The Ghost Of Health Care Yet To Come
Jan 2, 2010 Political
During this entire health care takeover debate we have been deluged with the supposed support for the plan among the nation’s health care professionals. The prop doctors at the White House provided a stunt to show all the “support” out there among the medical community. The AMA board gave its support to the plan after some deal making even though most of the members oppose it (and keep in mind the AMA only accounts for about 18% of doctors in this country). The AARP came out in favor of the bill because it will get rid of Medicare Advantage and seniors will need a Medi-Gap plan. The AARP happens to have one of those and it will make a ton of money by selling it to seniors.
Let us not forget that the pharmaceutical industry was against this until Obama made deals with it, deals that favor the industry and go against what Obama promised.
Then we have the Mayo Clinic in Arizona. The clinic, which Obama touted this “as a national model for efficient health care”, has stopped accepting Medicare patients (unless they pay for their own care) because the government does not reimburse enough to cover expenses.
The Mayo Clinic, praised by President Barack Obama as a national model for efficient health care, will stop accepting Medicare patients as of tomorrow at one of its primary-care clinics in Arizona, saying the U.S. government pays too little.
More than 3,000 patients eligible for Medicare, the government’s largest health-insurance program, will be forced to pay cash if they want to continue seeing their doctors at a Mayo family clinic in Glendale, northwest of Phoenix, said Michael Yardley, a Mayo spokesman. The decision, which Yardley called a two-year pilot project, won’t affect other Mayo facilities in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota. Bloomberg
Obama has said that the amount of money that doctors and hospitals are reimbursed is used as a safety valve by Congress to control costs. In other words, the doctors are screwed out of money by Congress in an attempt to balance the books (they never balance). Many doctors do not accept Medicare because of the reimbursement problems and now the model clinic will follow suit.
Imagine now if health care is run on a national scale by the US government. The government will set reimbursement rates and doctors and hospitals will begin dropping patients because the reimbursement is too low. This will lead to rationing of services and it will lead to more out of pocket expenses for those who rely on government. If a hospital or doctor refuses to accept the patients in the government plan then it matters not whether they have coverage.
Mayo’s hospital and four clinics in Arizona, including the Glendale facility, lost $120 million on Medicare patients last year, Yardley said. The program’s payments cover about 50 percent of the cost of treating elderly primary-care patients at the Glendale clinic, he said.
“We firmly believe that Medicare needs to be reformed,” Yardley said in a Dec. 23 e-mail. “It has been true for many years that Medicare payments no longer reflect the increasing cost of providing services for patients.”
No matter what they do to reform Medicare the purse will be controlled by Congress and as long as Congress can decide the reimbursement all the reform in the world will not make the situation any better. Yes, Congress could enact some reform but nothing can stop it from fixing prices in the future. This is true for any other government run health care.
Maybe the doctors and hospitals in Nebraska should contact Ben Nelson and tell him they will all stop accepting Medicare patients because he sold his soul to the devil. That would negate much of his sweetheart deal and it would keep the rest of us from having to pay into our Medicare and for theirs as well.
Health care needs to be reformed but not in the manner that government proposes. We need to scrap this whole mess and do some common sense things that will fix the problem and not enslave the people to government.
You people in Massachusetts can help. There is a special election this month for Ted Kennedy’s seat. The corrupt politicians in your state manipulated and changed laws to put a Democrat in there in the interim so that the majority would have 60 votes. If you vote the Republican candidate into office he will deny the Democrats their filibuster proof majority. The Senate will not have the 60 votes it needs to get closure. It is up to you to fight back against the corruption that your state has engaged in. Remember, if they had not changed the law (a law that existed until they changed it to prevent a Republican from being appointed by Romney should Kerry win the presidency) then the bill would have been dead.
Instead we have billions of dollars used as bribes for Senators, we have middle of the night legislation, and we have corruption at the highest level.
