Obamacare, the president's eponymous health care reform, barely resembles the law passed in 2010. In the intervening months, the legislation has been changed 24 times by President Obama. On each occasion, he has acted unilaterally without Congressional consent to alter the bill.
As if the presidential tampering wasn't enough, the courts have stepped in and dealt crippling blows to the law. In the latest decision, a federal appeals court ruled the feds could not provide tax subsidies for millions of people who purchased insurance policies through the federal marketplace.
If the ruling stands, it will derail one of the law's key provisions effecting millions of health insurance purchasers. Health and Human Services (HHS) has estimated that 85 percent of those Americans who enrolled in Obamacare were promised they would receive premium subsidies.
As a result, the health care law has been left in tatters. What remains is a hodgepodge of rules and regulations that few individuals can comprehend. There is a growing awareness that Obamacare has metamorphosed into health care retrogression instead of reform.
For instance, a powerful union that first endorsed Obama for president just released a scorching report on the health care law, charging the administration with destroying insurance plans that benefited its members.
"The ACA (Affordable Care Act) threatens the middle class with higher premiums, loss of hours and a shift to part-time work and less comprehensive coverage," the UNITE HERE union said in its report, entitled, "The Irony of Obamacare: Making Inequality Worse."
UNITE HERE has more than 265,000 active members, who predominantly work in the hotel, food service, laundry, warehouse and casino gaming industries. Its report, released in July, was not covered by a single news media outlet because most have been hushed by the Obama Administration.
Insurance companies, most of which supported the law, are in full retreat. The nation's third largest health insurance firm Aetna recently disclosed figures that cast doubt on the administration's claims that 8 million Americans signed up for Obamacare.
Aetna originally declared it signed up 720,000 people during the enrollment period. By the end of June, it had fewer than 600,000 paying customers. The company now expects the final number to be a shade over 500,000, a 30 percent drop since the sign-up figures were trumpeted by the president.
The news is worse for those who enrolled in Obamacare. Data compiled by the Health Research Institute reveals that most health insurance buyers will see their premiums rise by at least 7.5 percent next year. Some states, such as Nevada, could potentially be socked with a 36 percent hike.
In its latest forecast, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated the federal government would spend an astronomical $1.032 trillion between 2015 and 2024 on subsidies for insurance premiums paid by low earners. The average subsidy is projected to be $4,250 annually per family.
However, with all the adjustments to the law, even the CBO is hedging its bets. The government agency announced earlier this year that it can no longer estimate Obamacare's total cost to taxpayers, in part, due to the "ever-changing rules in the laws implementation."
Worst of all, President Obama's promises about health care reform have all crumbled. Americans cannot keep their insurance. They cannot continue to see their same doctor. Consumers' insurance costs aren't going down.
The only change that will salvage health care reform is to dump Obamacare and start all over. That would be change most Americans would welcome as opposed to the kind the president promised in his propaganda campaign to peddle government health care.
Showing posts with label Health Care Reform. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Health Care Reform. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Monday, November 18, 2013
Obamacare: Beware Of Doctor Shortage
A deeply troubling government report on projections of doctor shortages has been surpressed by Obama Administration officials because the news potentially would further undermine the promises made by the president on health care reform.
The report, authored by the independent Government Accountability Office (GAO), was issued September 30 in Washington and was greeted with stony silence by the news outlets and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
The investigation by the GAO was requested by three Republican senators, including Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Richard Burr of North Carolina and Mike Enzi of Wyoming. In its report, GAO exposes the administration's failings in offering an analysis of a future scarcity of health care providers.
"Since 2008, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) within the Department of Health and Human Services has awarded five contracts to research organizations to update national workforce projections, but HRSA has failed to publish any new reports containing projections," the report documents.
As the GAO points out, government, academic and health organizations have all issued projections of shortfalls in health care professions, which could "adversely affect patients access to care." Yet Sebelius' stormtroopers have steadfastly refused to release figures, despite spending millions to research the issue.
It is painfully obvious that Sebelius' and her boss want to cover up what health care industry experts already know. The United States faces a crippling deficit of doctors, which has been exacerbated by the introduction of Obamacare.
In a recent report, the Association of American Colleges estimated the country will experience a shortage of more than 90,000 physicians by 2020. That number is expected to balloon to more than 130,000 doctors by 2025.
Democrats and Obama sycophants are quick to point out those are just projections. However, the forecast may actually be too low in light of last week's announcement that insurance firm United Healthcare has dropped thousands of doctors from its networks in at least ten states.
The reason many doctors are fleeing for the exits is because Obamacare whittles payments to physicians for many patient services while increasing paperwork and administrative red tape, which raises staffing requirements. That means doctors' expenses increase while their income falls.
