Free Republic

So how do you feel about turning over access to sensitive healthcare information to the Internal Revenue Service? In the wake of running disclosures of the agency’s nefarious snooping and political targeting, its new role as chief health insurance enforcer should give us heartburn. Under Obamacare, responsibility for verifying eligibility for the healthcare program, and monitoring whether you carry “qualifying” health coverage (and are exempt from the law’s penalties) falls principally to the IRS. The IRS was given expansive, new powers to execute these goals. That includes more authority to share your personal information — not only about your income,...

The President has been holding rallies all over the country to let everyone know how much progress he has made accomplishing his campaign promises. Americans are anxious to learn the details. As reported in the Huffington Post:WASHINGTON — It's a centerpiece of President Barack Obama's health care remake, a lifeline available right now to vulnerable people whose medical problems have made them uninsurable. But the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan started this summer isn't living up to expectations. Enrollment lags in many parts of the country. People who could benefit may not be able to afford the premiums. Some state officials...

President Obama, speaking at a rally in Iowa City on March 25, challenged opponents of Obamacare who have vowed repeal. To repeal advocates, the President said, "Go for it." Before the first light of dawn on the morning after this Pelosi Congress sent Obamacare to the President's desk, I started the process to repeal.My decision to take this fight to and through the next election and probably through the presidential election in 2012 was not a knee jerk response to a legislative defeat.It is a commitment to the Constitution, fiscal responsibility, real health care reform and American Liberty. President Obama,...

NEW YORK — 3M Co., which makes a myriad of products including Post-Its and Scotch Tape, said Friday it expects to take a one-time noncash charge of $85 million to $90 million due to changes in tax deductions relating to the newly enacted health care law. 3M, which is based in Maplewood, Minn., is one of a number of major companies that have had to take a charge on their books to account for a change in the tax treatment of Medicare Part D reimbursements in the future.

Henry Blodget | Mar. 29, 2010, 6:42 AM The White House has rushed to try to stop a wave of companies announcing that ObamaCare will cause their healthcare insurance costs to rise, causing them to cut benefits or fire people. At the end of last week, Secretary Gary Locke hit the WH blog to say, in effect, that these companies didn't know what they were talking about (which seems unlikely). Later, on CNBC, he suggested that they were acting unpatriotically. And now Henry Waxman is calling Congressional hearings to beat the companies up on live TV. For what it's worth,...

PITTSBURGH — Metals processor Allegheny Technologies Inc. said Monday that it plans to take a $5 million non-cash charge in the first quarter related to the health care overhaul legislation. Under the new law, companies will have to start paying taxes on a government subsidy they receive for providing drug benefits to retirees.

NEW YORK — Insurer Prudential Financial Inc. said Monday that it will take a $100 million charge in the first quarter in relation to the recent health care overhaul legislation. The life insurance and annuities provider said in a regulatory filing that it will take the charge against earnings in the first quarter. Prudential joins a growing list of companies that have said they will take accounting charges because of the health care bills. AT&T said last week it would take a $1 billion charge in the first quarter. AK Steel Corp., 3M Co., Caterpillar Inc., Deere & Co. and...

The House of Representatives cleared the final hurdle in Congress' overhaul of the nation's health care system, passing a health care reconciliation bill by a 220-207 vote. The amendment bill, which included the fixes made to the Senate version of the health care bill, will now go to President Obama for his signature. The Senate passed the legislation this afternoon by a 56-43 margin after defeating 41 amendments offered by Republicans. Three Democrats, including Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska -- all of whom voted for the original Senate health care legislation...

Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), the Dean of the House of Representatives for being the longest serving member of the body (he was first elected in 1955, succeeding his father, Rep. John Dingell, Sr.), made an amazing admission during a live telephone interview with Detroit WJR News/Talk 760 radio talk show host Paul W. Smith on Smith's show Monday morning, March 22, 2010. The night before, Dingell had been a featured speaker at the Democrat Congressional leadership victory press conference after Obamacare passed the House. In response to a question posed by Smith, Dingell said: Let me remind you this [Americans...

