SOCIALIZED MEDICINE DAILY DIGEST FOR 3/02/10

Obama to Say Democrats Will Use Reconciliation to Pass Senate Health Care Reform Fix

ABC News ^ | 3/2/10 | Jake Taper

Posted on Tuesday, March 02, 2010 6:40:50 PM by truthandlife

White House officials tell ABC News that in his remarks tomorrow President Obama will indicate a willingness to work with Republicans on some issue to get a health care reform bill passed but will say that if it is necessary, Democrats will use the controversial reconciliation rules requiring only 51 Senate votes to pass the "fix" to the Senate bill.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have been awaiting the president’s remarks direction on how health care reform will proceed.

Carville on Health Care: Could be Obama’s ‘Waterloo’

abc ^ | March 01, 2010

Posted on Tuesday, March 02, 2010 12:46:28 AM by george76

On 'GMA' this morning, James Carville wasn't as optimistic as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Not sure that Democrats have the votes to pass the President's plan, Carville is sure that failure will be the "Waterloo" predicted by GOP Senator Jim DeMint.

“If it goes down" Carville said, "it’s gonna be a simple statement: the Democrats can’t govern. They came in with a majority promising health care and they came away with nothing.”

Canada's warning against government health care

Washington Times ^ | 3/2/2010 | Editors

Posted on Tuesday, March 02, 2010 10:48:29 AM by ricks_place

Democrats want to ruin a system that's the envy of the world

President Obama and congressional Democrats are ramping up efforts to ram through a government takeover of the health care system. The vast majority of Americans are opposed to this bureaucratic power grab because they know government will do what it always does, which is increase cost while lowering efficiency and service. In case there's any doubt, all you have to do is look to our neighbor to the north for tales of doom and gloom that come with nationalized health care.

Rep. Deal (R) stepping down, making House vote on ObamaCare that much closer (call this guy!)

Washington Examiner ^ | March 1, 2009 | David Feddoso

Posted on Tuesday, March 02, 2010 12:32:17 PM by GodGunsGuts

Rep. Deal (R) stepping down, making House vote on ObamaCare that much closer

Senator: Reconciliation Won't Stop Abortion Funding in Health Care Bill

LifeNews.com ^ | March 2, 2010 | Steven Ertelt

Posted on Tuesday, March 02, 2010 1:17:20 PM by julieee

Washington, DC -- A Democratic senator admitted today that the expected reconciliation bill Democrats are planning to railroad through Congress won't stop the abortion funding and other pro-abortion problems in the Senate health care measure the House is hoping to approve within the next two weeks.

Gimmick? Obama Says He Likes 4 GOP Health Care Ideas (You Lie!)

Fox Nation ^ | 03/02/10

Posted on Tuesday, March 02, 2010 2:14:39 PM by Recovering_Democrat

President Obama this afternoon wrote a letter to Congressional leadership detailing four areas where he thinks Republican ideas can be included in a final health care compromise and pledging to drop the Medicaid deals for Nebraska and Florida from what he proposes tomorrow.

Breaking: Obama Outlines New Version of White House Health Care Bill To Congress

The Lid/President Obama ^ | 3/2/2010 | The Lid

Posted on Tuesday, March 02, 2010 2:35:46 PM by Shellybenoit

The President sent a letter to the Congressional leadership today, outlining the new version of the Health Care plan he will present to the American people tomorrow. The letter offers four provisions to be added to the bill as a result of last Thursday's "bi-partisan" health conference and one removed:

Obama To Incorporate GOP Ideas In Health Plan

NBC News ^ | March 02, 2010

Posted on Tuesday, March 02, 2010 1:21:57 PM by Steelfish

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama will incorporate Republican ideas on medical malpractice reform and trying to rid the health care system of waste and abuse in a revised proposal he hopes jump-starts his stalled overhaul drive, a Democratic official told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Obama open to adding (4) GOP ideas to health plan

AP on Yahoo ^ | 3/2/10 | Erica Werner - ap

Posted on Tuesday, March 02, 2010 1:36:12 PM by NormsRevenge

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama said Tuesday he was open to four new Republican proposals on health care legislation, in a gesture of bipartisanship meant to jump-start his stalled overhaul drive.