If the projected shortfalls in health care workforce materialize, the GAO warns that this could "result in delays in getting care, or patients not receiving needed care." Without the government estimates, policy makers are handicapped in addressing the shortage, the GAO underscores in its narrative.
These are sobering cautions that are anathema to the president and Sebelius. Neither want to hear there won't be enough medical professionals to deliver on their promises of improved health care. They would prefer to dupe Americans in order to reach their political agenda of socialized medicine.
Of course, it wouldn't be the first time the duo has engaged in deception. Just ask the millions of Americans who are now discovering they can't keep their current health coverage despite the president's repeated assurances on at least 23 separate occasions.
Wait until Americans learn they won't be able to keep their doctor either.
The report, authored by the independent Government Accountability Office (GAO), was issued September 30 in Washington and was greeted with stony silence by the news outlets and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
The investigation by the GAO was requested by three Republican senators, including Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Richard Burr of North Carolina and Mike Enzi of Wyoming. In its report, GAO exposes the administration's failings in offering an analysis of a future scarcity of health care providers.
"Since 2008, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) within the Department of Health and Human Services has awarded five contracts to research organizations to update national workforce projections, but HRSA has failed to publish any new reports containing projections," the report documents.
As the GAO points out, government, academic and health organizations have all issued projections of shortfalls in health care professions, which could "adversely affect patients access to care." Yet Sebelius' stormtroopers have steadfastly refused to release figures, despite spending millions to research the issue.
It is painfully obvious that Sebelius' and her boss want to cover up what health care industry experts already know. The United States faces a crippling deficit of doctors, which has been exacerbated by the introduction of Obamacare.
In a recent report, the Association of American Colleges estimated the country will experience a shortage of more than 90,000 physicians by 2020. That number is expected to balloon to more than 130,000 doctors by 2025.
Democrats and Obama sycophants are quick to point out those are just projections. However, the forecast may actually be too low in light of last week's announcement that insurance firm United Healthcare has dropped thousands of doctors from its networks in at least ten states.
The reason many doctors are fleeing for the exits is because Obamacare whittles payments to physicians for many patient services while increasing paperwork and administrative red tape, which raises staffing requirements. That means doctors' expenses increase while their income falls.
If the projected shortfalls in health care workforce materialize, the GAO warns that this could "result in delays in getting care, or patients not receiving needed care." Without the government estimates, policy makers are handicapped in addressing the shortage, the GAO underscores in its narrative.
These are sobering cautions that are anathema to the president and Sebelius. Neither want to hear there won't be enough medical professionals to deliver on their promises of improved health care. They would prefer to dupe Americans in order to reach their political agenda of socialized medicine.
Of course, it wouldn't be the first time the duo has engaged in deception. Just ask the millions of Americans who are now discovering they can't keep their current health coverage despite the president's repeated assurances on at least 23 separate occasions.
Wait until Americans learn they won't be able to keep their doctor either.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Three Big Lies About Obama Care
President Obama's propaganda machine to indoctrinate Americans about the benefits of his health care reform law has relied on the "Big Lie" technique. The president has repeated his fabrications at every opportunity counting on the echo chamber in the media to broadcast the fallacies.
Left unchallenged, the misinformation has become accepted fact. Even well-informed people refuse to believe the convincing evidence about the falsehoods perpetuated by the administration. The blame rests with the media, which has failed its duty to fact-check the president.
Americans will soon learn the hard way about the president's deception. Once the law's health insurance mandate goes into affect in 2014, most people will be shocked by the reality of Obama Care. The president hopes Americans have short memories about his promises.
Here are the president's three biggest whoppers about the Affordable Care Act signed into law in 2010:
"If you like your (current health care) plan, you can keep it."
There is absolutely no guarantee and it depends entirely on what your employer does. Companies will have a disincentive to offer health insurance. Employers who decide to forgo offering health insurance will have to pay a tax of $2,000, which is far less than what it costs most major firms to provide health care benefits to each employee.
Take the example of Southwest Airlines. Under Obama Care, the company would expect to pay $414 million annually to provide health care to its employees or it could drop coverage and fork over $111 million in taxes. The financial discrepancy will encourage firms to end employee plans.
House Republicans released a study in May that found 71 of the 100 Fortune companies it surveyed could save $28.6 billion by eliminating health care plans and paying the $2,000 government tax.
No wonder a recent McKinsey and Co. report found 30 to 50 percent of current employers would dump company-sponsored health plans by 2014 when the mandate goes into effect.
The Congressional Budget Office had even worse news. It found as many as 20 million Americans could lose their employer-provided coverage under what it calls a "worse case scenario."
Even that scenario may be too rosy. Starting in 2018, a 40 percent excise tax will be slapped on taxpayers who are covered by a high-cost health insurance plan, the so called "Cadillac"coverage offered by many large companies.
