More Gov, More Taxes

The government may not raise income taxes for low-income and middle class families, but the proposed government health-care plan and cap and trade will both certainly raise the tax burden for both groups:

• Dem Senator Warns of 'Big, Big Tax' on Middle Class in Baucus Bill
  
• Obama Admin: Cap And Trade Could Cost Families $1,761 A Year

Health Care Cartoon

This is how I feel about government run agencies and programs.

This political cartoon is by Michael Ramirez over at TownHall.com: http://townhall.com/cartoons/cartoonist/MichaelRamirez/2009/09/5/

Sent to you by mister_cbond via Google Reader:

Cartoon of the Day

via CARPE DIEM by Mark J. Perry on 9/9/09

Michael Ramirez.

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Articles on Healthcare

With the healthcare debate raging strong, I thought I'd share the articles that I've been reading on the subject. 

Here's a direct link to HR 3200, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009.

Some of the websites that I look to regularly for news and information on the debate are Conservatives for Patient's Rights and the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest.  I also recommend reading The Top Ten Myths of American Health Care by Sally Pipes. 

The articles:

• Annals of Medicine The Cost Conundrum Reporting & Essays The New Yorke (...).url
  
• BigGovHealth.URL
  
• Britain's cancer shame as 15,000 elderly patients could be saved every (...).url
  
• Browns' Tweet nothings for NHS Mail Online.url
  
• California’s Nightmare Will Kill Obamanomics Kevin Hassett - Bloomberg (...).url
  
• Canadian Health Care The End of Innovation - ABC News.url
  
• Chuck Norris Dirty Secret No. 1 in Obamacare - Townhall.com.url
  
• CNSNews.com - Conyers Sees No Point in Members Reading 1,000-Page Heal (...).url
  
• Democratic Health Care vs. Democracy Will Wilkinson Cato Institute C (...).url
  
• Economic View - The Pitfalls of the Public Option in Health Care - NYT (...).url
  
• Europe's 48-hour working week will be 'catastrophic' for patients, say (...).url
  
• FDA Takes Cheerios to Task for Boastful Labels - Political News - FOXN (...).url
  
• Fury as NHS trust says only women between 39.5 and 40 years old can ha (...).url
  
• Get the facts about the stability and security you get from health ins (...).url
  
• Graham Cost Estimates a 'Death Blow' to Calls for Public Health Care P (...).url
  
• Hands OFF My Health - Educating Americans About the Risks of Governmen (...).url
  
• Health care in India Lessons from a frugal innovator.url
  
• Health Care Infomercial Airs Despite Objections - Political News - FOX (...).url
  
• Health-Care Myths at Emac’s Stock Watch Fox Business.url
  
• HOSP-ITALITY ABU$E - New York Post.url
  
• House Health-Care Proposal Adds $600 Billion in Taxes (Update2) - Bloo (...).url
  
• In health bill, billions for parks, paths - The Boston Globe.url
  
• Intensive Obamacare Michael D. Tanner Cato Institute Commentary.url
  
• Investors.com - Canada's Single-Prayer Health Care.url
  
• Investors.com - Rushing Ahead In Health Care Wonderland.url
  
• Iowa Woman Owes State Almost $300,000 for Veteran's Health Care - Loca (...).url
  
• Massachusetts Sued Over Cost of Health Care - NYTimes.com.url
  
• Medicare Administrative Costs Are Higher, Not Lower, Than for Private (...).url
  
• MICHIGAN Obama Time To 'Stop Clinging To' Unworkable Health Care Syste (...).url
  
• My Way News - Health care debate could derail over gov't plan.url
  
• Obama confident of passing healthcare reform Special Coverage Reuter (...).url
  
• Obama Health Care Reform Riles Up Whole Foods CEO John Mackey - ABC Ne (...).url
  
• Of NICE and Men - WSJ.com.url
• Parsing the Health Reform Arguments - WSJ.com.url
  
• Pelosi says any health-care plan must halt cost spiral Front page Ch (...).url
  
• Rasmussen Reports™ The Most Comprehensive Public Opinion Data Anywhere.url
  
• Reaction to my Health Care Piece Being Pulled - John Stossel's Take.url
  
• Reality check Canada's government health care system - CNN.com.url
  
• Reform Needs Healthy Life Incentives - WSJ.com.url
  
• Rep John Fleming (R, LA-04) So, you want a Government-run health care (...).url
  
• Search Results - THOMAS (Library of Congress).url
• Sprightly pensioner dies in 'zoo' hospital after 'catalogue of blunder (...)​.url
  
