Editorial: Removing the smokescreen

Anybody can create a fancy website and fill it with a lot of fluff and fancy talk, but without facts and sources how do you know what to believe?

Here’s some straight talk with questions for you to ask the people that represent us in Washington D.C.

Do you guarantee that I will get to keep the plan I have and the doctor I have?
The president has said this repeatedly, but expert after expert has confirmed that this is simply not true. Think about it, if you have a policy through your employer, your employer picks the policy you choose from, right? So if the new law puts forward a cheap ‘government option/public plan,’ employers will dump employees into it and pocket the savings just as any smart, businessman would do. (Source: http://www.usnews.com/articles/opinion/2009/07/17/a-medicare-style-public-option-in-healthcare-would-kill-private-insurance.html)

How can a private insurance company compete with a ‘Government run plan’?
A ‘Government run plan” will not pay taxes like private insurance companies do. CBO estimates taxes account for 1.2% of private insurer’s premium on the average. In addition to the fact that a ‘Government run plan’ will have access to bottomless pockets with taxpayer subsidized funding and bailouts. Case and point, Amtrak and USPS, they’ve been in the red for years and they still continue to get bailed out. Look at the current ‘Government run plan”, AKA Medicare and the advantage plans. These plans were supposed to create a level playing field, but with all the Congressional interference and legislation it has never happened. (Source: http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-613.pdf)

Will seniors be guaranteed joint replacements, life saving treatments like stents, and chemotherapy, or will they be forced to accept less-costly and less-effective alternatives?
Or as President Obama puts it “If there’s a blue pill and a red pill, and the blue pill is half the price of the red pill and works just as well, why not pay half for the thing that’s going to make you well.” This is not the real world, because the Red Pill is the Generic and there is no Generic that is exactly the same as the original. “The active ingredient that helps control your seizures is the same in both ‘brand’ and ‘generic’ names but the substances that are used as fillers, dyes, or binders, sometimes differ. This can occasionally make a difference in how quickly they are absorbed from your stomach or processed by your body. This may affect how much medicine you need.”
(Source: http://bipolar.about.com/od/medications/a/genericdrugs.htm)
As far as the treatments, of course they aren’t going to get the best, most expensive treatments. Consider this, Medicare is already nearly broke and with this bill the President proposes, nearly $178.2 billion in legislative and administrative Medicare cuts will take place over the next five years, $556.4 billion over the next 10 years, and this will happen just when we are adding 20-30% more to the Medicare program as the “Baby boomers” come of age. (Source: http://www.ncpssm.org/news/archive/vp_budget_seniors/)

Will seniors have to wait longer for their treatments than they do now?
Common sense tells us that you cannot add 46 Million (their number) to the system and not expect for waiting times to become longer. In Massachusetts under their failed healthcare system the wait time has tripled.
From 2000-2008 the average wait time in Massachusetts to see a specialist was 49.6% and has gotten worse.
(Source: http://www.NCPA.org/pub/ba667)

Doesn’t Canada have long lines for important surgeries?
Yes, that is widely reported and verified. All total 827,429 people were waiting for a procedure in Canada, this from a study in 2007, and statistics tell us that number has not improved if anything it has gotten worse.
(Source: http://www.NCPA.org/p;ub/BA649)

Have you read the bill well enough to be interviewed about it by a multi party panel on T.V. or Radio?
Of course they haven’t and of course they won’t, case and point Senator Conyers.
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACbwND52rrw)

Will you oppose any healthcare reform bill that uses my tax dollars to pay for abortions?
Senator Mikulski (D-MD) attempted to add an amendment to the healthcare bill that would, in her words, “include women’s health clinics that provide comprehensive services…deemed medically necessary or appropriate.” , in other words, Abortion. The amendment to actually prohibit funding of abortion lost 11-to-12.
(Source: http://www.opencongress.org/people/blogs/300073?sort=newest)
What it boils down to is that they keep saying that the bill says nothing about abortion, and they are right, it doesn’t, because you have to have an amendment to prohibit something, other than that if the wording is not in the bill than it is acceptable. Whether you Pro-choice or Pro-Life you have to remember that Planned Parenthood already gets plenty of funding from the Federal Government. In their annual report released last year it shows that they had a total income of $1.02 billion. Of that total, $258.7 million came from donations; $366.9 million came from fees charged customers at its clinics; and a whopping $336.7 million came from the American taxpayer. Taxpayer money represented 33 percent of Planned Parenthood’s income. I don’t think they need anymore. (Source: http://sev.prnewswire.com/health-care-hospitals/20080331/DC1808531032008-1.html)

Will my parents be required to have the “end of life” counseling?
If so, why, and will they be required to do this even if they already have everything in place are well prepared for the end of their life? If in fact this is a requirement can we please see a copy of what the “end of life” counseling will consist of. (Source: House bill, p. 425-430).

