Obamacare: Unmitigated Disaster

[bonnie]

American Thinker

May 01, 2010

ObamaCare: An Unmitigated Disaster

By Janice Shaw Crouse

Americans are learning that ObamaCare will pile on insurmountable debt and cause government to encroach on every area of our lives. ObamaCare is, as Yuval Levin said, an "unmitigated disaster -- for our health care system, for our fiscal future, and for any notion of limited government." And the more we learn about the specific provisions, the more we discover that the bill does not reflect our values -- faith, family and freedom -- nor does it strengthen those principles that are the foundation of a great nation.

Each day while Democrats are criss-crossing the country to declare that ObamaCare is not a government takeover of health care, a new government expert releases figures indicating that ObamaCare is going to be outrageously expensive and won't do what the president promised it would. Now they tell us!

Many Americans were outraged after ObamaCare passed when a report from the Office of the Actuary of Medicare indicated that the costs of the bill would increase rather than cut the costs of health care in the United States. In an April 23 appearance before the House Appropriations Committee, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius declared that nobody really knows what ObamaCare will cost. Ed Morrissey, the prominent blogger on Hot Air, called the $5 billion appropriated for ObamaCare just a "spit-balling number," because "no one has the faintest clue how much money will actually get spent on this program." There is clear evidence, however, from the Congressional Budget Office that the average fine for those three million middle-class Americans who are expected to pay a penalty for not having health insurance will amount to more than $1,000 per person. The report estimates that the government will collect about $4 billion per year in fines from 2017 to 2019.

In addition to questions about cost, a Kaiser Family Foundation poll reveals that over half of Americans are confused about what the law means (55 percent) and what impact it will have on them (56 percent). Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin), ranking Republican on the Budget Committee and a leader in explaining Obamanomics, believes that the nation is at a "tipping point" and could be on a "very dangerous" path toward a social welfare state. He says ObamaCare "has $2 trillion in higher taxes, doubles the debt in five years, triples the debt in 10 years," and consists of the "largest entitlement" expansion in 35 years where the "majority of Americans are more dependent upon the government than they are themselves." More than 70 percent, Ryan claims, will get more benefits from the government than they pay for in taxes -- making 3-out-of-10 families either supplement or supply the income for the other seven families.

Numerous polls indicate that the public's trust in government is at an "historic low." The Pew Research Center reported that only 22 percent of Americans trust government today. A Quinnipiac poll notes that the President's approval rating is down to 44 percent, and Congress's approval is 25 percent. Daniel Henninger, of the Wall Street Journal, said, "The American people have issued a no-confidence vote in government." Henninger thinks that the distrust is because, with almost universal access to the Internet, the "veil was ripped from the true cost of government" so that everyone could see how much spending -- $9 trillion -- was out of control.

ObamaCare contains $670 billion in tax increases. For the middle class, there are at least 14 different tax increases signed into law that target taxpayers making less than $250,000 per year. In Massachusetts, a state that enacted health care reforms similar to the national plan, more than a half-dozen lawsuits were filed to stop double-digit premium increases. The Boston Globe warned that ObamaCare could result in similar lawsuits at the federal level. Indeed, Richard Epstein, a constitutional lawyer writing in the Wall Street Journal, stated that regulated public utilities have a right to a "risk-adjusted rate of return on their invested capital." Others are predicting federal lawsuits where courts will slap down "efforts to control by fiat the price of the insurance" that Americans are legally mandated to buy. Attorneys general in more than a dozen states are working to challenge the legal mandate in federal court as unconstitutional.

Finally, officials are owning up to what most Americans already knew. ObamaCare means higher costs and lower quality; ObamaCare means rationing and higher taxes - including a Value Added Tax (VAT). It means mandating and penalties. President Obama and his liberal colleagues on the Hill jettisoned the world's best health care system for the dubious honor of having achieved "health care reform." Now, in addition to figuring out how to pay for the trillion dollar government takeover of health care, we have to untangle the budgetary gimmicks, bureaucratic mess, and disastrous financial crisis that the nation faces as a result.

[karl]

Finally, officials are owning up to what most Americans already knew. ObamaCare means higher costs and lower quality; ObamaCare means rationing and higher taxes - including a Value Added Tax (VAT). It means mandating and penalties.

Let us never forget that this was foisted upon us - with lots of underhanded chicanery and back room maneuverings - by LIBERALS!!!

Get RID of them!

[bonnie]

Originally Posted By: bonnie

Finally, officials are owning up to what most Americans already knew. ObamaCare means higher costs and lower quality; ObamaCare means rationing and higher taxes - including a Value Added Tax (VAT). It means mandating and penalties.

Let us never forget that this was foisted upon us - with lots of underhanded chicanery and back room maneuverings - by LIBERALS!!!

Get RID of them!

I don't understand how anyone that can add and subtract can believe their will not be lower quality care and rationing.

With the projected amount to be cut from medicare and the millions added it is la la land to believe otherwise.

They cannot cut payment to Dr's as claimed. Dr's will quit taking medicare patients if not medicaid as well.They both pay the same.

