Healthcare Bill Updates and Information
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A nation torn apart, and devided once more. No one denies that everyone deserves to have health care covered, however the catch is, they can't afford the high premiums of health insurance companies. I know of many who are going without even basic health care and/or are attempting to pay off bills to doctors, hospitals, etc. Graft, corruption, misuse of even Medicare funds are in the news........as well as misuse of services, taking care of illegals, inept care are just part of the long list that we see already in the system. Some of the core issues deviding the camps right now are funding for abortions and the public health option. It is said that the bill mandates that people pay for coverage. ...is this true? UPDATED since the defeat, will there be anything new, or different? 3/17/10 Limbaugh prompts healthcare calls, ties up House phone lines House phone lines were nearing capacity on Tuesday as conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh encouraged fans to call in their objections on healthcare legislation.The House e-mail system was also deluged in what the House’s technology office called “a very significant spike” in traffic.
• Call the Capitol
Switchboard: 877-762-8762 or 202-224-3121 3/15/10 Dems start countdown toward health care vote WASHINGTON – House Democrats triggered the countdown Monday for the climactic vote on President Barack Obama's fiercely contested remake of the health care system, even though the legislation remained incomplete and lacked the votes needed to pass.Obama expressed optimism Congress would approve his call for affordable and nearly universal coverage as he pitched his plan on a trip to Ohio, and congressional leaders showed signs of progress in winning anti-abortion Democrats whose votes are pivotal.
Some health insurance consumer protections would go into place immediately, significant but limited in scope. The big expansion in coverage comes in four years. More than 30 million people would sign up, with most getting tax credits to help pay premiums. Ripple effects continue well after Obama has to leave office in 2017, if he's re-elected. But even if the 2,700-plus-page bill passes, it's only the end of the beginning. The Obama blueprint will be carried out under less-than-ideal circumstances. Rising medical costs and an aging population will keep squeezing the federal budget. Lawmakers will have to revisit hard choices they sidestepped.......more 3/12/10 Why
Rush Limbaugh would go to Costa Rica if Obama's healthcare
plan passes San José, Costa Rica – Conservative
talk-show host Rush Limbaugh said this week he’d go
to Costa
Rica for medical treatment if Congress passes proposed
reforms to the US healthcare system.
3/10/10 Kill Bill: Death to Obamacare! "When Obama came to my neighborhood yesterday to press for public support for his health “reform” bill, he wasn’t just greeted by teaparty hecklers. Speaking to a large group of mostly supportive students and local residents at Arcadia University in Glenside, the president at one point went into his stock mode of knocking critics on both left and right, mentioning that “people on the left” want “single-payer.” But before he could add that that approach wasn’t workable, he found himself drowned out by cheers calling for Medicare for all and single-payer.That kind of says it all." .........the rest of the story at the link.....the question is.....is this the 'business as usual' ...where the govt pushes through what 'they' want instead of listening to the people .....AGAIN???!!!.....are you mad yet? Obama Accepts Paul Ryan's Premise After talking incessantly about cutting waste, fraud and abuse from federal spending, on Wednesday, President Obama finally announced a plan to do so. His method: use financial incentives. The president has ordered all federal departments and agencies to "expand and intensify their use of payment recapture audits under the authority they currently have." Recapture audits consist of the government paying private sector auditors to discover improper payments that result from error or fraud. The plan is to "offer specialized private auditors financial incentives to root out improper payments." The more money the auditors save the government, the more they make. The White House says the increased audits could save taxpayers $2 billion over the next three years. That's only a small fraction of the $98 billion worth of improper payments the White House says were made last year alone ($54 billion from Medicare and Medicaid). But it's an improvement over current practice. It's also a fascinating admission from the president. GOP To Dems: If You Think You'll Be More Popular After Health Care, Think Again Top Republicans told reporters today the Democrats are wrong to believe their approval ratings will go up once they pass health care, and warned against using reconciliation. They insisted that even though they used the tactic when they held power, the Democrats are abusing the process. "Those who think they are putting the issue behind them are fundamentally wrong," Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ) said today in a briefing with reporters on Capitol Hill. "I think their problems are just beginning," Kyl said, citing polls showing the health care bill is unpopular. Sebelius