Obama detailed the ideas, all of which were raised at a bipartisan health care summit last week, in a letter to congressional leaders. He also called for eliminating a special deal for Medicare Advantage beneficiaries in Florida and other states that drew criticism at the summit from Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

Obama backs 4 GOP health ideas as Democrats prepare to push through legislation

Washington Post ^ | 3/3/10 | Lori Montgomery and Shailagh Murray

Posted on Tuesday, March 02, 2010 10:00:14 PM by ruralvoter

As Democrats on Capitol Hill prepared a risky effort to muscle sweeping health-care legislation to final passage, President Obama on Tuesday made a last gambit to split Republicans on the issue, proposing to incorporate a handful of GOP ideas into his signature domestic initiative.

McCain calls for a fresh start for health care (SNATCHING DEFEAT FROM THE JAWS OF VICTORY)

KOLD-TV 13 CBS Tucson, Ariz. ^ | 2010-03-01 | Jenny Anchondo

Posted on Tuesday, March 02, 2010 1:50:38 PM by rabscuttle385

TUCSON, AZ (KOLD) – Arizona Senator John McCain wants President Obama to start health care reform all over again. He argues polls suggest Americans want a clean start and he says it needs more bipartisan support.

Democrats ready final push for healthcare bill (Democrats preparing to use reconciliation)

Reuters ^ | March 2, 2010

Posted on Tuesday, March 02, 2010 1:59:44 PM by Free ThinkerNY

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional Democrats prepared to launch a final push on Tuesday to pass healthcare reform without Republicans this month, and predicted it could gain new support from Democrats who opposed it last year.

U.S. House of Representatives Democratic leader Steny Hoyer said he saw the possibility of gaining support for President Barack Obama's sweeping healthcare overhaul from Democrats who voted "no" when the House considered it in November.

Hoyer: There's No New, Smaller Health-Care Bill

Washington Examiner ^ | 3/2/10 | Mary Katharine Ham

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) says there is no truth to reports that President Barack Obama will press Congress to pass a significantly smaller healthcare reform bill.

"I don't have reason to believe that that's accurate," Hoyer told The Hill following a speech at a Federation of American Hospitals conference Tuesday.

Hoyer: The Fix Is In For Health Care

IBD's Capital Hill ^ | 3/2/2010 | Sean Higgins

Posted on Tuesday, March 02, 2010 8:21:20 PM by Slyscribe

Democrats are considering pushing the health care bill through the Senate using a parliamentary maneuver that will test the boundaries of constitutional lawmaking.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters Tuesday that the leadership was mulling first passing a “fix” to the Senate health care bill, then passing the Senate bill it is supposedly fixing. The fix, in Capitol Hill-speak, is being called the “reconciliation bill.”

Intrade puts Obamacare by July at 40%

Intrade ^ | 3-2-10 | Intrade

Posted on Tuesday, March 02, 2010 3:58:18 PM by bigbob

'Obamacare' health care reform (see contract rules) to become law before midnight ET 30 Jun 2010

Bayh: Dems counting on health bill's popularity rebounding by elections

The Hill ^ | 3/2/10 | Michael O'Brien

Posted on Tuesday, March 02, 2010 4:20:17 PM by Jean S

Democrats are betting on a rebound in popularity for their healthcare bill going into this fall's elections, Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) said Monday night.

Bayh, a centrist Democrat who recently announced his retirement at the end of his term next year, said that President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress are counting on the bill becoming more popular once it's enacted.

Speaker in Wonderland: Pelosi Envisions “Much Smaller” Gov’t Takeover of Health Care

republicanleader.house.gov ^

Posted on Tuesday, March 02, 2010 4:37:39 PM by Sub-Driver

Speaker in Wonderland: Pelosi Envisions “Much Smaller” Gov’t Takeover of Health Care Washington Democrats Have Invented a New Concept: ‘Comprehensive Incrementalism’

Pelosi says abortion, immigration not central to health bill [they are in the Senate bill....]

The Hill ^

Posted on Tuesday, March 02, 2010 7:56:06 PM by Sub-Driver

Pelosi says abortion, immigration not central to health bill By Jordan Fabian - 03/02/10 05:44 PM ET

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said that abortion and immigration are not central to the Democrats' healthcare reform overhaul, even though the issues have served as sticking points for some in her caucus.

BlueCross cutting reimbursements to health care providers in Tennessee

The Commercial Appeal ^ | March 2, 2010 | Toby Sells

Posted on Tuesday, March 02, 2010 8:02:04 PM by GailA

Hit by a $96 million loss from managing TennCare enrollees last year, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee will cut reimbursements to thousands of specialty physicians and to some hospitals by 14 percent and is counting on an emergency room diversion program.