• The Greenroom » Forum Archive » Statist health care, by the numbers.url
• The health-care debate Will the blue dogs bolt The Economist.url
  
• VA Medical System in Shambles, Veterans Groups Say - Political News - (...).url
  
• When the Government Runs Health Insurance - Kaiser Health News.url
  
• White House Launches Web Site to Battle Health Care 'Rumors' - Politic (...).url
  
• White House Open to Deal on Public Health Plan - WSJ.com.url
  
• White House uses Web against Drudge attack - Yahoo! News.url
  
• WUSA9.com Washington, DC Cardin Town Hall Meeting On Health Care Get (...).url

Forced Unionization of Health Care Workers?

Mark Mix, the president of the National Right to Work Committee has an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal today about the government's health care plan, "Read the Union Health-Care Label".  Specifically he discusses the legislation that authorizes the Secreatary of Health and Human Services to regulate health-care workers. 


Speaking of Secretary Kathleen Sebelius:

Ms. Sebelius will be taking her marching orders from the numerous union
officials who are guaranteed seats on the various federal panels (such
as the personal care panel mentioned above) charged with recommending
health-care policies. Big Labor will play a central role in directing
federal health-care policy affecting hundreds of thousands of doctors,
surgeons and nurses.

Big Government, Big Labor, Big Problems.

Taxed to Death

I remember hearing how middle class Americans wouldn't see tax increases under Obama?  Maybe I was mistaken?

I dismissed the notion when I originally heard it.  Democrats are notorious for raising taxes, not just on the rich, which actually decreases the velocity of circulation, but on the middle class and poor as well.  The trick, though, is to give you a cut in one area and then tax the hell out of you somewhere else. 

Our politicians are spending money in ways that are unfathomable.  I honestly don't think the politicians and bureaucrats responsible for this drunken spending binge have any concept of what money is.  None the less, a spending they will go.  TARP funds, GM bailout, Fannie/Freddie, GMAC, increases here, spendulus there and finally we're gearing up for Obamacare⁷.  This entitlement will be the granddaddy of them all.  In 20 years 100% of government spending will be taken up in entitlement programs Medicare, Medicaid and Universal Healthcare when it passes.  That doesn't include infrastructure, defense, or any other near and dear government programs.  Think about that for a second.

So how the hell do these retards spending OUR money plan to pay for Obamacare if they're not going to raise income taxes on the middle class?  Here's a list of proposed taxes in other areas^1&7:

• taxes on food items: such as soda, sugar based drinks, alcohol
• a possible VAT tax
• taxes on employer based health insurance

While these taxes aren't directly affecting your income, they will affect your disposable income as the price of goods go up.  And as taxes are applied to goods, whether VAT or otherwise, fewer of those goods will be purchased.  The result will be declining revenue for the Treasury and eventually the government will find new taxes to levy on all of us. 

Sometime later today, or possibly next week the government will release their proposed Obamacare bill.  Next week ABC will run their government propaganda machine straight from the White House⁸.  It's being promoted as a Special on Obamacare: "Questions for the President: Prescription for America".  What ABC has refused to do, though, is offer an opposing viewpoint to government run healthcare, such as Rick Scott's CPR.  Scott apparently contacted ABC about running a commercial during the time slot, but ABC refused. 

CPR has been running infomercials recently against government run healthcare².  Just today on their website is a post about the pending ABC News program⁵:

As the administration prepares for its health care program on ABC News, the one steadfast detail about their health care agenda is: no one knows the details. What we do know is a government-run health care system will increase health costs and crowd out private insurers, leaving American health care in the hands of bureaucrats and not doctors. Reports of partisan bickering and exploding costs are hindering the proponents of a government-run health care system. The incomplete budget score has left Democrats on the Hill doing anything they can to cut costs, except creating a plan that doesn't include a $1.6 trillion government-run health system.

http://www.cprights.org/2009/06/government-run-health-care-system-is-not-the-solution.php

Isn't it enough that the government is going to spend $2 TRILLION ⁴ dollars this year?  When is it enough? 

Even the AMA opposes government run healthcare⁵ .  That should be an eye-opener. 