And Health Care Exec Clash At AHIP Conference They were
like yin and yang, oil and water. Health and Human Services
Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and America's Health Insurance
Plans CEO Karen Ignagni couldn't agree on much today when they
debated health care reform at AHIP's conference in downtown
Washington, D.C.Sebelius challenged to insurers to embrace
the Obama administration's health care reform efforts before
it's too late. Directly after she finished speaking, Ignagni
took to the mics to challenge the administration to abandon
its efforts to reform the way health insurance works in America
-- before it's too late. Obama pushing on health care end game WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is pushing a new anti-fraud plan and his top health official is challenging the nation's insurers as the administration cranks up the pressure for a sweeping overhaul of the nation's medical system.Obama is to speak Wednesday in suburban St. Louis and then travel to northeastern Ohio on Monday, his third health care event in a week. His speech comes as congressional Democrats stand on the brink of delivering the president a dramatic success with passage of his massive overhaul legislation — or a colossal failure if they can't get it done.As part of the administration's campaign, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius sketched out a stark choice for insurers: oppose reform and eventually lose customers, or work with the White House to improve the legislation. 3/7/10 I'm a Medicare doctor. Here's what I make NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- When you think of low-paying jobs, doctor doesn't usually come to mind.But with a 21% cut in Medicare payments slated to take effect later this month, physicians who say they are making an OK living may be reduced to income levels that no longer make their profession viable. That's especially true for those still paying medical school costs and other training.
It's the opportunity of a generation, he told them -- and a chance to revive the party's agenda after his rough first year in office. 3/5/10 2/27/10 Democrats
push forward on healthcare
Reporting from Washington - Democrats on Friday turned from
the drama of the healthcare summit to the nitty-gritty task
of lining up votes to pass a bill without Republican support,
as they sought to salvage the sweeping health overhaul championed
by President Obama.
They have focused their attention on the House, where old intraparty quarrels over abortion, illegal immigration, costs and taxes are threatening to break out again. "There was so much focus on the Senate and their search for 60 votes," said Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.), who is president of the Democratic freshman class in the House. "That has ignored the real dynamic in the House where we had to sweat buckets of blood" to pass a bill last year. "It's going to be a serious challenge." 2/25/10 2/24/10
Jack Cafferty Rips Obama on Failed Openness Pledge: 'Just
Another Lie Told for Political Expediency'
and here is a pdf file of the bill for you to download and readH.R. 3200 pdf to contact the white house go here http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
2/13/10 Drug industry lobbyist Billy Tauzin to resign. Reporting from Washington - Billy Tauzin, the chief lobbyist for the pharmaceutical industry who forged a private deal with the Obama administration to push the healthcare overhaul forward, will announce his resignation Friday, further complicating the outlook for passage of comprehensive legislation this year.Tauzin, a garrulous former Louisiana congressman, has been considered a brilliant and bold negotiator, particularly in mid-2009 when he cut a deal with the White House to back the healthcare overhaul that once seemed all but inevitable. But he has come under increasing fire as the health initiative stalled on Capitol Hill following the Republicans' surprise Senate victory in Massachusetts last month that denied the Democrats a filibuster-proof majority. It is in this new environment that Tauzin will announce his resignation, effective June 30. 1/20/10 Obama, Dems consider pared-back health care bill President Barack Obama and congressional allies signaled Wednesday they may try to scale back his sweeping health care overhaul to keep parts of it alive in the wake of a stinging rebuke in the Senate race in Massachusetts.A simpler, less ambitious bill emerged as an alternative only hours after the loss of the party's crucial 60th Senate seat forced the Democrats to slow their all-out drive to pass Obama's signature legislation despite fierce Republican opposition. The White House is still hoping the House can pass the Senate bill in a quick strike, but Democrats are now considering other options.
When Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown takes office he will hand the GOP power to block the Democratic agenda, including Obama's top domestic priority of extending health coverage to the uninsured."The people of Massachusetts spoke. He's got to be part of that process," Obama said. Asked if the Democrats' bill, as currently written, is dead, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky responded: "I sure hope so." 1/16/10 Anti-incumbent, anti-establishment sentiment is rampant. Independents are leaving Obama. Republicans are energized. Democrats are subdued. None of it bodes well for the party in power. "It's going to be a hard November for Democrats," Howard Dean, the Democratic Party chairman in the 2006 and 2008 elections when the party took control of the White House and Congress, told The Associated Press in an interview. "Our base is demoralized." While he praised Obama as a good president, Dean said the Democrat hasn't turned out to be the "change agent" the party thought it elected, and voters who supported Democrats in back-to-back elections now are turned off. Said Dean: "They really thought the revolution was at hand but it wasn't, and now they're getting the back of the hand." Just how much voters have soured since Obama took over a country in chaos is reflected in the president's late-game decision to rush to Massachusetts on Sunday to try to stave off an extraordinary Republican upset in the race for a Senate seat held by Democrats for more than half a century. Obama faced a no-win situation as he pondered whether to campaign with Democrat Martha Coakley. Had he decided against going, he would have enraged the base and been blamed if she lost. But a Coakley defeat following a presidential visit would be embarrassing, raising questions about Obama's popularity and political muscle. Once heavily favored to cruise to victory, Coakley is in a tight fight with Republican Scott Brown, a little-known state senator, for the race to fill the seat left vacant when Sen. Edward M. Kennedy died. "It's The People's Seat." Scott Brown at the Massachusetts Senate debate. "With all due respect, it's not the Kennedy's seat, it's not the Democrats' seat, it's the people's seat." 1/12/10 Labor leaders object to 'Cadillac tax' for healthcare Underscoring a rift in the Democratic political coalition, national labor leaders met with President Obama on Monday and raised objections to a proposed tax that they said would harm union members and cause a backlash in the November midterm election.Obama has come out in favor of the "Cadillac tax" that is part of the healthcare bill passed by the Senate. The tax, meant to help finance the healthcare overhaul, would apply to the most expensive insurance plans. The House has an alternative: a new surtax on single taxpayers making more than $500,000 a year and couples earning more than $1 million. The two bodies are working out a compromise in private. The dozen labor leaders, who spent two hours with Obama and White House officials, said they preferred the surtax on wealthy Americans, according to a person familiar with the meeting who was not authorized to discuss it publicly. They also told Obama that the healthcare "exchanges" envisioned in the bill, intended to help many Americans buy insurance policies, should be national in scope -- not state-based -- so as to provide more competition for the insurance industry, the person said.
1/11/10 Married Couples Pay More Than Unmarried Under Health Bill Some married couples would pay thousands of dollars more for the same health insurance coverage as unmarried people living together, under the health insurance overhaul plan pending in Congress.The built-in "marriage penalty" in both House and Senate healthcare bills has received scant attention. But for scores of low-income and middle-income couples, it could mean a hike of $2,000 or more in annual insurance premiums the moment they say "I do." The disparity comes about in part because subsidies for purchasing health insurance under the plan from congressional Democrats are pegged to federal poverty guidelines. That has the effect of limiting subsidies for married couples with a combined income, compared to if the individuals are single. 1/7/10 You
will be jailed if you don't buy private health insurance In
case you missed it, here is the video (recorded in 2000)
that explains why the government is so interested in MANDATORY
insurance and will make sure you get it, like it or not,
under threat of fine and imprisonment. Earlier this week, we told you about the way that Democratic leaders in Congress plan to use an obscure legislative tactic known as "ping-pong" to bounce the health care reform bill back and forth between the House and the Senate to reconcile their differences. Their goal is to keep the final negotiations between House and Senate leadership (along with the White House), and avoid Republican input and likely delaying tactics. The White House, though, is now catching heat because many see this process as a direct betrayal of President Obama's oft-repeated promise to broadcast these negotiations live on television. On Tuesday, Brian Lamb, the CEO of C-SPAN - the political television network that shows full coverage of policymaking in Washington, D.C. -sent a letter to the White House and leaders in Congress imploring them to allow the health care bill's final negotiations to be broadcast live and in their entirety on his network. Saying that C-SPAN would use the most advanced technology available in order to be "as unobtrusive as possible," Lamb wrote: 1/5/10 Dems Intend to Bypass GOP on Health CompromiseHouse and Senate Democrats intend to bypass traditional procedures when they negotiate a final compromise on health care legislation, officials said Monday, a move that will exclude Republican lawmakers and reduce their ability to delay or force politically troubling votes in both houses. The unofficial timetable calls for final passage of the measure to remake the nation's health care system by the time President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address, probably in early February.
