Obamacare

The ugly truth

Abortion     Constitutional issues     Costs: monetary & bureaucratic     Flaws of socialized medicine     Legislative maneuvers (dirty tricks)     Public opinion     Special interests     Stubborn inconvenient facts     Who would be covered?     Wrong and/or stupid


Legislation

Cost analysis
H.R. 4872     America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009     H.R. 3962     H.R. 3200     Affordable Health Choices Act

Abortion in Obamacare

Senate bill STILL requires monthly abortion fee - December 19, 2009

"Fixed it is not. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) latest health care “manager’s amendment” would STILL levy a new “abortion premium” fee on Americans under the Democrats’ health care plan."

Senate bill requires monthly abortion fee - November 19, 2009

"Just like the original 2,032-page, government-run health care plan from Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) massive, 2,074-page bill would levy a new “abortion premium” fee on Americans in the government-run plan."

House bill requires monthly abortion fee - November 5, 2009

"Health care reform should not be used as an opportunity to use federal funds to pay for elective abortions. Health reform should be an opportunity to protect human life - not end it."

Gov't insurance plan would pay for abortions - August 5, 2009

"Health care legislation before Congress would allow a new government-sponsored insurance plan to cover abortions, a decision that would affect millions of women and recast federal policy on the divisive issue."

Senator Mikulski slips abortion mandate into health bill - July 15, 2009

"At a committee hearing last week, Democratic Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland provided a classic example of a morally bankrupt legislator seeking to insidiously force Americans to cooperate with and fund an objectively evil cause."

Constitutional issues

Idaho first to fight health care plan - March 17, 2010

"Idaho took the lead in a growing, nationwide fight against health care overhaul Wednesday when its governor became the first to sign a measure requiring the state attorney general to sue the federal government if residents are forced to buy health insurance."

Health care foes plan state opt-outs - January 19, 2010

"Lawmakers in 30 states are pressing for constitutional amendments to exempt individuals from the requirement to purchase health care, a pivotal piece of the legislation under debate in Congress."

Costs: Monetary & bureaucratic

Accounting blunder should sink health bill - December 24, 2009

"Democrats had been insisting that bill somehow cut the deficit and strengthened Medicare, but as it turns out the CBO had to clarify that the savings of the bill were being double counted."

CBO rebuts Democrat Medicare claims - December 23, 2009

"The Congressional Budget Office challenged claims by health-care overhaul proponents that Medicare savings in Senate legislation would help finance expanded coverage and postpone the bankruptcy of the medical program for the elderly."

Rising costs predicted in health care bill - December 12, 2009

"Dealing an unexpected blow to Senate Democrat's health care bill, administration economists on Friday predicted the overhaul would accelerate rising costs of health insurance and medical services, and that its proposed Medicare cuts could reduce care for senior citizens."

10-year cost of Reid bill is $2.5 trillion - November 25, 2009

"Senate Republicans have just released an outstanding chart highlighting the accounting games that Democrats are playing with the costs of their proposed health-care overhaul."

Coburn: Senate bill grows government - November 22, 2009

"This bill creates 70 new government agencies with thousands of new bureaucrats. I'm talking about the Senate bill with 1,597 different instances where the secretary is mandated to write rules and regulations."

CBO puts house bill at $1.055 trillion - October 29, 2009

"The Congressional Budget Office said Thursday a U.S. House health-care system re-write would extend helath insurance to 96% of the nonelderly U.S. population by 2019, and spend $1.055 trillion to do so."

Mandates in the House health bill - October 29, 2009

"The bottom line is: Almost everybody will pay more, and a new appointed bureaucrat will make your health care choices for you."

Middle-class to pay for Obamacare - October 12, 2009

"Under the health-care plan advanced by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, lower- and middle-class people who have insurance today are going to be taxed and squeezed in order to cover people who don't. The money to finance the new entitlement comes from two main sources, tax increases and Medicare cuts."

Senate bill is just Tax-and-Spend - October 8, 2009

"The overall tax increases in the bill are more than double the amount of deficit reduction. This isn't a health care efficiency bill or a cost-containment bill. It is a tax-and-spend bill, pure and simple."

Study questions savings from preventive care - September 1, 2009

"Preventive services for the chronically ill may reduce health-care costs, but they are unlikely to generate the kind of fantastic savings that President Obama and other Democrats have said could help pay for an overhaul of the nation's health system..."

