GOP Amendments to the Health Care Bill

So Obama signed the Health Care Spending Bill this week and, if you listen to MSNBC, the new age of heaven has begun. The Republican Senators are presenting amendments to the bill to correct some of the glaring problems with the bill.

For example, Senator McCain is addressing the pork and back room deal making by presenting an amendment to cut out the special deals for Louisiana, the Cornhusker deal, and others. Senator Coburn is presenting an amendment to prohibit sex offenders from getting prescription Viagra on the taxpayers dime. He's also filed 8 other amendments that address concerns about growing bureaucracy, overreaching new powers in the Department of HHS, Waste Fraud and Abuse, Class 1 Medical Device taxes, and more.

It would be hard for any Democrat to defend striking down any of these amendments but I'm sure some will try.

If this bill makes it through to reconciliation, the true REPEAL process will begin.

I truly hoped that this bill would never make it this far, but it has.

Pass the word, get involved, leave your comments here even if you disagree.

Repeal this bill. Save our country's future.

So Much For Transparency

The final details about the health care reform bill are now being worked out - in private. No cameras. No reporters. No Republicans. No Transparency.

Somewhere in the back of my mind this morning came the old quote "Men loved the darkness because their deeds were evil".

Why, I wonder, are the final negotiations going on in private? Because Obama and the Dems do not want the country to see who is getting the deals for their votes. They are not hammering out the details. They are bribing fence riding Senators and Congressmen for their vote on the bill. Obama's Chicago mob is more interested is passing something than doing what is right for the country.

That's why CSpan's letter went unanswered. That's why Pelosi is quibbling with the truth about being/not being transparent. Sure, the cameras were rolling when they were discussing the nuts and bolts of how the bill will work. She and her gang from the Patch, Terror Town, Boys Town, or Lakeview just don't want the public to know just how corrupt the process is.

Votes for Dollars. That's what it is all about.

Votes for Dollars.

Get ready to push for the repeal the bill movement.

Democrats Win Over Nebraska Senator with $100M

Great for Nebraska. What about the rest of us?

Here's how the Dems got Nelson to go along with the Senate version of the bill:

"Nelson secured several other concessions from Reid, including a guarantee that the federal government will fully cover the cost of expanding Nebraska’s Medicaid program. All other states have to partially pay for a Medicaid expansion to admit all adults earning up to 130 percent of poverty level, if they haven’t done so already. Aides said the deal was worth under $100 million for Nebraska over the next decade - not much in the context of an $900 billion bill. But at a time when most state budgets are deep in the red, it’s a huge political coup for Nelson." from the Boston Globe.

Is the word "honor" in the oath these knuckleheads take?

So it is looking like the Senate version of the bill will pass. Next, combining the House version and the Senate version.

The final redaction will look like neither. Again, the Frankenstien bill.

"Buy In" and Public Option are "OUT" ?

So the exact language of a Public Option is out. So is the buy in for Medicare for 55 - 64. Another failed amendment was the one that would allow us to buy prescription meds from other countries. But what is buried in the language of this zillion page bill? For sure we know that these three elements remain:

1. You cannot be rejected for health insurance because of pre-existing conditions. And,

2. Your insurance company cannot drop you out of the blue. And,

3. You will be charged a fine if you do not carry health insurance.

Obama and the Dems still claim the bill will be deficit neutral, will result in lower premiums for all, and will lower costs.

This does not compute. The numbers I mean. For example, why have health insurance companies rejected people for pre existing conditions? Cost. If the insurance companies were required to cover those who already have costly conditions, they would have to . . . . . raise the premiums to cover the anticipated costs. So who will help with those costs? Taxpayers. Will the already ill be able to afford those premiums anyway? Likely not. If you think $500 or $600 monthly premiums are high, just imagine what my health insurance premium would be if I tried to go out and buy a policy today (Stage 4 Renal Cell Carcinoma). Since they would not be able to reject me, they would have to charge thousands of dollars a month to cover a small part of my medical bills.

And what about healthy 20 and 30 something people? Probably would rather pay the fine than pay premiums. So they are still not covered. Right?

Still not adequately addressed are Tort Reform, buying health insurance across state lines, and cost control.

This bill is too costly, will drive more Doctors out of practice, and will result in less available care. Don't pass the bill.

Great video interview with Steve Forbes:

Senate Health Care Reform Debate - Harry Reid (D) NV

So if you can't beat them with the facts, sling mud that's irrelevant. That's what Mr Reid from Nevada did on the Senate floor today. Chastising the Republicans for what he said was their call to "slow down" he compared it with to civil rights/slavery and women's right to vote.

Will this kind of rhetoric get any Republicans to vote the Democrat's way?  Will it sway moderate Democrats to abandon their committments to refusing tax payer dollars for abortion? Will it convince anyone that a public option is in the country's best interest?

Amendments to the bill keep coming up and getting defeated. Yesterday the Ensign Amendment - putting limits on lawyers' fees on contingency cases - failed. Even the Lincoln Amendment, proposed by a Democrat, failed. It would have limited the ability of insurance companies to deduct executive pay from their taxes. That was a move designed to punish the private insurance sector and pave the way for a total government takeover of the insurance industry. Surprised the Dems could not get that one passed.

Here's the clip of Sen Reid's lame argument:

Health Care Reform and MediCare

Senior Citizens should keep an eye on the debate and the bill. The bill presently cuts many areas of Medicare. One of the cuts includes payments to doctors. Some amendments are in the works to postpone the cuts to doctors providing care to Medicare patients. But if payments to doctors are cut, the unintended consequence would be an exodus of doctors providing care to seniors. Fewer doctors, longer waits for appointments and more out of pocket expenses for those who can least afford it.

The Medicare Rights Center, a non-profit consumer service organization, has reported that eight states are having a tough time finding doctors who will accept Medicare patients. This started in 2002 when payments to doctors were cut by 5.4 percent. Those states include Texas, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Arizona, Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia, and New Mexico. The survey done by the Center said that the reason doctors gave the patients for not accepting them was the lower payments.