When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
-Thomas Jefferson
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Now that recent polling indicates that the general public has an unfavorable view of private health insurance companies, Pelosi and co have turned their attention to demonizing those companies directly. Pelosi:
From The Hill:
““They are the villains in this,” Pelosi said of private insurers. “They have been part of the problem in a major way. They are doing everything in their power to stop a public option from happening. And the public has to know that. They can disguise their arguments any way they want, but the fact is that they don’t want - nor do they intend on fostering - any competition.””
OK, the facts are these:
The federal government will not be a competitor for the simple reason that once they enter the market, they and they alone will have the power to make, change and enforce the rules of the game. One cannot be a competitor and the ruling body at the same time. If the government creates a brand, it will do everything in its power the ensure its survival, because that’s what our government does. Want proof? Look no further than social security. If the government gave us the option to opt-out and instead invest that money privately, social security would collapse in a matter of days.
Here are just a small sampling of the anti-competitive provisions in the current proposals:
1 - making participation in the government plan mandatory for those without any other insurance
2 - Upon losing private or employer-provided insurance, you will be required to join the government plan and will not be allowed to return to private insurance. Ever.
3 - Require private insurers to cover people with preexisting conditions. As I’ve stated before - and as should be obvious to anyone with an IQ of above that of a turnip - this requirement alone has the potential to destroy the private insurance industry.
There’s much, much more, but you get the picture.
As of this writing, the most optimistic estimates on the cost of Obamacare come in at just over a trillion (TRILLION) dolars over the next ten years, with the bulk of that money being spent in the second five as the program gets going. In reality then, what we will really have is a two TRILLION dollar program over ten years once the program is fully in place, and that’s only if the white house estimates are in the ballpark. History suggests they won’t even be close. The Congressional Budget Office has reported that not only will Obamacare NOT save money, but it will drastically increase medical costs - a burden that will be shouldered solely by the taxpayers. The 40+ percent of Americans who currently pay no income taxes will not have to contribute one thin dime to the program.
We are in a recession. Unemployment is approaching 10% nationally, with some states in the 15% range. Yet, our government - the very same government that has destroyed Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and badly bungled the cash for clunkers program - thinks that -this- is the time to completely take over and re-structure our national health care system. Not only that, but they’d have us believe that they are actually competent enough to pull it off.
At this point, a large number of us see this health care takeover for what it really is, a massive expansion of the welfare state at the expense of private enterprise, the free market, and the American taxpayer. If you are not familiar with the Cloward-Piven strategy, go here right now and read up. It won’t take long, and when you’re done, it will make sense and the picture of our current situation will become crystal clear.
Our congressmen/women are back in their home districts for the entire month of August. Contact them. Call their offices and find out if/when they intend on holding town hall meetings with their constituents (several are running scared and have canceled their regular meetings due to the growing and very vocal unrest among their constituents). Join up with your local TEA party organization to petition them. MAKE them understand that you are opposed to Obamacare and that you WILL hold them accountable for their vote.
Find a TEA party group in your area.
Many groups are in the process of organizing a Recess Rally for August 22nd, check out the Recess Rally website for more information.
Contact your Senators and Representatives
This fight is far from over. The left is feeling somewhat more energized with a reform bill clearing the House Energy and Commerce Committee this past Friday, and while we seem to have the numbers in the street, they have the cash, the organization, and the media. We can’t buy off our representatives, but we can make them fear us.
I’ll leave you with this…..
…..
