Madeline Crabb
Has Congress lost touch with reality? Part Two
By Madeline Crabb
Is the proposed health care reform bill about American citizens, or about covering the proverbial backsides of congressmen?
While discussing how congress is supposedly working to control health care costs, Senator Tom Coburn explained that costs are out of control because the government is running things. He said that 60 percent of America's health care is now run through the government. Much of this is due to the Medicare entitlement.
Many of the current problems regarding the senate's so-called health care reform program deal with Medicare. Senator Debbie Stabenow keeps telling us how Medicare is "a great American success story." (They also think Social Security is a success story. Too bad it is bankrupt.) Absolutely no business near insolvency would be considered a success story by rational people. Only the federal government, or people totally out of touch with reality, could think these bankrupt government entitlement programs are successful.
According to Senator Stabenow, this current bill is all about "saving lives, saving money, and saving Medicare." (Lofty and unattainable goals.) What this new bill basically does is "rob from Peter to pay Paul." It cuts Medicare programs, raises taxes, and assesses various penalties and surcharges, and then uses these monies to fund new entitlement programs.
Government and long-term health care
Long-term health care is among the new programs in the pending reform bill. It should be another stand-alone entitlement, if we want to address it. (Having sold long-term health care insurance, I know such a venture is huge, complicated, and extremely expensive.) It should not be included in this bill.
We've had to listen to Senator Chris Dodd speak ad nauseam about how government-run, long- term health care was his idol's lifelong dream. His idol is none other than the late Ted Chappaquiddick Kennedy. (Geez...even when dead and gone, their groupies won't let them go. Let the dead and their ideas rest already. It's time for some fresh people and ideas.)
Since Medicare has been a main source of discussion, Republicans are accused of being hypocrites in their defense of the program. This accusation would be true if we were creating a new program from scratch. But since Americans have been paying into the program for decades, we almost have to save it. Otherwise, government would have to refund all the money they collected, with interest. Of course, it is unable to do so because our federal government is broke.
The Democrats plan to save Medicare? They want to reduce basic benefits to seniors, include a bunch of unnecessary gobbledygook, and add millions of new beneficiaries. To "save money" for all Americans, our government plans to add 20,000 new federal employees to tell us about health care. Talk about bureaucracy. And it will save us money. Uh huh, and I believe in the tooth fairy.
Real motives
The federal government is not worried about Medicare going bankrupt. They can always concoct new programs allowing them to collect new taxes from We the People. Then instead of using those funds to cover the new programs, they use them to save the old and bankrupt programs. This, in turn, causes the new programs to become unfunded mandates. And thus, the government bureaucracy grows. This doesn't bother our lawmakers at all. Last week, one senator even commented about how none of the current legislation would affect them...they would all be retired or dead by then. Now this is true.
Democrats keep saying they want to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse that exist in the current health care system. (Remember, 60 percent of health care insurance is run through government.) According to Senator Coburn, they don't want us to know that private industry bases their rates on what the government does, or that the fraud rate in the private sector is less than ten percent. Total health care insurance fraud is $175 billion a year. The government's share in the fraud is obviously huge, but the proposed bill addresses only $20 billion. Again, the government caused a lot of the problems, and don't have a clue how to fix it.
Attempting to get more support for this new colossal entitlement program posing as a reform bill, congress is touting how AARP strongly supports it. What they don't want us to know is that AARP is the fifth largest insurance seller in America. They have over three lobbyists for every member of the U.S. Congress, and spent $23 million lobbying congress in 2006. They also receive money from our government. So, if congress passes a bill that actually hurts Medicare, AARP wins because they sell insurance. Looks like AARP has something we used to call a "conflict of interest." We can't trust anything they say because they have a vested interest in the outcome.
Basically, the Democrats are hell-bent on passing this bill. They almost seem obsessed, and appear willing to do or say anything to get their way. Their motto should be Obamacare or bust. Watch for procedural moves like the so-called "nuclear option" to occur very soon.
In your face, Americans
An overwhelming majority of Americans oppose this bill. How do Liberals in Congress respond? From the floor of the U.S. Senate they call us the lunatic fringe, a howling mob, the irrational right, and a radicalized Republican Right. They want to take over, and run, an industry that accounts for one sixth of the American economy, and are rushing to do so. Unfortunately, they do this without any regard for an economy that's already in serious trouble.
The current national debt is over $12 trillion, and will reach $13 trillion by May or June of 2010. Congress just raised the current debt ceiling, but this weekend may raise it again to $14 trillion. Since 2010 is an election year, they don't want attention drawn to little things like out-of-control spending and debt, which congress is responsible for. Aren't they just covering their backsides? And they think we don't notice? We do notice, don't we?
Our elected officials are delusional if they think Americans will continue to tolerate their irresponsibility and foolish handling of our tax dollars. The government has caused a great deal of our economic problems, and when they try to fix things, they make matters even worse.
Lawmakers are constantly ridiculing private industry because of the profits they make, but that's how jobs are created. They criticize insurance providers for making money, but fail to tell the people that these same bad companies are not only solvent, but have reserves to pay for their contractual benefits to policyholders.
Perhaps our lawmakers should be getting some lessons from private industry, because it seems many of them have truly lost touch with reality. We the People need to jolt them back down to earth where real people live. To anyone willing to hear....