Cape business community decries health costs.( Romneycare )

Cape Cod Times ^ | March 02, 2010 | Sarah Shemkus

Posted on Tuesday, March 02, 2010 8:32:27 PM by Leisler

Overall, said Deb Maguire, of Liam Maguire's Irish Pub and Restaurant in Falmouth, the situation in Massachusetts should serve as a warning, rather than a model, to lawmakers contemplating reform on a national scale.

"Massachusetts is not the model for the national plan," she said. "That is what needs to be screamed and shouted from the rooftops.

The Basis for Tort Reform

Pajamas Media ^ | March 2, 2010 | Dr. Peter Weiss

Posted on Tuesday, March 02, 2010 10:04:55 AM by KippLanham

Over the past several years it has been reported that “medical mistakes” kill more Americans every six months than the number of Americans that died in the entire course of the Vietnam War. Medical error is the fifth leading cause of death in this country.

Here is why reconciliation won't work

Human Events ^ | 03/02/2010 | Donald Lambro

Posted on Tuesday, March 02, 2010 10:42:02 PM by GilGil

"Making the reconciliation process even more unwieldy and exhaustive is the rule that senators may offer an unlimited number of amendments which could work to the GOP’s advantage, legislative strategists said."

A retired Constitutional lawyer has read the entire
proposed healthcare bill. Read his conclusions and pass this on as you
wish. This is stunning!

The Truth About the Health Care Bills - Michael Connelly,
Ret. Constitutional Attorney

Well, I have done it! I have read the entire text of
proposed House Bill 3200: The Affordable Health Care Choices Act of 2009. I
studied it with particular emphasis from my area of expertise,
constitutional law. I was frankly concerned that parts of the proposed law
that were being discussed might be unconstitutional. What I found was far
worse than what I had heard or expected.

To begin with, much of what has been said about the law
and its implications is in fact true, despite what the Democrats and the
media are saying. The law does provide for rationing of health care,
particularly where senior citizens and other classes of citizens are
involved, free health care for illegal immigrants, free abortion services,
and probably forced participation in abortions by members of the medical
profession.

The Bill will also eventually force private insurance
companies out of business, and put everyone into a government run system.
All decisions about personal health care will ultimately be made by federal
bureaucrats, and most of them will not be health care professionals.
Hospital admissions, payments to physicians, and allocations of necessary
medical devices will be strictly controlled by the government.

However, as scary as all of that is, it just scratches the
surface. In fact, I have concluded that this legislation really has no
intention of providing affordable health care choices. Instead it is a
convenient cover for the most massive transfer of power to the Executive
Branch of government that has ever occurred, or even been contemplated If
this law or a similar one is adopted, major portions of the Constitution of
the United States will effectively have been destroyed.

The first thing to go will be the masterfully crafted
balance of power between the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches
of the U.S. Government. The Congress will be transferring to the Obama
Administration authority in a number of different areas over the lives of
the American people, and the businesses they own.

The irony is that the Congress doesn’t have any authority
to legislate in most of those areas to begin with! I defy anyone to read
the text of the U.S. Constitution and find any authority granted to the
members of Congress to regulate health care.

This legislation also provides for access, by the
appointees of the Obama administration, of all of your personal healthcare
direct violation of the specific provisions of the 4th Amendment to the
Constitution information, your personal financial information, and the
information of your employer, physician, and hospital. All of this is a
protecting against unreasonable searches and seizures. You can also forget
about the right to privacy. That will have been legislated into oblivion
regardless of what the 3rd and 4th Amendments may provide.

If you decide not to have healthcare insurance, or if you
have private insurance that is not deemed acceptable to the Health Choices
Administrator appointed by Obama, there will be a tax imposed on you. It is
called a tax instead of a fine because of the intent to avoid application of
the due process clause of the 5th Amendment. However, that doesn’t work
because since there is nothing in the law that allows you to contest or
appeal the imposition of the tax, it is definitely depriving someone of
property without the due process of law.

So, there are three of those pesky amendments that the far
left hate so much, out the original ten in the Bill of Rights, that are
effectively nullified by this law It doesn’t stop there though.

The 9th Amendment that provides: The enumeration in the
Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage
others retained by the people;

The 10th Amendment states: The powers not delegated to the
United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are
preserved to the States respectively, or to the people. Under the
provisions of this piece of Congressional handiwork neither the people nor
the states are going to have any rights or powers at all in many areas that
once were theirs to control.