Under any scenario, your current health care coverage will not be the same that it is today. That is a guarantee.
"If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor."
That assumes your doctor will not opt out of Obama Care. A survey conducted by the non-partisan Doctor Patient Medical Association reported that 83 percent of doctors have considered leaving their current practice over the new health care law.
The disturbing finding comes at a time when the medical profession is forecasting severe shortages of doctors to meet the new demands for health care. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) estimates the deficit could be 50 percent worse in 2015 than originally forecast.
A new study published in the journal Health Affairs predicts 16 million people will be added to the rolls of Medicaid in 2014. Medicaid, funded jointly by the federal government and states, serves low-income families. Under Obama Care, millions without insurance today will wind up on Medicaid.
However, the study documents that nearly one-third of doctors today are not accepting new Medicaid patients. This will exacerbate the looming issue of doctor shortages. If the AAMC estimates prove correct, it could mean a scarcity of 91,500 doctors nationwide.
A recent report from the Heritage Foundation says Obama Care will "accelerate the decline in doctor-owned private practices because more physicians will only accept patients who can pay cash." The reason is Obama Care significantly reduces reimbursements to doctors for many patient services.
Chances are good that your doctor will not accept the lower reimbursements. Many physicians only will cater to people who can afford to pay for their own care or they will leave medicine.
"Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase."
Of all the preposterous claims, this one earns the booby prize for crass dishonesty.
To fund health care, the new law creates 19 new types of taxes and fees over the next decade to raise $500 billion. The billions will be paid by businesses and individuals. According to the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, about 73 million taxpayers earning less than $200,000 annually will be saddled with tax increases.
This month the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that nearly six million Americans, mostly middle class, will face tax penalties for failing to carry health insurance coverage once the individual mandate takes effect in 2014.
Even these new taxes will likely fall short of the funding requirements. The original price tag for Obama Care was $944 billion over ten years. In May, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated the cost over the next ten years at $1.856 trillion, about $912 billion more than the original forecast.
Obama Care cannot be paid for without taxing Americans of every economic level.
How could the president of the United States think Americans are so gullible?
For Barrack Obama, the answer to that question is obvious. When you have a self-inflated view of your own intelligence, you are convinced everyone else can be easily duped.
Left unchallenged, the misinformation has become accepted fact. Even well-informed people refuse to believe the convincing evidence about the falsehoods perpetuated by the administration. The blame rests with the media, which has failed its duty to fact-check the president.
Americans will soon learn the hard way about the president's deception. Once the law's health insurance mandate goes into affect in 2014, most people will be shocked by the reality of Obama Care. The president hopes Americans have short memories about his promises.
Here are the president's three biggest whoppers about the Affordable Care Act signed into law in 2010:
"If you like your (current health care) plan, you can keep it."
There is absolutely no guarantee and it depends entirely on what your employer does. Companies will have a disincentive to offer health insurance. Employers who decide to forgo offering health insurance will have to pay a tax of $2,000, which is far less than what it costs most major firms to provide health care benefits to each employee.
Take the example of Southwest Airlines. Under Obama Care, the company would expect to pay $414 million annually to provide health care to its employees or it could drop coverage and fork over $111 million in taxes. The financial discrepancy will encourage firms to end employee plans.
House Republicans released a study in May that found 71 of the 100 Fortune companies it surveyed could save $28.6 billion by eliminating health care plans and paying the $2,000 government tax.
No wonder a recent McKinsey and Co. report found 30 to 50 percent of current employers would dump company-sponsored health plans by 2014 when the mandate goes into effect.
The Congressional Budget Office had even worse news. It found as many as 20 million Americans could lose their employer-provided coverage under what it calls a "worse case scenario."
Even that scenario may be too rosy. Starting in 2018, a 40 percent excise tax will be slapped on taxpayers who are covered by a high-cost health insurance plan, the so called "Cadillac"coverage offered by many large companies.
Under any scenario, your current health care coverage will not be the same that it is today. That is a guarantee.
"If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor."
That assumes your doctor will not opt out of Obama Care. A survey conducted by the non-partisan Doctor Patient Medical Association reported that 83 percent of doctors have considered leaving their current practice over the new health care law.
The disturbing finding comes at a time when the medical profession is forecasting severe shortages of doctors to meet the new demands for health care. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) estimates the deficit could be 50 percent worse in 2015 than originally forecast.
A new study published in the journal Health Affairs predicts 16 million people will be added to the rolls of Medicaid in 2014. Medicaid, funded jointly by the federal government and states, serves low-income families. Under Obama Care, millions without insurance today will wind up on Medicaid.
However, the study documents that nearly one-third of doctors today are not accepting new Medicaid patients. This will exacerbate the looming issue of doctor shortages. If the AAMC estimates prove correct, it could mean a scarcity of 91,500 doctors nationwide.
