A NEW YEAR’S MESSAGE TO POLITICIANS: “No More Presents, Please!”

December 31st, 2009

By Elois Zeanah

 As 2009 fades into a new year, we Americans find ourselves loaded with presents from rich ol’ Uncle Sam.  Gifts galore spoil us rotten.  Government lifts the burden of accountability from our shoulders and spares us the trials of personal responsibility.  Why worry?  Uncle Sam is there to take care of us.  Why do difficult tasks like work hard, build character, and fight for freedom and uphold principles that founded America?  Uncle Sam has more politicians than Santa has elves to make life easy.  So forget about doing what’s right.  Forget about being stigmatized by societal norms.  Get on the dole.  Taking gifts from government has a lure of its own and as government convinces more people to line up to take free gifts, the more acceptable and widespread the freeloading practice becomes.  

 Government gifts make former anti-social behaviour commonplace – to the detriment of society and the government’s fiscal purse.

 Government encourages teenagers to have children out of wedlock.  This was once frowned upon.  This is not good for children and it’s not good for society.  But government replaced personal responsibility with so-called compassion and charity and heaped gifts upon miscreant girls for wrongful actions.  Out-of-wedlock births gradually became socially acceptable and society’s responsibility.  Having a child out of wedlock has become a way for teenagers and high school dropouts to get on welfare and stay on welfare for life.  The result:  More illegitimate births.  More single-parent families. More poverty.  More crime.  More tax dollars funneled to enable this vicious cycle.  More government budget deficits.

Another result is that illegal alien teenagers have learned that they, too, will be rewarded for having children out of wedlock if born in the U.S.  They can also get on welfare immediately and stay on welfare for life.  And, as unbelievable as it is, illegal aliens can also avoid being deported and even attain citizenship by having a child born in the U.S. out of wedlock.  More gifts from government!  More government deficits.

Government condones illegal immigration and winks at citizens who aid and abet those who break the law.  This crime is considered compassion and charity to the extent that laws no longer rule.  The rule of law was once king.  Now laws are used as chips to broker something for personal advantage – usually cheap labor, more votes, or more church members.  Politicians use non-enforcement of immigration laws as gifts to campaign contributors.  Gifts from government weaken the fabric of society, strain public coffers, and spread the circle of corruption to engulf those who make the laws.

 Selling votes for favors no longer brings disgrace.  Just like having children out of wedlock and non-enforcement of immigration laws, vote-buying on the floors of legislatures  is commonplace.  Legislators sell their votes to buy gifts for their constitutents to buy re-election.  U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid recently stated in connection with the health care debate that if U.S. Representatives don’t get in on the spree of selling votes, then those representatives should be shamed.  This is not good for the country.  It encourages and enables corrupt government.  And this practice of pork costs taxpayers precious dollars and rings up trillions in deficits.

 Government “gifts” have corrupted citizens and politicians

 Good government for one and for all was once the goal of the federal government. Today, the rules of the game are not to uphold and defend the U.S. Constitution and to base decisions on what is good for the general welfare.  Instead, a good politician is seen as one who can game the system and sell the public a lie as the truth and escape accountability. 

No more presents, please!

  All these gifts from Uncle Sam to buy our dependence and in return to overlook government corruption leads to an attitude similar to the Stockholm Syndrome.  But the corruption runs deeper.  Government deals in deceit:  Uncle Sam puts these so-called ”gifts” on our credit card.  We not only pay for them, we pay compound interest.  

Please, Uncle Sam, no more presents!  Let us stand on our own feet and fight for ourselves and each other and what’s good for our country!   And, Uncle Sam, it’s time that you understood that you are not the rich uncle you pretend, but a freeloading pauper who steals every dime you spend.  It’s time you took personal responsibility for your actions and stopped taking our treasure without our permission and bankrupting us.  That would usher 2010 in as a Happy New Year!

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

2010 CENSUS IS BACK-DOOR AMNESTY

October 27th, 2009

By Elois Zeanah

Action Alert:  Contact Your U.S. Representatives Immediately

 The Obama Administration is using the 2010 census to give back-door amnesty to illegal immigrants to grab more power for Democrats in future elections.  This will further dismantle the U.S. Constitution and erode Voting Rights.  The only way to stop the President and Congress from this unconstitutional act is to contact our U.S. Representatives and ask them to vote for the David Vitter/Robert Bennett Census Amendment. This amendment was made to the FY2010 CJS (Commerce, Justice, Science) appropriations bill.  It would require the Census to include questions about citizenship and immigration status.   A vote is imminent.

The 2010 U.S. Census will count illegal immigrants as U.S. Citizens for the first time ever.  Unless Conservatives stop this, Liberals will use the 2010 U.S. Census to erase checks and balances that were put in place to keep elections honest.  Voter fraud committed to steal elections has already become a problem in many states.  If the U.S. Census is politicized in 2010, counting illegal immigrants will set precedent and forevermore skew the results of the Census, which in turn will impact elections.  