CBO deals new blow to health plan - July 25, 2009

"For the second time this month, congressional budget analysts have dealt a blow to the Democrat's health reform efforts, this time by saying a plan touted by the White House as crucial to paying for the bill would actually save almost no money over 10 years."

CBO chief says health bills will increase costs - July 16, 2009

"The health care overhauls released to date would increase, not reduce, the burgeoning long-term health costs facing the government, Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf said Thursday. That is not a message likely to sit well with congressional Democrats or the Obama administration..."

Organizational chart of Democrat health bill - July 15, 2009

Detailed color-coded organizational chart attempting to show the Byzantine structure of the nation's healthcare under proposed Democrat healthcare legislation.

Evidence shows Medicare costs rise faster - June 19, 2009

"The centerpiece of President Obama's plan is a "public option," described by Tom Daschle as "a government-run insurance program, modeled after Medicare." The president asserts that this new Medicare-like program would cut costs. But there are nearly 40 years of experience to consult, and they offer a resounding rebuttal. Across the years, Medicare's costs have risen far more than the costs of privately purchased care."

Flaws in socialized healthcare systems

Wash. Walgreens: no more Medicaid patients - March 17, 2010

"Effective April 16, Walgreens drugstores across the state won't take any new Medicaid patients, saying that filling their prescriptions is a money-losing proposition..."

Baby dies because doctors too busy - February 13, 2010

"A couple whose baby was dying of meningitis were forced to dial 999 for an ambulance from outside their GP surgery - after being told doctors were too busy to see him."

Leaving Canada for medical care - February 2010

"In 2009, an estimated 41,006 Canadians received nonemergency medical treatment outside Canada. This estimate is a noteworthy figure and is likely to be an underestimate of the actual number of patients..."

Mayo to stop treating Medicare patients - December 31, 2009

"The Mayo Clinic, praised by President Barack Obama as a national model for efficient health care, will stop accepting Medicare patients as of tomorrow at one of its primary-care clinics in Arizona, saying the U.S. government pays too little."

Massachusetts' Obama-like Reforms - August 27, 2009

"Those reforms reveal that the Obama plan would mean higher health insurance premiums for millions, would reduce choice by eliminating both low-cost and comprehensive health plans, would encourage insurers to avoid the sick and would reduce the quality of care."

Ian Birrell on the failures of Britain's NHS - August 21, 2009

"In this heartfelt polemic, based on his family's experiences in the health service, our writer argues that it suffers from deep flaws – and we are wrong to ignore them"

Canadians visit U.S. to get health care - August 20, 2009

"Hospitals in border cities, including Detroit, are forging lucrative arrangements with Canadian health agencies to provide care not widely available across the border."

Government medicine kills - August 7, 2009

"The state guides health care for our two closest allies: Great Britain and Canada. Like us, these are prosperous, industrial, Anglophone democracies. Nevertheless, compared to America, they suffer higher death rates for diseases, their patients experience severe pain, and they ration medical services."

Legislative maneuvers (dirty tricks)

White House pressuring Stupak to keep quiet - December 22, 2009

"Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) said the White House and the Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives have been pressuring him not to speak out on the "compromise" abortion language in the Senate version of the health care bill."

Healthcare bribes by Harry Reid - November 22, 2009

"Landrieu and Lincoln got the attention because they were the last to decide, but the Senate really has 100 Blanche DuBoises, a full house of characters inclined toward the narcissistic. The health-care debate was worse than most. With all 40 Republicans in lockstep opposition, all 60 members of the Democratic caucus had to vote yes -- and that gave each one an opportunity to extract concessions from Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid."

$100 million bribe to Louisiana - November 19, 2009

"Senator Harry Reid, who drafted the bill, cannot pass it without the support of Louisiana’s Mary Landrieu. How much does it cost? According to the Congressional Budget Office: $100 million."

Barney Frank: public option is best way to single payer - July 27, 2009

"I think that if we get a good public option it could lead to single payer and that is the best way to reach single payer."

Democrats block Republican healthcare mailing - July 23, 2009

"Democrats are preventing Republican House Members from sending their constituents a mailing that is critical of the majority’s health care reform plan, blocking the mailing by alleging that it is inaccurate. House Republicans are crying foul and claiming that the Democrats are using their majority to prevent GOP Members from communicating with their constituents."