 

Resources:

1. The AP: House eyes new taxes as senators pare health bill
2. Fox News: Health Care Infomercial Airs Despite Objections
3. CPR: Conservatives for Patients' Rights
4. USA Today: Benefit spending soars to new high
5. CPR: Government-Run Health Care System is Not the Solution
6. NSO: The AMA Opposes Government Health Plan
7. CATO: Intensive Obamacare
8. Fox News: ABC News Teams Up With Obama White House to Present President's Health Care Plan

The AMA Opposes Government Health Plan

The AMA has finally taken a public stand against the government's plan to provide universal health coverage in the United States.  An article in the New York Times, Doctors’ Group Opposes Public Insurance Plan, discusses the AMA's discontent with the plan:

While committed to the goal of affordable health insurance for all, the association had said in a general statement of principles that health services should be “provided through private markets, as they are currently.” It is now reacting, for the first time, to specific legislative proposals being drafted by Congress.

Check out the Conservatives for Patients' Rights site, an opposition group headed by Rick Scott.  CPR is a non-profit group that wants health care reform, just not government mandated health care reform.  From their website:

Conservatives for Patients' Rights is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating and informing the public about the principles of patients rights and, in doing so, advancing the debate over health care reform. Those principles include choice, competition, accountability and responsibility. We believe the path to effective health care reform must be based on the patient-doctor relationship and not from a top-down, big government perspective. Anything that interferes with an individual’s freedom to consult their doctor of choice to make health care decisions defeats the purpose of meaningful health care reform.

 

Rick Scott has been featured in Fortune magazine as well: "Who is Rick Scott trying to heal?"  Scott was once CEO of the Columbia hospital corporation.  He was ousted as the CEO in the late 90's, but is back in the healthcare arena with the Solantic Urgent Care centers in Florida.

Solantic is a novel approach to health care:

 

The FDA Approved Test Using Ecstasy to Treat PTSD on Veterans?

Really? 

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13639_3-10191171-42.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=MilitaryTech

BigGovHealth.Org

Check out this website on what big government would do to healthcare: BigGovHealth.org

Clinton health plan may mean tapping pay

So rather than just bill someone for healthcare received because they're
uninsured, Hillary would authorize yet another way for the government to
come into our lives to punish us... don't we have enough things going on in
our lives that we don't need to juggle the demands and pressures of the
government, too? Seriously, Hillary, STAY OUT OF MY LIFE.

A quote from the article "Clinton
<http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080203/ap_on_el_pr/campaign_rdp_31> health
plan may mean tapping pay":

Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday she might be willing to garnish
the wages of workers who refuse to buy health insurance to achieve coverage
for all Americans.

When Health Care Becomes Personal

Below is an excerpt from a Cato Institute article regarding the quality of
healthcare in the US. The entire article is worth a read, but one part in
particular I wanted to share.

As part of my personal argument against government interference in health
care, and specifically against the nationalization of the healthcare system,
I argue that when the government pays for healthcare, the government becomes
the customer. Hospitals, insurance companies, big pharma, et al will no
longer react to the demands of the patients, rather they will react to the
demands of the government. A passage in the article discusses this
principle specifically and I've copied it below.

Government is the Customer

When consumers are in the driver's seat, best practices tend to spread. In a
market economy, if you fail your customers, you go out of business. BJC,
which is regarded as one of the best hospitals in the country, should go out
of business. It should be driven out by hospitals that function more like
its subsidiary, the Rehabilitation Institute.

Internists and specialists who do not like to touch old people should be
driven out of business. They should be driven out by hands-on doctors and by
gerontologists who take a more holistic view of patients.

The reason that medical care works the way it does is that government is the
customer. Government pays health care providers for time and materials.
Shannon Brownlee and others believe that government could come up with
better compensation schemes that would help promote quality. I doubt this.

Trying to influence medical care from a government bureaucracy sets up a
game between bureaucrats and doctors. The object of Medicare Administrators
will be to get the largest change in behavior with the least increase in
compensation to health care providers. The object of the health care
providers will be to get the biggest increase in compensation for the least
change in behavior. The health care providers are bound to win. They control
the information flows ("you want to see reports that demonstrate quality?
we'll give you reports that demonstrate quality.") More importantly, they
have the most organized lobbyists, so that any "pay-for-performance" schemes
that do not work in doctors' favor will be shut down.

Medicare is wonderful for relieving the elderly from the burden of worrying
about health care expenses. By the same token, it is wonderful for relieving
doctors of the burden of worrying about the elderly as customers. You get
paid for understanding the billing system, not for understanding your
patients.

The original article can be viewed from the "view article" link below:

Feed: Cato Daily Commentary
Posted on: Monday, January 28, 2008 11:00 PM
Author: Cato Daily Commentary
Subject: When Health Care Becomes Personal by Arnold Kling

"Despite a rapidly growing elderly population, the number of certified
geriatricians fell by a third between 1998 and 2004. Applications to
training programs in adult primary-care medicine are plummeting, while
fields like plastic surgery and radiology...