Obamacare - A Runaway Fascistic Train .. Terror Moles Escape Purge
"The federal government does not have the power to force you to purchase a private product," said Cannon, a health policy analyst at the Cato Institute, a free-market think tank in Washington. But with Congress poised to do just that, the mandate for near-universal coverage is generating opposition not only from libertarians like Cannon, who object to the guiding hand of government regulation in almost any form, but from some liberals -- and even from some members of the insurance industry, which stands to gain millions of customers.
As an American, I refuse to buy mandatory health insurance that supports corrupt conventional medicine (NaturalNews) Even if Obama's health care reform bill becomes law, mandating that all Americans buy health insurance policies for a failed system of "sick care", I will refuse to comply. I've read the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights, and nowhere in that document do I find that the federal government has the power to force consumers to purchase for-profit insurance products from private companie 1/4/10 Democrats Will Skip Formal Health Care Conference Democrats are “almost certain” to avoid a formal conference to reconcile the House and Senate health care bills, senior Capitol Hill sources say, thereby robbing Senate Republicans of yet more opportunities to stall the bill. If Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi convened a formal conference, there would need to be a series of special motions in the Senate, each with full debate, which the GOP would use to delay the inevitable. McCain, Other Republicans Denounce Special Deals In Senate Healthcare Bill "Passage of this bill is an indication of the Chicago-style sleazy sausage-making that’s been going on around here," McCain said, as it appears votes are bought and sold, examples are: Senator Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) won the concession under which the federal government will pay for all of the new Medical enrollees in the state, instead of sharing the cost with the state government as will happen in the rest of the country, according to USA Today.( Even the govenor of Nebraska has spoke publicly agains this special interests benefit, saying he will not allow this..... at least he has integrity!)The source also reports that Senator Mary Landrieu (D-La.) obtained a $300 million bump in Medicaid funding for her state. Fiscal conservatives across the country have blasted the $871 billion healthcare bill passed by the Senate on Christmas Eve for its potential to increase medical costs, as well as for the earmarks won by several lawmakers in exchange for their support. "The lobbyists and special interests have won [and the] American people have lost," McCain added...........more at the link
Staff quits after Ala. congressman switches to GOP Freshman Alabama congressman Parker Griffith has lost most of his staff after switching parties from Democrat to Republican last month. Griffith is a former state senator. He narrowly won the seat last year but said on Dec. 22 that he could no longer support Congressional Democrats on health care and other policies. The staff quit referring to the benefits to the state from the democratic leadership with contracts on defense and aerospace jobs. (Another lesson in the complications of 'politics' as a tool for either side) 12/30/09 13 state AGs threaten suit over health care deal Republican attorneys general in 13 states say congressional leaders must remove Nebraska's political deal from the federal health care reform bill or face legal action, according to a letter provided to The Associated Press Wednesday. "We believe this provision is constitutionally flawed," South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster and the 12 other attorneys general wrote in the letter to be sent Wednesday night to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. "As chief legal officers of our states we are contemplating a legal challenge to this provision and we ask you to take action to render this challenge unnecessary by striking that provision," they wrote. 12/19/09 Holdout Nelson agrees to back healthcare bill With a critical vote looming this weekend, Senate Democrats
reached a deal with the lone Democratic holdout -- Nebraska
Sen. Ben Nelson, who will back the party's healthcare bill
after settling weeks of negotiating over abortion.
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