How Will The Healthcare Reform Laws Benefit Everyday People?

27 March 2010


Dear America,

We are living in times of great consequence for this country. The downturn of the economy, rising national debt and unemployment has people turning their eyes and ears to Washington in larger numbers than we have seen in a very long time. These issues are punctuated by a debate over the recently passed health care bill which has divided our country more thoroughly than any issue since the Civil War.
It seems that just about everyone in this nation is taking a side, fortifying their position and hunkering down for a fight. But what began as an emotional discussion about health care, insurance companies and tax dollars seems to have boiled itself down to blaming and name calling. Liberals are elitists and socialists. Conservatives are bigots and fear mongerers. Our politicians are fighting across the isles. The media has jumped on board and seems to spend more time discrediting each other than actually reporting the news. And we, as a people, promptly jumped in, chose sides and began casting stones.
People, we have bought in to Washington’s game. While we bicker and fight, the politicians are grabbing money and power and laughing all the way to the bank.
Depending on which survey you believe; somewhere between 40% and 75% of Americans opposed the health care bill. The House of Representatives just squeaked out 51% and passed the bill without a single republican vote. Is this leadership? Is this compromise? No matter which side you are on, does anyone feel like the other side is listening? And do any of us honestly believe that anything will really be different if we fill the legislature with republicans in November? I sure don’t.
We have all bought in to this un-winnable game of tug o’ war and the only way out is to let go of the rope. The name calling and blaming only widens the gap and digs the other side deeper in to their position.
For example: When you see a religious person holding a sign that says “God hates homosexuals or soldiers (or whatever this person thinks God hates) does it make you want to become a Christian? Or if you are Christian, does it make you proud to be one? The same rings true in political debate, or any debate for that matter. You will never convince someone to change their mind through anger, bitterness or hatred. And if you are not trying to change a mind, then why engage in debate in the first place? Is that not the point? Yelling, bickering and name calling convinces no one and accomplishes nothing.
I did not choose my political views based on hatred for the other side. I do not hate those who disagree with me. My political views were born of love. Love for our country. Love for our Constitution and what it stands for. I love my countrymen. I love my freedom and I love your freedom.
It is time we lower our voices and start talking again. It is time we start thinking about what we really believe and why. Most of all, it is time we start listening to each other again.
We must realize that there are no perfect answers. There are no perfect people. We need to learn our history so we can understand where we came from and better see where we are going. We need to understand that our founders were certainly not perfect people, but they were able to come together and build the framework of a government that answers to its people. They had the foresight to know that government should be adaptive but that certain freedoms should never, under any circumstances, be taken from its people.
Once we take a step back from our party affiliations and start open and honest discussion based on our values, we can begin to compromise and work together again. Once we have done that, we can stand together, unified by our love for each other and our freedom. Only then can we turn to Washington as one country and say with authority; “You work for US! We don’t need your parties, bribes, back room deals, lobbyists and special interest groups. You need us. You need our tax dollars and our votes. You need our support and until we see some compassion and integrity, you will NOT have it.”
A great man once said; “United, we stand; divided, we fall.” Together, we can take back Washington and this country from our arrogant and power hungry politicians and return it to its rightful owners: US!

Sincerely,
Jason D. Hoffman, American

False: Medicare Benefits Will Be Slashed

The claim that Obama and Congress are cutting seniors’ Medicare benefits to pay for the health care overhaul is outright false, though that doesn’t keep it from being repeated ad infinitum.

The truth is that the pending House bill extracts $500 billion from projected Medicare spending over 10 years, as scored by the Congressional Budget Office, by doing such things as trimming projected increases in the program’s payments for medical services, not including physicians. Increases in other areas, such as payments to doctors, bring the net savings down to less than half that amount. But none of the predicted savings – or cuts, depending on one’s perspective – come from reducing current or future benefits for seniors.

The president has promised repeatedly that benefit levels won’t be reduced, reiterating the point recently in Portsmouth, N.H.:

Obama, Aug. 11: Another myth that we’ve been hearing about is this notion that somehow we’re going to be cutting your Medicare benefits. We are not.

