Archive for July, 2009

This is a great article from this morning’s WSJ Editorial Page. Make sure to check out Mr. Fund’s analysis of some specific reasons why Obama’s healthcare reform is bad for young people in particular.

OPINION – JULY 24, 2009 – Wall Street Journal

Health Reform’s Hidden Victims

By JOHN FUND

President Barack Obama’s health-care sales pitch depends on his ability to obfuscate who is likely to get hurt by reform. At Wednesday’s news conference, for example, he was asked “specifically what kind of pain and sacrifice” he would ask of patients in order to achieve the cost savings he promises.

He insisted he “won’t reduce Medicare benefits” but instead would “make delivery more efficient.” The most Mr. Obama would concede is that some people will have to “give up paying for things that don’t make you healthier.” That is simply not credible.

While Democrats on Capitol Hill dispute claims that individuals will lose their existing coverage under their reform plans, on other issues many Democrats privately acknowledge some people will indeed get whacked to pay for the new world of government-dominated health care.

Democrats have been brilliant in keeping knowledge about the pain and sacrifice of health reform from the very people who would bear the brunt of them. They’ve done so by convincing health-care industry groups not to run the kind of “Harry and Louise”-style ads that helped sink HillaryCare in 1993.

Sen. Tom Coburn (R., Okla.) says the pressure not to run ads has been “intense, bordering on extortion.” “Groups were told if they did they’d give up their seat at the table,” says former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. “What they weren’t told is that they’d be at the table as lunch.”

Here are some of the groups on the menu if anything like the existing Senate or House health plans become law:

• Young people. If the government mandates that everyone must have health insurance, healthy young people will have to buy policies that don’t reflect the low risk they have of getting sick. The House and Senate bills do let insurers set premiums based on age, but only up to a 2-to-1 ratio, versus a real-world ratio of 5 to 1. This means lower prices for older (and wealthier) folks, but high prices for the young. “They’ll have sticker shock,” says Rep. Paul Ryan, ranking Republican on the Budget Committee.

• Small Businesses. Employers who don’t provide coverage will have to pay a tax up to 8% of their payroll. Yet those who do provide coverage also have to pay the tax—if the law says their coverage is not “adequate.” Amazingly, even if a small business provides adequate insurance but its employees choose coverage in another plan offered through the government, the employer still must pay.

• Health Savings Account (HSA) holders. Eight million Americans, according to the Treasury Department, are covered by plans with low-cost premiums and high deductibles that are designed for large, unexpected medical costs. Money is also set aside in a savings account to cover the deductibles, and whatever isn’t spent in one year can build up tax-free. Nearly a third of new HSA users, according to Treasury figures, previously had no insurance or bought coverage on their own.

These policies will be severely limited. The Senate plan says a policy deemed “acceptable” must have insurance (rather than the individual) pay out at least 76% of the benefits. The House plan is pegged at 70%. That’s not the way these plans are set up to work. Ray Ramthun, who implemented the HSA regulations at the Treasury Department in 2003, says the regulations are crippling. “Companies tell me they could be forced to take products off the market,” he said in an interview.

• Medicare Advantage users. Mr. Obama and Congressional Democrats want to cut back this program—care provided by private companies and subsidized by the government. Medicare Advantage grew by 15% last year; 10.5 million seniors, or 22% of all Medicare patients, are now enrolled.

The program is especially popular with those in badly served urban areas and with those who can’t afford the premiums for Medicare supplemental (MediGap) policies. A total of 54% of Hispanics on Medicare have chosen Medicare Advantage, as have 40% of African-Americans, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services at the Department of Health and Human Services.

These plans tend to provide better coordinated and preventive care, and richer prescription drug coverage. But Democrats dislike Medicare Advantage’s private-sector nature, and they have some legitimate beefs with its unevenly generous reimbursement rates. This week Mr. Obama told the Washington Post that the program was “a prime example” of his efforts to cut Medicare spending, because he claims people “aren’t getting good value” from it.

