State Budgets Busted By S-Chip, Medicaid Mandates

-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”


Obamacare Lacks ‘Protection Against Treatment Denials’

-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’”


Obamacare: Punishing 85% to Help 15%

-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%”


Healthcare Conference Call With Representatives Shadegg and Rodgers

-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”


Government Option Example: Would Government Airlines Work?

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.


Canadians Talk About Their Nationalized Healthcare

-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”


Maine, Tennessee, Massachusetts Universal Healthcare Plans a Bust

-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”


Bunch of Hippie Wannabes Arrested in Chicago Over Healthcare

-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”


8 Dem Senators Push Reid for Transparency on Health Bill

-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”


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

-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”


Obama’s Doctor Rally Filled With Democrat Donors

-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”


Obama Invites Wrong Doc to His Support Rally

-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”


Richard Epstein Tells the Truth About Obamacare, a ‘Sham’

-By Warner Todd Huston

Famous law professor Richard Epstein of the University of Chicago explains the problems with Obama’s healthcare policy plans in a great video from FORA.tv.

Epstein’s chief takeaway is that he says Obamacare is a “giant sham.” But he gets into the deep problems of these plans, of course, and his point is much deeper than that two word explanation.

The video is a half hour long, so block out some time to watch this revealing video.


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Richard Epstein Tells the Truth About Obamacare, a ‘Sham’”


IMF Warns Britain to Dump ‘Free’ Healthcare to Avoid Financial Crisis

-By Warner Todd Huston

Britain’s vaunted nationalized healthcare system is bankrupting the nation and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is warning that if the UK doesn’t start charging for healthcare and raise the retirement age above 65 the country will not be able to get out from under the widening fiscal disaster.

The IMF is telling the British government that she must instigate a wholesale revamping of its pensioner and healthcare system to “help keep a lid on the debt.”

Treasury officials admitted recently that the deficit is expected to rise “£200billion this year – £25billion more than the Chancellor predicted in the Budget.”

That is the equivalent of £3,257 of debt for every man, woman and child, or £9,457 for the average family.

It should be pointed out that Britain’s deficit is no where near the Obama deficit in the U.S. and his $1 debt doesn’t even count any nationalized healthcare plan like the one Congress is desperately trying to pass.
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IMF Warns Britain to Dump ‘Free’ Healthcare to Avoid Financial Crisis”


Hot News: Senate Dumps Illegals ID’s; Pelosi Dumps Co-ops; Harkin Says No Republicans Allowed

-By Warner Todd Huston

Three more happenings on the Hill this week involve the Senate defeating an amendment that would require illegal aliens from having to show legal ID to get their “free” healthcare, the House saying no to the healthcare co-op idea and going full tilt for the so-called public option, and Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) tipping in Obama’s bi-partisan sentiment by saying that no Republicans are allowed to have a say in the final debate.

First up was the Senate’s defeat of the illegal ID requirement. Senator Grassley offered an amendment that would require immigrants to supply full ides to prove that they could legally access government healthcare.

On party lines the Grassley’s amendment was defeated 10 to 13.

Democrats claimed that the amendment was “a solution without a problem.” But Republicans contend that Democrats simply don’t want to prevent the possibility of illegals being turned away from “free” government healthcare services.
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Hot News: Senate Dumps Illegals ID’s; Pelosi Dumps Co-ops; Harkin Says No Republicans Allowed”


Dems False Talking Point of 80% Agreement

-By Warner Todd Huston

Obama has repeatedly been heard to say that Congress agrees on “about 80% of what needs to be done” on healthcare. And many Democratic congressmen have been echoing this since Obama’s Sept. speech. The meme has been used to present their case as if Obamacare is somehow mostly acceptable by all concerned. Even some Republican congressmen have used the meme. But what does this 89% catch phrase mean? Is it true?

It would appear that the truth is murkier than the meme.