Is he wrong? Not according to AARP, by far the nation’s largest organization representing the over-50 population. In a "Myths vs. Facts" rundown, AARP says:

AARP: Fact: None of the health care reform proposals being considered by Congress would cut Medicare benefits or increase your out-of-pocket costs for Medicare services.

To be sure, Obama hasn’t always thought that Medicare "savings" could be accomplished without actual cuts in benefits. Last fall, his campaign ran two television ads accusing Sen. John McCain of wanting “a 22 percent cut in [Medicare] benefits.” The basis for the ads was a newspaper article in which a McCain aide said the Arizona Republican would cut Medicare costs. But the aide said nothing about cutting benefits, in fact quite the contrary. We called the claim "false" when Obama made it against McCain, and it’s still false now when Obama’s critics are making the same accusation against him.

False: Government Will Decide What Care I Get (a.k.a. they won’t give grandma a hip replacement)

This untrue claim has its roots in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the stimulus bill), which called for the creation of a Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research. The council is charged with supporting and coordinating research that the government has been funding for years into which treatments work best, and in some cases, are most cost-effective. Supporters of this type of research say it can provide valuable information to doctors, improving care and also lowering cost.

Betsy McCaughey, a former Republican lieutenant governor of New York (and now a professing Democrat), wrote in an opinion piece that the government would actually tell doctors what procedures they could and couldn’t perform. The claim took off from there, popping up in chain e-mails and Republican press conferences. It’s not true. The legislation specifically says that the council can’t issue requirements or guidelines on treatment or insurance benefits:

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009: Nothing in this section shall be construed to permit the Council to mandate coverage, reimbursement, or other policies for any public or private payer. … None of the reports submitted under this section or recommendations made by the Council shall be construed as mandates or clinical guidelines for payment, coverage, or treatment.

As for the health care bills themselves, the House’s H.R. 3200 sets up a center to conduct and gather such research within the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, an entity the CBO called “the most prominent federal agency supporting various types of research on the comparative effectiveness of medical treatments." Like the stimulus legislation, the bill states that: "Nothing in this section shall be construed to permit the Commission or the Center to mandate coverage, reimbursement, or other policies for any public or private payer.’’

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee bill (not yet released in its entirety) calls for a similar center that “will promote health outcomes research and evaluation that enables patients and providers to identify which therapies work best for most people and to effectively identify where more personalized approaches to care are necessary for others,” according to the summary of the bill.

This claim also stems from a fear that the U.S. will institute a system like that of the U.K., where the government provides and pays for health care. But none of the bills now being debated in Congress call for such a system, and the president has said he doesn’t want nationalized or single-payer health care, as we’ve said several times.

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7001

ahh the republican lie machine marches on. FOUND GUILTY....
By Brad Friedman on 3/19/2009 4:59PM
KY Election Officials Arrested, Charged With 'Changing Votes at E-Voting Machines'
Circuit court judge, county clerk, and election officials among eight indicted for gaming elections in 2002, 2004, 2006
Used popular, unverifiable ES&S; touch-screens to flip votes...

[Now updated at bottom with details from the indictments.]

Those of us who have demanded transparent voting systems because we understand that only the ability for complete citizen oversight and transparency can effectively counter those who would game elections, have been disingenuously criticized over the years as somehow questioning the integrity of the hard-working, honest election officials out there.

The fact is, those who know anything about computer security understand that it is the insiders who are, by far, the greatest threat to security on such systems, as even the phony, GOP-operative-created Baker/Carter National Election Reform Commission determined in its final report: "There is no reason to trust insiders in the election industry any more than in other industries."

The best election officials in the country, however, will underscore that point, and agree that there is no reason any citizen should ever have to simply "trust" them.

Over the years, we've detailed the arrests and other unsavory behavior of many of the not-so-good election officials who, we were told, should simply have been trusted (our "favorite" has always been the case of Monterey CA's Tony Anchundo, who told us on air we should "trust" him, just a month or two before being arrested on 43 counts).

Well, now we've got a whole passel of still more crooked officials to add to the list. Moreover: The Kentucky officials arrested and indicted today, "including the circuit court judge, the county clerk, and election officers" of Clay County, have been charged with "chang[ing] votes at the voting machine" and showing others how to do it!