How does the Census Impact Elections?  The Census is used to:

  • Apportion seats in Congress.  Population determines the number of Congressional seats a state gets.  States with higher illegal immigration such as California and New York (which incidentally are “sanctuary cities” in violation of federal immigration law and teetering on bankruptcy) will get more Congressional seats and states with fewer illegal immigrants will lose Congressional seats. Counting illegal aliens in the 2010 U.S. Census will reward states that encourage illegal immigration and punish states that have not followed the law.
  • Distribute federal funds to states.  Federal funds (tax-dollars received from states) are allocated based on population. These funds amount to approximately $400 billion every year.  States that have more illegal aliens will get the lion’s share of federal dollars while states with fewer illegal immigrants will be denied their fair share.
  • Determine the number of votes states get for the Electoral College that elects the President of the United States.  States with higher illegal immigration will determine who becomes President.  

Conservatives must act now to keep Liberal Democrats from seizing illegitimate power by politicizing the non-partisan Census.  Liberals want amnesty because most illegal immigrants, due to their education and job skills, are poor.  If they have children born in the United States, and seventy-five percent do, illegal aliens automatically become eligible for tax-subsidized programs – the same as poor U.S. citizens.  Thus the cost of entitlement programs and fiscal deficits continue to skyrocket.  Studies show that illegal and legal Mexican households receive more welfare than U.S. citizens and consume more government benefits than they pay in taxes.  So why would Democrats encourage illegal immigration and amnesty?   Because, if given citizenship, illegal aliens would add to Democrat voting blocs. 

The Democrat Congress has already included loopholes in the Stimulus bill, S-CHIP, and the health care reform bill so that illegal immigrants can qualify for jobs and benefits.  This encourages more illegal immigration and further strains federal, state and local budgets. 

Democrats plan to use the Census to strengthen their stranglehold on power.   If illegal aliens are counted as U.S. citizens in the Census, this will further integrate illegal immigrants into the fabric of American culture and influence political outcomes.  Democrats know the majority of Americans oppose amnesty and that U.S. citizens want fiscal responsibility and deficits rolled back.  Democrats know that amnesty will push deficits higher.   Yet the President and Congress care more about perpetuating power than protecting our country from financial collapse.  This is not a time to import more poverty and expand entitlement programs.  This is a time to roll back spending and cut deficits.

It is urgent to stop backdoor amnesty!   Call your U.S. Representatives today, and ask them to vote for the Vitter Amendment and protect the integrity of the Census.

Posted in Amnesty, Immigration | 5 Comments »

MESSAGE TO THE PRESIDENT: Can You Hear Us Now?

September 21st, 2009

 By Elois Zeanah

 President Obama continues to blitz the airwaves.  My message is not breaking through,  the President of the United States complains. 

 Mr. President, the problem is not that we aren’t hearing you; it’s that you’re not hearing us!  Let’s see if we can clear communications over this land-line.

 When asked about why your message is not resonating, you say:  The opposition has made a decision.  They are just not going to support anything, for political reasons.

 Mr. President, concern that you’re wrecking health care for 97% of Americans to subsidize insurance for 3%  more Americans is not political.  Pardon me, but it’s irrational!   The realization that you over-exaggerate the number of “uninsured Americans” makes us cynical.  Our concern that your “reform” is a calculation to grab more power and more of our money to spread around is not political.  How many times have Republicans, Independents and Democrats explained that we ran your numbers?  They don’t add up.   In case our message did not get through, here’s a rundown of your numbers:

#1 UNMET PROMISE:  PROPOSED BILLS DO NOT COVER EVERYONE

 The 47 million “uninsured Americans” is a fabrication.  The number is closer to 10-16 million.  A close analysis of the same Census Bureau data you used reveals:

  • Millions of citizens covered by Medicaid and S-CHIP were undercounted.
  • Millions who have access to Medicaid and S-CHIP but choose not to take it until they are sick were counted as “uninsured”. 
  • Millions who earn $70,000 and over and can afford insurance were included as “uninsured”.
  • Millions of illegal aliens were counted as “uninsured Americans”.

 The real number of “uninsured Americans” is about 3% of the total population.  Opposition is not political!  Your proposal seems reckless.  Further, analyses show that despite spending over a trillion dollars in start-up costs, the House and Senate bills would still leave about 16 million Americans uninsured.  So promise number one that everyone will be covered is not met.  

 Do I hear static, sir?

#2 UNMET PROMISE:  PROPOSED BILLS DO NOT LOWER COSTS

 Then there’s that troublesome little issue of affordability.  Your premise that you must overhaul the health care system to curb unsustainable costs so that everyone can afford insurance seems to have fizzled. 

 Mr. President, concern that your own Congressional Budget Office says your plan will not lower insurance costs and the assessment by the non-partisan Heritage Foundation that private coverage for the typical American could go up as much as $460 per year due to new price controls set in the legislation – well, somehow our confidence crumbles.  This is not political.  It’s grave concern that Americans will pay more for less, have less choice and less competition, and be burdened by more onerous taxes and deeper deficits.

