Posted on 06/07/2009 2:45:17 PM PDT by Freedom56v2
On May 20, 2009, U.S. Senators Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) and Richard Burr (R-NC) and U.S. Representatives Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Devin Nunes (R-CA) introduced health care reform legislation that delivers on the shared principles of promoting universal access to quality, affordable health care, and does so without adding billions of dollars in new debt or taxes.
“The Patients’ Choice Act of 2009,” transforms health care in America by strengthening the relationship between the patient and the doctor; using choice and competition rather than rationing and restrictions to contain costs; and ensuring universal, affordable health care for all Americans. “The Patients’ Choice Act” promotes innovative, State-based solutions, along with fundamental reforms in the tax code, to give every American, regardless of employment status, age, or health condition, the ability and the resources to purchase health insurance. The comprehensive legislation includes concrete prevention and transparency initiatives, long overdue reforms to Medicare and Medicaid, investments in wellness programs and health IT, and more.
"As a practicing physician, I have seen first-hand how giving government more control over health care has failed to make health care more affordable and accessible. The American people deserve health care reform that will work, not another round of so-called reform that repeats the same failed policies of the past. Congress and the administration have the opportunity to pursue bold reform and a fresh start. The Patients’ Choice Act will provide every American with access to affordable health care without a tax increase, more debt and waiting lines,” Dr. Coburn said.
(Excerpt) Read more at house.gov ...
And wellness, another liberal catch term. If a person is well, there is no need for medical care. Preventative tests/check-ups yes, but again, it is up to the individual to monitor, and sometimes doctors send out notices, not govt. Insurance has to large a roll as it is, if these people want to talk patients rights, leave your care and lengths of stay, etc, up to the doctor.
I agree, don’t necessarily like word choice tho health care is sort of a universal term.
Not sure I even like the whole concept, but from what video said, they are talking about medical spending accounts where patient goes out and purchases their own plan. These would be portable. Provided thru tax credits/cuts if I understand it. I like that a whole lot better than federal mandates—gives me the options vs govt. and I like that.
If “something has to be done” this may be a good alternative to killing the medical care system in this country. GOP does not have the votes to stop it for sure. Media and administration is always screaming that GOP just says no & never has solution—this is a solution.
Just thots, have not studied that much but I do like Congressman Ryan—he is typically one of the White Hats in congress IMHO.
I am just listening to the You Tube videos which seem to flesh out the article. Again, not sure I am 100 percent behind it, but I know I like what I have heard much better than Obamacare!
The problem in this Kountry now is that we allow foreigners to deposit offspring and call the "U.S. Born Citizens" at birth, which is ludicrous at best. Then, we allow females to bear children WITH NO FATHER NAMED, and NO FATHER responsible to pay for all the cost of raising, feeding, housing, educating, etc. and just dump that cost on the taxpayer, too. NO effort is made to find the fathers to make them responsible for their burden on the society they have placed, and this is a fourth generation problem in some ethnic groups, who have children born out-of-wedlock at the rate of 70% plus!
This state of societal irresponsibility and deviant behavior are the mess that we call "America" today, and I'm sorry, but it's way beyond common sense to think this is GREAT....
To try to appeal to common sense Americans who pay their own way, to make them feel "guilty" that those "poor" cannot afford healthcare is bullsh#$.
These un-insured are the ones who show up in the emergency rooms every day with sniffles, stomach aches, etc., and the rest of the payers are forced to subsidize these jerks by paying higher fees themselves.
Every aspect of the lives of all of us is moving toward government control, which is no more than redistribution of wealth, and rationing of what you recieve as dictated b y some bureaucrat to buy the votes of the irresponsible and non-productive.
See my tagline.
/rant
I am not for a state run universal health care system—if you do a forum search on me—you will see that. I like my insurance, it is good, fairly cheap and extensive. I would love to have obama do NOTHING to “reform the healthcare crisis....”
—however, as a realist, I see that the reality is the train has left the station on this issue & did a long time ago. I am pretty sure that this country will have healthcare reform whether we like it or not (& like I said, I don’t like it!!)
However, if this is a viable alternative (watch the videos don’t just read the article), I wonder if it might not be a viable alternative because it does give us medical spending accounts—we get a tax credit or 2,300 for each indvidual and 5,700 for family I think, to purchase health care.
Yeah, the medicaid crowd that frequents the ER you reference will get coverage (tho they will under o-care), but those of us who want choice will still have it and not be taxed, or have VAT tax, etc.
