Obama to Propose Limits on Insurance Rates
WASHINGTON -- President Obama is making a fresh attempt to rescue his health care overhaul by proposing a measure that would allow the government to deny or roll back egregious insurance premium increases that infuriate consumers.
Coming just days before a White House health care summit with congressional leaders of both parties, Obama's new legislative proposal, which will be unveiled later Monday, likely represents the president's last chance to salvage his signature issue.
A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity because details have not yet been officially released, said the insurance rate proposal would give the federal Health and Human Services Department -- in conjunction with state authorities -- the power to deny substantial premium increases, limit them, or demand rebates for consumers. [Click to read more]
The average insurance company makes a measely 4% profit. That's about the worst return of any type of company! This proposal of Obama's will drive insurance companies out of business and directly into government hands, just the way Il Duce* Obama wants.
*For those of you in Rio Linda, Il Duce was the nickname of Mussolini, the leader of the Fascist Party of Italy, an ally of Nazi Germany. Fascism is a socialist form of government where all businesses are controlled by the government. They also seek to silence the opposition by setting controls on the media, demonizing all other views, and totally ignoring input from any other political parties. Sound familiar?
Showing posts with label health care. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health care. Show all posts
Monday, February 22, 2010
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Merry Christmas American People -- More Debt Than Your Descendants Can Pay For!
From CNN -- Next step: Turn two health care bills into one
(CNN) -- The Senate on Thursday passed its version of the health care bill, inching the country closer to the biggest expansion of medical coverage since Medicare was enacted more than four decades ago.
Senate Democrats declared victory after the 60-39 party line vote, but one of the most complicated tasks is still ahead.
A conference committee must reconcile the differences -- notably a public option, how to pay for the plan that emerges, and coverage for abortion -- and merge them into one.
The House and Senate will then have to pass the revised plan before it can be sent to President Obama's desk. Each chamber needs a simple majority vote for final passage. [Click to read]
We're in for it now! How will we ever pay for this. I guess we can only hope and pray that during reconciliation the best parts of both bills are kept and the worst parts are thrown out. Doesn't usually seem to work that way. Pray hard for wisdom for the people on the reconciliation committees. We do need true health reform, but not like what's currently in either bill.
(CNN) -- The Senate on Thursday passed its version of the health care bill, inching the country closer to the biggest expansion of medical coverage since Medicare was enacted more than four decades ago.
Senate Democrats declared victory after the 60-39 party line vote, but one of the most complicated tasks is still ahead.
A conference committee must reconcile the differences -- notably a public option, how to pay for the plan that emerges, and coverage for abortion -- and merge them into one.
The House and Senate will then have to pass the revised plan before it can be sent to President Obama's desk. Each chamber needs a simple majority vote for final passage. [Click to read]
We're in for it now! How will we ever pay for this. I guess we can only hope and pray that during reconciliation the best parts of both bills are kept and the worst parts are thrown out. Doesn't usually seem to work that way. Pray hard for wisdom for the people on the reconciliation committees. We do need true health reform, but not like what's currently in either bill.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Health Care Reform That Isn't
Who is the government trying to kid? This is not "Health Care Reform". In the first place, it's not about health care, it's about insurance, one of the lowest-profit businesses on the planet. Do you realize they only make around 4%? In the second place, it's not about reform, it's about taking control of one of the largest business segments in the nation.
This is outright fascism. What is fascim? According to wikipedia, facism is:
a political ideology that seeks to combine radical and authoritarian nationalism with a corporatist economic system, and which is usually considered to be on the far right of the traditional left-right political spectrum.
Fascists advocate the creation of a single-party state, with the belief that the majority is unsuited to govern itself through democracy and by reaffirming the benefits of inequality. Fascist governments forbid and suppress openness and opposition to the fascist state and the fascist movement. Fascism opposes class conflict, blames capitalism and liberal democracies for its creation and communists for exploiting the concept. Fascism fashioned itself as the "complete opposite of Marxian socialism" by rejecting the economic and material conception of history, the fundamental belief of fascism being that human beings are motivated by glory and heroism rather than economic motives, in contrast to the worldview of capitalism and socialism.