 #3 UNMET PROMISE:  AMERICANS CAN’T KEEP INSURANCE

 And all that talk about how you will make sure that every American who likes their insurance and doctors can keep them?  Well, Mr. President, that isn’t true either, is it now?  The non-partisan Lewin Group reports that almost 50% of private insurance holders will lose their coverage and be shifted to the public plan.  That’s just to start.  How many more of us will fall like dominoes behind those?

 And, oh, Mr. President, there’s that thorny issue about Americans being able to choose a plan like Congress.  Remember what you said at a town hall meeting on August 11th?  You stated, “That’s what the health exchange is all about, is that you – just like a member of Congress – can go and choose the plan that’s right for you.” 

 That warms our heart.  But when I checked, your plan for typical Americans is nothing like the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program that only you, Members of Congress and federal employees get.   Mr. President, surely you wouldn’t mislead us.  Did you know that the FEHBP system has no government-run public option competing with private plans? 

 Is that stuttering or static on your end, Mr. President?

#4 UNMET PROMISE:  WE CAN’T TRUST GOVERNMENT MORE

 Mr. President, Americans want true health care reform.  We have a problem.  Americans pay 18% GNP for health care while most other advanced countries pay 10% and have a longer life expectancy.  Yet medical costs in the U.S. continue to rise rapidly.  Something must be done.  But before we give up the best health care system in the world, we have a few questions:

 Why should we trust a president and bureaucrats, who have never had to meet a payroll, more than we trust free market enterprise?

 Why should we trust a president and bureaucrats to takeover the health care system when fraud in government health care programs runs 15% and fraud in the private sector is 1%? 

 Why should Americans trust a president and bureaucrats to keep the private sector honest when government will not hold itself accountable?  For example:

  • Social Security is a great program, but Congress couldn’t keep its hands off our trust fund.  Congress has stolen over $11 trillion from our Social Security trust fund and now seniors are scared about its future. 
  • Medicare is another program that works well, but once again Congress couldn’t keep its hands off our money and Medicare now has $38 trillion in unfunded liabilities.  
     
  • Government has been unable to stop the estimated $224 billion in fraud every year in Medicare and Medicaid.  Criminals live high-faluting lifestyles while seniors worry that Medicare may go bankrupt. 

 Mr. President, if you’re sincere about cleaning up the fraud mess, why are you waiting?

 There are so many other examples of how the President and Congress have been unwilling to use current laws on the books and their oversight authority to rein in abuses in government and in the private sector.  Instead, government declares emergencies and uses our tax dollars for bailouts for private industries that use the same accounting gimmickry that government uses.  This does not breed trust.

 Bottom line, Mr. President, why should Americans trust you and unaccountable bureaucrats with one-sixth of our economy when you haven’t proven that you are trustworthy? 

 I’m listening for your answer, Mr. President.  What’s that?  How this line been disconnected?

Posted in Economic Crisis, Health Care | 8 Comments »

IF OBAMA ONLY MEANT WHAT HE SAID: Words Don’t Match Works in Health Care Reform

September 6th, 2009

By Elois Zeanah

It’s par for candidates to use personal campaign funds to pay consultants to conjure visual images to persuade voters.  It’s unprecedented, though, for a presidential candidate, once elected, to use tax dollars to appoint a “behavioral science czar” to do the same thing to manipulate the masses.   Does Obama feel the mojo of his “cultist personality” and his “oratory prowess” is no longer sufficient to sell his health care reform message?  I’m offended that the leader of our nation uses our taxes to probe how we think and how to persuade us through mental telegraphing to follow him when he’s wrong.  The problem is not the message or how well he reads a teleprompter.  The problem is a matter of truth and trust.  His words don’t match his works.

Obama stated:  “This is not just about the 47 million Americans who don’t have any health insurance at all.  Reform is about…the fact that the biggest driving force behind our federal deficit is the skyrocketing cost of Medicare and Medicaid.”

The oratory touches me.  I’m persuaded.  But then why not fix the problems behind the skyrocketing costs of these two government-run health programs – instead of expanding and making them more expensive and increasing not reducing deficits?  (Independent consultants and the General Accounting Office, the Congressional watchdog, detail how his proposals will grow government, raise taxes, restrict American liberties, and overwhelm federal and state budgets, deficits and debt.) 

Medicare and Medicaid Fraud Consume Over $100 Billion Yearly

If the real reasons for health care reform are to reduce costs and make insurance affordable, shouldn’t government fix failures and cut costs before beating up on doctors, hospitals and insurance companies and demanding that they cut costs so government can have more to spend?  The truth is:  Fraud consumes 15% to 18% of total costs in government health care programs and only 1% in private health insurance programs.  Is there a disconnect here between our President’s words and works?

