Health

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Free Trade - Health - Liberals - President - Senate - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Senate Making Deals With Union Bosses With Healthcare

October 28, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Reports have emerged over the behind-closed-doors deal that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is desperately trying to make with Big Unions in order to get the waters smoothed for his Obamacare policies. These reports show where Reid’s sympathies lie: with union bosses and not with the voters.

The Hill reported that Reid made “several significant concessions” to organized labor to smooth the way for his healthcare policies.

We’ve reported in the past that Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, has been highly skeptical of Obamacare because of the punitive tax placed on so-called Cadillac healthcare plans. Trumka feels that this tax will hit his membership too hard. For several decades unions have often foregone hourly wage hikes in order to take on richer benefits the result is that union members often have more extensive healthcare plans than most American workers.
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Senate Making Deals With Union Bosses With Healthcare”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Freedom - GOP - Health - Liberals - President - Republicans - Senate - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Gov. Pawlenty Goes Off on Obamacare

October 28, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty delivered a red meat assessment of Obamacare and it appears he doesn’t like it much. Pawlenty slammed Obamacare as a “bait-and-switch” and said the president is “corrosive to freedom and liberty.”

In a NewsMax interview, Pawlenty really went after Obama serving a hearty dish of red meat to conservative voters across the country. Gov. Pawlenty is widely considered a prime candidate for president in 2012.

Pawlenty calls President Obama a “movement liberal” and says he’s “projecting potential weakness” to the world with his foreign policies.

“His solutions are federalization of policy, spending way beyond anything we’ve seen in terms of deficit or debt levels, spending the country into bankruptcy,” Pawlenty says. “And what’s behind it is a philosophy that government knows best, a nanny-state mentality on domestic issues that will ultimately be corrosive to the other pillars of our country — to markets, private enterprise, individual responsibility, freedom and liberty.”

As to Obamacare, Pawlenty calls it a bait-and-switch.
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Gov. Pawlenty Goes Off on Obamacare”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Health - Liberals - President - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Doc Quits! $160,000 Per Year Malpractice Costs the Cause

October 27, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Doctor Jacquelline Perlman has had it. After a 12-year career as an OB-GYN doctor she his quitting her practice. One of the major reasons is the exorbitant costs of malpractice insurance.

“I’ve decided to retire from obstetrics,” said Perlman, 42. “It breaks my heart. Malpractice costs are a big part of it. It’s a very sad story.”

Last spring her insurer dropped her and several of her fellow doctors because of the high risk of covering OB-GYNs. Dr. Perlman’s new insurer was to charge $160,000 a year for coverage and that proved too much for Perlman to take.

Perlman noted that over the last five years, as her insurance costs multiplied, her actual income dropped by 20 percent.

So, another good doctor — one that has never had a malpractice case stick to her — leaves the profession. Now, before some of you out there assume the insurance companies is the villain here, let us pinpoint the real villain: trial lawyers.
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Doc Quits! $160,000 Per Year Malpractice Costs the Cause”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Health - Journalism - Liberals - Media Bias - President - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

FACT CHECK: Profits for Health Insurance Companies Far From Fat

October 27, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Associated Press posted an interesting piece revealing that the health insurance industry is far from the image that Democrats and other leftists want to present. Insurance companies are so often presented as rapacious, fat-cats ripping off all their customers and growing fat on profits. But the AP finds that reality does not quite fit the left-wing image.

In fact, the insurance industry makes far less profits than other industries. As the AP notes, the Hershey chocolate company even has a higher profit margin than health insurers.

Ledgers tell a different reality. Health insurance profit margins typically run about 6 percent, give or take a point or two. That’s anemic compared with other forms of insurance and a broad array of industries, even some beleaguered ones.

Profits barely exceeded 2 percent of revenues in the latest annual measure. This partly explains why the credit ratings of some of the largest insurers were downgraded to negative from stable heading into this year, as investors were warned of a stagnant if not shrinking market for private plans.

