Government Health Care Leads To Shortages
Oct 22, 2009 Political
In April of this year the world was hit with a flu virus and it spread rapidly. The Swine flu (H1N1 variant) struck late in the year and was fairly mild. Concern over the virus reemerging during flu season and being even stronger led to rapid production of a swine flu vaccine. The private industry that developed the vaccine and got it to market quickly is to be commended. The efficacy and safety of the vaccine are a different issue (last time there was a rush the vaccine killed more people than the flu) and the decision to get it is one that should be made between a patient and a doctor. Suffice it to say that the private industry responded quickly.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius told us that there was plenty of vaccine, the government is distributing it, and that everyone who wants it will be able to get it. Sounds good so far.
The problem is, government is involved in getting it out and ensuring that everyone who wants it, gets it. There are now regional shortages of the vaccine and there is concern that it will not be available in time to be effective. There is a possibility that by the time some are vaccinated (or have the opportunity to be vaccinated) they will have gotten the flu or the threat will have passed.
Remember, the government is in charge of this. The same people who want to take over the health care system and run every aspect of it are not able to distribute a flu vaccine.
Someone on TV (I can’t remember who) said that he believes that Sebelius has the safety of our children in mind but it is not at the top of her list. The person said it might be number two but her number one thought is “Please don’t let this be our Katrina.”
That is probably accurate. The government is showing that it is not very efficient at the small task of distributing vaccine (it is small compared to running health care) but it expects us to believe it will be able to run all of health care. The Obama administration wants this to go well so that it can crow like a rooster about how well it did and that the government is capable of handling our health care. The reality is that the administration is failing in the mission it took on.
It is true that there are shortages of the seasonal flu vaccine each year but then again no one tells us that there is enough for every man, woman, or child who wants it. In the case if H1N1, the government assured us there is enough for everyone
We have already seen plans for a state government to ration care in the event of a severe flu outbreak. Those plans call for those in certain categories (like those with terminal cancer) to be denied care. That is how government run health care works everywhere it is tried.
The vaccine distribution is strike two in government’s latest attempt to demonstrate it can handle health care (it struck out with Medicare a long time ago).
In baseball, three strikes and you are out. Let us hope that the third strike of government is not demonstrated by failure after it passes a complete health care overhaul. Because then we will be the ones who lose.
Oppose the government takeover of our health care. It will add to the deficit, it will not cover everyone (which they said they would do) and it will lead to poor service and rationing.
Then again, if their ineptitude leads to a huge number of deaths they will be able to save some money.
ObaMao wants complete control and the health care takeover is one big way in which he will do it.
Wake up America.
Related Articles:
Suozzi lashes out at Feds, state over flu vaccine shortages
Swine Flu Vaccine: Enough to Go Around?
Swine Flu Vaccine: Too Little, Too Late?
H1N1 Running Rampant Amid Shortage of Vaccine
U.S. Faces Swine Flu Vaccine Shortage
Remember, they said we have enough. So, how are there shortages?
UPDATE: Illinois is denying the vaccine to the elderly who are not in the government’s target group. Vaccines canceled in parts of Illinois. [Thanks to Mike Radigan]
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Tags: failure, h1n1, health care, Obama, sebelius, swine flu
In Health Care Government Gives Rationing
Oct 19, 2009 Political
The federal government wants to run health care. It is the desire of the Obamatons to take control of this large part of our economy so that it can take control of the people. This is what happens with Social Security and Medicare. Every time there is an election old people are scared to death over threats about cuts in services if the right candidate does not win. They also hear the doom and gloom as excuses for tax increases come into play. The government realizes that a large portion of the elderly vote so the politicians try to placate them.
This year there will be no cost of living increase because the cost of living has not gone up. The Congress is looking to give each SS recipient a $250 check because there will be no COLA. The law says that benefits cannot be reduced so the SS never goes down regardless of how well the economy is doing. The law also says that there is no COLA increase if the COL does not go up so why don’t we stick with the law? The Congress wants to placate the elderly by buying them off.
