Category Archives: Throw Da Bums Out

The Countdown to Nationalization, Part III

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ObamaCare, due to be snuck back to the Senate hidden amongst 17 votes taken in the House today, will fix everything that’s wrong with health care in America.

Demorats would have you believe ObamaCare will not, as the President said yesterday, “solve every single problem in our health care system right away.” Of course, Demorats would also have you believe that solving 2 out 15,387 problems in our health care system is everything we need.

Demorats would have you believe ObamaCare will save you money! Of course, Demorats would also have you believe the $930 billion extra coming out of your paycheck is actually a bonus.

Demorats would have you believe ObamaCare will cure what ails you! Of course, Demorats would also have you believe an Emergency Room wait until 2014 is just fine.

Demorats would have you believe ObamaCare will save you money! Of course, Demorats would also have you believe twice as many people covered costs half as much. After all, Medicare provided health care coverage for 45 million Americans in 2008. Without any eligibility rules changes, enrollment is expected nearly to double to 78 million by 2030 although the number of workers paying in to Medicare each year from now until then will remain nearly the same. I guess it is the economy of scale.

Demorats would have you believe ObamaCare will cure what ails you right now! Of course, Demorats would also have you believe that their rush to passage has nothing to do with 65% of their constituents who want real reform rather than ObamaCare.

Demorats would have you believe ObamaCare will save you money! Of course, Demorats would also have you believe 12,000 new IRS employees will work for free. Medicare will spend $452 billion or 12.5% of the federal budget on care this year. Medicare is expected to cost $6.4 trillion from now until 2019 or 14.8% of the federal budget for the period.

Demorats would have you believe ObamaCare will be free of all special interest deals like the Cornhusker Kickback to states and insurance companies. Of course, Demorats would also have you believe Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska) is the Good Fairy.

Demorats would have you believe ObamaCare can take $522 billion out of Medicare by cutting waste and fraud to save you money! Of course, Demorats would also have you believe we need fewer jail cells because criminals will behave if we ask them nicely.

Demorats would have you believe the Social Security Trust Fund can underwrite ObamaCare to the tune of $71 billion. Of course, Demorats would also have you believe the increase in cost of living last year didn’t affect seniors because they have a fixed income.

Demorats would have you believe the new $50 billion long-term ObamaCare insurance premium isn’t a cost increase. Of course, Demorats would also have you believe they’ll never have to pay out $50 billion for long-term care because those costs will not come before 2020.

Demorats would have you believe doctors who already receive less than a quarter of what they bill will accept $371 billion less for their services under ObamaCare. Of course, Demorats would also have you believe a quarter of doctors or more won’t just drop taking Medicare patients when this cut occurs.

Demorats would have you believe the $210 billion new ObamaCare tax on investment income will help the economy. Of course, Demorats would also have you believe the Moon is made of blue cheese.

Drop your drawers and bend over the examining table, America. Demorats would have you believe this won’t hurt a bit.

First Among Equals

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A bill in the Vermont House shows that “Vermont First” is not always a distinction.

Vermont is the pilot project for the nation. The U.S. Post Office printed its first stamp in Brattleboro in 1846. The Social Security Administration issued the first check, $22.54, to a Vermont widow in 1940. The first program to force universal health care came with a Vermont law that banned cherry picking in 1992. Now the Vermont Assembly would legislate our non-profit hospitals out of business.

An Act Relating to Health Care Cost Containment is now in the hands of the House Committee on Health Care.

Buried among the Medicaid information technology funds, task forces, hospital budget review programs, and certificate of need rules, this bill will require that insurers participate in the Blueprint for Health and will prohibit hospitals from paying for “marketing and advertising.” It also sets up the State to take over any hospital in financial jeopardy. Shades of General Motors. The experience we have had with the State Hospital at Waterbury shows how well Vermont runs health care in the real world.

That experience matters not. The Vermont House has 94 Democrats, 5 Progressives, 3 Independents, and 48 Republicans. The Vermont Senate has 22 Democrats, 1 Progressive, and 7 Republicans. Senate President Pro Tempore Peter Shumlin (D-Windham) is running for governor. House Speaker Shap Smith (D-Lamoille-Washington) has not announced.

