Posted on 10/24/2009 6:26:33 PM PDT by socialismisinsidious
Senate Moderates Could Pose Problems for Reid on Health Care
Fox News ^ | 10/22/2009 | Trish Turner
Posted on Friday, October 23, 2009 12:43:49 AM by fiscon1
A handful of centrist Senate Democrats, along with moderate Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe, could pose a major problem for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as he tries to pull health care reform legislation to the floor.
Snowe, in concert with Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., has for weeks held meetings with a group of five or six moderates, including Sens. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn.; Mary Landrieu, D-La.; Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark.; and, at times, Susan Collins, R-Maine.
Hope Dims for Health Care after Medicare Vote
CBN ^ | 22 Oct | Jennifer Wishon
Posted on Friday, October 23, 2009 2:45:00 AM by chuck_the_tv_out
WASHINGTON -- Hopes of getting health care reform through the Senate look grim.
Democratic leaders suffered a major blow Wednesday when some of their own voted against a Medicare rate bill seen as a test for broader reform.
It’s called the “doc fix” -- legislation to increase Medicare payments to doctors with a price tag of $247 billion over the next decade.
It was supposed to be part of the cost of health care.
But in order to bring the health care reform bill in under budget, Democrats simply moved that expense out of health care into another part of the budget, without paying for it.
Asked Where Constitution Authorizes Americans Buy Health Insurance, Pelosi : 'Are You Serious?'
CNS News ^ | 10/23/2009 | Matt Cover
Posted on Friday, October 23, 2009 8:51:07 AM by IbJensen
CNSNews.com) – When CNSNews.com asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday where the Constitution authorized Congress to order Americans to buy health insurance--a mandate included in both the House and Senate versions of the health care bill--Pelosi dismissed the question by saying: “Are you serious? Are you serious?”
GMA Reports Sen. Harry Reid will Put Forward Health Bill WITH a "Public Option" - Video 10/23/09
Freedom's Lighthouse ^ | October 23, 2009 | BrianinMO
Posted on Friday, October 23, 2009 9:19:07 AM by Federalist Patriot
Here is video of Good Morning America today reporting that Democrat Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid will bring forward a Senate Health Care Bill that DOES contain a Government-run "Public Option" Insurance program:
"I am told that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is leaning toward including the creation of a new government-run insurance program – the so-called public option – in the health care reform bill he will bring to the full Senate in the coming weeks. Democratic sources tell me that Reid – after a series of meetings with Democratic moderates – has concluded he can pass a bill with a public option."
The Death of the House Bill (Even the Original Sponsors of the House Health Bill are Walking Away)
National Review ^ | 10/23/2009 | James Capretta
Posted on Friday, October 23, 2009 11:03:16 AM by SeekAndFind
In July, the president and the Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives argued that the time for analysis and debate was over and that the House should pass its version of health-care reform before the August recess.
Now, just three months later, House Democrats are saying that the bill they were in such a hurry to pass during the summer is old news and irrelevant. What matters now, they assert, is their “new and improved” version of reform, which they promise will be much better and easier to pass. Of course, they aren’t sufficiently confident in its virtues to open it up to public scrutiny just yet. No, they assert the bill will be different even though the legislative plan is clearly going to be just as it was in July. House Democrats are hoping to unveil their updated version of Obamacare as close as possible to a vote, probably in November, so that there is no time for public opposition to stop it.
Activism Alert: List Of Reps (With Phone Numbers) Waffling On ObamaCare
Various | 10/23/09 | Various
Posted on Friday, October 23, 2009 1:11:26 PM by careyb
Too Much of a Good Thing? Public Health Plan Could Have Huge Advantage in Market
FoxNews ^ | October 23rd 2009
Posted on Friday, October 23, 2009 4:57:50 PM by Steelfish
Too Much of a Good Thing? Public Health Plan Could Have Huge Advantage in Market
Under the plan being pushed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a government-run health insurance plan would provide nearly the same benefits as the other private plans in a new insurance exchange, at a fraction of the cost.