Massachusetts has already implemented the same type of plan as the house bill and it has failed miserably and the cost has already tripled the projected cost. Why is Congress and the President pushing through a healthcare bill that would cost another trillion dollars over the next ten years?
Shouldn’t we concentrate on getting the debt under control first? And who’s to say that the cost of this plan is not going to triple just as it did in Massachusetts.
(Source: http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba667)

How can you say there will not be rationing when you are adding, 46 Million (your number) uninsured to the same amount of practitioners and facilities, how is that possible? You can’t feed more people with the same amount of food without somebody getting less or doing without, how is healthcare any different? In addition to the fact that you are forcing us in the direction of more government involvement in healthcare when everywhere in the world government-run healthcare has been tried, quality declines and care is rationed?
Even advisors to President Obama, such as Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, brother of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, have suggested that healthcare should be rationed to certain individuals. Dr. Emanuel once wrote, and I quote, “services provided to individuals who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens…should not be guaranteed. An obvious example is not guaranteeing health services to patients with dementia.”
(Source: http://www.ncpa.org/pdfs/Where_Civic_Republicanism_and_Deliberative_Democracy_Meet.pdf)

Why do you believe government bureaucrats can make better decisions than myself about what kind of health insurance I should have, what gives you that right? And will you guarantee that any healthcare reform bill passed by Congress will always allow me to choose my own doctor, no matter what?
The healthcare reform bill in the House will eventually force all Americans into a government-approved plan. After a five-year grace period, every new insurance policy will have to comply with government mandates, and any policy changes – “altering co-pays, deductibles, or even switching coverage for this or that drug” – invalidates your previous coverage and forces you to choose a government “qualified” plan. In addition, the House plan mandates coverage for every individual. If you are self-employed or choose not to buy insurance for whatever reason, the bill imposes a “healthcare tax” of 2.5% of your income. (Source: CNNMoney.com, July 24, 2009 and Bloomberg.com, July 15, 2009)

Why are you throwing affirmative action/racial set-asides into a healthcare reform bill?
Do you care about the race of a doctor who is getting ready to operate on you? Of course not. Most Americans want their doctor to be the best professional available regardless of race or ethnic background. But congressional liberals have a different idea. On page 909 of the House bill, grants to medical schools will be awarded “to entities that have a demonstrated record of the following…training individuals who are from underrepresented minority groups or disadvantaged backgrounds.” Sounds like reverse discrimination to me.
(Source: Investors Business Daily, July 27, 2009)

The President keeps saying that no one will be denied coverage, Isn’t it clear that this provision would drive up the cost of health insurance for everyone?
The President has repeatedly said that “no insurance company will be allowed to deny you coverage because of a pre-existing medical condition.” That sounds wonderful until you apply common sense, which is obviously in short supply in Washington. What if we made a law that allowed you to buy car insurance after you got into an accident and that required the insurance company to pay for the damage? Wouldn’t many people just wait for an accident before buying insurance? Why wouldn’t many Americans wait until they were sick to buy health insurance, which is obviously what many have done given your number of “46 Million” uninsured. (Source: Common Sense)

Can you promise me that Illegal Aliens will not be covered under this Healthcare bill?
Earlier this month the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee defeated an amendment which would have excluded illegal aliens from this massive healthcare bill. In addition to replacing our private healthcare system with a government-run program, many have argued that this bill is in fact, a ‘backdoor’ amnesty. The Democratically-controlled committee voted 23-18 to defeat the measure introduced by Rep. Dean Heller (R-NV), which would have required the use of the existing Income and Eligibility Verification System and the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements System, before any care is given. This move would have ensured that only U.S. citizens would receive the taxpayer funded care. While Obama has made claims that illegal aliens will not be covered by his plan, but, the following line can be found among the 1018 page bill: Sec. 59B, Pg. 170, Line 1 – “Any NONRESIDENT alien is exempt from individual taxes.” Okay, so the illegals are exempt from the taxes, but they still get coverage? And this makes sense in what realm of reality?

Until next time, Stand proud, be Passionate my fellow Patriots and we will prevail.

BreeLee Johnston is the founder of United American Tea Party which is a Chapter of Just Patriots Inc in St. Johns County. She is a member of the National Leadership Council of Tea Party Patriots as well as the Florida Coordinator for ICaucus.org and contributes a regular guest editorial to Historic City News.