The “Blueprint for Health” in the bill will become a new statewide infrastructure/prevention/care management bureaucracy. It includes “an integrated approach to patient self-management, community development, health care system and professional practice change, and information technology initiatives.” The Blueprint Bureaucracy has the carrot of withholding Medicare payments from “under performers” and the stick of taking over the hospitals. Vermont docs and other providers receive about 40 percent of their revenue from Medicare and Medicaid.

  • “Marketing and advertising” means promotion, or any activity that is intended to be used or is used to influence individuals seeking health care services to use a specific hospital to attain those services.
  • Individual hospital budgets established under this section shall: … include a finding that the analysis provided in subdivision (b)(9) of this section is a reasonable methodology for reflecting a reduction in net revenues for non-Medicaid payers; and not include spending on marketing and advertising.
  • The term hospital shall also include all corporate or other entities affiliated with the licensed hospital…

I’m glad the Legislature has finally noticed that the skyrocketing cost of health care is a wee bit of a problem. That’s why House Health Care Committee Chair Steve Maier (D-Middlebury) says he included a provision to prohibit hospital from spending money for advertising and marketing. “It’s not producing health care,” he told the Burlington Free Press.

When I read about the bill, I thought this was a First Amendment issue. After all, even Vermont Law School constitutional law scholar Cheryl Hanna told the Burlington Free Press the legislation raised significant constitutional questions.

That’s a red herring.

The bill is another land grab, perpetrated by a legislature determined to gobble up all segments of health care from patient’s the first tiny down payment to the last visit to the morgue.

Here’s how that works. Hospitals get squeezed by shrinking Medicare payments, swelling Medicare patient loads, new budget caps mandated by the Blueprint for Health bureaucracy, and fleeing traditional payments. Hospital owners leave the state when confronted by a power grab at their books. Hospitals fail. Hospitals get taken over by the Blueprint for Health bureaucracy.

I would be werry werry afwaid if I were a hospital owner or administrator in any state in the union. After all, as Vermont goes, so goes the nation.

Did We the OverTaxed People sit out the last couple of election cycles? If we can’t learn from the Vermont experience, we could learn from the Sunni Arabs who sat out Iraqi elections in 2005. The need to protect their own interests brought Sunni Arabs out in droves on Sunday.

Theatrical

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I believe in tax support of the arts.

Art is an economic engine but it is far more than a retail sale or a paycheck. The Arts boost school test scores. The Arts improve our sense of community. And it doesn’t hurt that a painting or photograph, an original song, a well-staged play, or a warm book on a cold winter day all bring light to our lives. This state and this nation cannot afford to lose the Arts. I’ll let you decide if there is a small, dramatic branch that might be cut from the Arts tree.

Here we go. National theater in three acts. Or, as the great philosopher Frank Zappa wrote, “We are a nation of laws, poorly written and randomly enforced.”

ACT I — THE FLORIDA STAGE
The Miami Herald called Gov. Charlie Crist (R-FL) “the ingenue” last year when he planned to empanel a statewide grand jury to root out corruption in Florida politics. Corruption in Florida politics ain’t news; Monroe County’s public servants can be as south of the border-ish as any Central or South American junta. The governor’s theatrical remark followed FBI arrests of about half the public officials and influence peddlers in nearby Broward County.

Of course, the governor is unable to empanel even a tiny jury, let alone a Grand one. That power lies with the courts. The Legislature will promise to investigate and clean up the mess. Just as they did 17 years ago in the Public Service Commission scandals of 1993. And 1994. And 1995… And 2009.

It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. –Wm. Shakespear

ACT II — THE VERMONT STAGE
On Wednesday, Vermont State Senator (and gubernatorial candidate) Peter Shumlin pushed the state’s Senate into. The vote means the nuclear generator will stop operating in 2012. The vote came after weeks of political leaks in Montpelier and tritium leaks in Vernon, Vermont. The Senate, with no experts elected or on staff and no substantive reports to back their beliefs, and against the advice of the Public Service Board and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted against Vermont Yankee’s license renewal.