In the economic sphere, many fascist leaders have claimed to support a "Third Way" in economic policy, which they believed superior to both the rampant individualism of unrestrained capitalism and the severe control of state socialism. This was to be achieved by establishing significant government control over business and labour.
Enough said. Under the Obama, Pelosi, Reid triumvirate, the American People and our freedoms are in trouble.
This is outright fascism. What is fascim? According to wikipedia, facism is:
a political ideology that seeks to combine radical and authoritarian nationalism with a corporatist economic system, and which is usually considered to be on the far right of the traditional left-right political spectrum.
Fascists advocate the creation of a single-party state, with the belief that the majority is unsuited to govern itself through democracy and by reaffirming the benefits of inequality. Fascist governments forbid and suppress openness and opposition to the fascist state and the fascist movement. Fascism opposes class conflict, blames capitalism and liberal democracies for its creation and communists for exploiting the concept. Fascism fashioned itself as the "complete opposite of Marxian socialism" by rejecting the economic and material conception of history, the fundamental belief of fascism being that human beings are motivated by glory and heroism rather than economic motives, in contrast to the worldview of capitalism and socialism.
In the economic sphere, many fascist leaders have claimed to support a "Third Way" in economic policy, which they believed superior to both the rampant individualism of unrestrained capitalism and the severe control of state socialism. This was to be achieved by establishing significant government control over business and labour.
Enough said. Under the Obama, Pelosi, Reid triumvirate, the American People and our freedoms are in trouble.
Monday, November 9, 2009
The Berlin Wall and Nationalized Healthcare DOA?
AP: Germany celebrates fall of Berlin Wall
BERLIN – With prayers, music and pomp, Germany on Monday remembered the 20th anniversary of the day the Berlin Wall fell, sending East Germans flooding west and setting in motion events that soon led to the country's reunification. [Click to read]
I got tears in my eyes to read this. I remember hearing about the 14,000 people that met to pray in and around a church for the reunification of Germany and then lit candles and carried them in protest. The next day, the wall fell. The East German leader later said, "We thought we were prepared for anything. But we weren't prepared for people united in prayer."
In 1990, I went to Berlin and chiseled some pieces off the wall. I still have them and take them out and look at them to remind me of how it used to be, and to pray that it will never get that way here!
AP Wire: House Health Bill Has Nowhere to Go in Senate
WASHINGTON -- Don't look for the Senate to quickly follow the House on health care overhaul.
A government health insurance plan included in the House bill is unacceptable to a few Democratic moderates who hold the balance of power in the Senate. They're locked in a battle with liberals, with the fate of President Obama's signature issue at stake. [Click to read]
The Senate is doing its job. The House tried to rush something through without major debate or bi-partisan input. In my opinion, the Senate will examine this bill, plot out the long-term ramifications, and propose something much better. Let's hope cooler heads prevail than those that pushed this monstrosity through the House!
Sunday, October 25, 2009
From Yahoo News: FACT CHECK: Health insurer profits not so fat
WASHINGTON – Quick quiz: What do these enterprises have in common? Farm and construction machinery, Tupperware, the railroads, Hershey sweets, Yum food brands and Yahoo? Answer: They're all more profitable than the health insurance industry.
In the health care debate, Democrats and their allies have gone after insurance companies as rapacious profiteers making "immoral" and "obscene" returns while "the bodies pile up."
Ledgers tell a different reality. Health insurance profit margins typically run about 6 percent, give or take a point or two. That's anemic compared with other forms of insurance and a broad array of industries, even some beleaguered ones. [Click to read]
Once again, the Obama administration is creating strawman "enemies"--he really learned from Mussolini!
