"Healthcare Compromises Coming: The Most Dangerous Time of All"

by Donna Garner - 9.7.09
Education Policy Commentator EducationNews.org

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) wants to introduce what I believe are dangerous compromises into the healthcare bill.  She is a member of the "Gang of 6" with whom Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana), chair of the Senate Finance Committee, is meeting. 

(1) Sen. Snowe wants to slow down the implementation of the healthcare plan. In other words, she wants ObamaCare passed but wants to take the "frog in the water" approach where the public does not know it has been fooled until it is too late.

(2) She wants the public option to take over only if private insurance companies do not offer a better package -- called "safety-net option."  Of course, the problem with this is that the government would always offer a "better" package because as the premiums on the government plan are lowered to force out the private insurance companies, our taxes would be raised exponentially.  Snowe's "compromise" would end up implementing the public option because the so-called "safety-net option" would be pre-designed to fail.  

(3) Snowe's plan would require private plans to be affordable to 95% of the people in a state. Again, this is government intrusion into the private healthcare marketplace; and the feds would actually be calling the shots.  States with heavy minority populations would be financially burdened the most.  Convenient for her political future is that Snowe's state of Maine would not feel the negative impact at all; but states such as Florida, California, and Texas would feel a tremendous financial hit.  

(4) Snowe finally lets her real agenda show with her last "compromise."  If the private plans are not affordable to 95% of the population of a state (and they would not be affordable particularly in states with heavy minority populations), then Big Government would step in and require that the public option be added to the list of "private options."  What a farce. The public option would not create an even playing field with private insurers because any deficits that occur under the public option would be met by increased taxes on us; the private insurance companies would not have that option and soon would go broke. 

The bottomline is that Sen. Olympia Snowe's "compromise" is dangerous because it would accomplish the original intent of ObamaCare. 

Also found in the same article in today's Washington Post ( http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/04/AR2009090403842.html?wpisrc=newsletter ) is a discussion of the Senate Reconciliation plan:

Democrats have 59 votes in the Senate right now. Under the Reconciliation plan, there would be no filibustering allowed, and the Senate could approve ObamaCare with only 51 votes instead of the usual 61.  So what is the problem for the Democrats?  Here is the sticky wicket: 

Reconciliation bills can only contain measures that do not raise the federal budget.  Both the Senate Health Committee and the House have passed ObamaCare versions that raise the federal deficit with each succeeding year. 

The Senate Finance Committee has not released its version yet; but to meet the Reconciliation mandate, the Senate Finance Committee's version would have to raise taxes and cut Medicare/Medicaid.  Many members are not willing to support such a plan because they might gamble their political lives away.

Please take the time to read my article "The Most Dangerous Time of All" (posted below).  In it I explain that we American patriots must not accept any compromises on ObamaCare. (e.g., Sen. Olympia Snowe's). 

On November 2, 2010, we must throw out the Democrats and RINO's in Congress.

We must elect new Congressmen who are true conservatives.

We must expect them to write authentic healthcare reform utilizing the many exciting ideas that I have enumerated at the end of my article, "The Most Dangerous Time of All."  

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“The Most Dangerous Time of All”

by Donna Garner

9.2.09

The Congressional recess is nearly over.  Now what?

We are entering the most dangerous time of all -- the period of healthcare compromises.  This is when the Democrats try to fool and confuse the American public by manipulating the wording of H. R. 3200 while still maintaining the original underlying provisions of Socialized healthcare.  [Putting a smiley face on a hog, won’t work.]

This is also the time when the Senate will release its healthcare version, probably named the Senator Ted Kennedy Healthcare bill -- meant to pacify the American people just by using his name. [As William Tate said in his American Thinker article today, if the Democrats insist on memorializing Kennedy’s name by attaching it to the healthcare bill, the public should “demand that any end-of-life provisions be called the Mary Jo Kopechne Rider.”]

OUR MESSAGE

The rallying cry for all of us American patriots must continue to be “Dump ObamaCare.” 

What we who oppose Socialized healthcare must do is to form a united front: no compromises, no amendments, no H. R. 3200, no Ted Kennedy Healthcare bill, no look-alikes! 