Immediately after Obama’s Sept. 10th speech where he uttered the “80%” claim, the Heritage Foundation disputed the stat saying this it is “probably not true because about 80 percent of what is in the current legislation is not needed in order to achieve the three basic goals outlined in the speech.”

Recently, others have been raising doubts about this 80% claim.
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Dems False Talking Point of 80% Agreement”


A Democratic Philosophy Against Transparency

-By Warner Todd Huston

We can look at four of the amendments offered as additions to the healthcare bill that Democrats defeated and what we see gives us a glimpse into the Democratic Party’s true soul. And it is a dark look, indeed. At least it’s dark if you are one of those lowly citizens that thinks government transparency and accountability is a good idea.

Here are the amendments that the Democrats defeated:

  • Bunning Open Records Amendment: would have required the full language and full price tag to be available on the Internet for three days before Congress votes. (Offered by Jim Bunning- R, KY)
  • Hatch Medicare Advantage (MA) Amendment: would have suspended MA provisions if the CBO finds that (contrary to the President’s promise) seniors are going to lose coverage or benefits. (Offered by Orrin Hatch- R, Utah)
  • Kyl Anti-Gag Order Amendment: would have allowed MA insurers to inform seniors of their likely loss of benefits. (Offered by John Kyl- R, AZ)
  • Ensign/Cornyn/Kyl Malpractice Lawsuit Amendments: would have provided relief from lawsuits. (Offered by John Ensign- R, Nevada/John Cornyn- R, Texas/John Kyl- R, AZ)

So the Democrats don’t want you to know how much this boondoggle will cost, the Democrats don’t want you to be able to read the bill before they pass it (likely in the dead of night as per usual), the Democrats don’t want you to be alerted if you are losing benefits, and the Democrats don’t want all of us to have relief from the sort of lawsuit abuse their favorite campaign donors in the realm of tort law are so prone to perpetrate.
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A Democratic Philosophy Against Transparency”


On Healthcare we MUST Listen to Overpaid, Celebrities

And now, a little comedy break from our serious discussion. But it’s comedy with a serious underlying message, of course.

That’s it. I am convinced. This video proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that we must listen to overpaid, uninformed celebrities to tell us what to think on healthcare.

And now, I’ll bet you are convinced, too. Right?

(H/T HotAir.com)


Lefty Group Makes Humana CEO the Devil in Obamacare Ad

-By Warner Todd Huston

As the Tea Party movement has spread across America the left has claimed that everyone on the right are “angry,” or “un-American,” or even “dangerous.” The left has also claimed that those on the right that stand against the increasing government abuse of the Constitution and the trust voters place in government are somehow dragging down the level of our national debate. Folks that stand against Obama’s agenda are mean, sharp tongued, offensive, etc., etc.

And what of the left? The left imagines that it is the adult in the room, that it is the only side trying to keep the level of debate at a higher, more serious level. And in the case of the leftist organization Americans United for Change we can see exactly what that more civil debate entails. It consists of portraying your enemy as the devil in a commercial to push Obamacare.

That’s right, the left’s version of the more civil debate is to portray your enemies as the devil.
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Lefty Group Makes Humana CEO the Devil in Obamacare Ad”


New State Gov’t Tactic: Banning Insurance Mandate

-By Warner Todd Huston

The New York Times is reporting that more than a dozen state legislatures are considering crafting constitutional amendments that will make it illegal to force every citizen to buy health insurance, a key part of Obama’s healthcare plan.

If any of these state legislatures ultimately approve a constitutional change to outlaw the insurance mandates that Obama is trying to force on the nation it could set up a legal showdown between advocates of state’s rights and federal control that will likely end up in the Supreme Court.

Some of these efforts, though, are not a response solely to Obama’s push to take over the nation’s healthcare system. Many of these efforts started after the Massachusetts healthcare plan, derisively called Romneycare, was instituted in 2006.
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New State Gov’t Tactic: Banning Insurance Mandate”


Unions Threatened by New House Healthcare Provision?