Obama Proposes to Expand Medicare and Medicaid

Obama cites Medicare as an example of how his health care plan will control costs. Undoubtedly the President is aware that Medicare and Medicaid pay only part of the bill to hospitals and doctors, creating a “hidden tax” for the rest of us.  Right now the average American worker pays $1800 more for health care per family because Medicare and Medicaid don’t cover costs of treatment.  I haven’t heard this addressed.  Expanding Medicare and Medicaid will only exacerbate the problems.  Surely our President knows that Medicare does not control costs, does not manage fraud, and does not balance its budget.  Medicare has a $38 trillion in unfunded liabilities!  How would expanding these two government-run programs reduce costs and make insurance affordable? 

Obama’s Conversion to Fix Health Care System is New

And what’s behind Obama’s sudden concern about the urgency to fix the health care system when he repeatedly fought past proposals to do so as a Senator?  This makes me suspicious about a possible hidden agenda.  Is health care reform really about coverage for “uninsured Americans”; or is the agenda about expanding government, seizing more of our liberties, making more of us dependent on government, and putting more control of our private lives in the hands of big government?  Sorry, but I have to ask:  Is the President trying to control our mind and our money?

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

A DUELING DUO: Obama as Senator Versus Obama as President

September 6th, 2009

By Elois Zeanah

The President has been trying hard to convince the American public that passing his health care reform is urgent because doing nothing will sink our economy farther. It’s an emergency!  (Just as passing TARP was an emergency, as was the Stimulus Bill, as was bailing out Fannie Mae and Fannie Mac, and banks, and GM.  As is passing the Cap-and-Trade energy tax!  Everything that Obama wants, he must have now!) 

Yet sitting as a U.S. Senator, health care reform was not so important.  Senator Barack Obama helped other Democrats defeat meaningful proposals to reform health care that would have gone far to solve pressing problems that now only government, he says, can fix through a government takeover and $2 trillion.  For example:

  • Tax Reform to Give Individuals and Families the Same Tax Benefits as Employers

One reason for rising insurance rates, the tax “exclusion” law is caused by government.   Current tax laws prohibit employees or individuals as a whole to receive tax benefits when they purchase health insurance.  Only employers are eligible for this tax write-off. This tax exclusion for employer-sponsored insurance is a huge, but hidden, tax subsidy of over $246 billion every year.[1] 

 To level the playing field and allow Americans who do not get insurance through their employers to deduct their health care costs, Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) offered Resolution 70 on March 13, 2008 to fix this unfair tax “exclusion”.  Senator Obama voted against this Resolution, which failed by a vote of 45-51.

  • Government Regulations Prohibit Cross-State Competition Among Insurance Carries

Another reason for rising insurance rates is that patients cannot shop across state lines.  We can go across state lines to buy cheaper booze and to get better retail bargains, and we can shop on the Internet to compare prices to get the best deal; but the government will not let insurance companies compete across state lines.  This lack of competition hurts consumers. 

To get rid of this government restraint to competition and to allow patients to shop for the best insurance product, Senator DeMint (R-SC) introduced H.R. 976 on August 2, 2007.  Senator Obama helped defeat this health care reform, which failed by a vote of 37-62.

  • Obama Consistently Opposed Health Care Reforms as a Senator

Obama voted “NO” on many other health care reforms:[2]

  • “NO”  on allowing Americans to use their own Health Savings Accounts (HAS) to purchase health insurance (H.R. 2 offered by Sen. Ensign, R-NV) on January 25, 2007, which failed by a vote of 47-48.
  • “NO” on minimizing the erosion of health coverage (Senate Amendment 2537 to Senate Amendment 2530 to H.R. 976 introduced by Sen. Jon Kyl, R-AZ) on August 2,2007, which failed by a vote of 37-62. 
  • “NO” to expand health care access and reduce costs through the creation of small business health plans and through modernization of the health insurance marketplace on May 11, 2006, which failed by a vote of 55-32.
  • “NO” to save taxpayer money by requiring individuals who are eligible for both SCHIP and employer-sponsored coverage to use the latter first (Senate Amendment 2596 to Senate Amendment 2530 to H.R. 976 offered by Senator Vitter, R-LA) on August 2, 2007,  which failed by a vote of 35-64.
  • “NO” on requiring illegal immigrants seeking “Z Visas” to maintain a minimum level of health coverage to save taxpayers and hospitals money in uncompensated costs (Senate 1348 introduced by Senator DeMint, R-SC) on June 6, 2007 which failed by a vote of 43-55.

Despite these “NO” votes for needed health care reform over years, the President now blames Republican opponents of his pan.  He states:

 Republicans are “content to perpetuate the status quo, [and] are, in fact, fighting reform on behalf of powerful special interests.” 

Sorry, Mr. President, but such blatant hypocrisy doesn’t help the mojo and your behavioral scientist’s mind-control manipulation.  Nor do your proposals to reform health care that expand government and deficits but don’t solve root problems.  In fact your “emergency” proposals are bad medicine for our ailing economy. 