My final bill from knee surgery should be a wake up call to any that pay attention to what is in the health care bill.

My total cost was 7,722.00 the allowed amount by medicare was 3071.93 The amount dismissed was 4,650.00. Out of the 3071.00 my portion was 614.00 This is with supplemental insurance

How much less do they expect Dr's to accept

[karl]

Originally Posted By: karl

Let us never forget that this was foisted upon us - with lots of underhanded chicanery and back room maneuverings - by LIBERALS!!!

Get RID of them!

They cannot cut payment to Dr's as claimed. Dr's will quit taking medicare patients if not medicaid as well.They both pay the same.

My final bill from knee surgery should be a wake up call to any that pay attention to what is in the health care bill.

My total cost was 7,722.00 the allowed amount by medicare was 3071.93 The amount dismissed was 4,650.00. Out of the 3071.00 my portion was 614.00 This is with supplemental insurance

How much less do they expect Dr's to accept

Many doctors in Arkansas are already cutting back or refusing Medicare and Medicaid patients.

One of the reasons I have moved my practice into emergency medicine is I am sick to death of the rapid mutations of the beast - the constant changes in who is covered, what is covered, which drugs are preferred, which specialists are on the list (and which will accept the patient,) and on and on. Its nuts.

In the ER I just take care of people and leave all that other stuff up to the bean counters.

[bonnie]

Quote:

One of the reasons I have moved my practice into emergency medicine is I am sick to death of the rapid mutations of the beast - the constant changes in who is covered, what is covered, which drugs are preferred, which specialists are on the list (and which will accept the patient,) and on and on. Its nuts.

In the ER I just take care of people and leave all that other stuff up to the bean counters.

I think many are going to be surprised when they get their wish for health care and have to face reality.

[Dr. Shane]

Another article from the American Thinker. What a surprise!

[karl]

Another article from the American Thinker. What a surprise!

Shane, I've read you bagging on various sources repeatedly here on CA, as if the source somehow contaminates the evidence. This is a classic demonstration of prejudice on your part.

Quit it. It is like saying, "Can any good come out of Nazareth?"

State your case and present your evidence. Bagging on the source only demonstrates prejudice. Even if you are prejudiced, you don't want to give this fact away so easily.

[Dr. Shane]

Ideologues present one-sided cases. They are not fair and balanced. They don't try to be. They do not present the evidence that disagrees with their agenda. When reading stories from such sources the reader needs to beware that he or she is being served either blue or red Kool-aid. Since those that copy and paste such articles here do not warn the readers of that, I do. I will continue to do so. I do the same when liberals copy and paste articles from Solon.com or Democracy Now.

[bonnie]

Originally Posted By: Shane

Another article from the American Thinker. What a surprise!

Shane, I've read you bagging on various sources repeatedly here on CA, as if the source somehow contaminates the evidence. This is a classic demonstration of prejudice on your part.

Quit it. It is like saying, "Can any good come out of Nazareth?"

State your case and present your evidence. Bagging on the source only demonstrates prejudice. Even if you are prejudiced, you don't want to give this fact away so easily.

I would love to see someone state their case in the Obamacare mess.To demonstrate the savings and the increase in quality of care.

Maybe the old kool-aid routine is all they have as the math gets tricky

[Dr. Shane]

I would love to see someone state their case in the Obamacare mess.

If that is true, the first step is to start surfing the liberal ideological sites like Salon.com and Democracy Now. Others are listed in a sticky thread at the top of this section.

Good luck. Feel free to cut and paste such articles here. If you give a reader warning, I won't have to.

[bonnie]

Originally Posted By: bonnie

I would love to see someone state their case in the Obamacare mess.

If that is true, the first step is to start surfing the liberal ideological sites like Salon.com and Democracy Now. Others are listed in a sticky thread at the top of this section.

Good luck. Feel free to cut and paste such articles here. If you give a reader warning, I won't have to.

I am quite sure those present here know that American Thinker is not a liberal bias site.

But just to be sure you can always go ahead and give a reader warning

The fact remains you cannot give any reason except something has a conservative bias.

Even a little reading on your part of the CBO reports would give you some facts. Far easier to diminish something as "right wing bias"

[Dr. Shane]

As a consumer of the news, we simply don't have the resources to do all the research it takes to reveal the facts supporting the opposing view point. The easiest way to do that is to go to an ideological site of the opposing view point and see how they are supporting their argument.

Myself, I do that. I check out both the red and blue Kool-aid to see what everyone is drinking out there. Then a form my own opinion which is normally in the middle somewhere.

[bonnie]

As a consumer of the news, we simply don't have the resources to do all the research it takes to reveal the facts supporting the opposing view point. The easiest way to do that is to go to an ideological site of the opposing view point and see how they are supporting their argument.

Myself, I do that. I check out both the red and blue Kool-aid to see what everyone is drinking out there. Then a form my own opinion which is normally in the middle somewhere.

It sounds like you have not read the monstrosity called Obamacare and rely on what others have said.

You cannot form an opinion on that unless you read it. It doesn't take American Thinker to decipher it.Nor does the left denying make it false.