View article... <http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9123>

Hillary Announces Agenda To Improve the Quality of Health Care for All Americans

Hillary's plan to social healthcare is LADEN with buzzwords...

I don't have time at the moment to scrutinize her blog post, but rest assured I will blog about it later.

There is sure is a lot of empowerment going on in her 'plan'.

I am still shuddering at the use of all nefarious word usage. She even invented a '"Best Practices" Institute'!

I've highlighted the disingenuous words used below. When I get a chance later I will actually comment on the substance and meaning. Right now it's just difficult to read the post because of the blatant disregard for respect to the English language and our intellect.

Hillary Announces Agenda To Improve the Quality of Health Care for All Americans

via blogHillary by Crystal Patterson on Aug 23, 2007

Today in Lebanon, New Hampshire, Hillary outlined her plan to improve the quality of health care for all Americans.

As President, Hillary would fundamentally reform the nation's health care system by lowering costs, improving quality, and covering all Americans. Earlier in the campaign, she announced a multi-faceted plan to lower costs and increase value in the nation's health care system, which taken together would lower national health spending by at least $120 billion a year. Today, she announced several proposals that build on those initiatives to ensure high quality care by empowering health professionals, patients, and private and public payers to improve the financing and delivery of health care that every American receives. And next month, she will unveil her proposals to ensure universal coverage, so that every American will have quality, affordable health care.

Hillary's agenda returns patients to the center of the health care system again by empowering and relying on the skill of those who provide care - physicians, nurses, other clinicians, and health care organizations - to improve that care continually.

Background

While health care in the U.S. has enormous strengths, many Americans worry about the quality of care they receive. In 2006, a survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and AHRQ found that 51 percent of Americans were dissatisfied with the quality of the American health care system. Per capita health care spending in the U.S. is far greater than in any other industrialized country, yet other nations have better health outcomes, including longer life-expectancy, lower rates of obesity and related conditions such as heart disease and diabetes, fewer years of life lost due to failure to treat treatable conditions, and lower infant mortality.

According to a RAND study, adults in the U.S. on average fail to receive about half the recommended care that modern clinical science says they need. In fact, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 1999 reported that between 44,000 and 98,000 people die each year in our nation's hospitals as a result of preventable injuries from medical care. In short, for the amount of money that we spend in health care, Americans should be getting better quality care. Improving the quality of our health care system can and will reduce costs.

Hillary's Agenda: Reforming Health Care by Focusing on Quality

A reformed high-quality healthcare system must include a strong evidence base so we know what treatments work best, a quality measurement infrastructure based on this evidence to assess the quality of care patients receive from their health care providers, the integration of those quality measures into the delivery of care through health information technology, reimbursement incentives and accountability, and a commitment to placing patients at the center of the system, through increased transparency and greater access to information. To achieve this, Hillary will:

Empowering Providers:

1. Empower Physicians to Improve Quality Through Physician-Driven Certification Programs

2. Recognize Independent Private-Public Quality Trust and Improve Quality Measures

3. Emphasize Quality in Health Care Workforce, with Focus on Nurses

• Address Nurse and Nurse Faculty Shortages
• Prioritize the Retention of New Nurses
• Increase Number of Direct Support Professionals
• Address Diversity and Cultural Competency in the Healthcare Workforce
• Link Nursing Education and Quality

Empowering Patients

4. Empower Patients with Information on Provider Performance

• Develop a Patient-Friendly Quality Database
• Develop Patient-Friendly Decision Aids to Promote Informed Patient Choice
  

5. Reduce Health Care Disparities

• Reduce Racial and Ethnic Disparities as Part of the National Quality Agenda
• Require More Accurate Data Collection
• Improve Cultural Competency in Clinical Care
• Prioritize the Development of Medical Homes Designed to Improve Quality for Racial and Ethnic Minorities
  

Empowering Purchasers and Payers:

6. Incentivize Quality Through Increased Federal Payments

• Financially Reward Excellence in Care
• Develop New Reimbursement Models to Encourage Innovative Care Delivery Systems that Reward Quality -- Not Assembly-Line Care

7. Prohibit Payment of "Never Events" in FEHBP and all Federal Programs

These proposals to improve quality build on Hillary's existing health care agenda:

• Institute a New "Paperless" Health Information Technology System
• Transform Care of Today's Chronically Ill Population to Improve Outcomes
• Create an Independent "Best Practices" Institute and Invest in Research for New Treatments