Posted on 07/22/2009 5:49:04 AM PDT by libstripper
"I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody," then-candidate Barack Obama famously told Joe "the Plumber" Wurzelbacher when campaigning in Ohio last fall.
At about the same time Obama was revealing this redistributionist vision for wealth, he was also presenting a redistributionist vision for health and health care -- but with far less publicity.
Today, Obama's belief that health itself needs redistributing has become a guiding force behind the health-care reform bills recently approved by committees in the House and Senate.
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
The health “disparities” mentioned are simply a product of life in general. Those who make bad decisions in life end up broke and in poor health far more often than those who engage in far better decision making.
It’s not about access. The poor spend far, far more on healthcare than do those of the middle to upper classes. Thing is, they spend the middle and upper class’ money to do it.
Obama is once again guilty of wrong, irrational, and non-reality based beliefs. The guy is completely anchorless and lives in a fairy tale world.
Acorn members will exempt their own fat behinds!
The left is obsessed with forcibly taking money from those who work hard and earn it and giving it to those who collect money from the government, and in thankful return, vote democrat.
You, my friend, will find yourself in a reeducation camp or insame asylum for saying that one day.
I’m not a Marx scholor so I’m not sure what Das Kapital may say on this point. But the modern commie believes that something is unfairly distributed if everyone does not have access to it. On the face of it that sounds pretty good.
The only problem is that there is a cost associated with that kind of “access” and it is higher than can be paid for by any amount of confiscatory taxation. So, what happens is that health care must ultimately rationed out. Uh, sort of like the present system does IAW ability to pay. And, of course, under the present system the quality and availability of care is exponentially greater than it could ever be under communism. Moreover, people in a Capitalist society are not eternally bound by their socio-economic status. They can, and do, move up if they have the smarts and ambition to do so. The so-called Millionaire Class, as a percent of population, has grown steadily and smartly since the birth of this nation. It follows that the lower and middle classes, as a percent of population, has declined.
But back to healthcare. Of course, with the establishment of communist health care, the quality of that care immediately begins to decline. It declines:
1. Because fewer of the best people choose the medical profession and too many of the least capable do choose it. It will get so bad the State will begin assigning people, any people, to the profession simply to make it appear to be working.
2. Because communism removes the incentive for hard work and entrepreneurship, there will be no incentive for people to excel. Ergo, more and more people will make less and less money. Finally, the State will step in and establish national wage rates for every conceivable job. And it will pay it. The only problem with that is commie treasuries have a consistent habit of ultmately become bankrupt because the poplulation is not making enough money to pay for basic services—let along things like iPods, Blackberrys or whatever. Heck, stuff like that will not even be invented because there is no incentive to do so.
Well I certainly hope you never get Cancer or need a life saving operation. And for all those Gay Rights Groups that bent over for Obama. You will be DENIED health care due to AIDS being incurable. Starting with page 335 of THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATIONS HealthCare Plans.
1 ‘‘(1) HIGH QUALITY PLAN ADJUSTMENT.—For
2 years beginning with 2011, in the case of a Medicare
3 Advantage plan that is identified (under paragraph
4 (3)(E)(ii)) as a high quality MA plan with respect
5 to the year, the blended benchmark amount under
6 subsection (n)(1) shall be increased—
7 ‘‘(A) for 2011, by 1.0 percent;
8 ‘‘(B) for 2012, by 2.0 percent; and
9 ‘‘(C) for a subsequent year, by 3.0 percent.
10 ‘‘(2) IMPROVED QUALITY PLAN ADJUSTMENT.—
11 For years beginning with 2011, in the case of a
12 Medicare Advantage plan that is identified (under
13 paragraph (3)(E)(iii)) as an improved quality MA
14 plan with respect to the year, blended benchmark
15 amount under subsection (n)(1) shall be increased—
16 ‘‘(A) for 2011, by 0.33 percent;
17 ‘‘(B) for 2012, by 0.66 percent; and
18 ‘‘(C) for a subsequent year, by 1.0 percent.
19 ‘‘(3) DETERMINATIONS OF QUALITY.—
20 ‘‘(A) QUALITY PERFORMANCE.—The Sec21
retary shall provide for the computation of a
22 quality performance score for each Medicare
23 Advantage plan to be applied for each year be24
ginning with 2010.