Governor Jim Douglas (R-VT) says the debate over the state’s only nuclear power plant is far from over. Bloggers have expressed their “disgust at the governor’s dismissive comments” because “the senate vote reflects the will of his constituents” thus showing how well a good stage play can sway the populace.

Of course, the law that allows the Legislature to decide the issue requires them to vote “Yes” to allow the Public Service Board to grant the relicensing the nuclear plant. Any other vote is simply free advertising for the man who would act as governor next year.

We have too many high sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them. –Abigail Adams

ACT III — THE NATIONAL STAGE
Meanwhile, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN.), Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), and Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) faced each other on Face the Nation yesterday. After steadfastly ignoring costs for more than a year, they all agreed that the cost of health care is suddenly the most important problem to tackle.

Sen. Coburn thinks that “we can save $250 a year [by eliminating] defensive medicine costs.”

Sen. Conrad thinks that “reconciliation cannot be used to pass comprehensive health care reform” because reconciliation works only on budget items.

Rep. Blackburn thinks we need to buy our health insurance in other states. “[My constituents] could generally save about $1,000 from being able to get past that stop sign at the state line.” Until next year when the out-of-state insurance companies raise their premiums. Again.

Rep. Hoyer thinks a specific proposal will be surface within “the next couple of weeks.”

The rest of us think the whole ObamaCare exercise proves the Far Green is right about anthropogenic global warming but wrong about the source. The source is not man-made carbon-dioxide or even methane. The source is man-made hot air. Methane smells sweeter.

Political theater /n/ Much ado about nothing or the art of playing fast and loose with the facts with no climax in the script.

We live in a society that loves a soap opera. Six months ago it was David Letterman. Six weeks ago it was Tiger Woods. Every day it’s politics. Who among you believes we’ll get anything for the money we send to the Capitol besides a few more episodes on “reality” TV?

Taxpayer support of the arts. We can afford just one branch. Do you want to keep the art that lights the way or the hot air that brings the darkness?

They Got the Gold Mine (We Got the Shaft)

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The U.S. Senate skulked around in the dark again — that would be the wee hours while it rained on my roof last night. They voted 60:39 to pass another landmark, TRILLION DOLLAR, ObamaCare insurance bailout guaranteed to make less health care available to more people, increase premiums, and raise taxes. (The $500 billion Medicare cuts drive Congressional Budget Office estimates that the bill would cut the U.S. national deficit by $132 billion over 10 years.) Giving up $500 billion to get $132 billion. Wow. Obamathematics strikes again.

The Senate also voted to raise the National debt ceiling.

Coincidence? I think not.

Hide the Ball

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Hide the Ball, Part I. My friend Rufus bought a brand new motor home last month. It was a difficult process mostly because the convenient Florida dealership that had the leftover model he wanted in stock kept changing the rules. Here’s how the deal went:

“We’ll take $xx,xxx and take your older motor home in trade,” the happy salesman told Rufus over the phone. “We’ll even deliver the new one and pick up your trade.”
Rufus went off to think about it. A few days later, he called the salesman. “OK, I’ll take it.”

“Oh, The price is actually $yy,yyy [almost $1,000 more] and you’ll have to bring the trade in to us,” the friendly salesman said.

That wasn’t the original deal but Rufus went off to think about it anyway. He really wanted the motor home. A few days later, he called the salesman. “OK, I’ll take it.”

“Oh, The price is actually $zz,zzz [another $1,000 more] and we can’t include the $600 SmartVent in that price,” the superb salesman said.

That’s one way to play Hide the Ball.

Rufus decided to cut his losses in Florida. He bought the same model motor home, delivered fresh from the factory, from a dealer in another state who didn’t try to game him. He paid $xx,xxx. The happy, friendly, superb salesman in Florida wasn’t very happy was he?

Meanwhile, Biff and Missy wanted to buy a second house here in the Keys. They have worked unsuccessfully with a local Realtor™ for about a month because other buyers are snapping up distressed properties as fast as they appear on the market. Missy and Biff can be a little slow at times.

Biff finally found a place that seemed perfect. It was available.