 

[1] Joint Committee on Taxation, “Tax Expenditures for Health Care,” July 30, 2008. 

 

[2] http://demint.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Jim’sJournal.Detail&Blog_ID=9e16166

Posted in Health Care | 1 Comment »

EXPANDING HEALTH CARE ENTITLEMENTS IS BAD MEDICINE AND WILL WORSEN HEALTH CARE: Could it Crash the Private Sector?

September 6th, 2009

By Elois Zeanah

Independent analysts and the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the watchdog of Congress, have for years repeatedly warned that federal and state budgets will collide with taxpayers’ ability to pay the rapidly rising costs of health care entitlement programs.  Yet not only did Obama vote against reform bills as a Senator, his unsustainable proposals as President accelerate the pace toward collision. 

 The notion by Obama that he can expand Medicare and Medicaid and give all Americans affordable health care is quickly dispelled by highly respected GAO analysts.  Obama’s plan to broaden the pool of these two programs will not alleviate but aggravate the current fiscal crisis.

 THE FISCAL NIGHTMARE

“The official projections for current entitlements show that the American people will be confronted with a series of unpleasant options: savage benefit cuts, massive tax increases, or a combination of both.  Heritage Foundation analysts, among many others, have amply documented the long-term economic catastrophe that lies ahead without comprehensive entitlement reform.[1]

GAO:   76% of every $1 will go to Health Care and Debt Interest

GAO has candidly told Congress:

  • “Just ten years from now in this simulation that is based on historical trends and recent policy preferences, 76 percent of every dollar of federal revenue will be spent on retirees and their health are providers, health care providers for the poor, and our bond holders.  This leaves little room for other priorities, such as national defense and investment in infrastructure and alternative energy sources, and threatens the government’s fiscal ability to respond to emergencies, both natural and manmade.”[2]
  • “The GAO estimates that it would take a 39 percent increase in revenue, or a 37 percent decrease in non-interest spending, to close the federal fiscal gap.”[3]
  • “Further, the GAO points directly to health care spending as the major cause of the fiscal gap: “Rapidly rising health care costs are not simply a federal budget problem; they are our nation’s number-one long-term fiscal challenge.”[4]

President Obama uses these dire warnings to make his case to Americans.  Yet, interestingly, his plan does exactly the opposite of what economic experts tell us reform must do:  Cut health care entitlement expenses!  Obama ignores these warnings and instead of cutting Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP, Obama expands these three health care programs in the name of reform and magnifies problems as a consequence.  His proposals will not only lead to more expensive programs and greater deficits but higher taxes at both the federal and state levels.

Government Health Care Costs Will Force States to Raise Taxes

  • GAO’s warnings include that “Health care costs, principally Medicaid costs,[5] even at current levels will force states to raise revenue or reduce spending by 7.6 percent every year in order to close the fiscal gap faced by state and local governments.”
  • “It is ironic that just as Senator Baucus and others propose to add millions of additional beneficiaries to the fiscally troubled Medicaid program, Congress is on the threshold of passing a temporary increase in the Medicaid Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP), the federal Medicaid match, in order to provide urgent economic relief to states.”[6]

WILL OBAMA CAUSE PRIVATE HEALTH CARE TO CRASH TO GET CONTROL OF HEALTH CARE?

“Adding more people to Medicaid when states cannot even afford their current programs makes no sense – unless the real object is to crash the program in order to force the states to support a single-payer system, under which the federal government would take over the entire health care system.  Congress’s own analysts have demonstrated that the current path for Medicare and Medicaid is unsustainable.”[7]

  • “The Obama and Baucus proposals…directly undermine the historic accomplishments of the 1990s welfare reform, which was designed to get Americans off of dependence on government programs.  Indeed, expanding the private health insurance pool and spreading risk over a larger population would help to stabilize health insurance premiums and slow the growth in health care costs.”[8]
  • “The President and Senator Baucus would also undertake a major expansion of existing government health care programs and entitlements, including Medicare, Medicaid, and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).”
  • “Medicaid is already unsustainable for states and is already threatening state budgets”
  • “Expanding Medicaid discriminates against low-income families and provides limited access to health care.”

“EXPANDING MEDICARE AND MEDICAID AND INCURRING NEW LIABILITIES IS, TO PUT IT MILDLY, UNWISE

“Congress, in launching a recent series of massive bailouts, an unprecedented splurge in federal spending, has just created a record deficit of $1.6 trillion.  At the same time, Congress has avoided the tough but vital decision about how to pay for the massive entitlement obligations that have already been incurred in Medicare and Social Security, let alone how to finance new ones.