It is not a plan, but it is not aperfect world & I am starting to think this may have merits.
It is not a plan, but it is not aperfect world & I am starting to think this may have merits.
It is not a perfect plan, but it is not a perfect world...
Should add these typically conservative congressmen say this will avoid government MANDATES, yet provide access with zero cost and solves the unfunded medicare liability.
I like and trust Devin Nunes.
Yeah, I feel same way about Ryan. Isn’t Nunes from the area of California battling over the government-made drought over shutting off irrigation to farmers?
I sort of get the feeling the guys sponsoring the bill are trying to do equivalent of seeding an impending hurricane to change it’s direction or point of impact?
I think that before we go solving a problem we should know what the problem is. It would be nice to see what the best guess cost drivers are in the current system and map them out to solutions that remedy it.
At the same time, however, I am reminded that health care intervention just doesn’t seem to be on the list of delineated congressional powers, and wish that the Feds would back off and let states do this. It just does not seem rational to have health care anything at the Federal level where power is consentrated in the hands of where the money is and accountibility is abstrated farther way from the people who will be affected by it.
We need to remember our limited government principle is what should be universal here, and the economic examples of government invervention and failure in other industries could possibly be a clue to what is at the heart of the matter.
I don’t like the Republican plan. It takes big government and dresses it up in Free Market clothes, forgetting that the Feds should just get out of it and let our localities/states do what they were intended to do to take care of their own people.
Did you listen to the videos?
I see what you are saying, but again I see that our socialist president is going to do something—likely this year. Period. He doesn’t care if it costs trillions. He has the votes. Does not seem to be the momentum on part of the citizenry to stop it. As more folks are unemployed, we lose even fewer providers.
The Republican plan is equivalent to seeding a hurricane so it doesn’t hit as strong. The hurricane is going to hit.
As I understand it & again, I have just listened to the videos, the Fed plan has one mandate (unlike current medicaid that has 180 mandates)a minimum basic plan. They want everyone to have the means or coverage to get basic care and not in ER room.
Most of the decisions are left to states according to what they say. Allow states....all sttes will do something but they say teh allow states to develop plan. They don’t tell how fix tort reform in a state, just that they can get medicaid block grant increases. d that they were delegating to states according to the videos—they are saying feds allow a tax break on our premiums since they will now be TAXED if dems get their way.
It is budget neutral—again, I guess we disagree, but I think this plan has merits—esp. when considering the alternative that is coming from the dear leader....I am going to try to learn more about it.
PING
as more folks unemployed, we lose even fewer providers.
sorry allergies acting up & I am getting spacey...
I meant to say, they will have fewer providers available to them & we will have fewer supporters (for limited government solutions). I know, 2 friends have lost jobs and all of a sudden sadly, obamacare is starting to look good to them...)
DOA, universal health care is not the goal, it is a diversion.
Perhaps you are correct in light of present political realities.
I am just so tired of holding my nose and supporting the lesser of two evils because we still end up with evil. That’s not to say that states won’t do evil as well, but they are more sensitive to economic competition among themselves and they are closer to their constituents. I think that was part of the wisdom behind having very limited powers for the Federal government with eveything else left up to the states.
I am sick of holding nose too. But so far, there have been no alternatives—just pretty much whatever the administration wants. They don’t seem to give a rat’s rear about what people want either. Yet the general citizenry don’t seem to care—oh look how pretty Michelle and girls look in Paris? That is all they are talking about. Oh let’s watch Brian Williams suck up and bow on his exclusive whitehouse tour. Bleckkkk!!!
I guess I am really fearful that this country is at tipping point, and will be past that point if obamacare gets enacted. I agree with above post that universal health care is a ruse, it is not the real objective—it is a way to get into every aspect of our lives—soft tyranny and control the one remaining profit sector of the economy. Even on this site, there are those who want “something done.” Obamacare is dangerous from a liberty and fiscal standpoint. But many argue that “something must be done.” Maybe another group will emerge with a superior plan that has legs. I hope so.
I honestly I would love to just be able to keep buying my insurance & going to my doctor, but like the subprime mortg. crisis, the fact that I paid my mortgage and didn’t go get second mortgages to buy fancy cars, didn’t charge up thousands on my credit card, paid for my kids education and needs, nor did I buy derivative-based hedge fund investments, etc. I was not sheltered from the folly of others.