From CNN: Bank failures stack up: Now 106 for 2009
Banks in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin, were shuttered, costing the FDIC an estimated $356.6 million.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The tally of bank failures easily broke past the No. 100 milestone on Friday night, with regulators announcing the year's 106th closure.
That's more than four times the number that were closed in 2008, and the highest total since 1992, when 181 banks failed. [Click to read story]
Still more fallout from the Clinton era--pushing banks to lend money to people who couldn't afford to pay it back--all in the name of "racial equity." If you remember, the Bush administration tried multiple times to fix this, but were blocked by the Democrat Party--especially Barney Franks--from doing anything! Now we're in the worst economy since the one that Carter caused.
We're still better off than the Carter Recession, though. Remember 20% inflation with 10% unemployment? I sure wish the news media would quit calling the current recession the "worst economy since the great depression." It's an outright lie!
WASHINGTON – Quick quiz: What do these enterprises have in common? Farm and construction machinery, Tupperware, the railroads, Hershey sweets, Yum food brands and Yahoo? Answer: They're all more profitable than the health insurance industry.
In the health care debate, Democrats and their allies have gone after insurance companies as rapacious profiteers making "immoral" and "obscene" returns while "the bodies pile up."
Ledgers tell a different reality. Health insurance profit margins typically run about 6 percent, give or take a point or two. That's anemic compared with other forms of insurance and a broad array of industries, even some beleaguered ones. [Click to read]
Once again, the Obama administration is creating strawman "enemies"--he really learned from Mussolini!
From CNN: Bank failures stack up: Now 106 for 2009
Banks in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin, were shuttered, costing the FDIC an estimated $356.6 million.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The tally of bank failures easily broke past the No. 100 milestone on Friday night, with regulators announcing the year's 106th closure.
That's more than four times the number that were closed in 2008, and the highest total since 1992, when 181 banks failed. [Click to read story]
Still more fallout from the Clinton era--pushing banks to lend money to people who couldn't afford to pay it back--all in the name of "racial equity." If you remember, the Bush administration tried multiple times to fix this, but were blocked by the Democrat Party--especially Barney Franks--from doing anything! Now we're in the worst economy since the one that Carter caused.
We're still better off than the Carter Recession, though. Remember 20% inflation with 10% unemployment? I sure wish the news media would quit calling the current recession the "worst economy since the great depression." It's an outright lie!
Monday, October 19, 2009
Public Option, Tort Reform
From CNN: Harkin: Final health care bill will have public option
Sen. Tom Harkin promised Friday that a health care bill will be on President Obama's desk before Christmas.
WASHINGTON (CNN) – Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, the Democrat who chairs one of the Senate committees tasked with developing health care legislation, promised Friday that a health care bill will be on President Obama's desk before Christmas and will include a so-called "public option." [Click to read]
Is he sure? I heard that there are at least five Democrats that are holding out? Are they going to strong-arm them into voting for it?
Tort reform could save $54 billion, Congressional Budget Office says
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Congressional Budget Office is now estimating that limits on medical malpractice lawsuits -- reforms favored by many Republicans -- could save the government as much as $54 billion over the next 10 years.
The government spends about $2.5 trillion on health care every year.
A tort reform package that includes caps on jury awards of $500,000 for punitive damages and $250,000 for "pain and suffering" damages would lower liability insurance premiums by about 10 percent, according to a report from the nonpartisan office issued late last week. [Click to read]
Why not do it? And for doctors who are repeatedly found guilty of malpractice, remove their license? It works for Professional Engineers!
Sen. Tom Harkin promised Friday that a health care bill will be on President Obama's desk before Christmas.
WASHINGTON (CNN) – Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, the Democrat who chairs one of the Senate committees tasked with developing health care legislation, promised Friday that a health care bill will be on President Obama's desk before Christmas and will include a so-called "public option." [Click to read]
Is he sure? I heard that there are at least five Democrats that are holding out? Are they going to strong-arm them into voting for it?
