIST, AMERICA!
RESIST Socialism, Communism, and Marxism!ObamaCare, Socialized Medicine, Marxism, Communism, it’s the SAME!
by J. D. Longstreet
Just a few snippets:
Obama is jetting around the country holding pep rallies to try to gin up support for the “Bill from Hell” — Socialized Medicine. You should know these rallies include ONLY Obama supporters and ObamaCare supporters. The wild enthusiasm is staged for your benefit to, hopefully, give you the impression that ObamaCare is supported by the majority of Americans. The truth is – it is NOT.
Truth? What’s Nicholson’s famous line from “A Few Good Men”? I honestly believe if Obama would acquaint himself with the truth, his presidency wouldn’t be on such a precipice.
These rallies are all propaganda. It’s “The BIG LIE” told over and over again just as the Nazis in Germany did to convince the people of an entire country they truly desired the socialism of the Nazi Party. I must tell you Joseph Goebbels, the Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, would be proud of the Democratic Party in America today. The Obama Regime has taken a page from the leftist Nazis of the last century on how to brainwash an entire nation into believing a lie. A lie that, once accepted, will spell the absolute doom of America.
The similarities are getting more than just a bit creepy.
The Democratic Party, by itself, simply does not give a damn! They are interested in two things and two things only — and that is to maintain their hold on the government of the US and to ensure their reelection. They simply have no sympathy for what the American people truly want. Plus, THEY DON’T CARE WHAT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WANT! All that counts is what they, the Democrats, want.
No, they’ve told us time and time, it doesn’t matter what we say. They put their fingers in their ears, la la la la, and go on about their merry way, spending, coming up with ever more oppressive plans for our children’s future, circumventing the U.S. Constitution at every turn.
Those of us on the right vowing to throw the Socialists and Marxists, masquerading as Democrats, out of the Congress this November had better watch our backs. The dems are quietly lining up the resistance to our movement and between now and November the right will come under attack, intensifying each day as the election draws nearer and nearer.
Yes, it’s already started. The smear campaigns. The distortions. The strong arm tactics. The blatant bribes. I’m starting to wonder if, perhaps, we will need armed guards on our way to the polls come November?
They are quietly conspiring with the less literate democrat voters and those who, for generations, have depended on the government welfare dole for their existence. Their intention is to flood the polls in November of 2010 to offset and overwhelm the anti-ObamaCare. These “wards of the federal government” will be flooding the polling places, everywhere in America, to dilute the opposition to ObamaCare and defeat the efforts to save the constitutional republic we know as America. Their intent is to create, once and for all, a Socialist/Communist America. And they may very well succeed!
The unions are walking lock step to promote their King’s agenda. It doesn’t matter if it’s wrong for the citizen’s of the country. It doesn’t matter if it will totally destroy the fabric. They are the moths in the cloth of public education. The Louisville Slugger in the work place. They will present one side, and one side only to their ‘huddled masses’, never allowing the truth to be told, with the aid of the lame stream media, pushing ignorance.
I must admit to weariness and fatigue and frustration, as the realization sets in that the masses of ObamaCare advocates, like lemmings, have chosen to follow their own Pied Piper — this time straight over a cliff and into a Marxist/Communist hell-like oblivion.
Like J.D., I too am weary. But not worn down. Not one of us can ever let up OUR relentless fight to save, and return, to a Constitutional Republic. Younger people are not aware this nation was something much different that it is now. Yes, it is my generation’s fault this was allowed, but not it seems it’s my generation that must take up the ‘arms’ to save them from themselves. I pray that many more will join us in our struggle.
Fired Up? How ‘Bout Just FIRED!
Specter: Democrats getting ‘angry,’ will pass healthcare bill
Democrats in Congress are getting “angry” enough to push through healthcare reform, Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) said today.
Speaking to reporters after President Barack Obama’s healthcare event outside Philadelphia on Monday, Specter said frustration over Republican “obstruction” is making his caucus determined to move ahead.
Ya know what? I don’t care if the Democrats are getting angry. They can get angry all they want. What I DO care about is the fact they are NOT representing the interests of their constituents. 20% strongly favor this crap. TWENTY PERCENT! The AMERICAN people do not want these morons in D.C., who can’t even control their own lives, control ours. IT’S NOT IN THEIR JOB DESCRIPTION!
“I think there’s a lot more determination in the Congress now to get it passed,” he said, according to a pool report. “I really think there’s sort of reaction on the Democratic side of getting a little angry over the duration and intensity of obstruction and a lot more determination to see it through.”
In this case, the Democrat definition of “obstruction” is the Republicans remember who pays their salaries. Uh…Arlen…. ol’ buddy, ol’ pal??? That would be WE, THE PEOPLE!
