More than 85,000 parties have filed ahead of the deadline to respond to the federal government about the latest version of its mandate that forces employers to provide contraceptives, abortifacients and sterilization in their employee health-insurance plans.
Read the full article by Brian Fraga at NCRegister.com.
More health reform information on the Obamacare page.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Tuesday, April 09, 2013
Reflections of a Medical Ex-Practitioner
The glow of the personal relationship with patients is being extinguished.
"When I graduated from medical school in 1962, the profession of medicine was for many graduates an opportunity to provide care—as distinguished from, though aligned with, treatment—and to provide it to individuals, not to populations or governmentally specified groups. Young doctors hoped to establish an independent business, enjoy lifelong intellectual excitement as knowledge and therapies expanded, and have an income sufficient to live decently and support a family. There have always been some who entered medicine, as with any vocation, to maximize income. Yet most of us who came into the profession in the early 1960s had modest financial aspirations and substantial social commitment."
Read the full article by Ed Marsh at The Wall Street Journal.
More Health care reform resources on the Obamacare page.
"When I graduated from medical school in 1962, the profession of medicine was for many graduates an opportunity to provide care—as distinguished from, though aligned with, treatment—and to provide it to individuals, not to populations or governmentally specified groups. Young doctors hoped to establish an independent business, enjoy lifelong intellectual excitement as knowledge and therapies expanded, and have an income sufficient to live decently and support a family. There have always been some who entered medicine, as with any vocation, to maximize income. Yet most of us who came into the profession in the early 1960s had modest financial aspirations and substantial social commitment."
Read the full article by Ed Marsh at The Wall Street Journal.
More Health care reform resources on the Obamacare page.
Monday, April 08, 2013
The Hill: ObamaCare takes friendly fire
Delays in implementing popular pieces of ObamaCare are hurting it with Democrats.
Ahead of an election year in which Republicans promise to make healthcare an issue again, Democrats are criticizing the White House for delaying policies that could help build support for the unpopular law.
Read the full article by Sam Baker at The Hill.
More health reform information on the Obamacare page.
Ahead of an election year in which Republicans promise to make healthcare an issue again, Democrats are criticizing the White House for delaying policies that could help build support for the unpopular law.
Read the full article by Sam Baker at The Hill.
More health reform information on the Obamacare page.
Sunday, April 07, 2013
Beyond Obamacare
The president’s reelection, and the forthcoming implementation of Obamacare, do not mean that conservative opponents of the law should assume that it is set in stone and merely seek to tinker at its edges... Obamacare is unpopular, it is very poorly designed, it looks set to lead to rising costs and an insurance death spiral, its early provisions are not working out, and its fuller implementation next year seems increasingly likely to yield a train wreck.
Read the full article by Ramesh Ponnuru & Yuval Levin at National Review Online.
More Health care reform resources on the Obamacare page.
Read the full article by Ramesh Ponnuru & Yuval Levin at National Review Online.
More Health care reform resources on the Obamacare page.
Saturday, April 06, 2013
Fed Up With Obamacare, Doctors Increasingly Prefer Cash For Care
Nearly two-thirds of doctors say that they or their colleagues will retire earlier than planned over the next few years. Others are considering a departure from the current system of third-party payment. Instead, they’re exploring direct payment, with patients paying for care on their own.
Patients should welcome this development. Not only does the move toward direct payment have the potential to reduce health costs — it could also yield higher-quality care.
Read the full article by Sally Pipes at Forbes.com.
More Health care reform resources on the Obamacare page.
Patients should welcome this development. Not only does the move toward direct payment have the potential to reduce health costs — it could also yield higher-quality care.
Read the full article by Sally Pipes at Forbes.com.
More Health care reform resources on the Obamacare page.
Friday, April 05, 2013
Obama plays games with Sequester cuts, Medicare
The total effect of sequestration on Medicare benefit spending is $100 billion from 2013 to 2023. Those cuts pale in comparison to the $716 billion in Medicare payment reductions required by Obamacare over the same time period. Included in these cuts is a payment reduction of $156 billion for Medicare Advantage plans.
