Health care confusion? Another "Who Knew?"

From McClatchy Newspapers via Drudge:

Health care overhaul spawns mass confusion for public

by Margaret Talev

Two weeks after President Barack Obama signed the big health care overhaul into law, Americans are struggling to understand how — and when — the sweeping measure will affect them.

Questions reflecting confusion have flooded insurance companies, doctors' offices, human resources departments and business groups.

"They're saying, 'Where do we get the free Obama care, and how do I sign up for that?' " said Carrie McLean, a licensed agent for eHealthInsurance.com. The California-based company sells coverage from 185 health insurance carriers in 50 states.....

......"We tell them it's not free, that there are going to be things in place that help people who are low-income, but that ultimately most of that is not going to be taking place until 2014," McLean said.

Adults with pre-existing conditions are frustrated to learn that insurers won't have to cover them until 2014 (though those under 18 will be protected in late September); then they become both hopeful and confused upon learning that a federal high-risk pool for them will be established in the next few months. "Health insurance is so confusing. You add this on top of it and it makes it even more confusing," McLean said....

.....A new wave of inquiries could come next month as federal COBRA subsidies for laid-off workers dry up.

Read it all here.

The Healthcare debate could be very interesting for constitutional scholars

The rest of us will just sit here and wait for the next show to fall.  But from Alamo City Pundit we find this argument.

New Battle of the Alamo (ISD); Will Healthcare Be Decided in San Antonio?
April 6, 2010 by Johnny Alamo

So, in an odd confluence of the two, it appears that the battle over the Healthcare Bill may be decided by . . . a 1990’s San Antonio Gun Control case, of all things!

WASHINGTON — A San Antonio high school senior’s decision to bring a .38 caliber handgun to class in 1992 could end up at the center of the coming legal fight over President Barack Obama’s health reform plan.

Alfonso Lopez Jr.’s arrest at Edison High School set in motion a courtroom battle that is likely to be studied by the 13 state attorneys general fighting the new health care law. Lopez, a high school senior when he was arrested on a handgun possession charge in March 1992, ended up facing federal charges of violating the Gun Free School Zones Act of 1990.

But the Supreme Court, on a 5-4 vote, threw out his conviction in 1995 on the ground that Congress exceeded its regulatory authority under the Constitution when it approved the 1990 law, which made it a violation of federal law to possess a firearm in a school zone.

In filing a lawsuit last week challenging the new health care law’s mandate that everyone must have health insurance, the 13 state attorneys general cited the same legal reasoning that went into the high court’s Lopez ruling.

At issue in both cases is the Constitution’s commerce clause, which limits the regulatory powers of Congress to matters involving interstate commerce. The attorneys general argue that Congress exceeded that limit by requiring individuals to purchase health insurance or pay a fine.

The emphasis is mine, go read Alamo City Pundit for the rest of the story.

The IRS and Healthcare

A Reuters report:

IRS could tap refunds for health insurance penalties

IRS cannot use levies, seizures, criminal sanctions (RC says "if that's the case why bother with checking? Answer: read further for the real disclosure")

IRS chief: Republican estimate for new hires "made up" (RC:"oh, yeah?")

WASHINGTON, April 5 (Reuters) - The Internal Revenue Service could tap individual tax returns to collect fines against people who fail to buy health insurance as required under recently enacted healthcare legislation, the U.S. tax commissioner said on Monday.

Most individuals are required to get health insurance under the new law, or face penalties that would be phased in over time. By 2016, people without coverage could see fines of 2 percent of their income. (RC I guess fines are not levies)

Subsidies would help poorer people buy coverage, and states would set up exchanges to allow individuals and small groups shop for insurance.

People who do not comply would be levied penalties, and if they don't pay them the penalties could be taken out of their tax refunds. (RC: hmmm... if it comes out of your refund it must be some sort of tax)

Read it all, I'm sure you can find more to criticize as I did.

Links to discussions on the Healthcare debacle UPDATED

Updated 
From Investors.com (Investor's Business Daily)
20 Ways ObamaCare Will Take Away Our Freedoms

From the Atlantic:
The Future After Health Care

From the American Thinker:
Where Were You When the Republic Died?
By Matt Patterson
In November 2008, Americans elected a socialist as their president. In March 2010, they woke up stunned to find themselves living in a socialist country.... A Must read

Kipling knew Obama  -- another must read

From the American Spectator:
The Disappearing Pro-Life Democrat - a confirmation of what we knew already

Rush Was Right

From the New York Times
Big Win for Obama, but at What Cost?