Ooopsie! Looks like the image of the fat-cat insurance company is not so pat as the far left and their Democrat enablers want you to believe.
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FACT CHECK: Profits for Health Insurance Companies Far From Fat”

Abortion - Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Health - House of Representatives - Journalism - Liberals - Media Bias - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

40 Democrats Lining Up to Oppose Pelosi’s Abortion Funding in Healthcare Bill

October 26, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The news is full of the behind closed doors deals being made by Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Pelosi but all is not harmonious in the land of healthcare “reform.”

One example of this is the fight amongst Democrats over abortion funding in Obamacare. Despite claims to the contrary, abortion will be funded by these various healthcare bills floating about in Congress. This fact makes moderate and conservative Democrats uneasy and forms just one of the many disagreements that Democrats are having with Democrats over Obamacare.

The Hill reports on this disagreement that has seen a group of up to 40 House Democrats banding together to oppose abortion funding in Obamacare.
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40 Democrats Lining Up to Oppose Pelosi’s Abortion Funding in Healthcare Bill”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Capitalism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Health - House of Representatives - Liberals - President - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Don’t Shut Us Out of Healthcare Mr. President

October 23, 2009 by

Once again, Obama lies. He castigated Clinton’s attempts to get Hillarycare by saying that she tried to get her healthcare policies passed behind closed doors. He claimed he’d open the debate before the public and get it out from behind those closed doors. Yet, now Obamacare is being created behind the closed doors of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

So, what happened to Obama’s now hoary promise that he’d have a transparent, open government? It’s gone the way of most of his other promises: down the memory hole.

Barack Obama - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Free Trade - Freedom - Health - House of Representatives - Liberals - Nancy Pelosi - President - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

House Speaker Lacks Democrat Votes for ‘Public Option’

October 23, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Despite assurances to the contrary, Politico.com is reporting that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D, Calif.) does not have the votes to include the so-called public option in the House version of Obamacare making it more likely that a “trigger” will be included instead.

Politico also reports that Obama himself announced support for the trigger option.

Obama told Senate Democratic leadership at the White House Thursday evening that his preference is for the trigger championed by Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) — a plan that would allow a public plan to kick in if private insurers don’t expand coverage fast enough, a top administration official told POLITICO. It’s also sign Obama is interested in maintaining a sense of bipartisanship around the health reform plan.

Regardless of the Politco report, however, Speaker Pelosi came out today in a press conference and insisted that the public option will, indeed, be in the bill.

Whatever the final outcome will be, however, this shows that Speaker Pelosi is having trouble manhandling her caucus. This also means that voters still have a chance to affect this vote by calling their representatives and urging them to oppose the public option.
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House Speaker Lacks Democrat Votes for ‘Public Option’”

Barack Obama - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Freedom - Health - Liberals - President - Republicans - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Senate Defeats Dem Leader Reid’s ‘Doc Fix’ Plan

October 22, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Roll Call is reporting that the $250 billion extension to the Medicare physician payment program was defeated in the Senate today. Reid couldn’t even get a simple majority losing in a 47 to 53 vote.

Naturally Democrat Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev) blames the Republicans. Reid complained that the loss was a result of “activities and actions by the Republican-dominated Washington.” Seriously. A “Republican dominated Washington”? Did Harry Reid miss the fact that the Democrats have majorities in both the House and the Senate as well as holding the White House? How could Washington be “Republican dominated” when the GOP has little capability to affect the debate through the power of majority control?

Roll Call pinpoints the most salient question here, though. If Reid can’t even get this one through with a Democrat majority how is he going to get the rest of Obamacare passed? The GOP, for its part, was ecstatic.
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Senate Defeats Dem Leader Reid’s ‘Doc Fix’ Plan”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - GOP - Health - House of Representatives - Liberals - President - Republicans - Senate - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Democrats Still Against Transparency in Congress

October 21, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

According to McClatchy news, in the Democrat’s 2006 campaign book, in the “integrity” section, the Democratic leadership vowed that legislation would be posted online for 24 hours before consideration of the final versions of any bill. That promise coupled with their president’s claims that he’d post all bills online for five whole days — that’s 120 hours in case anyone’s counting — not to mention his now hoary claim that he’d put all debates on C-Span so that we the people could keep tabs on what Congress is doing makes for a facade of a deep interest in government transparency. And facade it has turned out to be for all these promises have been completely forgotten now that Democrats have taken up the reins of power.