25 ‘‘(B) COMPUTATION OF SCORE.—
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335
•HR 3200 IH
1 ‘‘(i) FOR YEARS BEFORE 2014.—For
2 years before 2014, the quality performance
3 score for a Medicare Advantage plan shall
4 be computed based on a blend (as des5
ignated by the Secretary) of the plan’s per6
formance on—
7 ‘‘(I) HEDIS effectiveness of care
8 quality measures;
9 ‘‘(II) CAHPS quality measures;
10 and
11 ‘‘(III) such other measures of
12 clinical quality as the Secretary may
13 specify.
14 Such measures shall be risk-adjusted as
15 the Secretary deems appropriate.
16 ‘‘(ii) ESTABLISHMENT OF OUTCOME17
BASED MEASURES.—By not later than for
18 2013 the Secretary shall implement report19
ing requirements for quality under this
20 section on measures selected under clause
21 (iii) that reflect the outcomes of care expe22
rienced by individuals enrolled in Medicare
23 Advantage plans (in addition to measures
24 described in clause (i)). Such measures
25 may include—
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336
•HR 3200 IH
1 ‘‘(I) measures of rates of admis2
sion and readmission to a hospital;
3 ‘‘(II) measures of prevention
4 quality, such as those established by
5 the Agency for Healthcare Research
6 and Quality (that include hospital ad7
mission rates for specified conditions);
8 ‘‘(III) measures of patient mor9
tality and morbidity following surgery;
10 ‘‘(IV) measures of health func11
tioning (such as limitations on activi12
ties of daily living) and survival for
13 patients with chronic diseases;
14 ‘‘(V) measures of patient safety;
15 and
16 ‘‘(VI) other measure of outcomes
17 and patient quality of life as deter18
mined by the Secretary.
19 Such measures shall be risk-adjusted as
20 the Secretary deems appropriate. In deter21
mining the quality measures to be used
22 under this clause, the Secretary shall take
23 into consideration the recommendations of
24 the Medicare Payment Advisory Commis25
sion in its report to Congress under section
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337
•HR 3200 IH
1 168 of the Medicare Improvements for Pa2
tients and Providers Act of 2008 (Public
3 Law 110–275) and shall provide pref4
erence to measures collected on and com5
parable to measures used in measuring
6 quality under parts A and B.
7 ‘‘(iii) RULES FOR SELECTION OF
8 MEASURES.—The Secretary shall select
9 measures for purposes of clause (ii) con10
sistent with the following:
11 ‘‘(I) The Secretary shall provide
12 preference to clinical quality measures
13 that have been endorsed by the entity
14 with a contract with the Secretary
15 under section 1890(a).
16 ‘‘(II) Prior to any measure being
17 selected under this clause, the Sec18
retary shall publish in the Federal
19 Register such measure and provide for
20 a period of public comment on such
21 measure.
22 ‘‘(iv) TRANSITIONAL USE OF
23 BLEND.—For payments for 2014 and
24 2015, the Secretary may compute the qual25
ity performance score for a Medicare Ad-
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338
•HR 3200 IH
1 vantage plan based on a blend of the meas2
ures specified in clause (i) and the meas3
ures described in clause (ii) and selected
4 under clause (iii).
5 ‘‘(v) USE OF QUALITY OUTCOMES
6 MEASURES.—For payments beginning with
7 2016, the preponderance of measures used
8 under this paragraph shall be quality out9
comes measures described in clause (ii)
10 and selected under clause (iii).
11 ‘‘(C) DATA USED IN COMPUTING SCORE.—
12 Such score for application for—
13 ‘‘(i) payments in 2011 shall be based
14 on quality performance data for plans for
15 2009; and
16 ‘‘(ii) payments in 2012 and a subse17
quent year shall be based on quality per18
formance data for plans for the second
That sums it up. This country's future became doomed when non-property owners were given the right to vote. Since that time, the freeloaders have slowly accumulated the legal "right" to steal from the producers via government edict.
I'm sure the English majors and identity politics faculties would protest, but Marx provides nothing to this debate except a pseudo-scientific rhetorical vocabulary founded upon a naive reductionist view.
It was Lenin who has all the intelligent things to say about actually operating a state "for the people".
Of course, Stalin got to make all the important real-world policy choices; i.e., who lives and who dies. Stalin is the model for real-world socialist leadership - progressively identify your enemies and then kill them - this is socialism that works!
I'm confident that Obama and his crowd will not stray far from the historical beaten path.
Wealth and health are inextricable traits. Where there is wealth, health follows closely.
Control wealth, and you control health.