Read the full article by Bob Moffit and Alyene Senger at The Heritage Foundation - Foundry
More Health care reform resources on the Obamacare page.
Read the full article by Bob Moffit and Alyene Senger at The Heritage Foundation - Foundry
More Health care reform resources on the Obamacare page.
Thursday, April 04, 2013
Small Businesses Won't Have Plan Choices Under Obamacare
Citing the challenges in establishing a new health insurance marketplace, the Obama administration is delaying a key provision of the Affordable Care Act designed to provide employees of small businesses affordable health coverage.
The New York Times reported Monday that in most states employers will not be able to provide workers with a choice of health plans as the law intended. Instead, they will be limited to a single plan.
Read the full article by Cyrus Afzali at Newsmax.com.
More health reform information on the Obamacare page.
The New York Times reported Monday that in most states employers will not be able to provide workers with a choice of health plans as the law intended. Instead, they will be limited to a single plan.
Read the full article by Cyrus Afzali at Newsmax.com.
More health reform information on the Obamacare page.
Wednesday, April 03, 2013
Republican Doctors Caucus Marks Grim Milestone of Obamacare
FreedomWorks recently hosted a conference call for bloggers and reporters with the House Republican Doctors Caucus. The forum allowed caucus members to make statements regarding the third anniversary of the passage of Obamacare, and the murky future of this deeply flawed legislation. Bloggers and reporters were given the opportunity to ask questions of the caucus members, leading to a lively discussion on the future of health care under this onerous bill.
Read the full article at Freedom Works.
More health reform information on the Obamacare page.
Read the full article at Freedom Works.
More health reform information on the Obamacare page.
Tuesday, April 02, 2013
Administration delays Obamacare small business provision
During the push for national health care, one of President Obama’s major selling points was that the legislation he supported would help small businesses struggling to provide health care to their employees.
Surprise! It's not quite working out as promised.
Read the full article by Philip Klein at The Washington Examiner
More health reform information on the Obamacare page.
Surprise! It's not quite working out as promised.
Read the full article by Philip Klein at The Washington Examiner
More health reform information on the Obamacare page.
Monday, April 01, 2013
California’s ObamaCare Exchange Costs 56 Times More to Launch than Facebook
Launching California’s ObamaCare “Exchange” is so far costing taxpayers 56 times as much as it cost to launch Facebook, while its marketing budget is 8 times what Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) spent on her reelection bid (adjusted for inflation)
Read the full article by Michael F. Cannon at The Cato Institute
More Health care reform resources on the Obamacare page.
Read the full article by Michael F. Cannon at The Cato Institute
More Health care reform resources on the Obamacare page.
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Dick Morris: Obamacare is just the begining
In a brief but very effective video commentary, Dick Morris lays out Obama's real plan to destroy free-market health insurance and completely take over with socialized medicine.
Watch it at www.DickMorris.com
More Health care reform resources on the Obamacare page.
Watch it at www.DickMorris.com
More Health care reform resources on the Obamacare page.
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Another brick falls off the Obamacare façade
A big political story this year is likely to be Democrats turning on their White House minders as the harmful and unpopular parts of the Affordable Care Act ramp up. On the heels of the recent 79-20 Senate uprising against the 2.3% medical device tax, now comes the surge of Democrats pleading on behalf of Medicare Advantage.
Read the full article at The Wall Street Journal
More Health care reform resources on the Obamacare page.
Read the full article at The Wall Street Journal
More Health care reform resources on the Obamacare page.
Friday, March 29, 2013
A Hypocratic Oath for Obamacare
The president's promises about the ACA saving money and allowing you to keep your existing health plan are proving false, as many predicted.
The Department of Health and Human Services maintains the law will make health care more affordable and accessible. The Wall Street Journal, reminding readers of that claim, reported last week that health insurers are privately warning brokers: "Premiums for many individuals and small businesses could increase sharply next year."
Read the full article by Cal Thomas at FoxNews.com
More health reform information on the Obamacare page.