Obviously the campaign was “then” and having power is “now.” In the minds of Democrats, the two bear no relationship one to the other showing that campaign promises are so much wind and bombast never meant to be taken seriously. In other words, lies.

In keeping with the light speed at which Democrats are running away from transparency, we find few Congressional Dems supporting the Baird/Walden discharge petition. (I covered this issue last month, and earlier this month) This measure would institute a House rules change and require bills to be posted online for 72 hours before a floor vote.
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Democrats Still Against Transparency in Congress”

Budget - Capitalism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Health - House of Representatives - Liberals - President - Society/Culture - State Government - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

State Budgets Busted By S-Chip, Medicaid Mandates

October 20, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

I suppose it makes it easier for Obama to claim that his healthcare policies are “revenue neutral” when the federal government just makes rules and expands healthcare services that it doesn’t fund then turns around and forces the states to pay for much of it out of groaning state budgets, but that seems like what is happening.

The Congressional Budget Office has reported that the costs of Obamacare’s mandates will fall heavily on the states . Obamacare will increase Medicaid coverage to one in five Americans, a growth from 50 million to 60 million Americans covered.

According to the CBO these unfunded mandates will cost the states an estimated $33 billion. Naturally, this estimate is likely low and costs to state budgets will be much higher in reality.
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State Budgets Busted By S-Chip, Medicaid Mandates”

Barack Obama - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Freedom - Health - Liberals - Nancy Pelosi - President - Senate - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Obamacare Lacks ‘Protection Against Treatment Denials’

October 20, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The L.A. Times published a story that was probably meant solely as a bash on insurance companies, but still the report brings up several issues that Obamacare will only make worse if passed. The problem raised in the headline, “Healthcare bills lack protections against treatment denials, experts say,” isn’t the only problem the story touches upon — not that the L.A. Times dwells on them.

The headline problem is important, of course though the Times tries to phrase the problem as an evil failing of insurance companies. The fact is it is really but a common-sense inevitability. The Times reports that Obamacare will force an increase in denials of services to patients because of cost overruns.
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Obamacare Lacks ‘Protection Against Treatment Denials’”

ACORN - Anti-Americanism - Business - Chicago - Communism - Cook County - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Freedom - Health - Jobs - Liberals - Society/Culture - State Government - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Union Plans Voted Down by Home Healthcare Workers

October 20, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

If CBS News has it right, the majority of in-home healthcare workers in Illinois voted not to join a union despite the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and Governor Quinn’s best efforts to force the issue.

Earlier in the year, Governor Quinn signed Executive Order 09-15 that gave away the private information of every in-home healthcare worker in the state to several unions so that they might begin a campaign to cajole these workers into joining a union by calling them on the phone and visiting them at their homes.

In-home healthcare workers receive a stipend from the state in order to help them care for developmentally disabled or medically at risk family members.
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Union Plans Voted Down by Home Healthcare Workers”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Britain - Capitalism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Europe - GOP - Health - House of Representatives - Liberals - President - Republicans - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Obamacare: Punishing 85% to Help 15%

October 17, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Representative Mike Rogers (R, Mich.) made some great points in his opening statements against Obamacare as the debate heats up in D.C. He began by asking why we are punishing 85% of America because of the problems of 15%? He also told us of how bad the survival rate for cancer in the U.K. is compared to the U.S. but that Obamacare will make our survival rate as bad as England’s.

