obama healthcare
ObamaCare: Democratic healthcare reform: Page 2
Summary (posts follow):
See the summary for this topic on the main ObamaCare: Democratic healthcare reform page.
Discussed in (click each link for the full post):
Obama keeps lying about number of uninsured "Americans" - 08/11/09
Earlier today, Barack Obama held a town hall about healthcare [1] and - leaving all other issues aside - he lied:
I don't have to explain to you that nearly 46 million Americans don't have health insurance coverage today. In the wealthiest nation on Earth, 46 million of our fellow citizens have no coverage.
As pointed out many times before, that number is off by around 9 million. According to the Census Bureau, only around 35 million Americans - i.e., U.S. citizens - are uninsured. The other 9 million or so are foreign citizens, whether here legally or illegally. Whatever their status, they...
George Soros gives $5 million to push Obamacare (HCAN, NCLR, ACORN, SEIU, etc...) - 08/11/09
George Soros has contributed $5 million to the group Health Care For America Now (healthcareforamericanow.org) so that they can push Obamacare. That's dwarfed by the $35 million he's giving to help/"help" children in New York (in partnership with the federal government, [1]). As discussed here, HCAN is considered a bit on the wimpy side by the far-left, such as Jane Hamsher. That's despite HCAN including some true "liberal" stalwarts. Their steering committee includes the following:
* ACORN
* AFL CIO
* American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)
* Campaign for...
Weren't violent confrontations at healthcare townhalls part of the plan? - 08/08/09
Recently there's been a series of angry mobs at townhalls designed to promote Obama healthcare (link), and some have devolved into violence. That wasn't difficult to foresee and, while I have no proof, it might have been by design.
But, first of all, if I had my way those who oppose the Democrats health care proposals would have followed through on my two-and-a-half year old question authority plan. If they'd done that, instead of angry rants, the flaws in the Democrats' plan - and the inability of those pushing their plan to plan for contingencies - would have become obvious to millions of...
Arlen Specter, Kathleen Sebelius meet tea party/GOP braintrust, massive intellectualism ensues - 08/04/09
I recently posted Tea partiers meet Rep.
Obama reiterates magical, dishonest plan: illegal aliens won't get healthcare because illegal aliens will be legalized first - 07/30/09
As previously discussed, Barack Obama has a magical, deceptive plan to avoid giving healthcare to illegal aliens: give them legal status first. Someone could cross the border illegally one day, obtain easily faked documentation showing they'd been living in the U.S. for years the next, and then get on the path to citizenship - and eligible to receive Obama's largess - the day after that. Most forms of buying votes are more subtle; give Obama credit for boldness.
And, he's made his magical plan even more explicit in an interview with Maria Elena Salinas earlier today (video here, transcription...
Obama says healthcare plan won't cover illegal aliens (word games; possible exception for children) - 07/22/09
Katie Couric of CBS News asked Barack Obama whether his healthcare plan would include illegal aliens to which he replied "no" (link). He did allow for an exception:
"First of all, I'd like to create a situation where we're dealing with illegal immigration, so that we don't have illegal immigrants... And we've got legal residents or citizens who are eligible for the plan. And I want a comprehensive immigration plan that creates a pathway to achieve that... The one exception that I think has to be discussed is how are we treating children... Partly because if you've got children who may be here...
ObamaCare will include illegal aliens, unless you do something (Dems block Heller amendment) - 07/20/09
From this:
On Friday, Democrats moved one step closer to giving free health insurance to the nation’s estimated 12 million illegal aliens when they successfully defeated a Republican-backed amendment, offered by Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev., that would have prevented illegal aliens from receiving government-subsidized health care under the proposed plan backed by House Democrats and President Barack Obama.
The House Ways and Means Committee nixed the Heller amendment by a 26-to-15 vote along straight party lines, and followed this action by passing the 1,018-page bill early Friday morning by a 23...
My question for the Youtube/Barack Obama July 1, 2009 healthcare townhall - 06/30/09
As previously discussed, Youtube is soliciting questions to be asked of Barack Obama at his healthcare townhall on July 1, 2009. Since I'm not a healthcare expert and since, unlike many others, I know my limitations, I decided to go meta instead. I was able to successfully add the following video to the list of replies here. (Note: I took a screengrab in case it goes missing like others did for the CNN/Youtube debate).
Here's the script:
My Question for President Obama's July 1 Healthcare Town Hall Meeting
Here's my question: Is this contest a sham?
Everyone else asking a question might have...
Youtube helps Obama find useful idiot questioners for his healthcare town hall - 06/29/09
Steve Grove of Youtube writes (youtube.com/blog?entry=20h2yiH79Tc):
President Obama is taking your questions this Wednesday in a special online health care town hall event. With health care at the top of the President's agenda, he is opening up the White House to questions via YouTube... He'll answer some of the most popular questions during the event, which we'll stream live from the White House YouTube channel.
In a word, this is a sham. And, it's similar to all the other shams that Youtube, CNN, Obama, and others have conducted for the past couple of years; see the popular voting systems...
David Cutler of Harvard keeps lying about who's covered under universal healthcare (Melinda Beeuwkes Buntin, CAP) - 06/24/09
Professor David Cutler of Harvard University and Melinda Beeuwkes Buntin of the Rand Corporation offer a report entitled "The Two Trillion Dollar Solution/Saving Money by Modernizing the Health Care System" (published by the Center for American Progress, americanprogress.org/issues/2009/06/2trillion_solution.html). It contains a major lie, and one that Cutler has engaged in before:
The fundamental challenge in health reform is to reduce the growth rate of health care costs. If annual cost increases can be lowered, then workers’ incomes will increase, labor market distortions will decline, and...