In Health Care Reform, Boons for Hospitals and Drug Makers

EDITORIAL: Democrats' death by suicide

From Slate:
The Stupak MysteryWhy did he hold out for a meaningless executive order?

All In   Obama and Democrats gamble on health care.

And  from now on we will be posting the unseen, backroom deals that went on with this bill.  If they can be found.  Yesterday the airports in Michigan came out, it wasn't abortion legalese he was waiting for. Today and tomorrow and on until November, more and more will be coming out.  We will post what we find.

Only Nancy Pelosi

Could use the words great pride and humility in the same sentence while claiming them for herself and the Democrats. Hypocrisy, not democracy, is what we have seen tonight.

What it Really means

What it Really Means

This is what Nick Ramirez thinks of the Dems Healthcare bill

From Investor's Business Daily

The Pollster the Dems Want to Believe

Yesterday the Washington Post had pollsters who were warning Democrats against the healthcare bill.  Today they have an editorial by the one they apparently listen to.

Most Americans want health care reform

By Joel Benenson

It is ironic that Democratic pollsters Patrick H. Caddell and Douglas E. Schoen felt "compelled" to "challenge the myths" about public attitudes on health care by simply restating one of the most commonly stated -- and patently wrong -- Republican myths [Washington Forum, March 12].

No pollster, including me, could look at the recent data and responsibly say anything other than that the American public is closely divided when it comes to supporting or opposing various health-care plans. The most recent Washington Post poll (from Feb. 10) shows a narrow gap between support and opposition: 46 percent favor; 49 percent oppose. This data is consistent with eight of the 12 most recent independent public polls reported on Pollster.com.

In light of this data, it is irresponsible, and wrong, for Schoen and Caddell to assert that a "solid majority of Americans oppose" health-care reform.

In fact, two recent polls, including one with the most negative ratings on health care, reveal through follow-up questions that a significant number of people who oppose current plans do so because they don't go far enough rather than because they go too far. Not only is it absurd to suggest that these people would rise up against Democrats for passing the president's plan, it is far more likely that they would join others who support the plan and punish those who tried to block reform or voted against it.

Let's take the CNN poll from early January -- the most negative independent poll on health care and one that predated President Obama's proposal. Only 40 percent supported the bills passed by Congress, while 57 percent opposed them. But in a crucial follow-up question, a net of 10 percent of all Americans opposed the bill because it was "not liberal enough." If one makes the reasonable assumption that these people are far more likely to side with supporters of the president's plan than with Republicans who are obstructing it, the results would show that 50 percent favor the plan or want a broader one, while only 45 percent oppose the plan.

Similarly, a more recent poll by Ipsos showed that among the 47 percent who initially said they "opposed health care," more than a third of opponents said they "favor" reform overall but think the current plan doesn't go "far enough." Shifting these people to the group in "favor of reform" would reduce opposition to current reforms to under 40 percent.

I printed all of the editorial yesterday. Today I'm doing just a part. To read the rest go here.

Pat Cadell Pleads with Democrats in an Editorial in the Washington Post

Along with Douglas E. Schoen.  These are noted Democratic pollsters who see the Democrats marching blindly over the cliff. Here in it's entirety is what they say:
(note: all emphasis is Rockport conservative's)

In "The March of Folly," Barbara Tuchman asked, "Why do holders of high office so often act contrary to the way reason points and enlightened self-interest suggests?" Her assessment of self-deception -- "acting according to wish while not allowing oneself to be deflected by the facts" -- captures the conditions that are gripping President Obama and the Democratic Party leadership as they renew their efforts to enact health-care reform.

Their blind persistence in the face of reality threatens to turn this political march of folly into an electoral rout in November. In the wake of the stinging loss in Massachusetts, there was a moment when the president and the Democratic leadership seemed to realize the reality of the health-care situation. Yet like some seductive siren of Greek mythology, the lure of health-care reform has arisen again.