The Department of Health and Human Services maintains the law will make health care more affordable and accessible. The Wall Street Journal, reminding readers of that claim, reported last week that health insurers are privately warning brokers: "Premiums for many individuals and small businesses could increase sharply next year."
Read the full article by Cal Thomas at FoxNews.com
More health reform information on the Obamacare page.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Thomas Sowell: 'Me Too' Republicans
Many ideas presented as "new" are just rehashes of old ideas that have been tried before -- and have failed before. So it is no surprise that the recent "Growth and Opportunity Project" report to the Republican National Committee is a classic example of what previous generations called "Me too" Republicanism.
Read the full article by Thomas Sowell at GOPUSA.com
Read the full article by Thomas Sowell at GOPUSA.com
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
People love Obamacare until they know what's in it
The Only Ones Who Misunderstand ObamaCare More than Its Detractors Are Its Supporters
If only more people knew about the good stuff in ObamaCare – you know, the subsidies to seniors and the provisions forcing insurers to cover the sick – more people would like it. But the polls showing public support for those provisions don’t ask respondents whether they think the benefits of those provisions are worth the costs. They only ask about the benefits. Since none of those provisions is a benefits-only proposition, those polls tell us essentially nothing.
Read the full article by Michael F. Cannon at unitedliberty.org
More health reform information on the Obamacare page.
If only more people knew about the good stuff in ObamaCare – you know, the subsidies to seniors and the provisions forcing insurers to cover the sick – more people would like it. But the polls showing public support for those provisions don’t ask respondents whether they think the benefits of those provisions are worth the costs. They only ask about the benefits. Since none of those provisions is a benefits-only proposition, those polls tell us essentially nothing.
Read the full article by Michael F. Cannon at unitedliberty.org
More health reform information on the Obamacare page.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Three years of Obamacare: $31 billion in regulation costs, 71.5 million hours in compliance
President Obama’s signature health-care law, which turned three over the weekend, has already accounted for $31.3 billion in regulatory costs and liabilities, as well as 71.5 million hours of paperwork, according to a study from the American Action Forum (AAF) released Monday.
Read the full article by Andrew Stiles at nationalreview.com
More health reform information on the Obamacare page.
Read the full article by Andrew Stiles at nationalreview.com
More health reform information on the Obamacare page.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Obamacare at three: Heading toward Failure?
The right can replace Obamacare if it fails. And thus far, it gives every indication of failing. It has contributed to growing premium costs. Its budget impacts have been revised only in a negative direction (indeed, the only positives have been from fewer states implementing the Medicaid expansion). It has already been stripped of one mathematically and actuarially unsound entitlement. Most Republican governors have no interest in helping implement a program they believe to be ill-thought from its inception, and even Democrats don’t want their fingerprints at the state level on exchanges and Medicaid expansions their systems can’t handle.
Read the full article by Ben Domenech at RealClearPolitics.com.
More health reform information on the Obamacare page.
Read the full article by Ben Domenech at RealClearPolitics.com.
More health reform information on the Obamacare page.
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Senate votes to remove a brick from Obamacare
Perhaps the best news in months about Obamacare is that just three months after it has started to go into effect, the Senate has voted overwhelmingly to repeal the medical device tax, all $29 billion of it, with 33 Democrats joining 45 Republicans and 1 independent. Someone must have figured out that we need more innovation, more medical devices at lower prices, not fewer at higher, and that the tax was counterproductive if the goal of reform is to make health care more affordable. Duh. If the House will follow suit in equal proportions, there can be no veto.
This could be the turning point we opponents of socialized medicine have been waiting for, right on schedule. As the law becomes not some abstraction affecting other people, but a reality of destruction for millions of Americans, the blowback will increase. As this blog has long maintained, it's not too late to repeal Obamacare, even if we have to do it brick by brick.
See also:
More Health care reform resources on the Obamacare page.
This could be the turning point we opponents of socialized medicine have been waiting for, right on schedule. As the law becomes not some abstraction affecting other people, but a reality of destruction for millions of Americans, the blowback will increase. As this blog has long maintained, it's not too late to repeal Obamacare, even if we have to do it brick by brick.
