The Sellout by AARP and AMA

I have been telling folks this week that there were specific reasons why the AMA and AARP went overboard for the Healthcare Plan… and I said that we needed to follow the money. I noted that AARP had a significant financial interest in what was to occur if the plan passed and thanks to Dick Morris, I now have answers…

Here is what he wrote:

“As the suicidal Democratic congressmen proceed to rubber-stamp the Obama healthcare reform despite the drubbing their party took in the ‘09 elections, the president trotted out the endorsements of the AMA and the AARP to stimulate support. But these – and the other endorsements – his package has received are all bought and paid for.

Here are the deals:

The American Medical Association (AMA) was facing a 21 percent cut in physicians’ reimbursements under the current law. Obama promised to kill the cut if they backed his bill. The cuts are the fruit of a law requiring annual 5 percent to 6 percent reductions in doctor reimbursements for treating Medicare patients. Bravely, each year Congress has rolled the cuts over, suspending them but not repealing them. So each year, the accumulated cuts threaten doctors. By now, they have risen to 21 percent. With this blackmail leverage, Obama compelled the AMA to support his bill…or else!

The AARP got a financial windfall in return for its support of the healthcare bill. Over the past decade, the AARP has morphed from an advocacy group to an insurance company (through its subsidiary company). It is one of the main suppliers of Medi-gap insurance, a high-cost, privately purchased coverage that picks up where Medicare leaves off. But President Bush-43 passed the Medicare Advantage program, which offered a subsidized, lower-cost alternative to Medi-gap. Under Medicare Advantage, the elderly get all the extra coverage they need plus coordinated, well-managed care, usually by the same physician. So more than 10 million seniors went with Medicare Advantage, cutting into AARP Medi-gap revenues.

Presto! Obama solved their problem. He eliminates subsidies for Medicare Advantage. The elderly will have to pay more for coverage under Medigap, but the AARP – which supposedly represents them – will make more money. (If this galls you, join the American Seniors Association, the alternative group.)

The drug industry backed ObamaCare and, in return, got a 10-year limit of $80 billion on cuts in prescription drug costs. (A drop in the bucket of their almost $3 trillion projected cost over the next decade.) They also got administration assurances that it will continue to bar lower-cost Canadian drugs from coming into the U.S. All it had to do was put its formidable advertising budget at the disposal of the administration.

Insurance companies got access to 40 million potential new customers. But when the Senate Finance Committee lowered the fine that would be imposed on those who don’t buy insurance from $3,500 to $1,500, the insurance companies jumped ship and now oppose the bill, albeit for the worst of motives.

The only industry that refused to knuckle under was the medical device makers. They stood for principle and wouldn’t go along with Obama’s blackmail. So the Senate Finance Committee retaliated by imposing a tax on medical devices such as automated wheelchairs, pacemakers, arterial stents, prosthetic limbs, artificial knees and hips and other necessary accoutrements of healthcare.

So these endorsements are not freely given, but bought and paid for by an administration that is intent on passing its program at any cost.”

I am so specifically disappointed in AARP that it sold their members down the river…it is their job to represent their members and this is just disgusting. Power and Money seem to rule the roost.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

• Schwarzenegger Signs Law Establishing Harvey Milk Day (UK)
• Census Workers’ Fingerprints Get Closer Look (WP)
• Examining the History and Legality of Executive Branch Czars (Heritage)

Canary in the Coal Mine?

The Nobel Peace Prize was given to the 44th President of the United States this last week. By all accounts, the nominating process started within 11 days of him being sworn in as the president. One must wonder what the goal of the Nobel Committee is, whether they actually have the best interests of the world in mind when they make their decisions, or, by sheer luck, do they happen to be “the canary in the coal mine” as it relates to American Presidential success…

The old story is that miners used to bring canaries into the coal mines because they were especially sensitive to methane and carbon monoxide… when the canary was singing… the canary was breathing! If it died… it meant that the air was unfit and that the miners had better make a quick exit.

The canary was the early warning system for the miners, and I am beginning to wonder whether the Nobel Committee is the early warning system for what we will see here from our president.

Four American presidents have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

The first one was awarded in 1906 to Teddy Roosevelt (a Republican). He won the Nobel Peace Prize for mediating the Russo-Japanese War and was known for quoting a favorite proverb “speak softly and carry a big stick…” Roosevelt believed he was a steward of the people, and was known for creating the “Antiquities Act” which allowed him to set aside significant parts of the West as national treasures…

The next U.S. President to win the prize was Woodrow Wilson (1919). Think: World War I and the creation of the League of Nations. In 2002, Jimmy Carter was the only other U.S. President to win. These two were both Democrats… and arguably each did more to weaken our Nation and its standing in the world than any other U.S. Presidents, before or since.