Great stuff, Mr. Rogers, great stuff.
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Obamacare: Punishing 85% to Help 15%”

Abortion - California - Elections - GOP - Health - Liberals - Republicans - State Government - Warner Todd Huston

Meg Whitman’s Extreme Pro-Abortion Views

October 16, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

A few weeks ago Jon Fleischman of FlashReport.org was fortunate enough to snag an interview with gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman. But the results of one segment of the meeting left him admittedly non-plussed, or as he termed it “unnerved.” Fleischman was aghast to learn of just how extreme Meg Whitman’s views on abortion really are. And after reading Fleischman’s interview myself, I have to wonder if her views makes her completely unelectable amongst California’s pro-lifers?

In the interview, Whitman was completely upfront about the fact that she stands solidly behind public funding of abortion. She was unequivocal about it, really. Whitman explained why she felt that public funding of abortion was the right decision telling Fleischman, “My view is that if we are going to be pro-choice… that it needs to be available to all women, and whether you are rich or poor, you need to be able to access that right. And it’s unfair to women who can not afford an abortion, and that’s why I support public funding.”

It’s one thing to say that a woman should be allowed to chose abortion — this is quite a common determination among liberals — but quite another, indeed, to say that the taxpayers should have to pay for that abortion.
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Meg Whitman’s Extreme Pro-Abortion Views”

ACORN - Anti-Americanism - Business - Capitalism - Chicago - Communism - Cook County - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Speech - Free Trade - Health - Illinois - Journalism - Liberals - Socialism - State Government - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Brave Mom Fights Forced Unionization and Gov. Quinn

October 15, 2009 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

We’ve been reporting to you of the outrageous under-the-radar actions of Governor Pat Quinn and his Executive Order 9-15. This EO both handed the private information of Illinois citizens to unions and set up a payoff for his union supporters by automatically unionizing hundreds of Illinois home healthcare workers whether they want to be unionized or not.

Well, one mother is fighting back. Pam Harris serves as the primary care specialist for her developmentally disabled son and in so doing receives some helpful funds from the state for that purpose. When she found out that Quinn’s EO gave her personal information to several unions she was concerned. And when she later found out that she would have to pay dues to a union even if she didn’t want to join one she became incensed.

In a report on our local Fox affiliate, Harris said, “When my doorbell rings at eleven thirty Sunday morning and there’s two people in purple shirts, one from California, one from Virginia– nice enough young people– nice enough, but that’s an invasion of my privacy.”

Harris is sure that no union will benefit her.
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Brave Mom Fights Forced Unionization and Gov. Quinn”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Freedom - Health - Journalism - Liberals - Media Bias - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

CNN: ‘Disingenuous Insurance Companies’ or Disingenuous Reporting?

October 15, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

On October 13 CNN’s John Roberts conducted an interview with purported “insurance industry insider” Wendell Potter who claimed that the disingenuous actions of the insurance industry made him “decide to become a critic of the industry.”

Mr. Potter is a former head of Public Relations of the CIGNA Corp and Humana, Inc. but he is more than that, not that John Roberts told his viewers this fact. The first major problem with this interview is that Wendell Potter is now a member of Center for Media and Democracy, a group funded by the left-wing Tides Foundation (itself supported by George Soros) and other left-wing organizations. The only hint that viewers got of this affiliation was a three second caption at the bottom of the screen. Roberts never verbally identified the group to which Potter belongs nor that its agenda was anti-insurance company.

Potter went on to rail against the insurance companies calling them disingenuous with their dealings with Obama and Congress.

I think the industry has been disingenuous from the beginning of this debate. They have never had any intention of being good faith partners with the president and Congress. And I know this from having been a part of many, many efforts over the past 20 years, almost, to defeat reform, or to help shape reform to the industry’s benefit. And I was a part of some of the efforts to plan this very campaign.