See also:
- Huffington Post: Senate Democrats Vote To Repeal Obamacare Tax
- Wall Street Journal: Their own devices
More Health care reform resources on the Obamacare page.
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Obamacare: Echoes From The Other Side
By Borek Volarik
I lived through the real Obamacare. In the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic all health care was free for everybody! Oh, what a paradise...
Well, until you actually experienced the “worker's paradise”, as the communists proudly called it, in real life. First, everybody contributed to the costs of the health care but, in a hidden way – through the income tax. There were no tax returns to be filed at the end of year. All taxes were automatically deducted from the gross pay. There were no write offs. The only difference was in marital status and number of children The young, single people, paid so called “ox' tax”. That was a bit alleviated by marriage and then every live born child lowered the tax and generated so called “child bonuses”. The state used the money from the taxes to cover all state's spending, health care being one of them. Well, you get what you pay for, right? Right! What do you expect from a dentist on a salary set by state's pay scales?
How about a really ugly crown and no anesthetics (Novocain was in short supply, distributed by the state to dentists by a system of rations on monthly basis); well, a small envelope with big money…casually left at the receptionist's desk, would make miracles. What do you expect from a doctor on a state's salary? Don't you worry; you always got your Aspirin! People were assigned to general practice health centers according their address. Nobody was allowed to veer out of his or her health care district. In the waiting rooms you would always see some elderly people, sitting on white painted benches, discussing their illnesses. The free doctor visits were welcomed opportunities for the pensioners to socialize and commiserate about life. The district doctors gave out Aspirins and recommended patients to specialists, generally located in hospitals.
The specialists did not have their own offices and practices. They were simply employed by hospitals on fixed salaries (the only extra pay would be generated by overtimes and shift bonuses for nights). Once hospitalized, you would not have “your doctor”. You would be completely under the control of the hospital's staff. The rooms were large, with six, eight, ten….beds. It was really busy during the visiting hours (Wednesday afternoon and Sundays) with visitors sitting or standing around their hospitalized family members, depending on how many chairs were scoured from halls and other rooms. Some visitors just carried a little folding stool with them and so they could always sit down. It still was not as bad as in, say, Cuba, where patients have to bring their own sheets to the hospital. However, if you had to stay in the hospital for a prolonged period of time, it was customary to drop every once a while an envelope with some money into the large pocket on the nurse's apron. That way you would make sure that your sheets were changed on a regular basis, the cup of tea would be on your night stand without a long waiting period…
There were actually two health care systems. One for the ordinary mortals, one for the elites like well positioned communists, top athletes (all athletes were pure amateurs, of course…ha ha ha). I had some problems with my lower jaw. I did not want to have a surgery in an ordinary hospital. It was a bit scary for me. So I waited till I was in the military (mandatory draft at age of nineteen, two years service). Then I started complaining about my problems and, exactly as I planned, I was sent from the small town where I was located to the Central Military Hospital in Prague. There I underwent the surgery, total success, everything was hunky-dory. They used a totally new procedure on me, at the time yet unknown in the ordinary hospitals. I spent about two months in that top notch hospital. Being bored, I volunteered to work as appointment clerk at the dentistry department. Folks, those machines they had there… I had never seen machines like that. All modern “painless” drills, luxurious seats... My duty was to pull patient's file from the file cabinet, mark his appointment time and time of arrival and then slip the file into a tray at the designated dentist's station. Of course, I was curious about the names on the tabs sticking out from the files in hanging folders. So I looked at those names. Ohmygosh….top communists, members of the government and the Central Committee, Politburo, famous athletes…. I just shivered by the excitement...