  • Medicare’s unfunded liabilities stand at $38 trillion currently.  “Medicaid’s long-term unfunded liability will be even greater than Medicare’s because Medicaid is funded entirely through general funds on a pay-as-you-go basis, with no trust funds or dedicated payroll tax available for its use.
  • “Given the unsustainable cost of the current programs and the utter failure of Congress to address these issues, it is hard to imagine how Congress would plan to finance additional entitlement costs.  The current approach on Capitol Hill is to avoid such accountability.”[9]

 

[1][1][1] Ibid.  (See Heritage entitlement spending charts, “Entitlement Spending Will More than Double by 2050,” “Entitlements Alone Will Eclipse Historical Tax Levels by 2052,” and “Mandatory Spending Consumes Growing Share of Total Spending,” at http://www.heritage org.  See also: U.S. Government Accountability Office, “The Nation’s Long-Term Fiscal Outlook: September 2008 Update, GAO-09-94R, at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0994r.pdf (Feb. 6, 2009), and “State and Local Fiscal Challenges: Rising Health Care Costs Drive Long-Term and Immediate Pressures, GAO-09-21-OT, Nov. 19, 2008, at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0921t.pdf (Feb. 9, 2008)

 

 

[2] U.S. Government Accountability Office, “The Nation’s Long-Term Fiscal Outlook: September 2008 Update, p. 2.

[3] Ibid., p. 10

[4] Ibid., p. 8

[5] Ibid., p. 5

[6] The Heritage Foundation: “Note to Congress: Expanding Health Care Entitlements is Bad Policy,”, by Dennis G. Smith, Feb. 12, 2009

[7] Ibid.

[8] The Heritage Foundation: “Note to Congress: Expanding Health Care Entitlements is Bad Policy,” by Dennis G. Smith, Fe. 12, 2009

[9] The Heritage Foundation, “Note to Congress: Expanding Health Care Entitlements is Bad Policy,” by Dennis G. Smith, February 12, 2009

Posted in Economic Crisis, Health Care | 6 Comments »

OBAMA’S CALL TO MINISTERS: Are Ministers Answering the Call from the President OR from God?

September 1st, 2009

By Elois Zeanah

Since President Obama’s conference call to faith-based groups in mid-August 2009 to urge their support for government-controlled health care, I’ve heard ministers speak about our “responsibility” to make health care insurance a “right”.   

Health Care For Children 

One minister centered his comments on children who are uninsured.  He stated (incorrectly) that too many children in America go “unprotected” when the Bible tells us to take care of them.  Apparently, he is unaware that every child from a poor family has access to Medicaid and S-CHIP, and every person, adult or child, is treated at a hospital even when they cannot pay. 

Health Care For Illegal Immigrants 

Another minister opined that we should look at the health care issue biblically.  She used the parable of the Good Samaritan to make the case that illegal immigrants should be included in the health care plan and should receive tax-subsidized or free health care.  “What does it mean for us today to love our sick or uninsured neighbor as ourselves?” she asked.  

 I would ask in return if Jesus was referring to individuals as neighbors or to governments?  I can’t see how that parable can be interpreted that people should look to the government to take care of their needs and their neighbors’.  I would also ask if Christians have a biblical duty to obey laws and expect others to do the same?  Didn’t Jesus charge citizens to “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s”?   While most people are aware that it is unlawful to enter the United States without permission, most people are unaware of another law that prohibits anyone from aiding and abeting illegal immigrants.  Christians should obey laws.
 

Do Christians Have a Moral Obligation to Push for Comprehensive Health Care For All? 

One minister pointed Christians to Old and New Testament scriptures where God and Jesus are continually referred to as “healers”.  Citing Isaiah 57:18:  “I have seen their ways, but I will heal them,” and Luke 14:4:  “So Jesus took him and healed him, and sent him away”, the minister asked:  “Can we Christians do any less?”   1 John 3:17 tells us:  ‘How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?’  From this perspective, do people of faith not have a moral responsibility to encourage our elected officials to pass comprehensive health care?”  The minister obviously feels Christians are obligated to support proposed comprehensive health care, and to answer the President’s call. 

Guilt Trip as Bully Club

Just as President Obama reached out to persuade faith leaders to use their influence to get their “flock” to back his health care proposal, politicians too often apply the guilt trip like a tourniquet to any issue that doesn’t have public support to persuade Americans to do something they don’t believe is right. I believe Christians have a moral obligation to follow their conscience and to fight injustices in our culture, which spring eternally from our government. 

Ministers, if they are going to preach on health care reform, should study what’s in the health care reform bill, who it will hurt as well as help, and what impacts (intended as well as unintended) will be on various groups, including the poor, as well as what freedoms and liberties granted by our Constitution will be sacrificed to serve a political agenda.  Only then can faith leaders know if they are being shepherds or sheep, and whether they’re following man or God.