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Democrat leadership of the House of Representatives now wants to pay for H.R.3200 — the House healthcare bill — by charging a tax on the so-called Cadillac healthcare plans. This surtax is something that has been talked about in the Senate and forms an integral part of the Baucus bill, but this is the first time that House leaders have broached this revenue idea for inclusion in H.R.3200.

The idea, a classic class warfare styled policy, would tax what Congress considers high-end healthcare plans, purportedly only hitting “the rich.” But it is highly possible that this “rich man’s” surtax might also apply to millions of union members that have traded pay raises for higher levels of benefits over the last decade.

This surtax idea is one of the reasons that many of the unions had been pushing for the public option. Unions chiefs felt that the surtax would unduly affect their membership and that the public option would give union members a “free” place to go if they had to cut back on benefits or what have you.
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Unions Threatened by New House Healthcare Provision?”


FireDogLake Stands Against Free Speech to Sell Obamacare

-By Warner Todd Huston

As long as Obamacare passes, the good folks at the extremely leftist site FireDogLake.com don’t seem to mind too terribly if that old saw of “free speech” is violated. At least it is easy to come to that conclusion after reading a posting on the FDL main page by a fellow aptly calling himself “Scarecrow.”

In a piece ridiculously headline, “Defeated: Kyl’s Amendment to Let Insurers Frighten Medicare Enrollees,” this “Scarecrow” fellow celebrates the fact that the iron boot heel of government was slammed down on the neck of folks opposing a government policy. Yes, that old useless idea from the Founders, those long-dead white guys, of free political speech is apparently all stuff and nonsense.

What provoked “Scarecrow’s” ire was an email message that Humana healthcare insurance group sent out to its members warning that if passed, Obamacare will reduce Medicare benefits.
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FireDogLake Stands Against Free Speech to Sell Obamacare”


Capital Hill Switchboard Illegally Being Used to Push Obamacare? (Question Answered)

**UPDATE** NUMBER IDENTIFIED**

I have finally tracked down what this number is. Apparently it is a left-wing group that uses this 1-800 number as a re-direct to the Capitol Hill switchboard. You call the number, hear the message, and then it re-directs you to the real switchboard. The message is not being hosted on the government service.

This is not the normal number of the Capitol Hill switchboard.

Well, we have gotten to the bottom of this Capitol Hill switchboard number business. It is really the work of a left-wing group called Families USA. They are trying to pass off this 1-800 number as that of the switchboard, but it is not. (Here is an ad from a few years ago where they feature the number.)

But isn’t it interesting how these lefty groups have to lie to their own people? I mean, they are selling this as the number to “contact your Reps and Senators” as if it IS the Hill switchboard. This lefty group is even misleading its own folks! Brazen, eh?

Original post appears below…
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Capital Hill Switchboard Illegally Being Used to Push Obamacare? (Question Answered)”


Sen. Baucus Admits Haste and Lack of Planning on Healthcare

-By Warner Todd Huston

In a September 23 Senate Finance Committee Hearing Senator Max Baucus (D, Montana) was heard uttering a damning quote about the Democrat’s progress on Obama’s nationalization of our healthcare system. In fact it is a frightening quote that should give every single citizen pause whether he is for Obamacare or against.

“We’re doing this all on the fly,” Baucus was heard to say, “so it’s a little bit, makes me a little bit nervous.”

What is so telling about this short quote? Baucus has done no less than admit that the Senate is pursuing this massive enlargement of federal power “on the fly.” The Senator is admitting that they have not thought this through, that they are not taking the time needed to plan this out and consider all the alternatives. Baucus has admitted that Congress is flying by the seat of its pants.
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Sen. Baucus Admits Haste and Lack of Planning on Healthcare”


Obamacare: It’s War on the Middle Class

-By Warner Todd Huston

Once again we see that Barack Obama cannot be relied on to tell America the truth. During the late presidential campaign, Team Obama attacked Hillary Clinton for having mandates for health insurance yet now he is himself touting forced mandates on the people.