A recent report from the Heritage Foundation says Obama Care will "accelerate the decline in doctor-owned private practices because more physicians will only accept patients who can pay cash." The reason is Obama Care significantly reduces reimbursements to doctors for many patient services.
Chances are good that your doctor will not accept the lower reimbursements. Many physicians only will cater to people who can afford to pay for their own care or they will leave medicine.
"Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase."
Of all the preposterous claims, this one earns the booby prize for crass dishonesty.
To fund health care, the new law creates 19 new types of taxes and fees over the next decade to raise $500 billion. The billions will be paid by businesses and individuals. According to the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, about 73 million taxpayers earning less than $200,000 annually will be saddled with tax increases.
This month the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that nearly six million Americans, mostly middle class, will face tax penalties for failing to carry health insurance coverage once the individual mandate takes effect in 2014.
Even these new taxes will likely fall short of the funding requirements. The original price tag for Obama Care was $944 billion over ten years. In May, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated the cost over the next ten years at $1.856 trillion, about $912 billion more than the original forecast.
Obama Care cannot be paid for without taxing Americans of every economic level.
How could the president of the United States think Americans are so gullible?
For Barrack Obama, the answer to that question is obvious. When you have a self-inflated view of your own intelligence, you are convinced everyone else can be easily duped.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Obama Care's Unhealthy Outlook
While President Obama licks his wounds after a stinging defeat for his health care scheme, Republicans must avoid being lulled into complacency. The GOP should move with haste to dismantle the legislation, capitalizing on the momentum from the district court opinion.
In the event you have been locked in your basement, a federal judge in Florida dealt a mortal blow to the President's ill fated health care overhaul, declaring it unconstitutional. That means the law cannot be implemented unless the court's decision is overturned or the Obama government obtains an injunction.
The decision was the second court ruling to go against the President. Two other district court judges sided with the administration, rejecting challenges aimed at overturning the law's provision that mandates every American obtain health care coverage.
However, this latest ruling trumps the other decisions because it strikes down the law on the basis of constitutionality. It is a devastating blow to the President, who had hoped to be able to withstand Republican efforts aimed at undoing his dream.
Expect the President and his willing accomplices in the Senate and the media to mount a desperate full court press to save Obama Care. They will trot out doctors and patients who will vouch that the end of health care reform will led to greedy insurance companies denying coverage to millions of Americans.
In addition, Harry Reid and his minions in the Senate will try to use hearings to showcase the reasons for keeping health reform. For his part, the President will employ executive fiat to institutionalize the most popular features of health reform in an attempt to force Republicans to "take away" benefits from Americans.
Amidst this political maneuvering, the always unreliable media will ignore a larger issue that could doom health care reform and further embolden Republicans. It goes to the heart of the health care debate.
In recent weeks, the Congressional Budget Office said repealing Obama Care would increase the deficit by $230 billion over the coming decade. The President and his party of "No Spending Is Too Good To Pass Up" bandied the CBO numbers, which were dutifully reported by the compliant media.
However, no media coverage has been accorded a contrary view, issued by three former CBO executives, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Joseph Antos and James C. Capretta. The trio accused the CBO of arriving at its numbers by using "budget gimmicks, deceptive accounting and implausible assumptions."
In fact, they went further, predicting about 15 percent of the nation's hospitals would stop seeing Medicare patients in just a few years as a result of the law's implementation. As more provisions of Obama Care are unfurled, the health care system would face mounting solvency issues, according to the former execs' forecast.
With the latest federal court ruling and the exposure of the CBO's bogus accounting, Republicans should unleash an expanded effort to gut Obama Care.
On tap first should be the introduction of legislation in the Senate to rescind Obama Care. Republicans should resort to whatever procedural tactics are needed to force a recalcitrant Reid to allow a vote on the measure.
Then the Republicans need to demand that the Attorney General enforce the federal judge's ruling, preventing the Health and Human Services Department from implementing any provisions of the reform.
If the Attorney General refuses, then Republicans must demand his resignation and call on the President to obey the law and abide by the constitution. This would force a constitutional crisis, leaving the president few options. Of course, Obama could hope the U.S. Supreme Court would side with the administration, but he knows that outcome is remote.
Republicans beware. Americans are watching. Now is the time to end the facade of Obama's health care reform by assigning it to the trash bin of history.
In the event you have been locked in your basement, a federal judge in Florida dealt a mortal blow to the President's ill fated health care overhaul, declaring it unconstitutional. That means the law cannot be implemented unless the court's decision is overturned or the Obama government obtains an injunction.
The decision was the second court ruling to go against the President. Two other district court judges sided with the administration, rejecting challenges aimed at overturning the law's provision that mandates every American obtain health care coverage.