Roberts, of course, did not challenge this assertion.
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CNN: ‘Disingenuous Insurance Companies’ or Disingenuous Reporting?”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Dan Scott - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Health - Liberals - Socialism - Society/Culture

The Liberal False Choice

October 15, 2009 by

-By Dan Scott

To say the least, liberals have a peculiar view of the world and no more peculiar is their view of economics. The assertions based on this view are thinly veiled promises of prosperity and equality for all. Senator Mary Landrieu (D) of Louisiana expressed this worldview in a WSJ opinion piece recently. As I have said many times, the best told lies are those sprinkled with facts.

Nationwide, small firms will spend $156 billion on health premiums this year. In place of those high premiums, small business owners could employ 10 million additional workers—the entire state of Michigan—at minimum wage for a year.

Source

The central assertion offered to the public to accept ObamaCare is the idea billions of dollars will be saved if their so called Reform is passed and furthermore those savings would create 10 million new jobs. In fact, isn’t that similar to what we hear from President Obama? Healthcare Reform will create jobs and is essential to get the economy growing again? Let’s examine what she said; firstly small businesses spend $156 billion annually on health insurance premiums. I’m not sure where this figure is derived, however, let’s just accept for the moment that as accurate for the sake of argument without passing judgment on it or doing lots of research to verify or discredit it. Then she goes on to make the claim IF, in place of spending that money on health insurance small businesses could employ 10 million people at minimum wage. Her math is correct, $156 billion divided by 10 million people do indeed equate to minimum wage of $7.35 an hour. However, this is where the lie occurs, you notice small businesses in order to have the money to create these jobs would have to drop health insurance altogether, not merely saving on some of the premiums.
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The Liberal False Choice”

Barack Obama - Blogging - Business - Capitalism - Communism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Freedom - GOP - Health - House of Representatives - Inernet - Liberals - Nancy Pelosi - President - Republicans - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - Technology - Warner Todd Huston

Healthcare Conference Call With Representatives Shadegg and Rodgers

October 14, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Today at 4:30PM eastern a blogger conference call was held by Representatives John Shadegg (R, AZ) and Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R, WA). The subject we spoke about was that of House Republican’s ideas and problems on healthcare reform issues in both the Senate and the House. The following are my notes of the call, any direct quotes are in quote marks but the rest is my summation of what was said.

The call opened with a welcome from Cathy McMorris Rodgers who introduced herself and Rep. Shadegg. Rodgers talked of the situation in the House and reminded us that 44 House Democrats said they’d vote no on the bill if it has public option and 57 said they’ll vote no if it doesn’t have the public option so the Democrats might not have the votes to pass H.B. 3200.

Shadegg reminded us that the CBO score on the Senate bill was made on 10 years of taxes being taken by the federal government but with only 7 years of coverage afforded, so it’s no wonder the bill sounds like it is paid for. Shadegg also warned of the political monkeying that is going on with the Baucus bill in the Senate. He mentioned that Harry Reid is down in the polls back home so he tried to slip through a sleight of hand way for four favored states to get special Medicaid provisions (including Nev., Oregon, Mich.) forcing the other 46 states to pick up the tab. This was Reid’s attempt to find success in his upcoming elections in Nevada.
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Healthcare Conference Call With Representatives Shadegg and Rodgers”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Communism - Democrats/Leftists - Health - President - Socialism - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Government Option Example: Would Government Airlines Work?

October 14, 2009 by

Here is a cute little video made by the Independence Institute to explain how bad the public option would be by comparing that policy prescription to what would happen to the airline industry if the government offered a government airlines for transportation customers.

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Censorship - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Freedom - Health - Liberals - President - Senate - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Rumors of Sneaking Senate’s Healthcare into Another Bill

October 13, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Colin Hanna of Let Freedom Ring joined Neil Cavuto on his Fox News show earlier this week to talk of his new effort, wethepeoplecanread.com. This effort is echoing that being made by Representatives like Joe Wilson and his comrades in trying to get a 72 hour period where the healthcare bill will be posted online for everyone to read before Congress gets to vote on it.

Hanna told Cavuto that there is news that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid intends to sneak the Senate’s healthcare proposals in as an amendment to an unrelated House tax bill so that it will bypass the debating process.