Massachusetts, you have the opportunity to keep the bill from passing by electing a Republican to the Senate. Look at Romney care and see how bad it is. Then you will see what it will be like for the country. Do us all a favor and elect the Republican. Besides, the Democrat has demonstrated that she is an unethical person who should never hold elected office.
Well, the Mayo Clinic in Arizona has fired the first shot across the bow of the government takeover of health care. They will no longer accept Medicare patients and this is being looked at in their other facilities and by physicians around Arizona. You can be sure that this is taking place across the country as well.
Seniors, this affects you. Get out in full force and vote these bums out of office. Especially you seniors in Massachusetts. Vote for the Republican in the Senate race that takes place this month. If you don’t step up then you have no right to complain when they are denying you care or doctors stop accepting Medicare.
“Before I draw nearer to that stone to which you point,” said Scrooge, “answer me one question. Are these the shadows of the things that Will be, or are they shadows of things that May be, only?” –Source
Like Ebeneezer Scrooge, the future of health care can change. It all depends upon heeding what the ghost of health care yet to come has shown…
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Tags: denial, health care, Massachusetts, mayo clinic, medicare, Obama, stop care
Wishing won’t make it so
Oct 14, 2009 Political
Over the past year, I have debated and conversed, and sometimes outright argued with many people about the state of our Union, and what I perceive the troubles to be. Everyone has a viewpoint, and some can make quite good arguments for their positions, some, not so much.
But I have run into a certain group of people who really would rather stick their heads in the sand, than acknowledge that there might actually be trouble in River City. They are the little kid who claps his hands over his ears and screams at the top of his voice, simply because he doesn’t like the message. That tactic, while effective perhaps in drowning the message out, does nothing in preventing the action from being taken- whereupon the person expresses surprise, saying a variant of “I didn’t think they would really do that,” when all the signs were there.
These people are who I call “Denialists”- people who just want more than anything to travel back in time before the contentiousness of today’s politics overwhelmed them. I can, believe it or not, sympathize- I would like to go back to an easier time, a less combative time, but alas, that is not to be.
Even if our political scene at home was settled, we now have the Russians, the Chinese, and the Indians, all seeking a bigger piece of the pie- and the threat might not come from one source, but multiples, for you have the baby nuke states, some of whom are crazy MoFos (I think sanity is a condition they must forgo, in order to belong).
Then you have the banana people- the Chavez/ Morales/ Castro/ Ortega leftists that seem to crop up every thirty years or so, just to make sure that their nation stays impoverished and backwards. It is probably a genetic thing.
Still, we (our Nation) are busy buddying up to these Marxist meatsacks, when in the past, we wouldn’t have given them the time of day, or if we had to notice them, we’d take them out of power- spank them good for their audacity, and throw them on the street or in prison.
No longer- our nation is undergoing a crisis of both mind and morality. All the hippies whose mantra in the 60s and 70s was, “If it feels good, do it,” now have chancres and herpes to show for their lifestyles, and the permissive attitudes they laid out for their children has resulted in Columbine Brats- children who should have been shot as a present to the rest of society. Those children were only cute to their parents, and in the end, not so much anymore. They endangered the rest of society with their permissiveness.
And these same people made up “rights”- “I have the right to do this”, or that, never giving thought that their rights ran smack dab up against laws, which were put in place for a reason. No, they just had to figure that it was “The Man” holding them back, rather than their sporadic and puerile education in the public school system.
And now the parents I talk to seem tired, beaten down, and more than willing to ignore what is going on in the halls of government today. They really don’t want to know, and some have gotten belligerent when I brought the subject up, one even threatening to shoot me- a threat he quickly rescinded, as he knows I take things like that seriously, but the fact that he would even say this indicates how fervently they want to believe this isn’t happening, and don’t even want to hear about it from friends.
This is only a good dream for the Liberals- a given 20% of the population- the rest of us range from scared, to oblivious, to pissed off. Many, as I have said, are sticking their head in the sand, and hoping it all goes away. It just goes to show, you really do not know the character of the person who you think is your friend, until the crisis comes.