-Cnation
I’m a former liberal Deomcrat turned Republican about a dozen years ago. I don’t like Obama, I don’t want pubic healtcare and I don’t want the government taking any more money from taxpayers to further fund socialized programs that are dooming our injured economy. I state this up front so you don’t get the idea I’m a Liberal invading this site. That said, there is no excuse to champion private insurers and demonize a government insurance program IF you want to deny people the right to insurance if they have pre-existing conditions. You don’t have to be a liberal or a moron to see how damaged that is. If you can’t see the forest for the trees on this issue then shut the hell up and let a rational conservative voice speek to it. There are hundreds of thousands of good, hardworking legitimate US citizens — many conservative — out there that have health conditions that are keeping them from getting coverage. If you believe health insurance should only be provided by private companies, that’s fine I agree, but if think they can continue to monopolize the industry and practice de facto denial of legitimate coverage to these folks, then you’re stupider than the screaming morons on the left. For Christ sakes, you can’t build a restaurant in this country if it doesn’t accomodate the handicapped, how the Hell can you give an F-U to the folks out there with asthma, diabetes, heart conditions, MS, epilepsy, chrones, etc…. They have the right to coverage, just as they have the right to sit at counter in a diner, on the front of the bus or to use a public restroom.
You’re not a conservative if you don’t see that, you’re a dogmatic moron. So get out of the way, you make decent intelligent conservatives look bad. THAT is the healthcare crisis in this country, people who need it and can’t get it. Think about it this way. A stupid conservative is just as stupid as a stupid liberal. There may be a lot more of the latter, but they’re the exact same animal.
A few of things:
1 - my argument is not that people with preexisting conditions should be denied access to health care, only that forcing the private insurance industry to take on these customers could put them out of business.
2 - The fact that you claim health insurance as a ‘right’ illustrates that you lack a very basic understanding of the subject matter at hand.
3 - The ad hominems on your part suggests that you’re not as divorced from you liberal roots as you’d have us believe.
Nowhere in our constitution are we guaranteed the right to health insurance or health care. To suggest health care is a ‘right’ also suggests that someone else has the obligation to provide you with that care, and that is simply not the case. You cannot claim a ‘right’ for yourself that infringes upon the rights of another, yet that’s exactly what you’re proposing.
Like most emotional arguments on the subject, yours ignores the economic realities of running a sustainable business. Health insurers, like any other business, are in business first and foremost to turn a profit. yes, I know it sounds ‘greedy’ and ‘mean’ to the liberal mindset, but it is the profit motive that allows them to provide their service in the first place.
Like any other business, insurance companies have to deal with profit and loss. When their losses exceed profit, the business ceases to exist. When they go under, none of us will be able to obtain health insurance coverage. Forcing private insurers to accept all preexisting conditions will either make them operate at a loss and therefore put them under, or force premiums so high that nobody will be able to afford them. This is precisely the goal of the proposed federal program(s).
I agree that there needs to be someplace for the uninsurable to turn. If an honest effort were made by the federal govt to rein in fraud and waste the Medicare/Medicaid systems, there is no reason that those programs couldn’t be expanded to include the current 10-12 million legitimately uninsured (the 47 million number is grossly inflated and misrepresented), and I don’t think -anyone- would have a problem with that.
So….perhaps the next time you feel like suggesting I or anyone else “shut the hell up and let a rational conservative voice speek [sic] to it“, you’ll consider whether or not you should maybe heed your own advice…
-Cnation
http://www.nowpublic.com/world/bill-does-not-make-private-health-insurance-illegal
As I understand this article, it apppears the IBD has left out the context of this clause, which radically changes its meaning. As I understand it this is part of a “grandfather” provision which allows people to keep their current insurance as originally contracted, exempt from the provisions of the health care bill; however, if they leave their current scheme, any new insurance they take out will have to comply with the provisions of the bill.
The clause which reads “IN GENERAL- Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day of Y1″ means that no further members can be enrolled in a “grandfathered” scheme, exempt from the stipulations of the bill, from the day it becomes law. It does not mean that an individual leaving his or her current scheme can’t enrol in a new private healthcare plan.
For example: if you are already enrolled in a plan that excludes people with pre-existing conditions, you can keep it. That’s a “grandfathered” plan (up to a limit of 5 years, I think?). But new buyers will not be eligible for such a plan, and wil have to choose an individual private plan that does not exclude pre-existing conditions.
New individual private health insurance policies will be available but only through the National Insurance Exchange (NIE), which is specifically a competitive marketplace for private insurers as well as the (possible)public one.
At least, that’s how I understand this issue. I’m sure you’ll correct me if I’m wrong