Reports are that Reid plans to attach the Senate’s entire healthcare bill as an amendment to H.R. 1586, a bill passed by the House back in March that imposes a 90 percent tax on bonuses paid to employees of certain bailed-out financial institutions.
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Rumors of Sneaking Senate’s Healthcare into Another Bill”

Barack Obama - Budget - Canada - Capitalism - Communism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Freedom - Health - Liberals - President - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Canadians Talk About Their Nationalized Healthcare

October 13, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Mackinac Center has produced a video filled with Canadians warning us that their vaunted nationalized healthcare system, the one Barack Obama keeps pointing to as a model for us, is not all it’s claimed to be.

The MC took its cameras throughout Canada and asked Canadians what they thought of their nationalized, socialistic healthcare system and what they thought of the push in the United States to create its own copy of their system. Almost to a person they warned us against it and each worried that they themselves would lose one of their own healthcare benefits: American medicine used when their system fails them.

The Mackinac Center for Public Policy is a free market think tank in Michigan.

Visit the website of the Mackinac Center for the full video series of Canadian citizens speaking out on healthcare.
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Canadians Talk About Their Nationalized Healthcare”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Chicago - Cook County - Democrats/Leftists - Free Trade - Health - Liberals - State Government - Warner Todd Huston

Ill. Policy Institute: An Obamacare Alternative

October 12, 2009 by

Together with 32 State Think Tanks, Illinois Policy Institute Announces Patient-Centered Health Care Reforms

On Tuesday, October 13, in response to national calls for an alternative to Obamacare, representatives from the Illinois Policy Institute—together with 32 other state think tanks—will announce their “patient-centered” plan for health care reform. The proposal, which is adapted from a national study by public policy specialist Art Laffer, will be described in detail, together with a Q & A, on a conference call open to the national press.


“President Obama and other supporters of government-run health care like to proclaim that there’s no alternative to their plans,” said John Tillman, CEO of the Illinois Policy Institute. “Our patient-centered reform package offers a clear alternative that puts patients, not bureaucrats, first. It protects the doctor-patient relationship, offers viable solutions for the uninsured, and keeps medical care affordable for all Americans.”

Speakers on the press call, which will take place at 12:00 p.m. EDT on October 13, will include:

  • John Tillman, CEO, Illinois Policy Institute
  • Donna Arduin, Partner, Arduin, Laffer & Moore, Econometrics
  • Arlene Wohlgemuth, Senior Fellow, Center for Health Care Policy, Texas Public Policy Foundation
  • Tarren Bragdon, CEO, Maine Heritage Policy Center
  • Linda Gorman, Health Care Policy Center Director, Independence Institute
  • Roger Stark, Center for Health Care Policy Analyst, Washington Policy Center

The call will cover the details of the health care proposal, as well as the economic impacts of government-run health care, the problems with a Medicaid expansion, Maine’s health care disaster, cautionary tales from Canada, and practical state-based health care solutions. 


The full plan, along with the list of think tank signatories, is available at www.patientcenteredreform.org. In addition, Jerry Agar, the Institute’s Senior Multimedia Fellow, will be releasing a podcast of the call on IllinoisPolicy.org shortly after the event. Also, our CEO, John Tillman, will be appearing on the Don Wade & Roma Morning Show on WLS-AM at 6:20 a.m. tomorrow morning to discuss this event.

Contact Kristina Rasmussen at 217.528.8800 with questions, or visit www.IllinoisPolicy.org.

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Business - Capitalism - Communism - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Education - Free Trade - Freedom - Gay Marriage - Gays - Health - Journalism - Liberals - Morals/Sex - President - Security/Safety - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston - Welfare - Western Civilization

Another of Obama’s Radical Appointees

October 12, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Old Media wholly ignored the story, but one of the extremists that Barack Obama appointed as a so-called czar in his government had to step down when the full extent of his un-American radicalism was exposed on the Internet. Obama’s “green czar,” Van Jones, resigned when it was revealed how anti-American his rhetoric was not to mention his membership in a Marxist organization. But Van Jones isn’t the only far leftist that Obama has tried to foist on this country in places of influence.