There was one funny episode. When my mother was leaving the hospital after visiting with me, she spotted the surgeon who performed the operation. He was digging foundations for a garage at the house where he lived. With a pick axe. My mother was totally thrown off kilt. I did not understand what made her so upset. She exclaimed: He will ruin his hands! You know, even at the Central Military Hospital the salaries were not that high… Later he was delegated by the state to set a plastic surgery center in Switzerland (that guy happened to be a real genius) so, I believe, he saved his surgeon's hands and made some real money. I mean “real” money as the communist Czech Crown was not accepted for international exchange. It was basically kind of “prison money”, usable only inside the country. Oh, by the way…after arrival to America, the American dentists re-did virtually all dental work that we brought with us inside our mouths. Some dentist just could not believe what they found in my wife's and my mouths...they threw it all to the garbage.
More Health care reform resources on the Obamacare page.
I lived through the real Obamacare. In the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic all health care was free for everybody! Oh, what a paradise...
Well, until you actually experienced the “worker's paradise”, as the communists proudly called it, in real life. First, everybody contributed to the costs of the health care but, in a hidden way – through the income tax. There were no tax returns to be filed at the end of year. All taxes were automatically deducted from the gross pay. There were no write offs. The only difference was in marital status and number of children The young, single people, paid so called “ox' tax”. That was a bit alleviated by marriage and then every live born child lowered the tax and generated so called “child bonuses”. The state used the money from the taxes to cover all state's spending, health care being one of them. Well, you get what you pay for, right? Right! What do you expect from a dentist on a salary set by state's pay scales?
How about a really ugly crown and no anesthetics (Novocain was in short supply, distributed by the state to dentists by a system of rations on monthly basis); well, a small envelope with big money…casually left at the receptionist's desk, would make miracles. What do you expect from a doctor on a state's salary? Don't you worry; you always got your Aspirin! People were assigned to general practice health centers according their address. Nobody was allowed to veer out of his or her health care district. In the waiting rooms you would always see some elderly people, sitting on white painted benches, discussing their illnesses. The free doctor visits were welcomed opportunities for the pensioners to socialize and commiserate about life. The district doctors gave out Aspirins and recommended patients to specialists, generally located in hospitals.
The specialists did not have their own offices and practices. They were simply employed by hospitals on fixed salaries (the only extra pay would be generated by overtimes and shift bonuses for nights). Once hospitalized, you would not have “your doctor”. You would be completely under the control of the hospital's staff. The rooms were large, with six, eight, ten….beds. It was really busy during the visiting hours (Wednesday afternoon and Sundays) with visitors sitting or standing around their hospitalized family members, depending on how many chairs were scoured from halls and other rooms. Some visitors just carried a little folding stool with them and so they could always sit down. It still was not as bad as in, say, Cuba, where patients have to bring their own sheets to the hospital. However, if you had to stay in the hospital for a prolonged period of time, it was customary to drop every once a while an envelope with some money into the large pocket on the nurse's apron. That way you would make sure that your sheets were changed on a regular basis, the cup of tea would be on your night stand without a long waiting period…
There were actually two health care systems. One for the ordinary mortals, one for the elites like well positioned communists, top athletes (all athletes were pure amateurs, of course…ha ha ha). I had some problems with my lower jaw. I did not want to have a surgery in an ordinary hospital. It was a bit scary for me. So I waited till I was in the military (mandatory draft at age of nineteen, two years service). Then I started complaining about my problems and, exactly as I planned, I was sent from the small town where I was located to the Central Military Hospital in Prague. There I underwent the surgery, total success, everything was hunky-dory. They used a totally new procedure on me, at the time yet unknown in the ordinary hospitals. I spent about two months in that top notch hospital. Being bored, I volunteered to work as appointment clerk at the dentistry department. Folks, those machines they had there… I had never seen machines like that. All modern “painless” drills, luxurious seats... My duty was to pull patient's file from the file cabinet, mark his appointment time and time of arrival and then slip the file into a tray at the designated dentist's station. Of course, I was curious about the names on the tabs sticking out from the files in hanging folders. So I looked at those names. Ohmygosh….top communists, members of the government and the Central Committee, Politburo, famous athletes…. I just shivered by the excitement...