The real concern should be what will happen to them if the government controls health care. Rationing WILL take place. If the government needs to control costs or if there is a disaster then people not deemed worthy, per Ezekiel Emanuel, will be denied care.
The state of Florida is a prime example. The Florida Department of Health, a state government agency, has issued guidelines to hospitals regarding who is to receive care and who is not should the H1N1 flu cause a shortage of hospital beds.
Florida health officials are drawing up guidelines that recommend barring patients with incurable cancer, end-stage multiple sclerosis and other conditions from being admitted to hospitals if the state is overwhelmed by flu cases. Sun Sentinel
A state government agency has drawn up guidelines on who should be refused care should the flu overwhelm the system. The state agency has given guidance for rationing care.
Take this to the next level and you have the federal government. The federal government will also have guidelines that determine who gets what treatment based on age and general health. A 90 year old person stands little chance of getting a hip replacement or heart surgery if the procedure costs too much based on life expectancy. The big difference is that an emergency need not exist for the feds to ration care. The budget will be a major consideration as a cost is placed on human life. If they only expect you to live a few years more then you will not get what you need.
We see it in place in Florida based on a flu outbreak but the fact that they are deciding now who lives and who dies is a foreshadowing of things to come should government take control of the health care in this country.
No longer will a doctor and patient decide. It will be some bean counter in DC who decides based on life expectancy charts and the budget.
We, as a nation, need to decide that it is time for all members of Congress to be denied what they need to exist. That, of course, would be elected office.
Vote them all out in 2010.
And say no to government run health care.
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Tags: budget, florida, flu, h1n1, health care, Obama, rationing, swine flu
The Perks Of Elitist Congressional Health Care
Oct 1, 2009 Political
I have written before that members of Congress have the same health care insurance as all other federal employees and that it is nothing special. There are a number of plans from which to choose and the prices are reasonable because there are a lot of federal employees in the pool.
I have also written about the special floor at Walter Reed Army Hospital that is set up for special people like members of Congress. The floor has about nine beds, all in private rooms, a concierge, and its own chef. While the troops are navigating the unbelievable paper storm and administrative maze that is military care, the members of Congress are whisked to that special floor to be treated like royalty. The floor is not used very often and costs about a million dollars a year to maintain.
Another perk that members of Congress have is a special clinic that is very modern with up to date equipment and features six satellite sites. It is run by the Navy and basically provides family practice care to members of Congress. Who pays for this? Well, they pay $503 a year to use it and taxpayers foot the bill for the rest. Congress appropriated $3 million to reimburse the Navy for the staff providing the care. This does not include the equipment and procedure costs. The perk is known as the Office of the Attending Physician.
Members who do not pay the fee are not turned away and none of them fill out paperwork for reimbursement from their federal employee insurance. The VA bills the private insurance of our veterans but members of Congress are not bothered with such things.
The care provided is not first aid. When members report to the clinic they are given a thorough exam and everything under the Sun is done for them (even if first aid is all they need). The clinic has x-ray equipment and provides services such as physical therapy.
The clinic staff would not answer questions and ABC reporters looking into the perk were asked to leave. Much of the information comes from former employees who say that members of Congress abuse the Office of the Attending Physician and use it as their primary care.
One person, though, defended the perk. Eduardo Balbona, who worked there from 1993 to 1995 had this to say:
“They provide members an accessible, professional place to get services. The alternative would be members going throughout Washington, DC, interrupting their service to our country,” Balbona said. “It’s not a political perk. Much like a medic who’s in combat, it’s not a perk for those soldiers. It’s part of the mission.” ABC
Additionally, the piece indicates that this is viewed as no different from the medical services provided by many employers. Most medical services provided by private employers are for the purpose of work place surveillance relative to exposures to hazards (noise, toxic chemicals, cumulative trauma etc.) and is not there to provide primary care. Sure, some places check blood pressure, provide cholesterol screening, offer workplace education on proper lifting and back injuries, and dispense over the counter medications to keep people at work but they do not provide the things members of Congress are getting, largely at our expense. And to this Balboa guy, he obviously does not know what a combat medic does. The medic is not on the battlefield waiting for people to stop by for a check-up. He is there to provide lifesaving care to those who are injured as a result of war. Members of Congress are being treated like royalty for things that, most of the time, are non emergent.