We’ve been hearing lately about the radical homosexual agenda of Obama’s “safe schools czar,” Kevin Jennings. When he was a school teacher, Jennings once admittedly abetted a sexual relationship between a teenage male student of his and an adult man. He did not report this molestation, but smiled and advised the poor kid to “use a condom.”
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Another of Obama’s Radical Appointees”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Communism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Freedom - Health - House of Representatives - Liberals - President - Senate - Socialism - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Maine, Tennessee, Massachusetts Universal Healthcare Plans a Bust

October 12, 2009 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Both President Obama and the Democratic Congress have ignored the mess that three states have made of their economy and tax burden by attempting to create a public option and/or universal healthcare. Tennessee has its TennCare program, Maine has tried a “public option” program, and Massachusetts has its RomenyCare system that promises healthcare for all. Each of them has been a boondoggle for the taxpayers and has failed to deliver promised savings and enhanced coverage.

In fact, each of these states have begun to cut services to people because the costs have skyrocketed despite claims that “savings” would occur and that everyone would get more coverage.

Last week, the Wall Street Journal had a piece by Wendy Williams saying that the “fines” Massachusetts imposed on people who ostensibly didn’t have insurance coverage — an idea that Obama wants included in his Obamacare policies — now falls even on people with insurance in the Bay State.

Initially this fine imposed by the Mass. legislature was supposed to force people to get healthcare insurance. But “without informing anyone” the legislature decided just getting insurance wasn’t good enough. To avoid the fine now Mass. residents have to get the kind of insurance of which the government approves.
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Maine, Tennessee, Massachusetts Universal Healthcare Plans a Bust”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Business - Capitalism - Chicago - Communism - Cook County - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Health - Journalism - Liberals - Media Bias - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Bunch of Hippie Wannabes Arrested in Chicago Over Healthcare

October 12, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

A group of aging hippie wannabes grandiosely calling themselves the “Cigna Seven” got themselves arrested by “the man” on Thursday. You’d be excused if you weren’t aware of this because the media pretty much just yawned at the exploits of these few goof balls.

These elder statesmen of the wacko set got themselves pinched by the fuzz as they sat their graying, age spreading rear-ends in the entryway of Cigna Corp.’s Midwest offices in downtown Chicago. The charges were, of course, trespassing but they should have been charged with impersonating a serious American.

One of the idiotic things these nuts were touting as a serious idea is that healthcare is a “human right.” What a stupid claim. Rights are not something that can require someone else to do something for you. A right is something you exercise autonomously without requiring someone else’s participation. With that truth understood, how is it that a doctor’s care is a right? That would mean that to assure my “right” to healthcare, I’d have to compel some doctor to see me. Further, how is it that I’d have to pay that doctor to see me if his serving me is my right?

Someone needs to ask these morons why anyone would become a doctor if everyone else could compel them to serve everyone that comes through the door without paying for the “right” to be seen?

So, I have a great idea. I’ve decided it is my right to take the “Cigna Seven’s” cars and money. I say they OWE me their belongings. It’s my right dang it!
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Bunch of Hippie Wannabes Arrested in Chicago Over Healthcare”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Health - Liberals - Media Bias - President - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

8 Dem Senators Push Reid for Transparency on Health Bill

October 10, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

As reported earlier, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has been fighting against efforts to institute transparency in the healthcare debate by posting SB3200, the House healthcare bill, online for at least 72 hours before the bill comes to the floor. Similarly, efforts to bring transparency to the Senate’s Baucus bill are also in the offing in the other chamber of the Legislative Branch.

As it happens eight Democratic Senators are pressuring Democrat Majority leader Harry Reid (D, Nevada) to post the Senate’s version of Obamacare online for 72 hours before a floor vote.

The senators told Reid that health care reform should be more transparent and easier for their constituents to understand.