As pollsters to the past two Democratic presidents, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, respectively, we feel compelled to challenge the myths that seem to be prevailing in the political discourse and to once again urge a change in course before it is too late. At stake is the kind of mainstream, common-sense Democratic Party that we believe is crucial to the success of the American enterprise.

Bluntly put, this is the political reality:

First, the battle for public opinion has been lost. Comprehensive health care has been lost. If it fails, as appears possible, Democrats will face the brunt of the electorate's reaction. If it passes, however, Democrats will face a far greater calamitous reaction at the polls. Wishing, praying or pretending will not change these outcomes.

Nothing has been more disconcerting than to watch Democratic politicians and their media supporters deceive themselves into believing that the public favors the Democrats' current health-care plan. Yes, most Americans believe, as we do, that real health-care reform is needed. And yes, certain proposals in the plan are supported by the public.

However, a solid majority of Americans opposes the massive health-reform plan. Four-fifths of those who oppose the plan strongly oppose it, according to Rasmussen polling this week, while only half of those who support the plan do so strongly. Many more Americans believe the legislation will worsen their health care, cost them more personally and add significantly to the national deficit. Never in our experience as pollsters can we recall such self-deluding misconstruction of survey data.

The White House document released Thursday arguing that reform is becoming more popular is in large part fighting the last war. This isn't 1994; it's 2010. And the bottom line is that the American public is overwhelmingly against this bill in its totality even if they like some of its parts.

The notion that once enactment is forced, the public will suddenly embrace health-care reform could not be further from the truth -- and is likely to become a rallying cry for disaffected Republicans, independents and, yes, Democrats.

Second, the country is moving away from big government, with distrust growing more generally toward the role of government in our lives. Scott Rasmussen asked last month whose decisions people feared more in health care: that of the federal government or of insurance companies. By 51 percent to 39 percent, respondents feared the decisions of federal government more. This is astounding given the generally negative perception of insurance companies.

CNN found last month that 56 percent of Americans believe that the government has become so powerful it constitutes an immediate threat to the freedom and rights of citizens. When only 21 percent of Americans say that Washington operates with the consent of the governed, as was also reported last month, we face an alarming crisis.

Health care is no longer a debate about the merits of specific initiatives. Since the spectacle of Christmas dealmaking to ensure passage of the Senate bill, the issue, in voters' minds, has become less about health care than about the government and a political majority that will neither hear nor heed the will of the people.

Voters are hardly enthralled with the GOP, but the Democrats are pursuing policies that are out of step with the way ordinary Americans think and feel about politics and government. Barring some change of approach, they will be punished severely at the polls.

Now, we vigorously opposed Republican efforts in the Bush administration to employ the "nuclear option" in judicial confirmations. We are similarly concerned by Democrats' efforts to manipulate passage of a health-care bill. Doing so in the face of constant majority opposition invites a backlash against the party at every level -- and at a time when it already faces the prospect of losing 30 or more House seats and eight or more Senate seats.

For Democrats to begin turning around their political fortunes there has to be a frank acknowledgement that the comprehensive health-care initiative is a failure, regardless of whether it passes. There are enough Republican and Democratic proposals -- such as purchasing insurance across state lines, malpractice reform, incrementally increasing coverage, initiatives to hold down costs, covering preexisting conditions and ensuring portability -- that can win bipartisan support. It is not a question of starting over but of taking the best of both parties and presenting that as representative of what we need to do to achieve meaningful reform. Such a proposal could even become a template for the central agenda items for the American people: jobs and economic development.

Unless the Democrats fundamentally change their approach, they will produce not just a march of folly but also run the risk of unmitigated disaster in November.

Patrick H. Caddell is a political commentator and former pollster. Douglas E. Schoen, a pollster, is the author of "The Political Fix."

Huge Anti-Health Care Crowd in Missouri

From Gateway Pundit
2,225 TURNED OUT TODAY!!
by Jim Hoft

PACKED HOUSE——
They were expecting 600…… 1,800+ SHOWED UP TODAY!
UPDATE:—- New Count— 2,225 TURNED OUT TODAY!!
The Wednesday Rally called by Rep. Todd Akin & GOP House Leader John Boehner is the federal-healthcare equivalent of “The Gunfight at the OK Corral” for Missouri!
Go on over to Gateway Pundit and read all about it, see the pictures.