© Madeline Crabb
December 11, 2009
Is the proposed health care reform bill about American citizens, or about covering the proverbial backsides of congressmen?
While discussing how congress is supposedly working to control health care costs, Senator Tom Coburn explained that costs are out of control because the government is running things. He said that 60 percent of America's health care is now run through the government. Much of this is due to the Medicare entitlement.
Many of the current problems regarding the senate's so-called health care reform program deal with Medicare. Senator Debbie Stabenow keeps telling us how Medicare is "a great American success story." (They also think Social Security is a success story. Too bad it is bankrupt.) Absolutely no business near insolvency would be considered a success story by rational people. Only the federal government, or people totally out of touch with reality, could think these bankrupt government entitlement programs are successful.
According to Senator Stabenow, this current bill is all about "saving lives, saving money, and saving Medicare." (Lofty and unattainable goals.) What this new bill basically does is "rob from Peter to pay Paul." It cuts Medicare programs, raises taxes, and assesses various penalties and surcharges, and then uses these monies to fund new entitlement programs.
Government and long-term health care
Long-term health care is among the new programs in the pending reform bill. It should be another stand-alone entitlement, if we want to address it. (Having sold long-term health care insurance, I know such a venture is huge, complicated, and extremely expensive.) It should not be included in this bill.
We've had to listen to Senator Chris Dodd speak ad nauseam about how government-run, long- term health care was his idol's lifelong dream. His idol is none other than the late Ted Chappaquiddick Kennedy. (Geez...even when dead and gone, their groupies won't let them go. Let the dead and their ideas rest already. It's time for some fresh people and ideas.)
Since Medicare has been a main source of discussion, Republicans are accused of being hypocrites in their defense of the program. This accusation would be true if we were creating a new program from scratch. But since Americans have been paying into the program for decades, we almost have to save it. Otherwise, government would have to refund all the money they collected, with interest. Of course, it is unable to do so because our federal government is broke.
The Democrats plan to save Medicare? They want to reduce basic benefits to seniors, include a bunch of unnecessary gobbledygook, and add millions of new beneficiaries. To "save money" for all Americans, our government plans to add 20,000 new federal employees to tell us about health care. Talk about bureaucracy. And it will save us money. Uh huh, and I believe in the tooth fairy.
Real motives
The federal government is not worried about Medicare going bankrupt. They can always concoct new programs allowing them to collect new taxes from We the People. Then instead of using those funds to cover the new programs, they use them to save the old and bankrupt programs. This, in turn, causes the new programs to become unfunded mandates. And thus, the government bureaucracy grows. This doesn't bother our lawmakers at all. Last week, one senator even commented about how none of the current legislation would affect them...they would all be retired or dead by then. Now this is true.
Democrats keep saying they want to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse that exist in the current health care system. (Remember, 60 percent of health care insurance is run through government.) According to Senator Coburn, they don't want us to know that private industry bases their rates on what the government does, or that the fraud rate in the private sector is less than ten percent. Total health care insurance fraud is $175 billion a year. The government's share in the fraud is obviously huge, but the proposed bill addresses only $20 billion. Again, the government caused a lot of the problems, and don't have a clue how to fix it.
Attempting to get more support for this new colossal entitlement program posing as a reform bill, congress is touting how AARP strongly supports it. What they don't want us to know is that AARP is the fifth largest insurance seller in America. They have over three lobbyists for every member of the U.S. Congress, and spent $23 million lobbying congress in 2006. They also receive money from our government. So, if congress passes a bill that actually hurts Medicare, AARP wins because they sell insurance. Looks like AARP has something we used to call a "conflict of interest." We can't trust anything they say because they have a vested interest in the outcome.
Basically, the Democrats are hell-bent on passing this bill. They almost seem obsessed, and appear willing to do or say anything to get their way. Their motto should be Obamacare or bust. Watch for procedural moves like the so-called "nuclear option" to occur very soon.
In your face, Americans
An overwhelming majority of Americans oppose this bill. How do Liberals in Congress respond? From the floor of the U.S. Senate they call us the lunatic fringe, a howling mob, the irrational right, and a radicalized Republican Right. They want to take over, and run, an industry that accounts for one sixth of the American economy, and are rushing to do so. Unfortunately, they do this without any regard for an economy that's already in serious trouble.
The current national debt is over $12 trillion, and will reach $13 trillion by May or June of 2010. Congress just raised the current debt ceiling, but this weekend may raise it again to $14 trillion. Since 2010 is an election year, they don't want attention drawn to little things like out-of-control spending and debt, which congress is responsible for. Aren't they just covering their backsides? And they think we don't notice? We do notice, don't we?
Our elected officials are delusional if they think Americans will continue to tolerate their irresponsibility and foolish handling of our tax dollars. The government has caused a great deal of our economic problems, and when they try to fix things, they make matters even worse.
Lawmakers are constantly ridiculing private industry because of the profits they make, but that's how jobs are created. They criticize insurance providers for making money, but fail to tell the people that these same bad companies are not only solvent, but have reserves to pay for their contractual benefits to policyholders.
Perhaps our lawmakers should be getting some lessons from private industry, because it seems many of them have truly lost touch with reality. We the People need to jolt them back down to earth where real people live. To anyone willing to hear....
© Madeline Crabb
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