However, this latest ruling trumps the other decisions because it strikes down the law on the basis of constitutionality. It is a devastating blow to the President, who had hoped to be able to withstand Republican efforts aimed at undoing his dream.
Expect the President and his willing accomplices in the Senate and the media to mount a desperate full court press to save Obama Care. They will trot out doctors and patients who will vouch that the end of health care reform will led to greedy insurance companies denying coverage to millions of Americans.
In addition, Harry Reid and his minions in the Senate will try to use hearings to showcase the reasons for keeping health reform. For his part, the President will employ executive fiat to institutionalize the most popular features of health reform in an attempt to force Republicans to "take away" benefits from Americans.
Amidst this political maneuvering, the always unreliable media will ignore a larger issue that could doom health care reform and further embolden Republicans. It goes to the heart of the health care debate.
In recent weeks, the Congressional Budget Office said repealing Obama Care would increase the deficit by $230 billion over the coming decade. The President and his party of "No Spending Is Too Good To Pass Up" bandied the CBO numbers, which were dutifully reported by the compliant media.
However, no media coverage has been accorded a contrary view, issued by three former CBO executives, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Joseph Antos and James C. Capretta. The trio accused the CBO of arriving at its numbers by using "budget gimmicks, deceptive accounting and implausible assumptions."
In fact, they went further, predicting about 15 percent of the nation's hospitals would stop seeing Medicare patients in just a few years as a result of the law's implementation. As more provisions of Obama Care are unfurled, the health care system would face mounting solvency issues, according to the former execs' forecast.
With the latest federal court ruling and the exposure of the CBO's bogus accounting, Republicans should unleash an expanded effort to gut Obama Care.
On tap first should be the introduction of legislation in the Senate to rescind Obama Care. Republicans should resort to whatever procedural tactics are needed to force a recalcitrant Reid to allow a vote on the measure.
Then the Republicans need to demand that the Attorney General enforce the federal judge's ruling, preventing the Health and Human Services Department from implementing any provisions of the reform.
If the Attorney General refuses, then Republicans must demand his resignation and call on the President to obey the law and abide by the constitution. This would force a constitutional crisis, leaving the president few options. Of course, Obama could hope the U.S. Supreme Court would side with the administration, but he knows that outcome is remote.
Republicans beware. Americans are watching. Now is the time to end the facade of Obama's health care reform by assigning it to the trash bin of history.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Factoids That You Can Use
The news surrounding the much ballyhooed Health Care Reform Act keeps getting worse. In the latest development, primary care physicians are opting out of Medicare at an alarming pace. In Texas, new data shows that more than 300 doctors in the state have stop taking seniors with Medicare coverage. In just the first three months of this year, 50 doctors have announced they will no longer accept new Medicare patients. The Texas Medical Association states the opt-outs follow years of declining Medicare reimbursements that culminated in a "looming 21 percent cut" this year. The trend is not confined to Texas. According to the American College of Physicians, an organization of internal medicine doctors, things will be decidedly painful in the future. The organization predicts a rising number of internists will be unwilling to accept new Medicare patients. This will create a shortfall of between 35,000 and 45,000 internal medicine physicians needed to treat seniors. Also, the independent Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has revealed that 29 percent of Medicare beneficiaries it surveyed are having a problem finding a primary care doctor to treat them. With more Medicare cuts on the horizon as a result of Health Care Reform, there is no light at the end of the tunnel. This is awful news for the 40 million Americans with Medicare insurance, many of whom were bamboozled by the AARP into supporting the Obama health care plan.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Buried In The Health Care Bill
Unless you read all 2,900+ pages of the so-called Health Care Reform Bill, you probably missed two Obama initiatives buried in piles of bureaucratic language. There has been an iota of attention in the media, but most have paid scant attention.
1. The Federal Government will assume full authority over student loans, beginning July 1. This has been a point of bitter contention between the Obama Administration and the banking industry. That helps explain why the administration decided to shove the legislation into the health bill. Banks and other private lenders, including Sallie Mae, will be cut out of the $30-$40 billion student loan business. The bank loans had been backed by the federal government. While the impact may not be felt directly by students, there are a couple of troubling unintended consequences. First, thousands of jobs will be lost at private lenders, including up to 2,500 at Sallie Mae. However, the government will have to hire thousands of workers to handle the higher volume of loans now originated in the private sector. Big government will get bigger and fatter. Secondly, the government will be able to set whatever criteria it chooses to make student loans. Do you really want Washington deciding who gets money to go to college?