Our constant chant should be “Judgment Day -- Nov. 2, 2010.”  Let’s envision what it would be like to start writing the healthcare bill all over again but this time with a whole group of NEW Congressmen. 

In today’s Rasmussen opinion poll, “Forty-two percent (42%) of U. S. voters say a group of people randomly selected from the phone book would do a better job than the current Congress.” 

A NEW SENATE

Please close your eyes and picture the present U. S. Senate: You see 57 Democrat Senators,  40 Republican Senators, and 2 Independents. 

Now blink your eyes, and let’s visualize how the Senate COULD LOOK after Nov. 2, 2010.  Just think -- all of these Senators could be gone if conservative voters continue to make their voices heard:

Nevada -- Senator Harry Reid (D)

Arkansas -- Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D)

California -- Sen. Barbara Boxer (D)

Colorado -- Sen. Michael Bennett (D)

Connecticut -- Sen. Chris Dodd (D)

Hawaii -- Sen. Daniel Inouye (D)

Indiana -- Sen. Evan Bayh (D)

Maryland -- Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D)

New York -- Sen. Chuck Schumer (D)

North Dakota -- Sen. Byron Dorgan (D)

Oregon -- Sen. Ron Wyden (D)

Vermont -- Sen. Patrick Leahy (D)

Washington -- Sen. Patty Murray (D)

Wisconsin -- Sen. Russ Feingold (D)

OTHER SENATORS ON THEIR WAY OUT

These other Senators are either leaving or will be involved in special elections:

Joe Biden (D-Delaware) is now Vice-President. The Delaware Governor (Democrat) temporarily filled Biden’s seat with Ted Kaufman who does not plan to run in 2010.

Hillary Clinton (D-New York) is now the Secretary of State. Gov. David Patterson (Democrat) appointed Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, and she does intend to run in 2010.

Massachusetts is to have a special election in Jan. 2010 to replace Sen. Ted Kennedy. 

The replacement for Obama (D-Illinois) in the Senate was Sen. Roland Burris who does not plan to run in 2010.

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) is to resign in order to run for Texas Governor. 

Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pennsylvania) has become a Democrat and could certainly lose in 2010.

Sen. Kit Bond (R-Missouri) is retiring.

Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) has chosen to resign because of his support of term limits.  

Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Kentucky) is leaving his seat in the Senate.

Sen. Judd Gregg (R-New Hampshire) will not return to the Senate.

Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Florida) is leaving the Senate. 

Sen. George Voinovich (R - Ohio) is leaving the Senate.

A NEW HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Now let’s visualize what the House of Representatives could look like:  All 435 seats in the House (representing 50 U. S. states, delegates from Washington, D. C. and four of the five territories) are up for grabs on Nov. 2, 2010. 

This means that all U. S. Representatives are vulnerable, and the liberal Democrats and RINO’s (Republicans in Name Only) could be sent packing.  

All it would take is to vote out of office a mixture of 40 Democrats (and/or RINO’s) and replacing them with principled conservatives who could take control of the House of Representatives and pass sensible healthcare reform. 

TWO LINKS TO CONGRESSIONAL MEMBERS

To see a list of the U. S. Senate members who are up for re-election in 2010,  please go to: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_elections,_2010#Massachusetts_.28Ted_Kennedy_vacancy.29

To see a list of the House members who are up for re-election in 2010, including the  18 House members who are voluntarily retiring, please go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections,_2010

OBAMA CARE IN TROUBLE -- WE CAN DUMP IT

Because of misguided ObamaCare and the $9.3 Trillion federal deficit (4 times as large as the deficit last year under President Bush), political pundits are now predicting Republicans could win back 20 to 50 seats on Nov. 2010.  The catch is that we also must not elect  RINO’s. They are part of our present problem.  

Conservative voters, we can do it; in 1994 during the middle of President Clinton’s term, the conservative voters took back control of the House by voting for the Republicans who proclaimed their support of the Contract with America. 

INNOVATIVE HEALTHCARE IDEAS FOR NEW CONGRESS

What we need are conservative Congressmen who will debate and carefully consider new and innovative free enterprise healthcare ideas and then write completely new healthcare reform legislation.