Sometimes, sadly, they turn out to be Denialists.
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Now That He’s Elected They Will Cover Scandals
Dec 14, 2008 Political
All during the campaign, from the primaries to the general election, Barack Obama was plagued with one scandal after another. The issues were legitimate and they were worthy of mention but they were dismissed by the left and its media wing as nothing. The idiots at the Daily Kos and assorted other Democratic mouthpieces, the very same groups who see scandal every time George Bush passes gas, remained silent or attributed the revelations to a right wing smear job. Of course, most of the “smear” came from Democrats during their primary.
Now that the media have ensured that Obama was elected they are now free to investigate scandals and they are, to their own amazement, finding that Obama had questionable associations. Imagine that? The governor of Illinois has been arrested in a scandal that might have long reaching arms and involve Jesse Jackson Jr as well as various members of Obama’s dream team and the media are suddenly interested in particulars (but not too many).
Rahm Emanuel is one such member and things are looking bleak for him. The so called heavy weight with the foul mouth and the mean temper has been reduced to hiding in his home and sneaking out to work because he is likely smack dab in the middle of the corruption.
When the story about Governor Blagojevich broke Barack Obama expressed his surprise and disappointment and indicated that this was the first that he had heard of the pay for play scheme. He assured us that none of his people were involved in the “sale” of his Senate seat. Looks like Obama might have been a bit premature in his assessment because it is now reported that Emanuel was recorded discussing the Senate seat.
As of now there is no indication that he was involved in any of the illegal activities. The recording of him has not been released so we don’t know what was discussed but we do know that the fact he was discussing the matter is contrary to what Obama said about the issue. Obama’s statement that he had not spoken or met with the governor has also been shown to be false because there are pictures of the two together.
Obama and his team are in the middle of a scandal and they have circled the wagons. They are not discussing much, if anything at all, with the media. The man who would bring transparency to government has closed ranks and is anything but transparent. Obama has also shown that he is not above politics as usual and that his rhetoric about reforming DC was nothing more than campaign promises he never intended to keep. How could he bring a new brand of politics when he is a Chicago politician and, as seen in the Blagojevich scandal, there is nothing new or clean bout that?
Perhaps Obama should have made Hillary Clinton his Chief of Staff. She has many years experience covering up scandals. Obama is a babe in the woods when compared to the Clintons.
Then again, it was the Clinton kind of politics that Obama promised to get rid of.
What a difference an election makes
Prior to the election Obama could murder babies in Times Square and the media would ignore it. They would rationalize his acts and the Daily Kos would attribute it to a Right Wing Conspiracy and blame it on Bush.
Well moonbats, Bush had nothing to do with this. All the scandal, all the attention, and all the dirt is on your guy. George Bush had nothing to do with it though I bet he is getting a bit of a chuckle out of seeing the anointed One get the third degree.
Bush probably finds some humor in the fact that when the Plame issue was being investigated the left was in full attack mode and convicting people before they ever had a trial. Despite his insistence that he was not aware of what had taken place and who “leaked” Plame’s so called secret identity, he was branded a liar. The left was calling for investigations day after day and Bush’s people were the object of ridicule.
Now, one of Obama’s people (at least) is right in the thick of an investigation and the left is not calling for him to be frog marched out in chains. They are not calling Obama a liar because he denied knowledge and they are defending him. Why, he is a victim here. Someone did something to make him look bad or bring discredit upon him. He is getting consideration that George Bush never got.
Did Obama know anything? Who knows? However, he came from the crooked politics of Illinois and he has used questionable tactics and had questionable associations in the past so it is not beyond reason that he is involved.
However, given Obama’s past, it is likely that he sent surrogates to do the dirty work so he could stay “clean” should the deification hit the cooling device.
How long will it be before Rahm Emanuel joins the many others located under the bus?
Regardless of what happens, this scandal will no doubt haunt and hinder Obama for some time to come.