People standing in the middle of the road have a better chance of getting run over.

[karl]

Originally Posted By: bonnie

I would love to see someone state their case in the Obamacare mess.

If that is true, the first step is to start surfing the liberal ideological sites like Salon.com and Democracy Now.

[Dr. Shane]

Actually, I do pick up trash along the highways and show up for work-bees at church. I am looking at buying a dual flush toilet for my home too. But then I am not a liberal either.

[karl]

Actually, I do pick up trash along the highways and show up for work-bees at church. I am looking at buying a dual flush toilet for my home too. But then I am not a liberal either.

If you are not in favor of cutting back on spending for any of the government welfare or entitlement programs, how is that different from the Democratic platform (or the communist party, for that matter?)

[phkrause]

Originally Posted By: Shane

If that is true' date=' the first step is to start surfing the liberal ideological sites like Salon.com and Democracy Now.

Lots of wishful thinking. Liberal social experimenters like to do their things on a grand scale and generally with just a kind of feel-good hope that they will work. Disregarding any pilot program failures is routine in the liberal camp. Why do you think this is? Why is it that facts have little or no effect on the liberal mind?

In the case of Obamacare, we have the pilot programs in both Tennessee and Massachusetts. Does this stop liberals from wanting a similar debacle on a national scale? Not a chance. Why this lemming-like rush for the cliff?

There's an old top-40 song that expresses it well

Quote:

Sunshine go away today

I don't feel much like dancing

Some man's gone he's tried to run my life

Don't know what he's asking

Working starts to make me wonder where

The fruits of what I do are going

He says in love and war all is fair

But he's got cards he ain't showing

How much does it cost, I'll buy it

The time is all we've lost, I'll try it

But he can't even run his own life

I'll be damned if he'll run mine, Sunshine[/quote']

If you liberals want to change the world for the better (instead of for the worse) start at home and start small.

I'll believe your concern for the environment when you join me on the highway picking up trash.

I'll believe your concern for the church when you show up for the work bees instead of harping about what the church isn't doing for you.

Yes it does, and who was in the WH in 1971? A Liberal or a Conservative? I'd say not a Liberal!

And I take it that conservatives don't want to change the World? What a crock!

Well I'm a liberal (your words not mine) and I have been picking up trash for more years than I can remember! But than liberals don't lower themselves to do that do they!

Have gone to many work bees, not as many as I'd like, but than again, being liberal why should I even go to any!

And I also guess that liberals will probably not be going to heaven either. What a world when being a liberal means you are the scum of the earth and being conservative is the only way to go otherwise your just a piece of @#%& on the sole of someone's shoe!

pk

[karl]

[quote name='pkrauseWell I'm a liberal (your words not mine) and I have been picking up trash for more years than I can remember!

Have gone to many work bees' date=' not as many as I'd like, but than again, being liberal why should I even go to any!

[/quote']

Wonderful. This is useful stuff.

Now explain to me the rationale behind wanting to do on a national scale that which has already put both Massachusetts and Tennessee behind the eightball financially (universal health care.)

Is this like the theory of evolution? That which is clearly impossible seems suddenly possible if eons of time are added? Or in healthcare, that which doesn't work financially on a state level suddenly becomes fiscally responsible if the whole country is involved?

[Dr. Shane]

The health-care reform that was passed has no public option. It is only universal healthcare because it mandates everyone buy health-care insurance. They could just as easily pass universal home-ownership by passing a law mandating everyone buy a home.

There is a lot of bad stuff in it but that will get fixed in the years to come. There is a lot of good stuff that will stay (Praise our wonderful and blessed Lord [Thank you Jesus]). If the do-nothing Republicans had cared an ounce about the sick and dying in this nation they could have passed a better bill when they were in power. But they were too concerned about ordering a double cheeseburger with onions and mushrooms and where to find a tailor to let out their pants.

[karl]

The health-care reform that was passed has no public option. It is only universal healthcare because it mandates everyone buy health-care insurance.

I'm not talking about what was actually foisted upon us. I'm talking about what you WANTED to do.

Why? When it has already had such devastating financial consequences in two states?

Explain to me the mentality of wanting on a large scale that which is bad on a smaller one.

[bonnie]

The health-care reform that was passed has no public option. It is only universal healthcare because it mandates everyone buy health-care insurance. They could just as easily pass universal home-ownership by passing a law mandating everyone buy a home.

There is a lot of bad stuff in it but that will get fixed in the years to come. There is a lot of good stuff that will stay (Praise our wonderful and blessed Lord [Thank you Jesus]). If the do-nothing Republicans had cared an ounce about the sick and dying in this nation they could have passed a better bill when they were in power. But they were too concerned about ordering a double cheeseburger with onions and mushrooms and where to find a tailor to let out their pants.

Since it sounds like you have read the bill can you explain what a "lot of the good stuff is" and is it sustainable?

As to the 'bad stuff have you been assured will be taken out"

who has told you this?

[Dr. Shane]

I'm not talking about what was actually foisted upon us. I'm talking about what you WANTED to do.

You must be talking about --> Shane's Healthcare Plan