There was one funny episode. When my mother was leaving the hospital after visiting with me, she spotted the surgeon who performed the operation. He was digging foundations for a garage at the house where he lived. With a pick axe. My mother was totally thrown off kilt. I did not understand what made her so upset. She exclaimed: He will ruin his hands! You know, even at the Central Military Hospital the salaries were not that high… Later he was delegated by the state to set a plastic surgery center in Switzerland (that guy happened to be a real genius) so, I believe, he saved his surgeon's hands and made some real money. I mean “real” money as the communist Czech Crown was not accepted for international exchange. It was basically kind of “prison money”, usable only inside the country. Oh, by the way…after arrival to America, the American dentists re-did virtually all dental work that we brought with us inside our mouths. Some dentist just could not believe what they found in my wife's and my mouths...they threw it all to the garbage.
More Health care reform resources on the Obamacare page.
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If you believe that constitutional democracy, economic prosperity and international peace are under greater threat today than at any time in our lifetimes, then you owe it to yourself and your grandchildren to get involved, take responsibility and power away from the state, and support the leaders who are fighting on your behalf.
This site and the book Pull the Plug on Obamacare are not supported by any deep-pocketed university or foundation. It is made possible by hundreds of evenings, weekends, vacations and holidays every year sacrificed to research, writing, attending local grassroots organization meetings and traveling to major events like CPAC 2013. If you want to encourage this work, then please sell your house, your car and your children and send the proceeds to me. If you're not quite ready to go that far, then here's a plan that will take just eight dollars and an hour and ten minutes of your time, and may be the best investment in America's future that you make this year.
First, buy the book. It's only $7.95 for the paperback edition and $4.95 for the Kindle edition.
Next, READ the book. It's not hard, it will take about an hour and it will give you the complete picture of how we got into this mess, how Obamacare is wrecking the practice and delivery of medicine and our economy with it, and why it will never fulfill its promises. Most important, it will arm you to discuss these issues with your liberal friends who will become increasingly open to your arguments this year as the rising costs and deteriorating quality hit them where they live.
Then, write a customer review on Amazon.com. Let the world know that this book is an indispensible arm in the fight against socialized medicine. And finally, tell ten friends to do the same.
Then sell your house, your car and your children and send the proceeds to me.
Or, if you agree with me but you think I'm a moron and you don't want to give me a dime, then visit the Obamacare page and read the bibilography and list of resources to find someone else, like Betsy McCaughey, Sally Pipes or America’s Medical Society, to support. After all, this isn't about me, it's about you and it's about preserving America's liberty and prosperity. Whoever gets that done best deserves your support.
Today.
This site and the book Pull the Plug on Obamacare are not supported by any deep-pocketed university or foundation. It is made possible by hundreds of evenings, weekends, vacations and holidays every year sacrificed to research, writing, attending local grassroots organization meetings and traveling to major events like CPAC 2013. If you want to encourage this work, then please sell your house, your car and your children and send the proceeds to me. If you're not quite ready to go that far, then here's a plan that will take just eight dollars and an hour and ten minutes of your time, and may be the best investment in America's future that you make this year.
First, buy the book. It's only $7.95 for the paperback edition and $4.95 for the Kindle edition.
Next, READ the book. It's not hard, it will take about an hour and it will give you the complete picture of how we got into this mess, how Obamacare is wrecking the practice and delivery of medicine and our economy with it, and why it will never fulfill its promises. Most important, it will arm you to discuss these issues with your liberal friends who will become increasingly open to your arguments this year as the rising costs and deteriorating quality hit them where they live.
Then, write a customer review on Amazon.com. Let the world know that this book is an indispensible arm in the fight against socialized medicine. And finally, tell ten friends to do the same.
Then sell your house, your car and your children and send the proceeds to me.
Or, if you agree with me but you think I'm a moron and you don't want to give me a dime, then visit the Obamacare page and read the bibilography and list of resources to find someone else, like Betsy McCaughey, Sally Pipes or America’s Medical Society, to support. After all, this isn't about me, it's about you and it's about preserving America's liberty and prosperity. Whoever gets that done best deserves your support.
Today.
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