We've melted down Congress' phonebanks, we've written and sent emails and faxes, we've vented our frustrations at townhall meetings for a solid year, we've written our newspapers and blogged about it until we are blue in the face, and yet we've done all of this to no avail. The time for talking is almost over, but... There is still time for a peaceful, non-violent expression of AMERICAS ANGER AT THE SOCIALIST/DEMOCRAT LEADERS IN CONGRESS AND AT THAT ARROGANT BASTARD TEMPORARILY RESIDING AT 1600 PENNSYLVANIA AVE. Here's what I propose:

House passage of the Democrats' health care bill is not a foregone conclusion despite their 75-seat majority in the chamber. While party leaders such as Speaker Nancy Pelosi and White House spinmeister David Axelrod bravely express confidence, Rep. James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, the House majority whip, conceded on NBC's "Meet the Press" that Democrats don't have enough votes yet. The all-out effort to ram through the legislation before Easter recess is telling. If members of Congress merely risked being confronted by Potemkin crowds that don't represent the majority of voters, there would be nothing to fear. However, Democratic...

Used to be easy to tell who the good guys were.. not anymore. Senators and House Representatives strived to make this nation work as a grand social experiment.. but somewhere along the way, the entitlement infatuation thingy went a bit too far .. and an ism was born. Now, I don't know if I'll live long enough to see a return to constitutional governance here, any time soon anyway,, but I have a lot of family that will hopefully be around for awhile, and it would be a shame for them and yours to be forced to pick up the...

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m not planning to recognize such a result as legally binding. I’m not going to pretend to obey any dictates from federal health-care bureaucrats that have never been authorized by a constitutional vote of both houses of Congress. I will not submit to any extra-constitutional order to dismantle the consumer-driven health plan I have set up for my employees. I will not comply. If the government tries to make me comply, I’ll sue. And I’ll win. This is not (yet) a banana republic where constitutions are seen as inconvenient impediments to...

Via the Right Scoop, this is the second time in as many days that I’ve seen a Democrat shrug off the idea of using the Slaughter strategy on grounds of public antipathy. (Axelrod did it yesterday too on MTP.) Normally I’d agree with them — parliamentary rules are baroque and boring — but these aren’t normal circumstances. This is one-sixth of the economy at stake, to pass a piece of legislation the Democrats have been after for decades, with the public already angry about procedural shenanigans involving backroom deals. A former federal appellate judge appointed by Bush took to the...

President Obama and this administration are using dog and pony show tactics of parading suffering Americans around to push through his health care reform. One such woman named Natoma Canfield is a cancer survivor. She wrote a letter to the President in December asking for health care reform to be passed because she had gone into debt paying for her health insurance premium. The debt became too great forcing her to drop her own insurance coverage. As a result of this letter Ms. Canfield has been asked to introduce the President at a health care stop in Ohio. My question...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is playing hardball with her rank and file in the run-up to an historic health care vote. Instead of the typical wheeling and dealing to pick up much-needed support, Pelosi and her leadership team are warning members that the bill is final, and its language is set, so don’t come seeking major changes or handouts for your district. Asked if she was willing to change the final legislation at the request of Democratic holdouts, the speaker said, “No.” That message may sound good to voters angered by the “Cornhusker Kickback” or any other last-minute deals —...

The Washington Independent's David Weigel points out that the online futures betting site Intrade has seen the price shoot up for bets on "Obamacare to become law before June 30." The current trading price is at $7.38, which means the Intrade betting market's mathematical consensus is a 73.8% likelihood that said "'Obamacare' health reform" will pass before June 30. That price shot up March 3, the day President Obama made his post-health-care-summit speech in the East Room, laying out his own proposal, with some GOP ideas folded in after the summit, to a TV audience--so it looks like the president's...

Betrayal of 20,000 cancer patients: Rationing body rejects ten drugs (allowed in Europe) that could have extended lives By DANIEL MARTIN Daily Mail UK 15th March 2010 Up to 20,000 people have died needlessly early after being denied cancer drugs on the NHS, it was revealed yesterday. The rationing body NICE has failed to keep a promise to make more life-extending drugs available. Treatments used widely in the U.S. and Europe have been rejected on grounds of cost-effectiveness, yet patients and their loved ones have seen the NHS waste astronomical sums. Last week it emerged that £21billion - a fifth...

To provide for reconciliation pursuant to section 202 of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2010. 2300+ pages and includes student loans. Happy reading...

Martial Law? Could the Health Care “reform” effort be a “martial law”? Not in the plural sense, but in the singular. That is exactly what is up and coming next week if the democrats get away with their current plans. The so-called Slaughter rule seeks to pass law without having the constitutionally-required votes. U.S. Constitution Art1 Section 7 states: “But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal…”. The Slaughter rule effectively deems the...