WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator George LeMieux (R-FL) today spoke on the Senate Floor in opposition to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) new health care bill, which was unveiled over the weekend. The measure cuts even more from Medicare for seniors than the previous version and adds additional taxes.
“This bill still cuts Medicare for seniors, it still raises taxes, and it still does nothing to lower the costs of health insurance. In fact, for many Americans, it will result in health care cost increases,” said LeMieux. “Why do we need to rush this bill through before Christmas, before we have had a chance to read it and amend it and improve it? The issue of providing affordable access to health care is too important and too big an issue to move hastily. In its current form, this is not a good bill for America.”
During his floor speech, Senator LeMieux offered an amendment to extend to the state of Florida the same benefit that will provide 100 percent federal funding to the state of Nebraska for the expanded Medicaid program mandated by this bill. Senator LeMieux’s amendment to give Florida the same treatment as Nebraska was objected to by the Democrats.
BACKGROUND:
The 2,733 page Reid Amendment was unveiled Saturday, December 19, 2009. The Senate is expected to vote on the health care bill possibly as early as Christmas Eve, December 24, 2009. The bill:
Cuts Medicare: $470.7 billion
Increases Taxes: $518.5 billion
Overall Cost:
o The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says the gross cost of the insurance coverage expansion is $23 billion higher under the manager’s amendment.
o Federal revenues (mainly because of the payroll tax) increase by about $26 billion.
o All told, the amendment reduces the deficit an additional $2 billion (from $130 billion to $132 billion).
o The $132 billion in deficit reduction is less than the $156 billion deficit for October. In other words, any possible savings over 10 years of this bill are already erased by the deficit spending in the last month alone.
o CBO said that the range of uncertainty for their estimate outside the 10-year budget window is “quite wide” and “subject to substantial uncertainty.”
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The federal cost curve still goes UP:
Under the legislation, federal outlays for health care would increase during the 2010–2019 period, as would the federal budgetary commitment to health care. The net increase would be about $200 billion over that 10-year period.
Coverage:
· There is a slight increase in coverage, with 23 million left uninsured as opposed to 24 million in the base bill.
Premiums: Despite the fact that Democrats have said that changes in the manager’s package would improve the delivery system, CBO said that it is likely the amendment would have little impact on premiums.

Unfunded Mandates: State spending on Medicaid and SCHIP would increase by about $26 billion over the 10 year budget window (up from $23 billion in the earlier bill). Only one state, Nebraska, was given relief from this unfunded mandate.

 

Health Care, What Happens Now?

Nov. 6th., 2009

Okay so what happens now on Health Care? The House fails to pass this bill what happens, HR3962 is dead, but the House could begin a new modified bill though its processes. It would not be a dead issue, just probably less a Socialist Power Grab and more substantive health care reforms and 3rd. party… payer controls as a final bill.

Assuming the House passes the bill, the White Hot Heat goes back to the Senate. Harry Reid, majority leader, has (right now) a joint Committee Senate bill under works where both Senate Committee Bills are being combined. The combination bill is a behind closed doors effort. Reid, has announced that this effort is in SloMo and he doubts he can get a bill to the Senate floor before the new year. Why? Reid has trouble back in Nevada and he worries that he’ll be turned out by the Nevada Voters. One Third of the Senate faces the voters in 2010 and should the Dems loose 10 seats in the Senate, they loose control of the government agenda at least thru 2012. Further, no Senator wants to run on having passed a Health Care Bill with a public option, even if they want it in a bill. Why? They know that 55% of American does not want it. Hence, a Senator sees their re election as DOA if they read this one wrong. House leadership told their members to “fall on their swords” and pass the bill and Obama would do everything to help them over come the fall out.