This might explain why these people exempt themselves from the government plan they will force everyone else to take. Why should they have to sit in an office for a few hours with the regular people waiting to be seen by a doctor when they can waltz into a state of the art facility, be seen right away, and get a complete exam with everything they want, with all but $503 at the taxpayer’s expense?
We need to hold these people accountable and force them to take any option that they require us to take. Any member who uses this service needs to be voted out of office.
Call your Representatives and Senators and ask them if they use this service. If they do, tell them they lost your vote and boot them out of office.
Until we hold these people accountable and get it in their heads that they work for us, they will continue to add to the ever growing list of perks that are provided at our expense. That list includes the services mentioned in this post, free cars (with insurance, gas, and maintenance included), and free flights.
We are a country that does not have royalty and we need to stop these people from acting like kings and queens.
Wake up America. The next American Revolution takes place in November of 2010 when we vote them all out of office.
Be patriotic and be part of that revolution.
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Tags: Congress, elitists, health care, perks, royalty, special care, walter reed
Random Thoughts
Michael Moore has new movie out and it is a movie that is anti capitalism. Moore adds to his list of distorting films, F911 and Sicko (how much money did the anti capitalist make off them), with this movie about the evils of capitalism. But Moore will earn money from the movie. How is it possible for a person against capitalism to make money off his work? Yes, some folks will see it for free but Moore is in business to make money. He owns Halliburton and oil company stocks. Moore also does his post production work in Canada to avoid having to use union workers in the US and thus pays less for the service. Something tells me that his movie will not include these tid-bits about him.
Barack Obama said that we had to pass the stimulus bill now or we would get in a spiral from which we might not recover. We had to do it NOW.
Obama has been saying that we must pass health care reform (his takeover bill) NOW. He had a deadline of August but that came and went but he continues to say that it is imperative that we do this now. There is no time to wait, we must do it NOW. If it is so important to do NOW, why does it not take effect until 2013?
Interestingly, Obama took longer to decide on a family dog than he wants to allow for debate on the issues that he says we must do now.
The one thing that needs to be done NOW is resourcing our troops in Afghanistan. Health care takeover – NOW, read and respond to the troops request, not right now. Obama will push that off for a while as he takes time to study it. Can anyone explain why we don’t have time to read bills and why we must vote on them NOW but that we can delay the request of combat leaders until Obama has a chance to study it?
It has been 9 months since he took office. He talked about Afghanistan for several years before that. One would think he would have already put a plan in place but now, the man who said he would listen to commanders on the ground, is putting his request for more troops on hold.
Seems to me Obama is giving people a tobacco smoke enema. He has his priorities out of order.
Did you notice that a few thousand left wing morons protesting in Pittsburgh were unruly and had to be confronted by police? Did you notice that this small number of people made a mess and vandalized things? Did you notice how Obama said that compared to past G20 summits this one was tame and not well attended?
Did you notice that hundreds of thousands of protesters were in DC on 9/12 and none of them were arrested? Did you notice they left no trash and cleaned up after themselves? Obama did not notice them either claiming that he did not know about the protests. For that matter, the MSM ignored them. The MSM sure gave the G20 protesters a lot of air time though.
Left wing protesters and the 9-12 crowd. One group is good for America, the other is a bunch of lawbreakers who should be in jail. The people at the G20 should have been rounded up and sent to Gitmo (not because they protested but because they engaged in civil unrest that involved breaking the law and vandalized things while throwing rocks at police). They are fortunate they were not shot. Which means they are fortunate I was not in charge of the police there.