That’s not what others say. In January, Oregon’s Democratic Gov. Ted Kulongoski wrote the Obama administration expressing his concern about its efforts “to scale back Medicare Advantage” because the plans “play an important role in providing affordable health coverage.” He noted that 39% of Oregon’s Medicare patients had chosen Medicare Advantage, and that in “some of our Medicare Advantage plans . . . with proper chronic disease management for such conditions as heart disease, asthma and diabetes, hospitalization admission rates have declined.”

The $156 billion in Medicare Advantage cuts over the next decade proposed by Mr. Obama will force many seniors to go back to traditional Medicare at greater expense. A new study for the Florida Association of Health Plans found that because Medicare Advantage plans have richer benefits and lower deductibles and copayments than traditional Medicare, seniors in that state would face dramatically higher payments if forced to give up their Medicare Advantage plans. Cost increases would range from $2,214 a year in Jacksonville to $3,714 a year in Miami.

There are reasons that Blue Dog Democrats in Congress are leery of their party’s health-care reform plans. Many are in districts or states carried by John McCain, and they worry about the political fallout when these groups realize they will be paying for health-care reform.

They also know that every government entitlement winds up becoming a money pit. In 1965, Sen. Allen Ellender (D., La.) dismissed promises that Medicare would be a modest program to save seniors from bankruptcy. “Let us not be so naïve as to believe that the Medicare program will not be increased from year to year to the point that the government will have to impose more taxes on the little man or else take the necessary money out of the Treasury,” he told colleagues.

Ellender was right, and his warning is even more relevant in our era of skyrocketing deficits and Medicare costs. The only way the House and Senate health plans can pass is if the costs they impose on vulnerable parts of the population continue to be hidden.

— Mr. Fund is a WSJ.com columnist.

Today, I’m excited to announce that we have officially launched Operation Waiting Game – a place to educate and motivate people to stand up and take action to tell Washington: hands off our health care!

The Operation Waiting Game web site blends online social media activism with offline field activities. It will help redefine activism by including a number of innovative features that will empower activists online toward a specific goal, including:

* A dynamic Actions Counter which reports actions taken against government run health care in real-time. Actions included on a daily basis include commenting on Facebook profiles, sending Tweets, using hashtags, reading and commenting on daily newspaper editorials, writing letters to the editor, and more. 

* A Leaderboard to track and reward activists for taking action elsewhere. Uniquely, the Leaderboard tracks your actions through the APIs of web sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

* Seamless integration with the Facebook Connect Platform will lower the barrier-of-entry to participate on the web site and allows you to have access to your Facebook network to help promote the cause. 

* State-of-the-art Twitter and Facebook Status Donation Tool which gives you the ability to amplify the message of the cause.

We are specifically targeting conservative “Blue Dog” Democrats with praise and encouragement for standing up to liberal Democrats in Congress. We are ready to recognize their leadership and independence and work with them today on common sense conservative ideas or against them tomorrow at the polls if they walk lock-step with liberal Nancy Pelosi. 

Please take a few minutes today to check out Operation Waiting Game. You will use your Facebook account to login to the site. If you don’t have one, you can easily sign-up on Facebook.

Its like Bill O’Reilly picked up a hammer and hit the nail right on its head when he said, "Freedom trumps ideological legislation."

Amen, Bill. Amen.

Watch the video here.

Like other issues, Democrats promised the world on health care and have not and are not delivering. Here is an example of a common sense solution that Democrats took from Republicans, promised to implement if elected, and then reneged on.

Promise: “Instead of leaving small businesses to fend for themselves [on health care], we should give them the opportunity to pool their purchasing power.” – Rahm Emanuel

Promise: “We need to cut the cost of health care so that every business can afford it. . .As we [achieve savings through health care reform], we should use them to give small businesses access to the same health care plans as members of Congress. . .” – Rahm Emanuel

Broken Promise: House Democrats unanimously opposed a House Republican proposal, and continue to do so, to enable small businesses to pool their purchasing power and offer their employees the same health care benefits large corporations and unions can offer.