I don’t know the best answer, but I hate to have the country in ruins to prove the point that obama was wrong—I am afraid we will be like Zimbawee....it will take generations to come back if we as a country can survive. l
The 1/3-2/3 of the uneducated masses will buy what the dear leader tells them (with the aiding and abetting of the state-run media), I don’t see the votes or momentum to stop it, but hopefully I am wrong and some dems will unite with conservatives and see the folly of obamacare so obama’s plans don’t leave the drawing board.
I don’t need glasses & hope you are not yelling at me, so I don’t need ALL CAPS or are you directing them to someone else? I would prefer that there is not a government fix of our health care system. This is not my bill, it is an alternative, and I am still learning about it.
However, it was brought forth by at least one guy that I respect, Paul Ryan. The bill has medical spending accounts which I truly favor—either give me tax sheltered (imagine that) money or a tax credit. I like that!!
Oh the Republicans could just vote their however-many ‘NO votes’ from most of the GOP and perhaps a few conservative Dems. Then what, Obama wins, and we move more towards Zimbawee’s economy since we do not have the votes to stop anything. Great—we will give them a big “I told ya so.” in 20 years if the country is still standing. Sadly, I am not sensing a powerful outcry from the citizenry to stop this. I hope I am wrong and like in l990s with Hillary-Care, this will be defeated. However, Hillary was very polarizing even when Bill was popular. Sadly Obama has the Svengali way of brainwashing the masses.
Even on FR, there are those who think we need health care change. Sorry, IMHO, we don’t have the luxury to let them fix Medicare first....We lost that luxury in November. Blogging all over the internet won’t stop it—but perhaps an alternative, a smaller brush fire lit to contain the bigger raging out-of-control fire could. I don’t know, but I am researching—trying to do something constructive.
I posted this not to get yelled at, but to provide a starting point for discussion. If only we could be so lucky to only have a bill put forth by conservatives to deal with. No, we are not so lucky....we are going to be dealing with an administration’s bill that will socialize the last outpost of profits in this economy. Our lifestyle and fiscal choices will be impacted. Think of your hospital being called ‘ St. Obama General.’
You should know that Obama is supporting another bill that he claims will “fix” medicare...which in reality will just push us closer to socialism and lack of choice. Here is the link. Of course he wants an up-down vote on supplemental recommendations coming out of his private health care panel. (Doesn’t congress have to debate legislation?)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/16180589/Full-Bill-Now-Searchable
As I said earlier—there is a hurricane coming, & I get the feeling these guys are trying to seed it before it hits so as to mitigate the damage.
That said, I do agree that Medicare needs to be fixed if nothing else is done. But as I said, we will likely get a total overhaul of our health care system, not just medicare fix.
Did you happen to get a chance to watch the videos linked to the bill on Ryan’s website? Ryan bill does actually address the unfunded liability of medicare.
Again, please don’t shoot the messenger & watch the vids, read the articles.
Sorry...I’m NOT yelling at you.....it’s aimed at our Congress Critters...and the bureaucrats....and you are probably right...it’s a freight train coming and we have to do something reasonable....
We were at a political “conference” Saturday here and my husband attended one seminar and was told we will have Nat’lzed healthcare of some kind by August....by a local State Legislator (conservative)....so, I’m REALLY frustrated. My apologies, again.
Oh good—then yell away! I’m glad there are still a few of us left to get mad!!
—Amazingly, I’ve gotten into it with others on FR who actually want some sort of single-payer govt system, they want to do away with “cadillac” health care coverage provided by employers, etc. Just incredible....
I agree w/you, I don’t like the government getting involved in anything, but it seems like a fait accomplete :(
& I am not convinced that just digging in heels and Shouting “NO” will accomplish much given the socialist dominated government, complicit media, and complacent citizenry.
That said, I do like some aspects of this plan and if it or some other more conservative alternative stands even a remote chance of passage, I am going to research it. Very frustrating, and on our side, just seems like there are no groups stepping up to fight this like they did in the 90s—I think it is a combination of being shell-shocked by all the other outrages (which is no doubt the tactic they are using) or if it is because it is summer and we all want to escape these issues a little in the garden, at a barbeque, or at the lake. I have friends who simply won’t discuss politics at all?!
I’m intrigued by your conference that you attended. Maybe you can PM me about it. Sure wish I could go to one here in socialist republic of IL.
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