Public opinion

42% support health care plan, 52% oppose - January 4, 2010

"Forty-two percent (42%) of U.S. voters now favor the health care reform plan proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats. That’s the most positive result since mid-November, but still most voters remain opposed."

Poll: Voters oppose healthcare legislation - December 22, 2009

"As the Senate prepares to vote on health care reform, American voters "mostly disapprove" of the plan 53 - 36 percent and disapprove 56 - 38 percent of President Barack Obama's handling of the health care issue, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Voters also oppose 72 - 23 percent using any public money in the health care overhaul to pay for abortions..."

Special interests

Pelosi healthcare bill rewards trial lawyers - October 30, 2009

"The health care bill recently unveiled by Speaker Nancy Pelosi is over 1,900 pages for a reason. It is much easier to dispense goodies to favored interest groups if they are surrounded by a lot of legislative legalese. For example, check out this juicy morsel to the trial lawyers (page 1431-1433 of the bill):"

Senate legislation's "ACORN" provision - August 18, 2009

"The health care reform bill approved by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP) would provide federal grants to state and local governments and a “national network of community-based organizations” to "promote healthy living and reduce disparities" and to monitor people's weight, eating, exercise habits and other individual behaviors that affect health at the community level."

Billions of pork dollars already in health bill - July 9, 2009

"Sweeping healthcare legislation working its way through Congress is more than an effort to provide insurance to millions of Americans without coverage. Tucked within is a provision that could provide billions of dollars for walking paths, streetlights, jungle gyms, and even farmers’ markets."

Stubborn & inconvenient facts

Fact check: Insurance company profits - October 25, 2009

"In the health care debate, Democrats and their allies have gone after insurance companies as rapacious profiteers making "immoral" and "obscene" returns while "the bodies pile up.""

Who would be covered?

CBO: 10 million could lose employer coverage - December 8, 2009

"The Congressional Budget Office estimates that up to 10 million people could lose their employer-based insurance coverage under the Senate's health care reform bill."

Bills fail to block illegals from coverage - November 30, 2009

"Hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants could receive health care coverage from their employers under the bills winding their way through Congress, despite President Obama's explicit pledge that illegal immigrants would not benefit."

Obamacare for illegal aliens - July 22, 2009

"Last week, the House Ways and Means Committee defeated an amendment that would have prevented illegal aliens from using the so-called "public health insurance option." Every Democrat on the panel voted against the measure."

Simply wrong or plain stupid

Penalty for being married in health bill - January 6, 2010

"Some married couples would pay thousands of dollars more for the same health insurance coverage as unmarried people living together, under the health insurance overhaul plan pending in Congress."

CBO: 10 million could lose employer coverage - December 8, 2009

"The Congressional Budget Office estimates that up to 10 million people could lose their employer-based insurance coverage under the Senate's health care reform bill."

Obamacare will lead to rationed care for elderly - August 14, 2009

"...once health care is nationalized, or mostly nationalized, rationing care is inevitable, and those who have lived the longest will find their care the most restricted."

2003 YouTube video of Obama promoting single payer - August 4, 2009

"I happen to be a proponent of a single payer universal health care program... And that’s what Jim is talking about when he says everybody in, nobody out. A single payer health care plan, a universal health care plan. And that’s what I’d like to see."

In 2007 Obama said he wanted to eliminate private insurance - August 2, 2009

"I don't think we're going to be able to eliminate employer coverage immediately. There's going to be potentially some transition process."

Barney Frank: public option is best way to single payer - July 27, 2009

"I think that if we get a good public option it could lead to single payer and that is the best way to reach single payer."

Health bill will fund forced vaccination teams - July 16, 2009

"CDC will provide grants to states to improve immunization coverage of children, adolescents, and adults through the use of evidence-based interventions. States may use funds to implement interventions that are recommended by the Community Preventive Services Task Force, such as reminders or recalls for patients or providers, or home visits."

House bill makes private insurance illegal - July 15, 2009

"It didn't take long to run into an "uh-oh" moment when reading the House's "health care for all Americans" bill. Right there on Page 16 is a provision making individual private medical insurance illegal."

Organizational chart of Democrat health bill - July 15, 2009

Detailed color-coded organizational chart attempting to show the Byzantine structure of the nation's healthcare under proposed Democrat healthcare legislation.