Woodrow Wilson was the father of the Income Tax, the Draft, and The Federal Trade Commission (FTC). He was a white supremacist and an apologist for slavery… and a driver for the League of Nations (the precursor to the UN) which was one of the greatest failures of an organization and one which wanted a pacifist view regarding Hitler. Wilson actually won re-election to his second term on the platform that he “kept us out of the war.” His legacy was a deep weakening of the United States on the international stage, due to his insistence at driving the Treaty at Versailles, and his failure to force the American Congress to accept his League of Nations…

Jimmy Carter won the prize “for his decades of untiring effort to find peace…”. While that makes us all feel warm and fuzzy… his legacy actually includes being the father of 21.5% interest rates and 18% inflation, oil shortages due to “Windfall Profit Taxes,” 444 days of Iranian control of Sovereign American Land, and the giveaway of the Panama Canal… (all in 4 short years!).

And now our newest Democratic President…

Barack Obama won the prize for… hmmm… hope? He is the father of TBD… (since he hasn’t done anything yet… )

The Committee has shown a propensity to choose a unique caliber of American President in the past… So, the question truly is: what can we really hope for from our newly minted Nobel Peace prize winner?

If the Committee has been serving as the “Canary in the Coal Mine”… then we had better start running for the exits before the air runs out and we are all reliving the results of the two previous Democrat “winners.”

Monday, October 5, 2009

• The Conscience of a Capitalist (WSJ)
• ACORN Embezzlement Was $5 Million (UKT)
• White House Angry Over McChrystal Speech (NOLA)

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

• Defense Bill Loaded with Pork (WP)
• Pending Legislation Regulates Ammunition (VCS)
• The Unraveling of Obamacare (IBD)

Free Speech: The Government Versus Humana

Is it now a crime to speak the truth on “health care reform?” Humana Health is being investigated over a recent letter to its Medicare policyholders.

Today it was reported that the Health and Human Services Department is investigating Humana Health Insurance because it sent out a mailer critical to the Obama Health Care plan and how it may affect those who are eligible for Medicare. Since when is it illegal to put out an advertisement that speaks the truth about what is occurring and is in support of your business?

Humana serves over 11 million policy holders in the United States and is a leading advocate of developing a simple ID card that the user can take to any doctor so that their medical information is easily transportable. Such a system will provide one of the benchmarks that Obama says will help make insurance more affordable.

It seems odd to me that a company that is driving towards the same goal of portability through open market capitalism is now the target of the US Government. I guess there is too much risk in the idea that private business is already doing the heavy lifting.

One has to ask, is Humana being investigated because it is doing by natural market forces the things that Obama says “must” be done by the Government because business won’t do it… or, is it that they dare to be critical of the government message and thus they must be stopped? Either way, it appears that our infamous Federal Government is overstepping its bounds again… and it must stop.

Census Bureau Has Come to Its Senses!

I never could understand the basis for the Census Bureau engaging ACORN to serve as the defacto Government Agency in assisting the 2010 census count. I knew that there were discrepancies in almost every market where ACORN did “voter” registration work across the country. Then there is the proudly defined far-left agenda that ACORN espouses as well as their legendary ties to the SEIU and other unions.

This decision to hand over the census count to ACORN clearly appeared to be both political payback for the Obama win (potentially BILLIONS in payoffs to them through the January Stimulus bill) as well as an opportunity to enhance and further entrench the liberal bent to the national political scene. These two issues, while disturbing to me, were to be expected as this is right out of the Democrat playbook.

What has shocked me is the fact that the Census Bureau has actually grown a “spine” and has rejected the President and his Rahm/Pelosi/Reed Management team. I applaud the decision and it has caused me to think that there are actually folks who remain in our Government that recognize that our Nation is larger than the political party in power, and that if there is a way to stop what is clearly gaming of the system, there will be folks who will put their nation ahead of their personal protections.

It is obvious that ACORN is rotten and should not be a part of the fabric of our national government. With the manipulation of the registration process as well as confirming that there are likely thousands of illegal registration documents prepared and submitted, the leadership of ACORN should be held criminally accountable for the fraud that they have perpetuated.

Lastly, it is clear that while this issue has become something around which the Census Bureau has developed a spine, it is our responsibility as tax payers to hold our electeds accountable for their decision to encourage or allow ACORN the freedom to manipulate the process and receive billions of dollars.

It is time to demand an answer from every elected official who has voted any funds for, or spoke in support of, ACORN. Further, we must ask them why they continue to support this organization.

Governor or Used Car Salesman?

This weekend, California’s Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, stated that he is “happy” that illegal immigrants get state services and says that they are not to blame for California’s $24.3 Billion budget deficit.

This is a shocking statement from the supposed leader of the largest state in the union. The Governor further went on to say that they (the illegal aliens) were only costing an estimated $4 or $5 Billion and that it was a “small percentage” of the deficit.

Honestly, I am getting tired of the duplicity and conscious fraud that our political leaders are engaging in and it should be a crime for them to be misleading the voting population in such a manner. Further, with the complicity of the overall liberal media, where fact has become as scarce as a Republican registration card in California, the Governor can get away with these statements and no one is the wiser. Read more »