Well, Govenor Corizine’s massive defeat after five Obama promotional visits highligned the value of that experience with Obama, has put a chill on the value of that promise for support. Thus, Senators are seeing a rough ride in the coming months and will not rush to the chopping block, no matter how much pressure they get from Obama or Reid. (A U.S. Senator has the best job in the world!) So, I see Conservatives getting a time window to consolidate power, raise funds and focus on individual week Senators to walk away on the bill and defeat the Senate passing a healthcare bill. Remember, that is now unwanted by 55% of the American people and that public sentiment is growing by 1-2% every few weeks! Such an act of passage would not play well in any officials 2010 re-election bid. All that said, should Reid, unpredictably push a Health Care bill to the Senate floor, the “Conservative Nation” will again get a chance to defeat it, but Reid will need all 60 votes to close off Filibuster. Right now, he doesn’t have those votes. The course of events in the House will have a lot of influence in how the Dem’s in the Senate react as they will watch the back lash the House members get the House passes their bill.

So to chill Senatorial Ardor to pass a Senate Heakth Bill, we need to WHIP the Congress for passing a bill, it needs to get really ugly in an all out attack on each “Yea” vote back in their home districts. That will temper the Senatorial zeal to press for quick passage. If the Senate still seeks to pass a bill this year, we attack the Senators with all the grass roots pressure we can muster in protest, demonstration and political attack on their future as a Senator.

If the Senate passes their bill, what Happens? The House and Senate bills would then be sent to JOINT CONFERENCE were House and Senator members (behind closed doors) horse trade the provisions of each bill in to a single bill. This compromise Bill when completed is then sent back to the House and the Senate for final Passage. We do not get any leverage in the Joint committee, but. When the Compromise Bill is complete, it must be first acted on by , you guessed it, the full Senate. Now We get a new chance to stop it in the Senate. If the Senate fails to pass it, it dies. If they do pass it, goes back to the House.

In the House we get a final last chance to defeat the bill. If we have sufficiently obtained the Houses attention earlier and with re election now looming ever closer our opposition must be politically devastatingly and frightening to those that expect to actually be re elected. We have to make the Capital Dome shake to the foundation to cause the Blue Dogs and Turncoats to back off passage in an election year. It is a tall order, and the path to defeat is long and arduous.

If by some stoke of luck and hard work, we delay the passage in to the spring, we will have a single special election of national scope in the Spring. This single election to replace the departed Rep Wexler in the Florida 19th. district will be a national battlefield. This sole election will be an national focus for Marxists and Conservatives to battle their ideas and their ideals. The Florida 19th is the battleground with so much at stake it should stagger the mind. Why, because this battle will foretell the congressional elections in the fall. The test of Obama’s coat tail effect, his Marxist policies against the the shape of the Conservative agenda. Platforms, and electioneering will all be tested and can shape the entire fall election agenda. If health care has not passed in to law by the Fl. 19th election, it would be unlikely to pass there after if the Conservatives win the special election. The conservative agenda must be to coalesce, develop fund raising, and provide an incredible level of human effort to beat this bill with all out effort at every step of the way.

 

Video For 11/05/09 Protest

Michele Bachmann & 30,000 Tea Party Protest November 5, 2009 the Health Care Bill and converge on Washington DC

 

Reading Guide—Pelosi Health “Reform” Bill

Reading Guide—Pelosi Health “Reform” Bill

October 29, 2009

In order to assist Members, staff, and interested parties seeking to read and review the health “reform” legislation (H.R. 3962) introduced by House Democrats, the Republican Conference has compiled a list of important page numbers and provisions in the 1,990-page “Affordable Health Care for America Act:”

Page 94—Section 202(c) prohibits the sale of private individual health insurance policies, beginning in 2013, forcing individuals to purchase coverage through the federal government

Page 110—Section 222(e) requires the use of federal dollars to fund abortions through the government-run health plan—and, if the Hyde Amendment were ever not renewed, would require the plan to fund elective abortions

Page 111—Section 223 establishes a new board of federal bureaucrats (the “Health Benefits Advisory Committee”) to dictate the health plans that all individuals must purchase—and would likely require all Americans to subsidize and purchase plans that cover any abortion

Page 211—Section 321 establishes a new government-run health plan that, according to non-partisan actuaries at theHULewin GroupUH, would cause as many as 114 million Americans to lose their existing coverage

Page 225—Section 330 permits—but does not require—Members of Congress to enroll in government-run health care

Page 255—Section 345 includes language requiring verification of income for individuals wishing to receive federal health care subsidies under the bill—while the bill includes a requirement for applicants to verify their citizenship, it does not include a similar requirement to verify applicants’ identity, thus encouraging identity fraud for undocumented immigrants and others wishing to receive taxpayer-subsidized health benefits