Earlier in the debate, Senator Jim Bunning (R, Kentucky) introduced an amendment that would have seen the bill posted online before a floor vote. It was defeated amid charges by Democrat Senator Baucus that Bunning was trying to stall progress on the legislation.

It appears that the eight Senate Democrats include Sen. Blanche Lincoln (Arkansas); Evan Bayh (Indiana); Mary Landrieu (Louisiana); Joe Liberman (Connecticut); Claire McCaskill (Missouri); Ben Nelson (Nebraska); Mark Pryor (Aranksas) and Jim Webb (Virginia).
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8 Dem Senators Push Reid for Transparency on Health Bill”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Health - House of Representatives - Liberals - Nancy Pelosi - President - Republicans - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Pelosi Thwarting Transparency Measures, Won’t Allow Public to See Healthcare Bill

October 7, 2009 by 3 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

On September 25, we reported on the Walden Discharge Petition that Representative Joe Wilson informed us about in a conference telephone call. Wilson told us of a resolution that would force all bills that come before the House for a vote to be posted on the Internet for 72 hours before the members can vote on it.

Now it is becoming clear that the Democratic leadership is trying desperately to stop this effort at transparency.

From Wilson we found out that the rules change for procedures in the House of Representatives was about to be sent to committee but that the Walden Discharge Petition would send the resolution straight to the floor for a vote through the discharge petition process.

Today, Susan Ferrechio of the Washington Examiner details the effort to quash transparency by Democrats in the House.
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Pelosi Thwarting Transparency Measures, Won’t Allow Public to See Healthcare Bill”

Barack Obama - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Health - Journalism - Liberals - Media Bias - President - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Obama’s Doctor Rally Filled With Democrat Donors

October 6, 2009 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

President Obama presented his cadre of Doctors as if they were there only because they supported his Obamacare polices. But even The New York Times is casting doubt on that assumption by reporting that the group that assisted Team Obama to round up the Doctors was once called “Doctors For Obama” during the late campaign.

As noted below, the group that supplied many of the doctors for the Rose Garden event, Doctors for America, is a nonprofit organization that grew out of Doctors for Obama, which worked to help elect the president. But it also appears to be working closely with Organizing for America, Mr. Obama’s political organization.

So, instead of presenting a bunch of doctors that are disinterested in politics, but want reform of the nation’s healthcare, we end up seeing a group of Obama campaign operatives wearing white coats.

Speaking of those white coats, news has also come out that many of them were supplied by the White House to pep up the photo op. Apparently several of the invited operatives did not bring a white coat with them, so the White House supplied one for them.

Caption: OOPS! A crowd of 150 doctors gathers in the Rose Garden to support the health-care overhaul — as White House staffers scramble to hand out camera-ready white coats to those who forgot their own.
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Obama’s Doctor Rally Filled With Democrat Donors”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Health - Liberals - President - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Obama Invites Wrong Doc to His Support Rally

October 6, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

On Monday the Obama administration featured a gaggle of white-coated doctors rallying in support of Obamacare but it appears that Obama’s team was a bit out of its depth in arranging the handpicked cadre of physicians. As it happened, the president’s advance team accidentally invited a doctor that has long been opposed to Obamacare.

Obama’s office contacted Doctor Eric Novack to appear beside him in Washington during his rally/photo op even though Novack is a vocal opponent of the president’s policy prescriptions.

“They had 16 hours to Google me, but I guess no one bothered,” Dr. Novack told Kathryn Serkes, Director of Policy and Public Affairs for the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) in a video interview available at TakeBackMedicine.com.

Due to his stance against the president’s policy ideas, Dr. Novack turned down this invitation to go to the White House in support of the president but he wonders what this invitation says about the other doctors that did attend.

Dr. Novack says that it was very tempting to accept the “once-in-a-lifetime” invitation, but in the end, he had to say no. But it also makes him question whether the doctors who will be there today actually support the President, or even understand all of the details of the bills.

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Obama Invites Wrong Doc to His Support Rally”