Did you notice that the Obama backed Pittsburgh Steelers are 1-2 so far this season?
The Census has added a question this year. They want to know if you and the people in your house are covered by insurance (and they list several kinds for you to indicate). Since Obama will fine or jail you for not having insurance, is it smart to answer this? Also, what does it have to do with the census and the provisions of the Constitution? For that matter, why do they need to know how many bathrooms I have?
I intend to answer only the questions that deal with the number of people in my family. The Constitution allows for the census to determine numbers of people for apportionment of representatives. There are no other provisions in there for all these other questions. If they want to know my income they can ask the IRS. If they want to know how many bathrooms (or other rooms) are in my house they can check with the county clerk who issued the building permit. If they want to know if I have health insurance they can suck wind because it is none of their business.
Anyone who answers all those questions is allowing them to usurp the Constitution.
As for census takers, they should be very careful about the questions they ask and about leaving when they are told to.
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Tags: capitalism, census, health care, lies, michael moore, Obama
We Are The Hog
Sep 24, 2009 Political
And Government Lives High On Us
Barack Obama pledged not to raise taxes on the middle class and vowed that 95% of the people would not see a tax increase. He failed to mention that 40% pay no income taxes and he failed to say how he would keep that pledge when all the money the rich have is not enough to pay the bills. Obama made it clear that he meant ALL taxes though there are a few people who quickly say it was all about income taxes and that the 40% pay taxes because they pay into Social Security and Medicare. It is only fair for them to pay these items because they will benefit from them in the future. It is equally true that they should be paying income taxes because they consume more tax dollars than the wealthy. Everyone needs skin in the game to understand the impact of out of control government spending.
Amazingly, one of the major network anchors asked Obama about his tax pledge (when Obama went on the MSM tour):
CBS: “Now you promised during the campaign (you promised) no tax increase on people who made under 250,000 dollars, no payroll tax, no capital gains, no tax of any kind on Americans. Can you still make that promise to people today?”
Notice that the CBS interviewer says NO TAXES OF ANY KIND.
Obama has raised taxes on tobacco. One can debate the health issues associated with tobacco use but that is not the point. Government claims this is to get people to stop (or never start) but government depends on the taxes from tobacco sales and it knows that very few people will quit, and if they do, government will need to get the money it loses in tobacco tax from someplace…
The middle class will get socked with taxes if the Obama health care takeover plan passes. The bill contains a tax on medical items. This tax was originally on all medical items (including tampons, condoms, and Q-Tips) but the language was changed to only include medical items that cost more than $100. This is one of the ways government will fund health care. The tax will be passed on to consumers of health care via their premiums (or co-pays) and if they pay for items out of pocket they will bear the entire burden of the tax. In the state of Maryland medical items are tax exempt so this will not be a tax increase, it will be an entirely NEW tax and those who buy medical supplies (like diabetics and those on dialysis) will end up paying those taxes.
There are many other problems with the tax because it will apply to medical devices that are manufactured and sold. Pacemakers are expensive now but will cost more when the tax is added (as will tens of thousands of other medical devices). Those costs will be passed on and the middle class will absorb them.
The trick here is that they are hiding it as a tax on devices and it has already been stated that the goal is to make it look like there has been no middle class tax increase. The trickery is designed to hide the fact that the increase will hit the middle class.
Obama promised that there would be no taxes on the middle class and he lied. The taxes have already been increased on tobacco (which affects the lower and middle class the most) and if this health care bill passes the medical devices worth more than $100 will add to the burden.
Seniors, he sold you out to AARP and you youngsters will be forced to get health care insurance or pay a fine. This is a tax on you no matter how you look at it. You will also pay higher premiums than your age would indicate to pay for those who are older than you.
How is that Hope and Change working out for you now?
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Tags: health care, lies, Obama, tax increases, tobacco