Page 297—Section 501 imposes a 2.5 percent tax on all individuals who do not purchase “bureaucrat-approved” health insurance—the tax would apply on individuals with incomes under $250,000, thus breaking a central HUpromiseUH of then-Senator Obama’s presidential campaign

Page 313—Section 512 imposes an 8 percent “tax on jobs” for firms that cannot afford to purchase “bureaucrat-approved” health coverage; according to an HUanalysisUH by Harvard Professor Kate Baicker, such a tax would place millions “at substantial risk of unemployment”—Uwith minority workers losing their jobs at twice the rate of their white counterparts

Page 336—Section 551 imposes additional job-killing taxes, in the form of a half-trillion dollar “surcharge,” more than half of which will hit small businesses; according to a model developed by President Obama’s senior economic advisor, such taxes could cost up to 5.5 million jobs

Page 520—Section 1161 cuts more than $150 billion from Medicare Advantage plans, potentially jeopardizing millions of seniors’ existing coverage

Page 733—Section 1401 establishes a new Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research; the bill includes no provisions preventing the government-run health plan from using such research to deny access to life-saving treatments on cost grounds, similar to Britain’s National Health Service, which denies patient treatments costing more than £35,000

Page 1174—Section 1802(b) includes provisions entitled “TAXES ON CERTAIN INSURANCE POLICIES” to fund comparative effectiveness research, breaking Speaker Pelosi’s promise that “UWe will not be taxing [health] benefits in any bill that passes the HouseU,” and the President’s promise not to raise taxes on families with incomes under $250,000

 

By ALAN FRAM (AP)

WASHINGTON — Public disapproval of President Barack Obama’s handling of health care has leaped to 52 percent, according to Associated Press-GfK poll that underscores the country’s glowering mood just as the White House revs up its pitch for an overhaul.

Just 42 percent approve of the president’s work on the high-profile health issue. The survey was released Wednesday hours before his nationally televised effort to persuade Congress and voters to back his drive to reshape the nation’s $2.5 trillion-a-year medical system.

Spotlighting how Obama lost ground this summer, his latest approval figures on health were essentially reversed since July, when 50 percent approved of his health effort and just 43 percent disapproved.

The poll illustrates how difficult recent weeks have been for a president who, besides tackling health care, has been battling to end a devastatingly deep recession. Fifty percent approve and 49 percent disapprove of the overall job he is doing as president, compared to July, when those approving his performance clearly outnumbered those who were unhappy with it, 55 percent to 42 percent.

The slipping figures were an ominous sign for Obama, who by year’s end wants Congress to send him legislation lowering health costs while covering millions of uninsured Americans. Besides near unanimous opposition from Republicans, the president’s proposal has divided lawmakers from his own party, with liberals battling for a far-reaching plan that would include optional government-run insurance, and moderates demanding a scaled-down version without public coverage.

The poll found that discontent with Obama’s health care effort is not isolated to Republicans. While nearly nine in 10 from the GOP disapproved of his handling of the issue, so did about six in 10 independents and two in 10 Democrats.

“How in the world can anybody look at this and evaluate it and see if it makes effective change?” Kelly Hoots, 35, a pharmacist and independent from Weaverville, N.C., said of the health care legislation. “Who knows what’s in it?”

Read more …

 

By CALVIN WOODWARD and ERICA WERNER (AP)

WASHINGTON — The change was subtle, but significant. In his speech to Congress on Wednesday night, President Barack Obama gave a more accurate — and less reassuring — account of the impact of his proposed health care overall than he has done in the past. It went by in a blink.

He told Americans, in excerpts released by the White House, that nothing he is proposing will force businesses or consumers to change their existing insurance coverage. That much is true.

It’s also true that nothing in his plan guarantees that policies people have now will continue to be available in the same form. In earlier accounts, he spoke with unmerited certainty in saying people who are happy with their current insurance can simply keep it.

Other parts of his speech repeated some of the oversimplified claims that have marked his salesmanship. A look at some of his assertions Wednesday night:

Read more …

 

Obamacare – The Pill