Medical services delivery systems feed on wealth. Therefore, to destroy this system, first concentrate on destroying the wealth that permits its existence.
There is an inexplicable fascination the left has with destroying access to wealth by the great majority. Apparently, to accumulate wealth is sinful, therefore to maintain good health is almostly equally sinful.
The average life span now is WAY too long. This results in WAY too many claims under Social Security and Medicare.
Only community-based organizations that are part of a "national network of community-based organizations" will be eligible for these grants.
"In carrying out subparagraph (A)," says page 386 of the bill, "the eligible entity shall, with respect to residents in the community, measure -- (i) decreases in weight; (ii) increases in proper nutrition; (iii) increases in physical activity; (iv) decreases in tobacco use prevalence; (v) other factors using community specific data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey; and (vi) other factors as determined by the Secretary."
This is a direct call for totalitarian control with Obama's private army of ACORN thugs as enforcers. They're going to try to control your weight, what you eat, how much you exercise, tobacco use, and anything else they decide to monitor later on.
Only community-based organizations that are part of a "national network of community-based organizations" will be eligible for these grants.
"In carrying out subparagraph (A)," says page 386 of the bill, "the eligible entity shall, with respect to residents in the community, measure -- (i) decreases in weight; (ii) increases in proper nutrition; (iii) increases in physical activity; (iv) decreases in tobacco use prevalence; (v) other factors using community specific data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey; and (vi) other factors as determined by the Secretary."
"This is a direct call for totalitarian control with Obama's private army of ACORN thugs as enforcers. They're going to try to control your weight, what you eat, how much you exercise, tobacco use, and anything else they decide to monitor later on. "
YOU'VE GOT IT!!
THAT’s the scary part. I can't even BEGIN to envision what that will mean.
“The Senate Health committee’s bill includes a section — “Creating Healthier Communities” — that authorizes paying tax dollars to so-called community-based organizations so they can monitor individual behavior patterns on the neighborhood level — and in schools — in the name of reducing “health disparities.””
Back to the lifeboat conundrum; let’s say we have a lifeboat that is low in the water, dangerously so and it is decided that the only way for the majority to survive is if some load is dumped; after all the excess things are gone and but people are left we decide who must go:
On board are four old women who weigh 90# each, two young stout men at 170# each, five accountants who total 1250# and the captain who easily tips the scales at 375#.
The only logical thing to do is for the young men to fight it out to the end and the victor throws everyone else out of the boat.
The young man can paddle much faster than the rest can swim.
ACORN is a hydra-headed monster and the very kind of multi-state “community organization” this horrible bill refers to. My fears are well-grounded. Also, remember how the lovely MIchelle enthused during the campaign about how the Illegal Alien would challenge each of us. This is the devil come to earth.
It would make Hitler proud.
If they ONLY knew what was in it (and were literate enough to understand what they read), they’d be scared to death (which is the point of the current legislation proposed after all, isn’t it — thinning the herd). Wait until they hear WHO is going to administer it. ACORN. Priceless! Just f’n priceless!
To have one of their uniformed thugs show up at my door or at my hospital bedside would probably euthanize me quicker than any neglect or denial of benefits.
Oh, and just wait until the highly educated, highly in debt physicians and nurses have to work side by side with ACORN. I wish I could see their faces — oh, man! What a picture that would be. Trying to explain complex medical procedures to people who haven’t even completed grade school, or if they have, it was through “No Child Left Behind”.
Priceless, over the moon, priceless.
Whoa—”Naive reductionist view”? What does that mean in everyday man’s English?
I think, once all the jargon is overcome, we can agree that any communist state, based on Marxist theory, is subject to fail in the long run. Partly, because it overlooks basic human nature and partly because it assumes that with the removal of all incentive to excel that somehow people will continue to take risk and be innovative. History tells us this just ain’t so.
Although, communism was not built on totalitarianism it always evolves to it because that is the only way to force the population through “one more” state imposed “five year” plan. This one, of course, will bring the Utopia everyone is seeking.
Of course, the people who maneuver themselves into controlling the “organs” of government become quite comfortable controlling the “masses”. And, of course, they are not in any way subject to the same constraints and hardships as the population as a whole.
History also shows us the communist house of cards ultimately fails whether or not it controls all the guns.
Detroit on the Brink:
what 50 straight years of Democrat rule has done to a once great city
The Collins Report | July 22, 2009 | Kevin “Coach” Collins
Posted on 07/22/2009 6:04:10 AM PDT by jmaroneps37
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2298168/posts
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