NCLR: universal healthcare should include illegal aliens; Janet Murguia's transparent plea - 06/22/09
Via this, the National Council of La Raza has issued a new, completely transparent plea to include illegal aliens in universal healthcare (nclr.org/content/news/detail/57979). They're "strongly urg[ing] President Obama and Congress to make every effort to ensure that health care reform reaches all communities", and they don't want there to be any citizenship or related eligibility testing. They also make this statement:
No single community stands to gain as much from this important debate as Latinos. In the U.S., one out of every three uninsured persons and roughly 40% of all uninsured...
ABC News gives Obama healthcare infomercial, refuses opposition ads (and what you can do) - 06/17/09
Per this:
ABC is refusing to air paid ads during its White House health care presentation, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned, including a paid-for alternative viewpoint!
The development comes a day after the network denied a request by the Republican National Committee to feature a representative of the party's views during the Obama special.
Needless to say, that's similar to the way things are done in Venezuela. Obama hasn't threatened to take Fox News off the air as Hugo Chavez is threatening to do with the last major opposition TV station in Venezuela (link), but he and his proxies have done...
Obama healthcare plan apparently covers illegal aliens - 06/12/09
After it was released, I searched through Obama's healthcare plan for anything relating to immigration matters. I didn't find anything that set off any alarm bells and there were a few things that seemed to indicate that at least part of it was only for those eligible. On the other hand, he spoke yesterday in Green Bay, Wisconsin and said [1] among other things this:
All we're saying is for the 46 million people who don't have health insurance, or for people who've got health insurance, like you, who are self-employed but the premiums and the deductibles are so high that you almost never get...
Janet Napolitano refuses to close or even tightly secure the border despite health risks (+Eric Massa) - 04/27/09
Rep. Eric Massa - Democrat of New York state - is calling for the Mexican border to be closed. Meanwhile, Janet Napolitano of the Department of Homeland Security is refusing to close the border and does not appear to fully appreciate the risks of a loose border during a pandemic. At a press conference today, she said:
"We're already doing passive surveillance at the border... You would close the border if you thought you could contain the spread of disease, but the disease already is in a number of states within the United States." ...Noting that those infected with swine flu may not show...
As flu pandemic threatens, Obama admin still doesn't have HHS Sec'y, Surgeon General, FDA head - 04/27/09
From this:
The Obama administration declared a “public health emergency” Sunday to confront the swine flu - but is heading into its first medical outbreak without a secretary of Health and Human Services or appointees in any of the department’s 19 key posts.
President Barack Obama has not yet chosen a surgeon general or the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. His choice to run the Food and Drug Administration awaits confirmation.
Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs says no worries, there's a team in place running day-to-day operations: "I think it’s all hands on deck, and we’re...
Regional White House Forums on Health Care Reform visiting California, Iowa, MI, NC, VT; ask questions - 03/06/09
Later this month and in April, the Barack Obama administration will be conducting "Regional White House Forums on Health Care Reform" in California, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina and Vermont [1]:
In keeping with the Obama administration’s commitment to a transparent, accountable government, the forums will be an opportunity for Americans from all over the country to voice their concerns and ideas about reforming our health care system... They will be open conversations with everyday Americans, local, state and federal elected officials – both Democrat and Republican -- and senior Obama...
Obama budget 2010: healthcare reform reserve fund; $1.75 trillion deficit; e-Verify; blames GOP, Wall Street - 02/26/09
You can download a PDF containing Barack Obama's 2010 budget from here. John Boehner responds here, raising issues with taxing during a recession, the size of the deficit, and increasing the size of the federal government.
1. The budget puts us on the path to healthcare "reform":
The Budget establishes a reserve fund of more than $630 billion over 10 years to finance fundamental reform of our health care system that will bring down costs and expand coverage. The reserve is funded half by new revenue and half by savings proposals that promote efficiency and accountability, align incentives...
CBO evaluates healthcare plans; uninsured could reach 54 million by 2019; watch for liars - 02/25/09
Earlier today, Congressional Budget Office director Douglas Elmendorf testified to the Senate Finance Committee about various healthcare proposals, and his remarks are here ("Options for Expanding Health Insurance Coverage and Controlling Costs").
SCHIP passes House; lifts five year waiting period for legal immigrants; can be abused by illegal aliens; anchor baby provision - 01/14/09
The Democrats are trying to give Barack Obama an early signature accomplishment of sorts by pushing the SCHIP (H.R.2, S-CHIP, State Childrens' Health Insurance Program, link). It just passed the House; a Senate version will apparently be debated tomorrow in the Senate Finance Committee; it will probably reach Obama's desk in one form or another.
Previously, legal immigrants weren't able to access Medicaid or SCHIP until after five years; the bill leaves it up to states whether they want to lift that or not. And, it raises funds by increasing cigarette taxes by 61 cents per pack. Other impacts...
Jeanne Lambrew lies about uninsured (deputy director of Obama Office of Health Reform) - 01/13/09
Jeanne Lambrew - University of Texas professor, former Bill Clinton aide, and a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress - has been named the deputy director of the Office of Health Reform for the upcoming Obama administration (link). Her biography is at [1].
She contributed a chapter [2] to the just-released book "Change for America: A Progressive Blueprint for the 44th President", which contains at least one lie:
In 2007, about 47 million Americans lacked health insurance
In actual fact, as Census figures show, millions of those are not Americans but are citizens of other...