Posted in Health Care, Immigration, Uncategorized | No Comments »

HB3200 VIOLATES YOUR RIGHT TO PRIVACY: The Good News is that it Expands Business for the IRS and the “Repo Man” and Creates New Jobs

August 28th, 2009

By Elois Zeanah

BEWARE:  Government can grab your bank account, your car, even put a lien on your home.  You thought an IRS audit was as scary as it gets?  It will no longer be just your tax filing that the roving eyes of the IRS can access.  It’s your bank accounts, both checking and savings; it’s the worth of your house and how much the government can take if a lien is needed to pay the government for your share of health care.  The government can even seize your car. 

Ah, yes, the “Repo Man” will have a new client:  The U.S. Government, dear ol’ Uncle Sam himself.  After all, these economic times scream for ways to create jobs, and the health care bill could boost the economy big time.  Repossession companies will no longer have to look to just banks, auto dealerships and loan agencies for work.   Big Government rides to the rescue again.  If ObamaCare (or maybe it will now be called KennedyCare) passes, you will be forced to buy insurance one way or another.  The IRS and the “Repo Man” will collect every last dime you owe government to take care of you.  You may hide from other debtors but there’s no hiding from the government.   

Privacy is Passé Under HB3200 

If you think your rights to privacy are protected by the U.S. Constitution, my advice is:  “Get over it!”  Here’s how government plans to take your liberties and invade your privacy.  (This is just a few ways; more will be revealed in future articles.) 

Financial and Health Records can be Viewed by Thousands of Bureaucrats  

  • Section 431(a):  “The IRS must divulge taxpayer identity information, including the filing status, the modified adjusted gross income, the number of dependents, and ‘other information prescribed by’ regulation.  That information will be provided to the new Health Choices Commissioner and state health programs and used to determine who qualifies for ‘affordability credits.’”[1]

  • Section 245(b)(2)(A):  “The IRS must divulge tax return details – there’s no specified limit on what’s available or unavailable – to the Health Choices Commissioner.  The purpose is to verify “affordability credits.”[2]

  • Section 1801(a):  “The Social Security Administration can obtain tax return data on anyone who may be eligible for a ‘low-income prescription drug subsidy’ but has not applied for it.”[3]  They’ll check to see whether you qualify by getting your tax data.

Thousands of government employees can assess your records.  “The privacy of your health records will be only as good as the most nosy, most dishonest and most malcontented federal employee….So say good-bye to privacy from the federal government.  It was fun while it lasted for 233 years.”[4]   

And, by the way, remember that $700 billion Stimulus Bill that was rushed through before the public or the people who voted on it could read it?  This “emergency” bill “mandated the ‘utilization of an electronic health record for each person in the United States by 2014,’ but included only limited privacy protections.”[5]  

It’s logical, is it not, that the government needs to overrun your liberties and your individual privacy to make sure that you’re not frauding the government out of it’s just due to provide you health care?  The only way to know you’re not abusing your new entitlement to health care is to protect society from you. 

The Electronic Privacy Information Center opposes this invasion into our personal lives and violation of our right to privacy.  Marc Rotenberg writes:  “We would oppose section 431(a) of the bill because it violates the intent of the Privacy Act which generally requires agencies to obtain information directly from individuals and not from other agencies.”   Should you get your Members of Congress onboard as well?  Or does it really matter who knows the most intimate details of our financial and health records?  After all, Uncle Sam loves us all so very much, he wants to take good care of us; and that means we have to give up something to Uncle Sam in return so he can control our affairs.

[1] “Democratic Health Care Bill Divulges IRS Tax Data – Taking Liberties,” by Declain McCullagh, CBS News, August 26, 2009

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.  Quote from Tom Giovanetti, Institute for Policy Innovation (a free-market think-tank).

[5] Ibid.

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ILLEGAL ALIENS: Can Non-Citizens Receive Health Care Under HB3200 OR Is This Claim Uninformed Rabble?

August 28th, 2009

By Elois Zeanah

Illegal aliens can receive benefits under the proposed bill.  The Congressional Research Service (CRS), the “research arm” for the United States Congress, issued a report titled “Treatment of Noncitizens in H.R. 3200 that confirms: 

  • “H.R. 3200 does not prevent non-citizens, whether they’re present in the U.S. legally or illegally, permanently or temporarily – from receiving health care benefits under the proposed plan.
  • Illegal aliens can also receive taxpayer subsidies for their health care – whether they choose government insurance or private insurance.
  • Loopholes in the bill are so gaping that even Mexican and Canadian citizens could participate in the health insurance exchange.

The CRS specifically cited the absence in the bill requiring that immigrants be “verified” as in the country legally before receiving health care insurance.  Because the language is so ambiguous, the CRS concluded that the Health Choices Commissioner would decide who was eligible under the plan.  This bureaucrat will, of course, interpret the vague wording according to the wishes of those who appointed him. 

What is the Intent of the President and Congress? 

“These loopholes were deliberate and intended to extend benefits to illegal aliens, while allowing Members of Congress to deny those facts to the American people,” stated Dan Stein, President of FAIR (Federation for American Immigration Reform).