2. The bill included $2.5 billion in funding for historically Black colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions. It is hard to be against federal funding of college education. However, it begs the question: what does this have to do with Health Care Reform? From the surgically repaired lips of Speaker Pelosi: "Education and Health Care have an affinity. They go together." Huh? The truth is that the funding was a payoff to the House Black Caucus which championed the Health Care Reform bill and rallied around the president during his darkest days when its passage appeared dim. If funding Black colleges is a good idea, why couldn't it have stood on its own as a separate piece of legislation? The answer is by sticking it in the bill the Black Caucus could rally support among its constituency by pointing out how the legislation would benefit minority colleges. Sleazy, sleazy, sleazy.
Those two provisions are examples of what has become the standard modus operandi for the Reid-Pelosi-Obama Trinity. Obfuscation and lack of transparency are hallmarks of everything they touch. According to the latest Gallup Polls, Reid and Pelosi have the highest negative numbers of any politicians in America. Based on Health Care Reform hijinks, is it any wonder?
1. The Federal Government will assume full authority over student loans, beginning July 1. This has been a point of bitter contention between the Obama Administration and the banking industry. That helps explain why the administration decided to shove the legislation into the health bill. Banks and other private lenders, including Sallie Mae, will be cut out of the $30-$40 billion student loan business. The bank loans had been backed by the federal government. While the impact may not be felt directly by students, there are a couple of troubling unintended consequences. First, thousands of jobs will be lost at private lenders, including up to 2,500 at Sallie Mae. However, the government will have to hire thousands of workers to handle the higher volume of loans now originated in the private sector. Big government will get bigger and fatter. Secondly, the government will be able to set whatever criteria it chooses to make student loans. Do you really want Washington deciding who gets money to go to college?
2. The bill included $2.5 billion in funding for historically Black colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions. It is hard to be against federal funding of college education. However, it begs the question: what does this have to do with Health Care Reform? From the surgically repaired lips of Speaker Pelosi: "Education and Health Care have an affinity. They go together." Huh? The truth is that the funding was a payoff to the House Black Caucus which championed the Health Care Reform bill and rallied around the president during his darkest days when its passage appeared dim. If funding Black colleges is a good idea, why couldn't it have stood on its own as a separate piece of legislation? The answer is by sticking it in the bill the Black Caucus could rally support among its constituency by pointing out how the legislation would benefit minority colleges. Sleazy, sleazy, sleazy.
Those two provisions are examples of what has become the standard modus operandi for the Reid-Pelosi-Obama Trinity. Obfuscation and lack of transparency are hallmarks of everything they touch. According to the latest Gallup Polls, Reid and Pelosi have the highest negative numbers of any politicians in America. Based on Health Care Reform hijinks, is it any wonder?
Monday, March 22, 2010
Congress Unleashes Unhealthy Reform
No one should be surprised that the so-called Health Care Reform bill was approved by the House. For those of you who follow my annual predictions, I forecast this result, despite all the public angst over the sweeping changes in the health care delivery system. There were just too many signs that Democrats had drawn a line in the sand from which there would be no retreat, irregardless of what the polls said about a rising tide of public opposition.
Many were mistakenly hopeful of defeat for the bill. They saw the public protests in cities, often arranged by the nascent Tea Party activists. They heard pundits preach that House members up for election would shrink once that faced angry constituents back home at noisy town hall meetings. Many on the political right--particular those in the media--whipped up public fervor with the prospect that their voices would matter. All this was an illusion because none of it was going to make a difference. At least not to the three people most responsible for this travesty: the President, Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid.
That unholy trinity was going to do whatever it took to deliver a bill. Despite what your hear about this being a victory for left wing ideology, this was more about saving their jobs. Think about it. The Obama Administration and a Democratic Congress had nothing to show for the first 15 months of what was supposed to be sweeping change. Job growth is non-existent. Wars are still being waged on two fronts. Home foreclosures are steadily rising again. Small and medium sized banks are going belly up. There is nothing for the Democrats to claim as a victory going into the November elections. They were desperate for a win. And desperate people are the hardest to defeat.
But Democrats also would not have been able to achieve passage of the bill without a battle plan that nullified their potential adversaries or at least neutered their ability to scuttle the health care bills.
1. President Clinton's ill fated attempt at health care reform went down in flames, in part, because big business, big pharma and big medical groups (like the AMA) were aligned against the effort. This time the President left the dirty work to his minions, who rounded up those three unlikely allies behind the bill. Team Obama co-opted the pharmaceutical industry with a deal they couldn't refuse. The American Medical Association fell in lock step. Many large corporations, struggling with staggering growth in medical costs for employees, either remained silent or tacitly signaled they would not oppose health care reform this time around. Don't think the big firms didn't ask for some kind of quid-pro-quid because they did. However, by removing themselves from the battle, they ceded ground to the unions, who were only too happy to get out front on the issue. But businesses may have miscalculated. When taxpayers begin picking up most of the medical costs previously incurred by these firms, the unions will demand higher wages to make up for the "lost benefits" once paid by their employers. That day is coming and sooner than many think.