Here are a few of the exciting ideas that could be fine-tuned and turned into legislation if authentic conservative Congressmen were elected. 

*A search for conservative healthcare bills will reveal that many of these ideas have already been turned into legislation and put forth by Republican Senators and House members during this session; but the Democrat-controlled Congress has completely ignored them. 

• Remove the barriers to Health Insurance Savings Accounts (HSA’s).

• Allow an employee the right to opt out of the employer-based insurance plan, receive a yearly $5,000 per-family tax credit, and use the amount not spent to pay for next year’s premiums or extra medical care.

• Give the same tax deduction for individually owned health insurance that employer-provided health insurance enjoys.

• Permit insurance companies to compete across state lines, thus allowing individuals to shop around for the benefits that best meet their needs. By making this change, private insurance companies would most certainly offer superior packages due to increased competition.

• Allow individuals, businesses, and associations to form pools and buy insurance anywhere in the country, not just in the states where they live. Again, that would increase free market enterprise and lower healthcare insurance costs.

• Require insurance companies to offer plans regardless of a person’s pre-existing medical condition(s).

• Enact tort reform so that doctors will not have to carry such high malpractice insurance that ends up driving up our private insurance rates.

• Cap the amount a claimant can receive from a malpractice lawsuit.  This would alleviate the need for doctors to practice “defensive medicine” in which they are forced to order up unnecessary, duplicative, and expensive medical and lab tests just to keep from getting sued. The reduction in defensive medicine costs would lower the price of healthcare and reduce the nonsensical paperwork trail, thus keeping doctors from leaving the medical field out of frustration with the system. 

• Make employees’contributions to their healthcare plans deductible from their taxes. Employees could continue to buy healthcare insurance through their employer but could use the money from their tax deductions to help pay the premiums. 

• Eliminate from Medicaid the part that pays for healthcare for low-income people. [This would cover nearly 75% of those currently uninsured.]  Instead, give them tax credits and vouchers based upon their income to help them buy their own private insurance.

• Require states to cover 90% of those people below 200% of the federal poverty level before allowing the eligibility requirements under Medicaid and SCHIP to expand.

• Sift out waste, fraud, and abuse from Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP.

• Allow SCHIP beneficiaries the opportunity to use their vouchers to buy private health insurance. 

• Set up agencies at the state level to deal individually with those who have severe problems that keep them from being insured. [Contrary to what Obama has said, there are only 8 to 15 million of these people. One possibility is to have doctors in each county donate their time once a month to help the indigent gain medical treatment. Pharmaceutical companies have already begun to donate various medicines to the indigent, and this should continue at an even greater pace.]

• Honor our promises to Veterans by preserving Tri-Care and other medical benefits for their families.

• Give individuals the power to own and control their own healthcare plans by making them portable. 

• Encourage employers to offer discounts to their employees for practicing healthy habits through wellness and prevention programs.

• Reimburse physicians who provide ongoing and stable care for their patients.

• Encourage the private healthcare system to install electronic medical records when and if doctors and hospitals wish to initiate them, making sure that patient privacy is strictly protected and that EMR’s are not shared with the federal government.  EMR’s do streamline the efficiency of patients' care by correctly reminding patients and doctors when return visits are needed, and tracking patients' medical tests/ results. EMR’s save healthcare practitioners time and money -- again cutting down on healthcare costs. 

• Make sure the idea of a “comparative effectiveness research commission” is dumped so that healthcare decisions are left up to patients and their doctors, including end-of-life decisions.  

• Keep senior citizens from being forced out of their Medicare Advantage plans through rationing or through priority lists.

• Secure our borders so that the influx of illegal immigrants will stop. This will ease the burden upon our emergency rooms that are required to give medical care to illegals, driving up the insurance rates for those responsible citizens who pay for healthcare coverage.

THIS IS OUR CHANCE -- TAKE IT!

Now is not the time for American patriots to fold their hands and accept compromises. Nov. 2010 is getting closer each day, and we will soon have our opportunity to change the entire make-up of Congress. 

Meanwhile, we must keep the pressure on our present Congressional members. “We must make it clear that the word compromise is not in our dictionaries.”