The End Does Justify the Means to the Democrats

From Investors Business Daily via Lucianne.com

Losing In Fall OK With Democrats If It Means They Win Health Care

by Mark Steyn

So there was President Obama giving his bazillionth speech on health care, droning yet again that "now is the hour when we must seize the moment," the same moment he's been seizing every day of the week for the past year, only this time his genius photo-op guys thought it would look good to have him surrounded by men in white coats.

Why is he doing this? Why let "health" "care" "reform" stagger on like the rotting husk in a low-grade creature feature who refuses to stay dead no matter how many stakes you pound through his chest?

Because it's worth it. Big time. I've been saying in this space for two years that the governmentalization of health care is the fastest way to a permanent left-of-center political culture.

It redefines the relationship between the citizen and the state in fundamental ways that make limited government all but impossible.....

....The Democrats understand that politics is not just about Tuesday evenings every other November, but about everything else, too.

Go read it all Mark Steyn is deperately trying to warn us there is a big cliff ahead and we are going over it.

The Time to Act is Now

From The Right Coast blog:
The Time for Public Protests and Tea Parties is Now
Mike Rappaport
It seems like the finale of the health care restructuring debate is now upon us. I do not hold out much hope that any restrictions from the reconciliation process will stop the legislation. No, the main hope is to prevent a majority of House members from supporting the passage of the Senate bill in the House. The problem is that the Speaker has lots of power to twist arms and President Obama has the power to promise goodies to House members who may lose their seats. Obama will only be too happy to emulate consequential President Lyndon Johnson, who twisted arms and offered goodies to get the 1964 Civil Rights Act passed.

The main hope now is to convince the Democratic House members -- both the ones who perceive themselves at risk and the ones who currently do not -- that there will be severe consequences from voting for this monstrosity.
Read it all.

One Way to Save Money on Health Care

From the Houston Chronicle:
Three plead guilty in Houston Medicare fraud case
by Mike Glenn

The owner and two employees of a Houston medical supply company pleaded guilty in federal court today for bilking the government out of almost $1 million in fraudulent claims.

Bassey Monday Idiong, 30, Linda Eteimo Ere Kendabie, 27, and Modupe Babanumi, 42, face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, authorities said.

Idiong was the owner of B.I. Medical Supply while Kendabie was an administrative assistant and Babanumi recruited patients for the company, said officials with the U.S. Justice Department.

According to federal authorities, the defendants billed Medicare $4,000 each for a collection of braces and other devices they referred to as “arthritis kits.” However, their patients received less-expensive products that were not medically necessary. In one case, a patient with only one leg received a kit that had two knee braces, authorities said.

The company submitted about $846,000 in fraudulent claims to Medicare, officials said.

I can't say much more about this, except to multiply this in your mind, by say ten, and you are still probably way under the total amount of fraud in Medicare and Medicaid.  What do you think will happen with total healthcare?
 Read more here.

In which I agree with the Associated Press- Summit will not break logjam on

Well, actually they are reporting, but I agree.
Dems, GOP: Summit will not break logjam on health
by CHARLES BABINGTON

WASHINGTON – Here's one point on which Democrats and Republicans agree on health care: President Barack Obama's much-touted televised summit has virtually no chance of breaking the political logjam. That means Democrats will be forced to find a way to pass an overhaul on their own or face a huge political defeat.

Lawmakers from both parties suggested the Obama-hosted meeting Thursday will amount to little more than political theater. No cracks appeared in the GOP's overwhelming opposition to Democrats' efforts. And both parties saw the president's revised, far-reaching proposal, released Monday, as a call for Democrats to try to pass the legislation on their own under Senate rules that would bar Republican delaying tactics.

Go ahead and read it all, if you want. Probably not much new.

US Health Care Better Than Canada's According to the Premier

'My heart, my choice,' Williams says, defending decision for U.S. heart surgery

An unapologetic Danny Williams says he was aware his trip to the United States for heart surgery earlier this month would spark outcry, but he concluded his personal health trumped any public fallout over the controversial decision.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, Williams said he went to Miami to have a "minimally invasive" surgery for an ailment first detected nearly a year ago, based on the advice of his doctors.

"This was my heart, my choice and my health," Williams said late Monday from his condominium in Sarasota, Fla.