2. The mainstream media, mostly the big three television networks, provided air cover for the bill. Reporting almost always focused on the popular parts of the Health Care Reform bill while ignoring those that were more controversial. Most newspapers offered the same coverage, but print media long ago lost its influence. If you only watched the three networks, you could not help but think this bill would allow most Americans afford insurance without increasing the deficit. More importantly, many seniors rely on television news for most of their information. The networks were loathe to air any criticism of the bill's provisions to reduce and ration health care for seniors. Since survey after survey shows that most Americans get their news from network television, these news outlets provided the air cover needed for Democrats to act against their constituents' will. While it's true talk radio derided the health care effort for months, its audience still pales when compared to the big three networks.
2. Seniors, who have the most to lose in this reform bill, were strangely silent. The network television coverage helps explain part of this. However, many are members of American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), which enthusiastically supported the bill from its inception. Many seniors have no idea that AARP is a shill for the Democratic Party that has wrapped itself in representing the interests of the elderly. Anyone who has taken the time to learn who runs AARP and its ties with the Democrat Party understands that the organization is beholden to the current administration and not to seniors. Simply stated, seniors were duped. If you don't think that matters, ask any elected official who they fear most. Seniors vote in greater percentages than any other group. They have lots of time on their hands to raise cane. Don't underestimate the impact that millions of outraged and organized seniors would have had on efforts to derail this legislation. Sure, ragtag knots of seniors showed up at a few town hall meetings, but they were disorganized and their voices were muted.
4. The President finally weighed in at the eleventh hour when it became clear that House and Senate Democrats would not walk the plank alone. Obama put his considerable political capital on the line in the last few months, beginning with his awkwardly staged meeting with representatives of both parties. Behind the scenes, Democratic leaders had been saying for months that Obama needed to lead the effort, rather than wait in the wings and let the process work. When he finally acquiesced, Democrats in the House felt embolden to step from the shadows. Sure, there was arm twisting, unseemly deal-making and political payoffs. But that happens with a lot of legislation, admittedly to a lesser degree. What sealed the deal was Obama stepping out front to deflect some of the political heat from House and Senate members. More air cover.
Now a few muttering media mouths are acting like there is still hope to derail this bill. They are pointing to developments like these: At least 18 states are preparing to file lawsuits. Republicans are planning procedural rules fights to halt passage of reconciliation. Others are promising to go to the Supreme Court to challenge the bill's constitutionality. Don't fall for any of this. The biggest hurdles have been leaped. None of this will matter.
So what happens next? Democrats will spend the time between now and Easter spinning this as a "historic", "landmark," and "momentous" step. The President will stage more town hall meetings to ostensibly explain the reform bill's benefits. Democrats will highlight those parts of the bill that most voters can rally around. They will drag more insurance victims before the cameras to talk about how their lives will be saved by health care reform. The big networks will be compliant. Expect one-on-one interviews with the President, describing the lonely task of shepherding the legislation through a recalcitrant Congress. Unions will be bankrolling efforts to whip up enthusiasm for reforms.
The conventional wisdom is that Americans won't fall for the rhetoric. Voters will remember in November what happened in March. However, watch for the Democrats to unleash a tried and true scare tactic: voters will be warned that if Republicans are elected, they will take away this new entitlement. GOP candidates will be branded as tools of the insurance industry who would like nothing better than to go back to the good old days when those with preexisting conditions were kicked off the coverage rolls. The tactic has worked for Democrats for decades, especially with regard to the country's three biggest entitlement programs: Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
If you believe all this is unnecessarily gloomy, ask yourself this question: When is the last time Congress ended an entitlement program? The answer unfortunately is never. That's hardly encouraging for those looking for a miracle to stop the inevitable.
Many were mistakenly hopeful of defeat for the bill. They saw the public protests in cities, often arranged by the nascent Tea Party activists. They heard pundits preach that House members up for election would shrink once that faced angry constituents back home at noisy town hall meetings. Many on the political right--particular those in the media--whipped up public fervor with the prospect that their voices would matter. All this was an illusion because none of it was going to make a difference. At least not to the three people most responsible for this travesty: the President, Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid.
That unholy trinity was going to do whatever it took to deliver a bill. Despite what your hear about this being a victory for left wing ideology, this was more about saving their jobs. Think about it. The Obama Administration and a Democratic Congress had nothing to show for the first 15 months of what was supposed to be sweeping change. Job growth is non-existent. Wars are still being waged on two fronts. Home foreclosures are steadily rising again. Small and medium sized banks are going belly up. There is nothing for the Democrats to claim as a victory going into the November elections. They were desperate for a win. And desperate people are the hardest to defeat.
