An ObamaCare Thank You to my Senators

I wrote the letter below to my Senators, Warner and Webb, to thank them for their efforts on health care reform. You'll likely enjoy and appreciate it more than they do.

Senators Warner and Webb,

 Thank you very much. I just received the annual enrollment form for my 2011 medical insurance. My premiums will be rising by 31%, which my plan administrator attributes largely to the impact of ObamaCare. You both voted for ObamaCare, without the benefit of having read it, so I believe I have you to thank for this 31% increase in my costs. I’m not sure whose cost curve is getting bent downward, but it sure isn’t mine.

 My 31% increase in medical insurance premiums is not unique, of course. This is happening all over the country to all kinds of people (except you, I’m guessing, since Congress has a tendency to exempt itself from the negative impacts of its own decisions). Besides the dramatic increases in premiums, other reactions to ObamaCare include entire plans being eliminated and insurance companies leaving markets entirely. These actions will of course reduce competition and increase cost, the exact opposite of what Obama and his lapdogs in Congress cynically predicted. Is this the “economic fairness” and “social justice” that Senator Webb ceaselessly palavers about?

 It doesn’t take an actuary to forecast what ObamaCare will actually do. Options will be eliminated; costs will go up as more medical demand chases less supply; insurance companies will collapse as costs are shifted onto private insurance policies since Medicare and Medicaid reimburse below cost; and people will be forced into government-run health care. This is happening now, years before the most onerous and anti-capitalist provisions even kick in.

 So I have to ask you: was Congress (not having read the bill before passing it) really oblivious to the easily predictable consequences of ObamaCare, or was Congress actually on board with what Nancy-Ann DeParle has acknowledged was the White House plan all along – to collapse the private insurance market and force everyone into a single-payer system? Neither answer speaks well of you or your colleagues, but it would be nice to get an honest answer just once.

 Something you might want to consider: Obama and Congress are no wiser, no less greedy, no purer of motive, and no more worthy of trust and respect than the American people you treat with such condescension and disdain. Which is why you deserve no more power than the Constitution specifically grants you. Being Senators, and specifically Democrats, I have no expectation that you’ll actually take that to heart. But it needed to be said.

God Bless America

 

A recent piece from the Heritage Foundation entitled "Constitution Day and the Perilous Future" is worth taking a minute to read. The issue at hand is critically important (especially for the younger folks!)
 

I've also provided a link to the U.S. Constitution. That too is worth taking the time to read.

My kids have often chided me for being too political. I can't say I completely disagree, but I think the bigger risk is in not being political enough. If Americans are not involved (political) enough we risk ending up exactly where Jefferson and later Reagan predicted - with a government big enough to give some people all they want and take from other people all they have.

The bottom line is this: those who run our government, regardless of what party they belong to, are no better or smarter, no more honest or ethical, no more caring or compassionate, no purer of motive and certainly no more worthy of the trust of the American people than the American people themselves. Which is exactly why they should have no more power than they are specifically granted in the Constitution. 

If Americans can trust God and themselves more than they trust their alleged "betters" in government, and act upon that faith in God and country, we can rebuild our country and restore its Constitution before they get transformed into something true patriotic Americans would no longer recognize. 

God bless America

The Team Obama Flop

During the recent World Cup the U.S. team inspired new interest in soccer, at least for a short while. They persevered through some questionable calls, giving up some early goals and the deafening noise from the vuvuzelas.
Because of the increased attention the U.S. soccer team generated, millions of Americans watched on TV a game they'd normally ignore completely. And much of what they saw caused them to rethink what might be called the world's pastime. They found that soccer can be an enthralling, exciting game. But they also saw things completely unfamiliar to fans of American sports, and wondered if soccer was enthralling and exciting enough to overcome the sheer nonsense that often took place on the pitch.
The nonsense I refer to is the seemingly incessant flopping of players at the slightest hint of what they consider to be a penalty. Supposedly adult men, falling to the ground and rolling around whining that they'd been harmed and that a penalty needs to be called on somebody. It happened so often, so consistently, that it became a real source of frustration for American watchers of the World Cup and probably convinced many never to watch the game again.
Perhaps you'll think this is a bit of a stretch, but I see a parallel between Americans' indifference to soccer and their decreasing belief in and support for Team Obama. And I believe it has to do with the flopping. Just as soccer players flopped to the ground at every perceived foul, whether real or not, Team Obama cries "racism" every time anyone disagrees with them on anything. They can't even conceive of the possibility that they missed their shot on goal because of something they did. Every failure, every disagreement with their policies, must be the result of some foul committed by some "racist".
Team Obama's constant cries of racism are every bit as infantile, stupid and infuriating to watch as the soccer players flopping on the ground crying like babies for a foul to be called. Americans don't care much for soccer - largely because of the flopping. And they seem to care much less for Team Obama now that it has become evident that they are every bit as immature as the floppers on the pitch.

The Single-payer / Multiple-liar System

Throughout the debate on health care "reform" Obama has publicly stated, multiple times, that he had no plan to create a single-payer system. To the shock of nobody who's actually paying attention - he's lying.
For many large hospital systems Medicare and Medicaid patients make up a significant percentage of their total volume - sometimes 40% or more. The problem for the hospitals is that Medicare reimburses them at 75% of their cost, not their retail price, and Medicaid reimburses at only 60% of cost. There's simply no way hospitals can survive that payment scale without sticking it to their other "customers". So they're forced to charge exorbitant rates to the other, privately insured patients - with the result that those who are privately insured are subsidizing the health care of those whose costs are paid by the government. That is not a model for the long-term survival of either the hospitals or the private insurance companies.
Knowing that this system is completely unsustainable two Senators met with the director of the White House Office of Health Reform, Nancy-Ann DeParle, before the final vote on the health care bill. They told her that unless the reimbursement issue was addressed the health care reform bill would eventually bankrupt private insurance in this country - leaving no option but a single-payer system. Ms. DeParle reportedly told them "that's our intention".
So we have the White House Office of Health Reform purposely pursuing the destruction of private health insurance to force a move to a single-payer system, while Obama, Reid and Pelosi are publicly claiming there is no such plan.
Is anyone surprised anymore at the magnitude of the lies being told by Obama and his minions?

Where's the $500 Billion?

When all the Obamatons were trumpeting the benefits of ObamaCare, they kept telling us that there was $500 billion of "waste, fraud and abuse" in Medicare. Obama told us that they would go after that waste, fraud and abuse; capture all the savings; and use the money to help pay for ObamaCare. Now that ObamaCare is (at least temporarily) dead, where's the talk about the need to eliminate the waste, fraud and abuse from Medicare? If that waste, fraud and abuse really exists - isn't it the responsibility of Obama and Congress to eliminate it and capture those savings regardless of whether ObamaCare survives?
Since they have completely dropped that subject, we're left with only two logical explanations regarding the waste, fraud and abuse:

1. It doesn't exist and Obama and Congress were making it up to help promote ObamaCare, or
2. It does exist, and Obama and Congress are being grossly irresponsible and ignoring their fiduciary duties to the American people by failing to eliminate it.

There really are no other logical explanations. Either Obama and Congress were lying, or they are grossly irresponsible (of course they could easily be both liars AND grossly irresponsible, but for this explanation of the ObamaCare charade we have to choose one or the other).