 

  • An amendment to the House Ways & Means Committee bill to bar illegal aliens from enrolling in the proposed public option or receiving the “affordable credits” toward private insurance was voted down.  The amendment by Rep. Dean Heller (R-Nevada) to apply the same eligibility verification procedures that are now used for Medicaid to prove citizenship was voted down on a party-line vote.  This system is the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system.
  • Amnesty groups have expressed pleasure at the wording and have stated that the bill allows illegal aliens to receive health care benefits.

Fact or Uniformed Rabble? 

Stein stated:  “For the past month, irate citizens, concerned that their tax dollars will be used to fund health care for illegal aliens, have been unfairly portrayed as uninformed rabble by their elected representatives and a host of media organizations.  It’s time for the politicians to close the loopholes, and for the media establishment to acknowledge that they got it wrong.” 

The Congressional “research arm” has spoken:  Illegal aliens can receive benefits under the bill.   Citizens, once again, have proven they aren’t duped by ambiguous language that gives the President, Congress, and the media deniability, and by attempts of politicians to blatantly mislead U.S. citizens of their intent!

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SENIORS: Will Government Become the “Grim Reaper?”

August 28th, 2009

By Elois Zeanah

Controversy has erupted over what House Bill 3200 says about end-of-life counseling.  Can Section 1233 be interpreted to mean “death panels”?  And what about rationing?  Will rationing by bureaucrats to save costs, to be blunt, result in government becoming the “Grim Reaper?” 

Section 1233 is not as benign as the President pretends, according to Dr. Charles Krauthammer, who stated:  “This offers government reimbursement to any doctor who gives end-of-life counseling – whether or not the patient asked for it.  [The purpose] is to create an incentive for such a chat.” 

Krauthammer goes on to say that Section 1233 “is subtle pressure applied by society through your doctor.  And when you include it in a health-care reform whose major objective is to bend the cost curve downward, you have to be a fool or a knave to deny that it’s intended to gently point you in a certain direction, toward the corner of the sick room where stands a ghostly figure, scythe in hand, offering release.”[1]

What does Obama’s Health Adviser Say?   

Let’s take President Obama at his word.  He asked the American public to judge who he is by the people he chooses as his friends and appoints as his advisers.  This is not very comforting!  His health adviser, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, has written statements as a bioethicist, that will make a senior’s heart flutter.  For starters, Dr. Eamnuel “blames the Hippocratic Oath for the ‘overuse’ of medical care.”[2]

Who should get medical care?  Who should decide?  Whose life is worth saving?

“The health bills being pushed through Congress put important decisions in the hands of presidential appointees like Dr. Emanuel.  They will decide what insurance plans cover, how much leeway your doctor will have, and what seniors get under Medicare.”[3]  Dr. Emanuel has been appointed by President Obama to two key health care positions:  health-policy adviser and the Federal Council on Comparative Effectiveness Research.  What he thinks will heavily influence health policy.  Here’s a sampling of what Dr. Ezekiel believes, based on his personal statements:

  • Health reform will not be pain free.
  • Doctors’ ethical obligations must be redefined.
  • Patients’ needs must be balanced with what’s good for society.
  • Medical students should be trained to emphasize “socially sustainable, cost-effective care.”
  • Scarce medical resources must be carefully allocated.
  • Decisions about patient care cannot focus on only the worth of the individual.
  • Age and productivity should guide medical decisions.
  • “Individuals aged roughly 15 and 40 years” should be given priority over younger and older patients.
  • Allocating medical services by age is not discriminatory.
  • The U.S. should erect “a decision-making body similar to the

    United Kingdom’s rationing body – the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) – to slow the adoption of new medications and set limits on how much will be paid to lengthen a life.”

Do these beliefs make you feel better about rationing and end-of-life counseling intended by House Bill 3200?  If Dr. Emanuel is in charge of your medical treatment and if you have cancer, for example, your chances for survival based on best-practices medicine will plummet.   

The U.S. is rated No. 1 out of 191 countries for responsiveness and giving individual patients choice. 

This will change if Dr. Emanuel has control of your health care insurance.  “Dr. Emanuel has fought for a government takeover of health care for over a decade.  In 1993, he urged that President Bill Clinton impose a wage and price freeze on health care….Now he recommends arm-twisting Chicago style.”[4]

“’Every favor to a constituency should be linked to support for the health-care reform agenda,’ he wrote last November 16 in the Health Care Watch Blog. ‘If the automakers want a bailout, then they and their suppliers have to agree to support and lobby for the administration’s health-reform effort.’  “Is that what Americans want?”[5]  Do you feel better about the sections of House Bill 3200 that deal with rationing and end-of-life counseling?  Or does your scared fluttering heart feel like going to a town hall meeting and voicing your opinion while you still have a choice?

[1] Charles Krauthammer, “Living wills aren’t used in many case, August 21, 2009

[2] The Wall Street Journal:  “Obama’s Health Rationer-in-Chief,” by Betsy McCaughey, August 27, 2009

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

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