“The president’s providing for more fiery leadership now,” Specter said.
“That’s the most fiery I’ve seen him since the early campaign,” he added. “When I was listening to him, I wished that he had given that in the State of the Union. If it’s the State of the Union he would have reached a lot more people.”
Oh, I’m quite sure Obama is all fired up. There are still a few folks who believe his lies, but the number is getting smaller and smaller.
Opposing Views: Personal Responsibilty VS Gimme
You may have received a forwarded email, or saw a forum posting, siting a Dr from Mississippi addressing the ‘health care’ issue. I had received it previously, but after reading, deleted it, because there was no back up info. Well, I received it again this morning, with the necessary clarification. I clicked on the link to Snopes, and found not only the “letter to the editor” at the Clarion, correctly attributed, but a rebuttal from another reader.
Dr Roger Starner Jones’ letter:
Why Pay For The Care Of The Careless?
During my shift in the Emergency Room last night, I had the pleasure of evaluating a patient whose smile revealed an expensive shiny gold tooth, whose body was adorned with a wide assortment of elaborate and costly tattoos, who wore a very expensive brand of tennis shoes and who chatted on a new cellular telephone equipped with a popular R&B ringtone.
While glancing over her patient chart, I happened to notice that her payer status was listed as “Medicaid”! During my examination of her, the patient informed me that she smokes more than one costly pack of cigarettes every day and somehow still has money to buy pretzels and beer.
And, you and our Congress expect me to pay for this woman’s health care? I contend that our nation’s “health care crisis” is not the result of a shortage of quality hospitals, doctors or nurses. Rather, it is the result of a “crisis of culture”, a culture in which it is perfectly acceptable to spend money on luxuries and vices while refusing to take care of one’s self or, heaven forbid, purchase health insurance. It is a culture based in the irresponsible credo that “I can do whatever I want to because someone else will always take care of me
Once you fix this “culture crisis” that rewards irresponsibility and dependency, you’ll be amazed at how quickly our Nation’s’ health care difficulties will disappear.
While Dr Starner Jones is on to something, obviously, this wouldn’t solve ALL the problems, but it’s a darn good start. Get rid of the dependency mentality. No one OWES you a damn thing!
The “rebuttal” is also quite telling:
Health Care Reform is Not “Us vs Them”
I’ve been stewing about an Aug. 23 letter to the editor (“Why pay for the care of the careless?) in which which Dr. Starner Jones questioned the worth of a patient to receive Medicaid because of her gold tooth, tattoos, R&B ring tone on a new cell phone, cigarette-smoking and beer-drinking.
This kind of personal attack is nothing new with the hateful rhetoric of late. But it’s a real slippery slope when one questions whether another human merits support for health care because of appearances and choices. There are a lot of folks in this state who make less-than-perfect choices about finances and health. We are the poorest, fattest state, after all.
We need to turn off our TVs and radios and do our own research on health care reform. All the Fox-fed and MSNBC-led masses are out spewing the same language the pundits are using.
Look at entities who, bottom line, want to raise their rating and celebrity, not facilitate a meeningful or productive discourse.
This country deserves more. Read the health care reform bill. And learn the real issues of our entire community. We’re all Americans.
This is no “us vs. them” issue. We are all in this together.
Jennifer Sigrest
Clinton
Wow. It seems that Mzzzzzz Sigrest totally missed the point of the good Dr’s letter. It was NOT a “personal attack” on the patient. The letter simply points out what many of us our here in the real world realize……if you CHOOSE to pay for a gold tooth, numerous tattoos, expensive sneakers, and a cell phone bill, you could damn well CHOOSE to get your own health care insurance, instead of relying on the taxpayers. This kind of mentality is breaking the bank, and it’s not a health care issue….it is a SOCIETAL issue.
Which one of those items listed are necessary to this person’s health, and well being? Is it the sneakers? No, you find a perfectly good pair of shoes at any number of places that are reasonably priced, even if they aren’t the latest ‘must have’ for the streets. How about the tattoos? I don’t have any tattoos, and won’t, for personal reasons, but if you can afford them, and you think it’s the right thing for you, who am I to say you can’t? A decent tattoo, from what I gather, could cost from $100 on up, depending on quality, placement, etc. $100? For having someone poke needles in your bod? How many tattoos does it take to pay for the cost a health insurance premium?
I could go on, but I’m sure you get the picture.
One other thing that was brought up in Mzzzzzz Sigrest’s letter – the talking heads. Well, I, for one, have read a large majority of this piece of crap legislation. Has she? And I certainly do not base my opinion on someone who is yapping at me from the idjit box, or radio!
It’s way past time for the people of this country to turn off the spigot! The well has run dry!
Disappointing?