The GOP proposal opposed by Democrats would have significantly expanded access to health coverage for uninsured families across the country by giving small businesses the opportunity to pool their purchasing power and purchase health coverage for their workers on par with the plans used by larger businesses and the federal government.

Essentially, the GOP would have allowed small businesses to partner-up to buy health insurance in bulk. In other words, the same principles that allow Walmart to sell pretzels so cheaply would have allowed business to buy health insurance on the cheap.

Why isn’t this part of Obama’s "Grand Experiment" on health care? Probably because it makes too much sense…

This video cleverly shows that President Obama is spending more money more quickly than any other president in history, and calls out those who loudly complained about President Bush’s spending habits, but now are curiously quiet.

Funny how that works…or maybe, all things considered, its really not that funny at all.

Here’s what a restaurant would look like if President Obama focused on "reforming" restaurants instead of our hospitals.

This week’s Sunday Spotlight turns its eye to the Hoosier state where current Chairlady Lauren Fakes is in the midst of laying the foundation for great College Republican activism for years to come. Here’s what she has to say about Igniting Indiana.

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I am glad to have the opportunity to tell the nation about the Indiana Federation of College Republicans.

The fact that there has been little state federation to speak of in the past couple years has not stopped the amazing College Republicans across Indiana from working hard. During the 2008 general election, Hoosier CR chapters made thousands of voter calls and knocked on tens of thousands of doors. They have shown initiative by scheduling social events to unite their chapters; setting up philanthropic initiatives, Purdue University’s “Say No to B.O.” hygiene products drive raised hundreds of dollars for men and women in the armed forces; and hosting dinners with notable speakers, Notre Dame’s Lincoln Day dinner featured State Treasurer Richard Mourdock.

These chapters have continued to show gumption and resourcefulness in their fight to advance the Republican message on often unfriendly campuses. They deserve the advantages that are provided by strong state federation: access to information on opportunities, inter-chapter communication and statewide support for their efforts. Thanks to Indiana CRs and their willingness to take on the challenge of reviving the state, the chapters will soon have a strong federation.

Within the last few months, leaders among the chapters have come forward offering their ideas, their time and their support. Suggestions as to how to make the state more effective have been made by CRs from incoming freshman to alumni as well as state and local Republican officials. The cooperation from so many levels of the Republican Party is heartening. Hoosier CRs have the drive and the opportunity to do great things this year.

It is my honor to be able to introduce you to these incredible leaders in our cause and to be given the privilege to serve as their chair in what will undoubtedly be a monumental year for the Indiana Federation of College Republicans.

Lauren Fakes, Chairlady of the Indiana College Republicans

Every election, Democrats promise the world, but only deliver a grain of sand. Its about time they were called on it.

So everyday, for the next 100 days, the College Republicans will highlight a promise Democrats have broken. Today is one of the more egregious broken promises: balancing the budget.

Promise: “Democrats will produce a budget that makes real progress toward balancing the budget, [and] makes wise choices. . .” – Then Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) Press Release, February 5, 2007

Broken Promise: Democrats have failed to balanced budget in 2007, 2008, and aren’t likely to do it this year. In 2007, Democrats passed a budget that many referred to as the "model of fiscal irresponsiblity" because it increased spending at a record-breaking (at the time) 9% as well as assumed an increase in the national debt of $850 billion. That year, Democrats voted en masse against a GOP substitute budget that would have achieved a balanced budget by 2012 and ended the raid on Social Security without raising taxes.

And we all know that the 2009 budget is shaping up no better – in fact it is much worse – as Barack Obama’s proposed budget would increase the deficit by over $1,840,000,000,000.00.

Democrats: The party of broken promises. 

Less is more with the Health Administration Bureau. Health care rations: Its the only rational choice!