Abortion proving to be major hurdle as House Democrats try to shape health care overhaul bill
Associated Press ^ | Oct. 23, 2009 | ERICA WERNER
Posted on Friday, October 23, 2009 5:09:10 PM by Free ThinkerNY
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats are at an impasse over whether their remake of the nation's health care system would effectively allow federal funding of abortion.
House health care bill exceeds $1 trillion (Now they're talking some series jing)
ap ^ | 10/23/09 | David Espo - ap
Posted on Friday, October 23, 2009 6:13:34 PM by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON – Health care legislation taking shape in the House carries a price tag of at least $1 trillion over a decade, significantly higher than the target President Barack Obama has set, congressional officials said Friday as they struggled to finish work on the measure for a vote early next month.
Harry Reid closed in on 60 votes for a public health insurance option
Politico ^ | October 23, 2009 | CARRIE BUDOFF BROWN & PATRICK O'CONNOR
Posted on Friday, October 23, 2009 6:39:05 PM by jazusamo
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid closed in on clinching 60 votes for a public health insurance option Friday as two key moderates signaled they wouldn’t stand in his way – clearing a path for Reid to finish work on a bill as early as Tuesday, Democratic officials said.
Stupak: If no Pro-Life Amendment, ‘About 40 Likeminded Democrats’ Will Vote to Kill Health Bill
CNSNews ^ | October 23, 2009 | Terence P. Jeffrey
Posted on Friday, October 23, 2009 6:51:59 PM by Mrs. Don-o
Rep. Bart Stupak (D.-Mich.) told CNSNews.com yesterday that he has organized a group of “about 40 likeminded Democrats” who will vote to kill the health-care bill if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) does not allow a floor vote on his amendment to prohibit federal funds from going to insurance plans that cover abortion.
Who Picks Up The Tab For Health Reform?
Business Week ^ | October 23rd 2009
Posted on Friday, October 23, 2009 8:30:32 PM by Steelfish
Who Picks Up The Tab For Health Reform? Insurance companies stand to lose; doctors look like winners
Jane Sasseen and Catherine Arnst
The odds are shifting in favor of health-care reform legislation making it through Congress this year, to the point where bookies could put money on the ultimate winners and losers. Many details have yet to be determined, as congressional leaders try to merge two Senate and three House proposals, all of them more than 1,000 pages long.
The Middle-Class Health Tax Heist Of 2009
IBD Editorials ^ | October 23, 2009 | SALLY C. PIPES
Posted on Friday, October 23, 2009 8:31:41 PM by Kaslin
Poring over the details of the 1,501-page health care bill that came out of Sen. Max Baucus' Finance Committee, it's clear that the financing is so full of smoke and mirrors that one has to wear a respirator and hard hat to get through it.
But by the time one gets to the end of the bill, estimated to cost $829 billion over 10 years, clarity emerges — the Democrats plan to finance their expanded government care on the backs of America's middle-class taxpayers.
What's In and What's Out of Health Care Legislation
Eagle Forum ^
Posted on Friday, October 23, 2009 9:31:37 PM by ttjemery
by Phyllis Schlafly October 23, 2009
As liberals rush ObamaCare through Congress, let's review the disparity between promises and text. Joe Wilson's declaration "You lie!" is ringing truer with each passing day. Barack Obama promised "transparency" and giving the public five days to read the bill, but Senator Jim Bunning's (R-KY) amendment to require the bill, along with a final Congressional Budget Office score, to be posted online 72 hours before the vote, was defeated. Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA) and Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) have been trying to get the House to agree to post the bill 72 hours before the vote, but while most Republicans have signed on, the Nancy Pelosi leadership is unwilling.
The Democrats still hope to rush the bill through unread. The 1,100-page Stimulus bill was posted online only 13 hours before the vote, and the 1,200-page Cap and Trade bill was posted only 15 hours before the vote.
Mandated health insurance threatens freedom, privacy
Washington Examiner ^ | October 23, 2009 | Sue A. Blevins
Posted on Saturday, October 24, 2009 3:20:10 AM by kingattax
When it comes to health care legislation, the devil is in the details. Despite what politicians and interest groups are saying, details in current bills compromise both patient choice and medical privacy.
The leading House bill (H.R. 3200), for instance, forces all Americans to buy "acceptable" health insurance. According to the bill, the federal government -- always guided by special interests -- will decide what that means.