Well, gracious, that’s one way of putting it. I could come up with a few different words, but I’m a lady, and I try NOT to use such language. I happened to watch the speech. To quote Joe Wilson: YOU LIE! He repeated the same nonsense he spewed at the Obama Show last week, especially when it comes to the numbers.
Obama also mentioned listening to the People! Well, we’ve been talking, you ain’t been listenin’! Can we say TEA PARTY?? I knew we could.
Update From Rep. Blackburn
Received via email from my rep:
Yesterday The Tennessean ran an opinion column I wrote about the benefits of purchasing insurance across state lines. You can read it here.
I also mentioned the benefits on Face the Nation here.
On Face the Nation, I discussed the core problem with the current health care bill. It is the same fundamental flaw that caused a health care crisis in Tennessee through TennCare. Both plans depend on a central gamble; that all the short term health care spending the goverment does will be recouped by long term savings. In Tennessee, those savings never materialized. If the current health care reform bill passes, I worry that they won’t materialize for America either.
In Tennessee, TennCare ultimately grew to consume a third of the state’s budget. America can’t afford the same kind of cost explosion.
Face The Nation videos:
No doubt in my mind, Steny Hoyer may have been at this joke of a forum, physically, but I don’t think he was there mentally. He sure isn’t reflecting what I saw at the Obama Show.
Lamar Alexander Can Not Be Trusted!
I’d say this was a ‘guest post’, but in reality, it’s a copy and paste from Paula, posted on Smart Girl Politics.
The Bill has been referred to Committee. Is this the plan that they will implement when Obama care fails?? Is this a back up plan? Why did LAMAR Co-Sponsor a Bill that REQUIRES you to purchase insurance? That states specifically : Sets forth penalties for failure to enroll? WE need to Flood his office with Calls – Letters – and Faxes.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:s391:
S.391 is a Bill introduced by Sen Wyden, Ron [OR] on February 5, last year. This is a Summary of the Bill:
Title: A bill to provide affordable, guaranteed private health coverage that will make Americans healthier and can never be taken away.
Healthy Americans Act – Requires each adult individual to have the opportunity to purchase a Healthy Americans Private Insurance Plan (HAPI), which is: (1) a plan offered by a state; or (2) an employer-sponsored health coverage plan. Makes individuals who are not enrolled in another specified health plan and who are not opposed to coverage for religious reasons responsible for enrolling themselves and their dependent children in a HAPI plan offered through their state of residence. Sets forth penalties for failure to enroll.
Establishes standardized coverage and state options for HAPI plans. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to promulgate guidelines concerning the benefits, items, and services to be covered. Sets forth requirements for setting premiums. Requires the Secretary to establish the Healthy America Advisory Committee to provide annual recommendations concerning modifications to the benefits, items, and services required.
Provides for school-based health centers.
Authorizes states to establish and operate a State Choices for Long-Term Care Program.
Requires the Secretary to establish Chronic Care Education Centers.
Requires states to establish or designate a state Health Help Agency to carry out the administration of HAPI plans and to promote prevention and wellness for residents.
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to require employers and individuals to each make shared responsibility payments for HAPI plan premiums.
Sets forth requirements for health insurance issuers offering a HAPI plan.
Establishes the Healthy Americans Public Health Trust Fund for the payment of: (1) premium subsidies; and (2) bonuses to states for implementing medical malpractice reform.
Terminates federal health benefits coverage, including coverage provided under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
Check out Smart Girl Politics. There really ARE a lot of ’smart girls’!
Since I Missed Her…
….I’m posting these two videos of Marsha Blackburn at the Obama Show.
If you watch the videos, you’ll notice that Obama did NOT address Marsha’s issues. He turned it around, as usual. We want to be able to buy across state lines, which will create more competition, and stop the monopoly of state regulations on the insured. Instead, he talks about letting more insurance companies into California, that would be regulated by that particular state.
When we moved down here from Wisconsin, I was able to keep the same insurance company, because it is “allowed” to provide insurance in Tennessee, but not the same coverage. My rates changed to reflect this states regulations. They actually went up. Since I bought that policy nearly 6 years ago, the annual rate increased dramatically. Every year. The last premium payment was a whopper! Why? Well, I had the audacity to actually use what I was paying for last year with all the heart crap. IF, we had the ability to shop around the country, look for the best rates with the coverage that fits our needs, perhaps I would have been able to find a much better deal with a company that doesn’t raise the rates at the drop of a hat due to the fear that I might just drop THEM.
I dunno, but I’d say an annual premium of $2400 increasing to $8400 was a bit of a push on the consumer. As one hospital billing person told me, it’s not so much the medical procedure that increases the rates, it’s the paperwork that’s involved. Paperwork?
