Why government-run healthcare is a bad idea
If government-run healthcare was such a good idea, then we could look to other countries who have it in place already and see examples of efficiency, innovation, and a more healthy population.
But here is what we see instead, from Mark Steyn’s book America Alone (pgs. 51-52):
In 2004, Debrah Cornthwaite gave birth to twin boys ath the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton. That’s in Alberta. Mrs. Cornthwaite had begun the big day by going to her local maternity ward at Langley Memorial Hospital. That’s in British Columbia. They told her, yes, your contractions are coming every four minutes, but sorry, we don’t have any beds. And, after they’d checked with the bed-availability helpline, “BC Bedline,” they brought her the further good news that there was not a hospital anywhere in the province in which she could deliver her babies. There followed seven hours of red tape and paperwork. Then, late in the evening, she was driven to the airport and put on a chartered twin-prop to Edmonton. In the course of the flight, the contra ctions increased to every two and a half minutes – and most Lamaze classes don’t teach timing your breathing to turbulence over the Rockies. How many Americans would want to do that on delivery day? You pack your bag and head to your local hospital in Oakland, and they say: Not to worry, we’ve got a bed for you in Denver.
Euro-Canadian socialized health care is, in essence, subsidized by American taxpayers: since the end of World War Two, Washington has assumed the defense costs of its allies, thereby freeing up those countries to spend their revenues on lavish social programs.
The latest Rasmussen poll shows that 55% of Americans surveyed want Obamacare repealed. In fact, every poll the group has conducted since the law passed in March showed a majority of Americans want the law repealed.
26% of those polled thought that Obamacare would lead to the creation of more jobs. Perhaps we should ask the staff at Langley Memorial Hospital how that worked for them. Or anyone in the maternity field in British Columbia for that matter – in a province with over 4 million people, one pregnant mother had to be flown to a hospital 700 miles away.
How is this better for society?
In: Politics · Tagged with: Canada, Mark Steyn, Obamacare, socialized healthcare
Well, was Obama lying?
Apparently we live in a culture where manners are more important than our president lying and spending trillions of dollars. While the media’s focus is on the South Carolina representative Joe Wilson for calling Obama a liar during his address to Congress, my question is: was Obama lying?
Kay Day sorts it out at The U.S. Report:
For starters Erick Erickson is right about this when he says: “The Democrats have blocked specific Republican attempts to require citizenship verification to get on the government plan. Why? The State Medicaid agencies are given the ability to set eligibility standards for the low income subsidies that will be used for the plan. And they have no incentive not to enroll illegal aliens, particularly since it’s a 100% federal match.”
Thus there’s actually an incentive for states to provide medical care, not just to illegals, but to anyone because of the match.
As my frequent readers know, there is also a fatuous provision in HR 3200 that creates a loophole of sorts. I’ve cited it often because it’s similar to the standards that got the US into deep water on lending. Section 1203, ‘Eliminating Barriers to Enrollment,’ stipulates, for the low-income subsidy program, “an individual shall be permitted to apply on the basis of self-certification of income and resources; and`(II) matters attested to in the application shall be subject to appropriate methods of verification without the need of the individual to provide additional documentation, except in extraordinary situations as determined by the Commissioner.”
[...]
Throughout all his speeches, the president has not once cited a specific section from HR 3200 or any of the other bills. Protesters have been vocal and for their demonstrations, have been vilified by media and Democrats, many of whom appear not to have even read HR 3200.
Right on – those who actually trouble themselves to read the bill are the ones who need to be reported to the White House. That’s why Obama, Reid, and Pelosi write legislation in smoky backrooms of Congress – with no input from Republicans – and try to allow only a day or two for deliberation.
The proof will be in the pudding. When we see that illegal aliens are receiving healthcare – despite Obama’s promises -there will be one more instance in an already long list of lies Obama has told to the American people in order to enact his wildly unpopular and unconstitutional agenda.
In: Politics · Tagged with: Barack Obama, socialized healthcare
Obama “bearing false witness”
Barack Obama appeared on a radio program sponsored by church groups in which the president called the “misinformation” (read – doing things like quoting the text and repeating things Obama has said in the past) as “bearing false witness.”
Obama then turned around and made a claim that has repeatedly shown to be a lie.
From McClatchy:
He said the first thing he wanted to correct was the idea that the proposed overhaul would force some people into different health care plans. “If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan,” he said, repeating one of his stock lines.
That’s not true, however, according to FactCheck.org, an independent truth squad run by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.
“He can’t make that promise to everyone,” concluded FactCheck’s analysis, one of several that point out that the Democrats’ health care plan could lead to employers switching plans, and thus forcing their employees into different plans and perhaps to different doctors.
“Under the House bill,” FactCheck said, “some employers might have to modify plans after a five-year grace period if they don’t meet minimum benefits standards.
“Furthermore, some firms are likely to buy different coverage for their workers than they have now, or simply drop coverage and pay a penalty instead, leaving workers to buy their own private coverage or go on a new federal insurance plan.”
The Heritage Foundation’s project “Fix Health Care Policy” has some excellent videos debunking the taxpayer-funded lies from the White House.
In: Politics, Religion · Tagged with: Barack Obama, Christianity, socialized healthcare
Conyers: What good is it to read the bill?
Referring to the massive socialized healthcare bill, Congressman John Conyers (D-MI) told members of the National Press Club: “I love these members that get up and say, ‘read the bill.’ What good is it to read the bill when it’s a thousand pages, and you don’t have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you’ve read the bill?”
Are you the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, or an innocent bystander, Conyers?
Who is it that determines that the House has only two days to read a bill anyways?
Isn’t the job of the Congressman to read the bill he or she is voting on? God doesn’t write these bills, people do. If the bill is too complex, if you only have two days to read the bill, vote against it. This is as absurd as a firefighter saying “I love these citizens that get in my face and say, ‘save my baby.’”
When someone says something like that, they don’t deserve to be a Congressman, or a firefighter, any more.
John Conyers’ contact info:
Washington Office: 202-225-5126
Detroit Office: 313-961-5670
Trenton / Downriver Office: 734-675-4084
john.conyers@mail.house.gov
In: Politics · Tagged with: Democrats, John Conyers, socialized healthcare
A dose of their own medicine
Congressman John Fleming, a Republican from Louisiana, introduced H.R. 615 last week. The bill states that members of congress who vote for socialist healthcare should forgo their outstanding healthcare plan and enroll themselves and their families in a government healthcare program.
The current plan of course exempts members of Congress from the disaster they have chosen for us.
Here is a link to the original resolution from Fleming’s site.
In: Politics · Tagged with: socialized healthcare
British Government Advisor: Dementia Patients have a “Duty to Die”
Here’s a big sign that socialized healthcare is a bad, bad thing: a British government adviser is advocating suicide for dementia patients, which would lessen the burden on the healthcare system. Now a free person in America might look at this and say, which is more important: the patient, or the program?
Baroness Warnock says that these patients are “wasting people’s lives” (and she is called Britain’s leading moral philosoper). Where are the socialist medicine advocates on this issue? They would entrust government, who is the best in the business at ‘wasting people’s money,’ with the decision of who lives and who dies? I am not hearing any calls of lives being wasted here in the U.S.
If doctors have their Hippocratic oath of “First, do no harm,” the British healthcare system should adopt an oath for their patients: “First, don’t become a burden.”
Telegraph Article: Dementia sufferers have a “duty to die”
In: Society · Tagged with: socialized healthcare