In 2008 an Obama flyer slammed Hillary for her forced insurance purchase suggestion. That flyer told Obamaites that, “Hillary’s health care plan forces everyone to buy insurance, even if you can’t afford it.” This was bad, Obama thought.

That was then.
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Obamacare: It’s War on the Middle Class”


Senate Economic Committee Report: How Easy to Keep Your Doctor With Baucus Bill?

-By Warner Todd Huston

How many times have we heard the president’s wild claim that we can “keep our healthcare plan if we like it”? Well, if that were true we’d also be able to keep our doctor, right? Hasn’t the president said that we won’t have to lose our favorite doctor with “his” healthcare policies?

So, how easy will it be to keep your doctor and access his services under the Baucus bill now under consideration in the Senate?

The Senate Joint Economic Committee recently addressed this question by creating a nice visual representation of how easy it will be to access your doctor through Obamacare. The JEC crated an interesting flowchart so that we can follow the steps that the Baucus bill will impose on us all as we try to access the care we usually get by just going to our doctors and asking for it.
Unfortunately, if you like your doctor, Obamacare will make it so much harder to deal with him in the future.

Here is a small snippet of the chart:
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Senate Economic Committee Report: How Easy to Keep Your Doctor With Baucus Bill?”


CBO: Baucus Bill Costs $1.7 Trillion By 2023

-By Warner Todd Huston

The CBO is estimating that the total cost of Baucus’ Senate version of Obamacare will cost $1.7 trillion by 2023. To “pay” for this cost, the Baucus bill cuts $1 trillion from Medicare and Medicaid and raises taxes by $.7 trillion.

This is in stark contrast to Obama’s constant claims that “his” bill will not raise taxes.
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CBO: Baucus Bill Costs $1.7 Trillion By 2023″


Obamacare is About Controlling Every Aspect of Your Life

-By Warner Todd Huston

Peter Fleckenstein spent a huge amount of time reading H.R. 3200 and found hundreds of provisions that do nothing less than give government complete control of our very lives. This is a stark list that should frighten any freedom loving American from any support for this anti-American president and his socialist Congressional majority. Aside from this frightening list, Fleckenstein has more at his site http://blog.flecksoflife.com.

Read on and be afraid… be very afraid of Obama’s un-American plans to control your life:

  • Sec. 113, Pg. 21-22 of the Health Care (HC) Bill MANDATES a government audit of the books of ALL EMPLOYERS that self-insure in order to “ensure that the law does not provide incentives for small and mid-size employers to self-insure”!
  • Sec. 122, Pg. 29, Lines 4-16 – YOUR HEALTH CARE WILL BE RATIONED! 

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Obamacare is About Controlling Every Aspect of Your Life”


Pelosi Beats Her Dogs Down

-By Warner Todd Huston

No, blue doggie, bad, bad dog. No deal for you. Speaker Pelosi has now told her Congressional Blue Dogs it’s no deal. The Hill reports that Pelosi is “backing away” from a deal that the conservative Democrat group had thought the Speaker had agreed to.

Apparently, Pelosi only agreed to the Blue Dog’s policy ideas on H.R. 3200 so she could get the bill out of committee and out to the floor for consideration because now she is guiding the bill back toward the extreme left as the bill proceeds.

Pelosi had agreed to downplay the public option in the bill but now that its out of committee she is again pushing that policy back into it despite what Blue Dogs wanted. One aide said that for Pelosi it’s “full speed ahead.”

Pelosi is also pushing for a get-the-rich provision.

Pelosi has also told her fellow leaders she still wants an income surtax on the wealthy, rather than a tax on “Cadillac” health plans, as a means to help pay the $1 trillion cost of the bill. The rest is to be made up with savings in Medicare by eliminating wasteful spending.

If Republicans eying Blue Dog seats are smart they will use this as a hammer to beat down every center left Democrat in the country.
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Pelosi Beats Her Dogs Down”