Maybe if it gets bad enough he will show that Birth Certificate so that he does not have to take office…
Others:
ABC
Chicago Tribune
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Tags: chicago, corruption, crime, denial, dirty politics, illinois, Obama, pay to play, rahm emanuel, scandal
Clinton Tactic, Deny, Deny, Deny
Feb 26, 2008 Political
I don’t honestly know why people ask either Clinton a question and expect to get an honest answer. They have shown time and again that they will deny everything and then attack the person making the claims. It is ingrained in their DNA and they and their mindless drones are the only ones who think they are telling the truth. Yesterday, a photo of Barack Obama in the clothing of a Somali elder was posted on Drudge and the caption stated it was being circulated around the Clinton camp. The story further states that the email contained the question; any doubt this would be on the cover of all the magazines if it were HRC (Hillary Rodham Clinton). I think this is a valid question and when asked about it the campaign could certainly have taken that approach. Indicate that even though the garb was not offensive they have no doubt if Hillary had worn it she would have gotten more attention. For their part, the Obama campaign overreacted to the photo.
Instead of saying that the photo was sent around with the question, Hillary denies knowing about it. I find it hard to believe that she does not get email from her campaign and I find it even harder to believe that she knew nothing about the controversy since it was on Drudge. If someone posts a picture of an ant getting fried under a magnifying lens to Drudge, the world knows about it in minutes. Mitt Romney indicated he checked Drudge several times a day, rush Limbaugh is on Drudge all the time and Obama’s campaign picked it up from Drudge very quickly. By denying, Hillary looks like a fool because it clearly indicates that it came from her campaign.
This kind of behavior has to remind people of her husband’s time in office. Time and again he deceived the public. He was not going to raise taxes and then no one told him how bad things were so he had to do it (he intended to all along because that is what Democrats do). He lied about “that woman” and he continued to lie about every scandal that hit his administration. The left has spent years convincing its blind followers that Bill Clinton got in trouble for having an inappropriate sexual relationship when in fact he was convicted of perjury. he did not lose his law license for sex, he lost it for lying under oath.
Obama has been pointing out politics as usual and says he is not part of the DC crowd and will do things differently. Even though his ideas and plans are all rehashes of tired and worn out Democratic platforms, he is pulling ahead because Clinton continually looks like a DC insider who plays politics as usual. She trows the mud and then tries to clean it up with lies and innuendo. She is doing the same by saying that she has worn the garb of many countries when she traveled the world and that this should be no big deal. Since the Obama camp jumped on this quickly, they played right into it and could look foolish. By defending it and calling it divisive the camp made it appear as if Obama did something wrong.
I will say this, I think that it is appropriate to print these kinds of photos. The media has printed photos of George Bush in some outlandish clothing worn in other countries (and don’t forget the dancing) and the drones at Kos have had a field day with it. John Kerry did not get good press when he wore that white spacesuit looking thing where he looked like a sperm cell moving around. In any respect, it is not a big deal. It receives attention because of Obama’s ties to Muslims and his perceived softness on national security. It makes him look like he sympathizes with the people who want to kill us. Perhaps that was the goal but by attaching the question to it the Clinton camp made a valid observation.
It is obvious that the media loves Obama and he gets much more favorable press than does Clinton. The spoof that opened Saturday Night Live pointed that out quite nicely. The Clintons and their supporters are crying and whining about this disparity.
Welcome to the world of the conservatives. Our guys get unfavorable press no matter what. The NYT endorsed McCain and then blasted him with a hit piece. They endorsed Obama and had some negative things to say about Hillary. Is there any doubt that if Hillary were to win the nomination the NYT would endorse her over McCain?
Now the Clintons and their supporters see what Bush has had to go through for the last 7 years as the media and the left bashed him for doing nothing differently than the previous occupant of the White House.
I like to see the left get upset about this and it could not have happened to a “nicer” person.
Source:
ABC