Tort reform could save $54 billion, Congressional Budget Office says
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Congressional Budget Office is now estimating that limits on medical malpractice lawsuits -- reforms favored by many Republicans -- could save the government as much as $54 billion over the next 10 years.
The government spends about $2.5 trillion on health care every year.
A tort reform package that includes caps on jury awards of $500,000 for punitive damages and $250,000 for "pain and suffering" damages would lower liability insurance premiums by about 10 percent, according to a report from the nonpartisan office issued late last week. [Click to read]
Why not do it? And for doctors who are repeatedly found guilty of malpractice, remove their license? It works for Professional Engineers!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Health Insurance Reform & White House vs. Fox News
From FOXNews: White House Escalates War of Words With Fox News
Anita Dunn, White House communications director, calls Fox News a "wing of the Republican Party," after the White House began using its government blog to criticize "Fox lies."
Calling Fox News "a wing of the Republican Party," the Obama administration on Sunday escalated its war of words against the channel, even as observers questioned the wisdom of a White House war on a news organization.
Call the wambulance! This is one argument no administration can win. Politicians shouldn't criticize news organizations, period. If they want to disagree with a story, then that's perfectly fine. Otherwise, it smacks of censoring!
From FOXNews: 17-Pound, 4-Month-Old Baby Denied Health Insurance for Being Too Fat
Nothing brings a smile to an adult's face quicker than the sight of a happy, chubby baby.
But the sight of 4-month-old Alex Lange, who measures 25-inches long and weighs 17 pounds, is bringing a frown to the hypothetical face of insurance company Rocky Mountain Health Plans, The Denver Post reported on its Web site Monday.
What? This is ridiculous! Insurance companies (or the legalized Mafia, as my dad called them) need to be reigned in! We need an insurance tune-up to take care of "stuff" like this. However, let's not go too far and replace the whole car!
From CNN: Insurers, White House square off over reform bill
An insurance industry trade group says premiums for a typical American family would rise by thousands of dollars under a Senate overhaul plan. But the White House blasted the report as inaccurate. "This is a self-serving analysis from the insurance industry, one of the major opponents of health insurance reform," White House spokesman Reid Cherlin said. The bill is set for a vote today in the Senate Finance Committee.
Are they right, or are they being self-serving? Or perhaps both are true!
Anita Dunn, White House communications director, calls Fox News a "wing of the Republican Party," after the White House began using its government blog to criticize "Fox lies."
Calling Fox News "a wing of the Republican Party," the Obama administration on Sunday escalated its war of words against the channel, even as observers questioned the wisdom of a White House war on a news organization.
Call the wambulance! This is one argument no administration can win. Politicians shouldn't criticize news organizations, period. If they want to disagree with a story, then that's perfectly fine. Otherwise, it smacks of censoring!
From FOXNews: 17-Pound, 4-Month-Old Baby Denied Health Insurance for Being Too Fat
Nothing brings a smile to an adult's face quicker than the sight of a happy, chubby baby.
But the sight of 4-month-old Alex Lange, who measures 25-inches long and weighs 17 pounds, is bringing a frown to the hypothetical face of insurance company Rocky Mountain Health Plans, The Denver Post reported on its Web site Monday.
What? This is ridiculous! Insurance companies (or the legalized Mafia, as my dad called them) need to be reigned in! We need an insurance tune-up to take care of "stuff" like this. However, let's not go too far and replace the whole car!
From CNN: Insurers, White House square off over reform bill
An insurance industry trade group says premiums for a typical American family would rise by thousands of dollars under a Senate overhaul plan. But the White House blasted the report as inaccurate. "This is a self-serving analysis from the insurance industry, one of the major opponents of health insurance reform," White House spokesman Reid Cherlin said. The bill is set for a vote today in the Senate Finance Committee.
Are they right, or are they being self-serving? Or perhaps both are true!
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