Johanns: Healthcare meetings a 'shameful' series of 'backroom deals'
The Hill ^ | 10/24/09 | Jordan Fabian
Posted on Saturday, October 24, 2009 6:38:10 AM by blueyon
Freshman Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) in this week’s Republican address condemned the healthcare bill merger process as a “shameful” series of “backroom deals.”
Hazardous to your health: Price of Congress' Rx for medical insurance keeps growing
New York Daily News ^ | 10/24/2009 | Editorial Staff
Posted on Saturday, October 24, 2009 7:17:42 AM by IbJensen
The giant sucking sound you hear is the deficits caused by a health care bill that grows in cost every day Congress works on it.
Optional public option enters Senate health care talks (but every state will pay)
cnn ^ | 10/24/2009 | cnn
Posted on Saturday, October 24, 2009 9:51:25 AM by tobyhill
Senate Democratic leaders met Thursday night with White House officials to consider including a government-funded public health insurance option, along with a provision allowing states to opt out of it, in a health care overhaul bill.
Two senior Democratic Senate sources told CNN that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is leaning toward a public option with the state opt-out provision in the Senate health care bill that will reach the full chamber in coming weeks.
HHS Chief Actuary on ObamaCare: Total Health Care Spending Will Go Up, Not Down
BigGovernment.com ^ | 10/23/2009 | Capitol Confidential
Posted on Saturday, October 24, 2009 10:16:34 AM by GVnana
HHS Chief Actuary on ObamaCare: Total Health Care Spending Will Go Up, Not Down
by Capitol Confidential
Richard Foster, Chief Actuary for the Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, released this week to several Congressional offices a financial analysis of HR 3200, the House version of ObamaCare. He reached some inconvenient conclusions for President Obama and Congressional Leadership:
No Free Lunch: The True Cost of ObamaCare Report Released
REUTERS ^ | Fri Oct 23, 2009
Posted on Saturday, October 24, 2009 1:04:54 PM by TaxPayer2000
WASHINGTON, Oct. 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Far from providing "affordable" care for everyone, ObamaCare would result in higher insurance premiums, more and higher taxes, fewer jobs, lower wages, a reduced standard of living and an erosion of privacy and individual liberty.
Small Business Faces Sharp Rise in Costs of Health Care [Death Knell For ObamaCare?]
NYTimes ^ | October 24th 2009
Posted on Saturday, October 24, 2009 1:41:12 PM by Steelfish
Small Business Faces Sharp Rise in Costs of Health Care
REED ABELSON October 24, 2009.
As Congress nears votes on legislation that would overhaul the health care system, many small businesses say they are facing the steepest rise in insurance premiums they have seen in recent years.
How an Insurance Mandate Could Leave Many Worse Off
New York Times ^ | October 25, 2009 | Tyler Cowen
Posted on Saturday, October 24, 2009 8:37:49 PM by reaganaut1
AMERICANS seem to like the idea of broadening health insurance coverage, but they may not want to be forced to buy it. With health care costs high and rising, such government mandates would make many people worse off.
The proposals now before Congress would require just about everyone to buy health insurance or to get it through their employers — which would generally result in lower wages. In other words, millions of people would be compelled to spend lots of money on something they previously did not want, at least not at prevailing prices.
The Inevitability Myth: Health care reform is not a fait accompli
Weekly Standard ^ | November 2, 2009 (print) | Matthew Continetti
Posted on Saturday, October 24, 2009 5:56:27 PM by reaganaut1
Did the Democrats become Calvinists when we weren't looking? Lately they've been talking an awful lot about predestination. They want to claim that Obamacare's victory is foreordained, that the health care debate is over and--surprise, surprise--the liberals won.
So: Paul Krugman wrote on his blog that an "aura of inevitability" surrounds Obamacare. The Washington Post's health care blogger wrote that this month's pro-Obama vote in the Senate Finance Committee "convinced many that health care reform was more of an inevitability than a possibility." A blogger for the Atlantic Monthly wrote that health care reform is a "fait accompli."