"I did not sign away my right to get the best possible health care for myself when I entered politics."

Good thing he had it done before we ruin the system.  Read it all here.

Feds will pay for abortions three ways in the O's bill

According to a post in Weekly Standard bog by John McCormack
President Obama's health care plan would use federal dollars to pay for abortions in at least three ways.

First, it contains Ben Nelson's so-called compromise amendment in which allows insurance plans purchased with federal subsidies to cover abortions. Nelson's amendment doesn't apply to the whole bill, so there are two other provisions that would allow direct federal funding of abortion.

The National Right to Life Committee notes that Obama's plan would provide $11 billion dollars for community health centers--$4 billion more than the original Senate bill--and there is no language preventing these funds from paying for abortions.

Third, the Senate bill allows for direct federal funding of abortions on Indian reservations.

All three of these measures were slipped into the Senate bill at the last minute in the manager's amendment. Ben Nelson admitted that the funding of abortions on Indian reservations was an oversight that would "have to be addressed in the conference." Except now there isn't going to be a conference--just a House vote on the Senate bill and some minor fiddling with the numbers through reconciliation with no significant changes to the abortion language.

Members of Congress liked to hide behind the fig leaf of Nelson's "segregation of funding" amendment to claim the bill banned abortion funding, but they can't make this claim regarding community health centers or Indian reservations.

What else is in there? I will try to keep up with it and let you know.

This is not the healthcare model we are looking for

From Dolley Doright who lived in Scotland under this system. It is from the Daily Mail UK
Children at top hospital had to wash in buckets

Sick children at a leading hospital were forced to wash in buckets for almost a month after bosses failed to fix the hot water supply.

More than 100 youngsters, some of them seriously ill, were left without hot running water.

Parents were forced to carry hot water in buckets from a single working tap in a sluice room so their children could wash. Youngsters suffering from brain tumours and cystic fibrosis were among those affected.

Read the rest, it is sickening. We will be reduced to this is this administration has its way.

I Hope This is the Final Word on Healthcare

From YahooNews/AP
Pelosi: House lacks votes to OK Senate health bill
by Alan Fram

WASHINGTON – Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that she lacks the votes to quickly move the Senate's sweeping health overhaul bill through the House, a potentially devastating blow to President Barack Obama's signature issue.

Pelosi, D-Calif., made the comment to reporters after House Democrats held a closed-door meeting at which participants vented frustration with the Senate's massive version of the legislation.

On The Precipice

George Will writes on the Democrats in today's Washington Post:

"We are on the precipice of an achievement that's eluded Congresses and presidents for generations."

-- President Barack Obama, Dec. 15, on health-care legislation

Precipice, 1. a headlong fall or descent, esp. to a great depth.

-- Oxford English Dictionary

Trying to guarantee Americans the thrill of the precipice, the president dashed to Massachusetts on Sunday, thereby conceding that he had already lost Tuesday's Senate election, which had become a referendum on his signature program. By promising to cast the decisive 41st vote against the president's health-care legislation, the Republican candidate forced all congressional Democrats to contemplate this: Not even frenzied national mobilization of Democratic manpower and millions of dollars could rescue one of the safest Democratic seats in the national legislature from national dismay about the incontinent government expansion, of which that legislation is symptomatic.

Because the legislation is frightening and unpopular, Democrats have had to resort to serial bribery to advance it. Massachusetts voted immediately after the corruption of exempting, until 2018, union members from the tax on high-value health insurance plans. This tax was supposedly the crucial component of what supposedly was reform's primary goal: reducing costs.  

Read it all.

C-Span is on the Job

via Wizbang Blog
CSPAN's Brian Lamb to Dems: Open them closed doors

The C-SPAN television network is calling on congressional leaders to open health care talks to cameras -- something President Barack Obama promised as a candidate.

Instead the most critical negotiations on Obama's health plan have taken place behind closed doors, as Republicans repeatedly point out. In a Dec. 30 letter to House and Senate leaders released Tuesday, C-SPAN chief executive Brian Lamb asked for negotiations on a compromise bill to be opened up for public viewing, as Democrats work to reconcile differences between legislation passed by the two chambers.

Real Clear Politics has a video of President Obama saying it would be on C-Span during a Democratic debate of 2009. That was then, this is now.