Their buyer’s agent sent them a 29-page contract. Biff read every page. That’s a good thing.

The contract spelled out that their agent told them their perfect vacation house was on the F.E.M.A. list. The agent hadn’t told them that nor had she explained what being “on the F.E.M.A. list” means [it means the buyer might not be able to get flood insurance]. The contract spelled out that their agent told them their dream vacation house had open permits. The agent hadn’t told them that nor had she explained what “open permits” means [it means the buyer could be liable for inspection fees and fines as well as putting the property “back to original condition”].

That’s another way to play Hide the Ball.

What does this mean to We the OverTaxedPeople?

It means car dealers and house sellers are pikers at Hide the Ball compared to Congress.

Hide the Ball, Part II. Missy and Biff have also been shopping for health insurance ever since Biff got riffed. She still has her job with the state but Biff the Plumber is out of work for the first time in about 20 years. Like millions of the rest of us, Missy and Biff want to reform health care and particularly health care costs.

“Rufus’ bus dealer was more upright than those airheads in Washington,” Missy said. She didn’t actually call them “airheads.” Missy can be earthy.

The U.S. Senate completed the first hurdle to passing ObamaCare over the weekend.

The Gang of 59 bribed hold-out Senator Ben Nelson (Used Car Salesman-NE) to sign on to the Senate health care bill. They pledged that We the OverTaxedPeople will pay all of Nebraska’s Medicaid increases forever so the Congressional Demorats can roll over all opposition and steal all the snow from the entire country right before Christmas.

Can you spell G-r-i-n-c-h?

That’s alright, though, because We the OverTaxedPeople really really really want national health care and we don’t care what it costs or whom we have to bribe. Right?

An ABC News/Washington Post poll shows 37% of the public thinks the quality of care will improve for them. Wow! That’s more than a third!

On the other hand, 53% think healthcare costs will go up under the legislation now in Congress. 55% think costs will rise for the healthcare system overall.

Uh oh! Maybe we do care what it costs and whom we have to bribe.

David Axelrod says “Reality” will “trump the poll numbers…”

Uh oh! Maybe it’s just President Obama who doesn’t care what it costs and whom we have to bribe. Maybe it’s just President Obama who doesn’t care what We the OverTaxedPeople think about ObamaCare. After all President Obama (praise be his name) knows what is best for the rest of us.

The newspapers say Mr. Axelrod, a senior adviser to the president, wants to “reframe the debate.” Mr. Axelrod said ObamaCare would be popular once people learned more about it.

That’s used motor home speak for “once we find the right spin.”

Also buried in the Demorats’ package is Medicare coverage for the 1,400 victims of “environmental health hazards” the EPA declared a public health emergency last June 17. Oddly, those 1,400 people were exposed to asbestos at the W.R. Grace vermiculite mine in Libby, Montana.

Senator Max Baucus, Demorat of Montana, snuck that one in for himself because he can. He is the principal author of the health care bill. That would be the same Senator Max Baucus (Finance Committee Chair and Used Car Salesman-MT) who said that the Bush Administration “ought to know that five years’ worth of Medicare and Medicaid cuts totaling [just] $200 billion are dead on arrival with me and with most of the Congress,” way back in 2008.

The bill quietly cuts Medicare and Medicaid benefits, but not until this administration is out of office.

Another provision to expand Medicaid only in Massachusetts, Nebraska and Vermont will add $1.2 billion in costs.

“It’s all in there just like it was all in my house contract,” Biff said. “It was just hidden in all the pages of fine print that reference other pages of fine print in other contracts.”

Now, here’s the bad part.

We excoriated the arrogant Grinches in Congress for voting on this Obamanation without reading the thousands of pages. Do you really in your heart of hearts think they wouldn’t still vote “Aye” if they actually had read it?

Missy and Biff and Rufus all went to different people for their deals. I haven’t (yet) convinced the rest of us how good an idea that is.

Merry Christmas, y’all. Missy and Biff and Rufus and I all hope you have enough left on your Visa cards to pay for gifts after the 60 Grinches “borrowed” your cards to pay for theirs.