But Democrats also would not have been able to achieve passage of the bill without a battle plan that nullified their potential adversaries or at least neutered their ability to scuttle the health care bills.
1. President Clinton's ill fated attempt at health care reform went down in flames, in part, because big business, big pharma and big medical groups (like the AMA) were aligned against the effort. This time the President left the dirty work to his minions, who rounded up those three unlikely allies behind the bill. Team Obama co-opted the pharmaceutical industry with a deal they couldn't refuse. The American Medical Association fell in lock step. Many large corporations, struggling with staggering growth in medical costs for employees, either remained silent or tacitly signaled they would not oppose health care reform this time around. Don't think the big firms didn't ask for some kind of quid-pro-quid because they did. However, by removing themselves from the battle, they ceded ground to the unions, who were only too happy to get out front on the issue. But businesses may have miscalculated. When taxpayers begin picking up most of the medical costs previously incurred by these firms, the unions will demand higher wages to make up for the "lost benefits" once paid by their employers. That day is coming and sooner than many think.
2. The mainstream media, mostly the big three television networks, provided air cover for the bill. Reporting almost always focused on the popular parts of the Health Care Reform bill while ignoring those that were more controversial. Most newspapers offered the same coverage, but print media long ago lost its influence. If you only watched the three networks, you could not help but think this bill would allow most Americans afford insurance without increasing the deficit. More importantly, many seniors rely on television news for most of their information. The networks were loathe to air any criticism of the bill's provisions to reduce and ration health care for seniors. Since survey after survey shows that most Americans get their news from network television, these news outlets provided the air cover needed for Democrats to act against their constituents' will. While it's true talk radio derided the health care effort for months, its audience still pales when compared to the big three networks.
2. Seniors, who have the most to lose in this reform bill, were strangely silent. The network television coverage helps explain part of this. However, many are members of American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), which enthusiastically supported the bill from its inception. Many seniors have no idea that AARP is a shill for the Democratic Party that has wrapped itself in representing the interests of the elderly. Anyone who has taken the time to learn who runs AARP and its ties with the Democrat Party understands that the organization is beholden to the current administration and not to seniors. Simply stated, seniors were duped. If you don't think that matters, ask any elected official who they fear most. Seniors vote in greater percentages than any other group. They have lots of time on their hands to raise cane. Don't underestimate the impact that millions of outraged and organized seniors would have had on efforts to derail this legislation. Sure, ragtag knots of seniors showed up at a few town hall meetings, but they were disorganized and their voices were muted.
4. The President finally weighed in at the eleventh hour when it became clear that House and Senate Democrats would not walk the plank alone. Obama put his considerable political capital on the line in the last few months, beginning with his awkwardly staged meeting with representatives of both parties. Behind the scenes, Democratic leaders had been saying for months that Obama needed to lead the effort, rather than wait in the wings and let the process work. When he finally acquiesced, Democrats in the House felt embolden to step from the shadows. Sure, there was arm twisting, unseemly deal-making and political payoffs. But that happens with a lot of legislation, admittedly to a lesser degree. What sealed the deal was Obama stepping out front to deflect some of the political heat from House and Senate members. More air cover.
Now a few muttering media mouths are acting like there is still hope to derail this bill. They are pointing to developments like these: At least 18 states are preparing to file lawsuits. Republicans are planning procedural rules fights to halt passage of reconciliation. Others are promising to go to the Supreme Court to challenge the bill's constitutionality. Don't fall for any of this. The biggest hurdles have been leaped. None of this will matter.
So what happens next? Democrats will spend the time between now and Easter spinning this as a "historic", "landmark," and "momentous" step. The President will stage more town hall meetings to ostensibly explain the reform bill's benefits. Democrats will highlight those parts of the bill that most voters can rally around. They will drag more insurance victims before the cameras to talk about how their lives will be saved by health care reform. The big networks will be compliant. Expect one-on-one interviews with the President, describing the lonely task of shepherding the legislation through a recalcitrant Congress. Unions will be bankrolling efforts to whip up enthusiasm for reforms.
The conventional wisdom is that Americans won't fall for the rhetoric. Voters will remember in November what happened in March. However, watch for the Democrats to unleash a tried and true scare tactic: voters will be warned that if Republicans are elected, they will take away this new entitlement. GOP candidates will be branded as tools of the insurance industry who would like nothing better than to go back to the good old days when those with preexisting conditions were kicked off the coverage rolls. The tactic has worked for Democrats for decades, especially with regard to the country's three biggest entitlement programs: Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
If you believe all this is unnecessarily gloomy, ask yourself this question: When is the last time Congress ended an entitlement program? The answer unfortunately is never. That's hardly encouraging for those looking for a miracle to stop the inevitable.
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