I could write many more pages about this legislation, but
I think you get the idea. This is not about health care; it is about
seizing power and limiting rights. Article 6 of the Constitution requires
the members of both houses of Congress to “be bound by oath or affirmation
to support the Constitution.” If I was a member of Congress I would not be
able to vote for this legislation or anything like it, without feeling I was
violating that sacred oath or affirmation. If I voted for it anyway, I
would hope the American people would hold me accountable.

For those who might doubt the nature of this threat, I
suggest they consult the source, the US Constitution, and Bill of Rights.
There you can see exactly what we are about to have taken from us.

Michael Connelly
Retired attorney,
Constitutional Law Instructor
Carrollton , Texas

AFTER HAVING READ THIS, PLEASE FORWARD....

If you don’t care about our

Social Security to Fund $24 Million in Contracts for Electronic Medical Records

Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, today announced the availability of $24 million in contracts to provide the agency with electronic medical records to improve the efficiency of its disability programs. Through a Request for Proposals available on www.fedbizopps.gov, Social Security is looking for health care providers, provider networks, and health information exchanges to participate in its Medical Evidence Gathering and Analysis through Health Information Technology (IT) program.

“With these competitive contracts, Social Security continues to be a leader in the use of health IT to improve service to the American public,” Commissioner Astrue said. “This technology will greatly improve the speed and consistency of our disability decisions.”

The contract opportunities announced today are funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. They will require awardees, with a patient’s authorization, to send Social Security electronic medical records through the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN). The NHIN, a safe and secure method for receiving instantaneous access to electronic medical records, is an initiative of the Department of Health and Human Services and is supported by multiple government agencies and private sector entities.

Social Security is seeing a significant increase in disability applications as a result of the current recession. The agency expects to receive more than 3.3 million applications in fiscal year (FY) 2010, a 27 percent increase over FY 2008. To process these applications, the agency sends more than 15 million requests for medical records to health care providers. The use of health IT will vastly improve the efficiency of this process, which currently is largely paper-bound.

For nearly a year, Social Security has been successfully testing health IT to obtain electronic medical records. Disability applications processed with electronic medical records from the test sites in Massachusetts and Virginia have significantly reduced processing times.

MY doctor has said he’ll quit medical practice if this crap goes through and he knew many other like minded doctors, nurses and NP’s who think the same way!

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/Obamacare-won_t-survive-coming-doctor-shortage-7886872-49202437.html

Obamacare won’t survive coming doctor shortage
Examiner Editorial

June 28, 2009
President Obama’s ambitious plan for radically increasing the government’s role in the nation’s health care system misses one critical detail: There aren’t enough primary care physicians in America now and their numbers are declining. That means government won’t be able to deliver the expanded health care Obama is promising to millions of uninsured people. With access to primary care already deteriorating in many parts of the country, Obamacare will make it even harder to get a doctor’s appointment without a lengthy wait. “The politicians don’t talk about who’s going to do this extra work,” Dr. Jane Orient, executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons and author of the 1993 book “Your Doctor Is Not In,” told The Examiner. “Promised coverage is not the same thing as care. All you’re getting is a place in the waiting lines.”

A survey of 270,000 primary care physicians last November by the Physicians Foundation found that 76 percent described themselves as “overextended or overworked.” As a result, 30 percent plan to see fewer patients or scale back to part-time, 13 percent will look for a job that does not involve patient care, and 11 percent plan to retire. Since a third of all Medicare patients already have trouble finding a doctor to treat them, under Obamacare those waiting lines will be very, very long indeed.

And with the vast majority of medical students opting to enter more lucrative specialties, the U.S. will be short 124,400 front-line physicians by 2025, according to the Association of Medical Colleges. That doesn’t include the additional 15,585 primary care providers that will needed under Obamacare. Sick people will have to wait months or even years for an appointment and emergency rooms will be jammed as government-subsidized demand puts even more pressure on the dwindling number of primary care providers, Dr. Orient says. Foreign-trained doctors and nurse practitioners will have be called in to act as the primary gatekeepers in Obama’s supposedly new and improved health care system.

When Massachusetts mandated health insurance for all its residents, visits to the state’s emergency rooms jumped 7 percent in two years because many people did not have access to a primary care physician and some patients are being forced to endure “group doctor visits” instead of one-on-one care. How can Obamacare work if there’s not enough primary care physicians in the system now? “It won’t work,” Dr. Orient predicts. “It’s going to be a disaster.”

A disaster that’s entirely preventable, we might add, if Congress can conjure up the courage to say “No” to this audacious power grab.

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