Pas encore. Yes, the chances of some sort of health bill passing, at some point, are by no means negligible--unfortunately. But there are many reasons to be skeptical of the future of Obamacare. Here are three:
Doctors Warn Medicare Patients Will Have Fewer Options If Congress Allows 21.5% Reduction In Payment
The Grand Rapids Press ^ | October 24, 2009 | By Monica Scott
Posted on Saturday, October 24, 2009 11:18:18 AM by Son House
Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., center, flanked Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., left, and Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., discuss "the urgent need for health insurance reform". GRAND RAPIDS — Senior citizens will find it harder to find a doctor who accepts Medicare if Congress does not stop a 21.5 percent cut in payment rates, say physicians and hospitals.
“We might as well start building bigger emergency rooms, because that’s where people will be if they don’t have access to a regular physician,” said Micki Benz, vice president of development for Saint Mary’s Health Care. “In the end, people’s care will suffer, and we will all end up paying more.”
How 'Reform' Leads to More Uninsured
NY Post ^ | 10/22/09 | Jeffrey H. Anderson
Posted on Friday, October 23, 2009 4:57:27 PM by cappig
Imagine you're driving in a city, trying to find a place to park your car for the whole day. A parking garage costs $30. Right next to the parking garage entrance, you eye a parking spot on the street. Next to the curb is a sign that says, "No parking. Fine $5. No-tow zone."
Many people wouldn't choose the garage.
Likewise, imagine if you saw a sign that says, "Health insurance for sale: $200 a month," and right next to it was another sign. This one says, "Fine for not buying insurance: $33 a month -- but you can still buy it if you get sick." How would you respond?
Michelle Obama turns Breast Cancer Awareness Month into attack on insurance companies
Washington Examiner ^ | 10-23-2009 | Byron York
Posted on Friday, October 23, 2009 3:54:50 PM by lifeisacarnival
The First Lady cited a new study from the Department of Health and Human Services -- which just happened to come out today -- citing breast cancer patients with insurance who had to pay an average of $6,200 in out-of-pocket costs each year. "This is with insurance," Mrs. Obama said. "These are the people who are blessed." The situation is, of course, far worse for those without insurance, Mrs. Obama said.
But the insurance companies make life miserable even for those with coverage. "And then there are those annual lifetime caps that insurance companies set," Mrs. Obama said, with "one recent survey show[ing] that ten percent of all cancer patients report hitting a cap on their benefits…"
Obama's Doctor Shortage (All of the president's "fixes" will just create new problems)
Wall St Journal ^ | 10/22/2009 | ALLYSIA FINLEY
Posted on Friday, October 23, 2009 10:23:14 AM by SonOfDarkSkies
By drastically increasing demand while doing little to increase primary care physician supply, ObamaCare will turn health care into a consumer nightmare: longer wait times, shorter visits, higher prices, and decreased customer satisfaction. The U.S. will have to rely increasingly on nurse practitioners and physician assistants to meet patient demand. According to the WHO, the nurse-to-physician ratio in Canada and the U.K. are 5.3 and 5.6, respectively, compared to 3.6 in the U.S. And as fewer bright young people pursue medicine due to the profession's general malaise and oppressive bureaucratic regulations, we're likely to see an even greater physician shortage---not just in primary care, but in specialty care as well.
House Leaders Woo Centrists to Back Public Plan
Wall St. Journal ^ | October 24th 2009
Posted on Saturday, October 24, 2009 3:27:34 PM by Steelfish
October 24, 2009 House Leaders Woo Centrists to Back Public Plan
Pelosi Opens the Door to a Compromise on Payment Rates for Doctors and Hospitals, a Key Issue in Health-Care Legislation
By GREG HITT
WASHINGTON -- House Democratic leaders signaled flexibility Friday on how a proposed government-run health insurance plan would operate in the private market, in an overture to centrist lawmakers who want to limit the government's impact on the market.
“We need to import more doctors.”
We will have to, especially if this nutty “health” bill gets through.
The Dem “leader”ship doesn’t even care if they lose some seats, as long as they can control our bodies with the “health reform bill.” I hope the blue dogs realize that the “leader”ship doesn’t care if they lose their jobs or not, and they do the right thing which will save their jobs, as well.
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