ALG Urges Members of Senate to Return Home, Listen to Constituents Before Voting on "Public Option"

"The U.S. spends more on health care than any other nation,

and more than 280 million Americans already have access to

health care.  There is no health care 'crisis,' and therefore no

urgency to act on this legislation before the end of the year." – ALG President Bill Wilson

December 1^st, 2009, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today urged members of the U.S. Senate to return to their home states and "listen to their constituents over the holiday recess before voting on whether to move the $2 trillion 'public option' off the floor."

"Members of the Senate should hold things up until after the holidays," said Wilson, adding, "because the Majority obviously has not yet gotten enough of an earful of public outrage over the loss of trillions of dollars, rationing of health care away from seniors, raising the cost of premiums, driving the American people off of private health options, and bankrupting the Treasury."

In the latest Rasmussen Reports poll, 53 percent of voters surveyed say they oppose the plan.  Only 41 percent support it.

"Based on poll after poll conducted, the American people have very strong reservations about this legislation.  In its current form, they do not support it.  Under the circumstances, it is perfectly legitimate for Senators to slow things down and gauge whether the public really supports nationalizing the U.S. health system—the best in the world," Wilson explained. 

"The U.S. spends more on health care than any other nation, and more than 280 million Americans already have access to health care.  There is no health care 'crisis,' and therefore no urgency to act on this legislation before the end of the year," Wilson added.

As of 2006, the Census Bureau estimates that some 201.7 million, or 71.5 percent of Americans with health insurance, get their insurance privately. 28.5 percent of those with insurance, or 80.3 million, get it from the government.  All together, the U.S. spent $2.4 trillion in total health care spending in 2007.

"Making matters worse, the so-called 'public option' proposed will do nothing to contain the growing health costs, and instead will put upward pressure on the price of insurance premiums," said Wilson, citing a recent Congressional Budget Office study.

According to the study, "Average premiums per policy in the non-group market would in 2016 would be roughly $5,800 for single policies and $15,200 for family policies under the proposal, compared with roughly $5,500 for single policies and $13,100 for family policies under current law."

The Senate version of the "public option" will start operating at massive budget-busting deficits starting in 2015, according to an Americans for Limited Government analysis of Congressional Budget Office data.  By 2019, the "public option" will have spent some $361 billion more than it took in via new taxes. 

"There really is no harm in waiting," Wilson said, concluding, "More than anything, the American people do not understand the bum's rush to pass this abomination in accordance with a political timetable.  They want Senators to listen to them, not to their party leadership."

NRSC - Reform options: Yes, others exist

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Reform+options%3A+Yes%2C+others+exist&articleId=ed983f06-90b9-4a33-9b34-6e135ea9c780

Reform options: Yes, others exist

Union Leader Editorial

December 1, 2009

In a column in the New Hampshire Sunday News two days ago, Rep. Paul Hodes falsely claimed that Americans have only two options for health care reform: The Obamacare proposal he voted for, or nothing.

It's not surprising that Hodes made this untrue assertion. It's one of the talking points handed to him by party leaders, which he blindly repeats without question. It started with President Obama, filtered down to Nancy Pelosi, then on to Hodes and his fellow Democratic members of Congress.

Americans who pay attention to the health care debate know it isn't true. They know that Obama ignored Republican proposals this past spring and Nancy Pelosi refused to include them in the bill she rammed through the House last month.

They know that there are many different ways to improve health insurance and health care that don't involve creating a new, government-run insurer, dozens of new federal bureaucracies, tax hikes on the middle class and a mandate that all Americans buy insurance or face prison time.

To get you to accept their agenda, Hodes and his big-government buddies are denying the existence of other choices besides theirs. It is only the first of many denials of choice to come if their plan becomes law.

60 Plus Announces New 9 State TV Campaign Targeted at Senators

New $2.0 Million Ad Buy Targeting AK, AR, FL, IN, LA, ME, NE, ND and SD

ALEXANDRIA, VA – In the wake of the Senate’s vote on Saturday to take up the health care reform legislation, the 60 Plus Association today announced a new advertising campaign targeting Senators in nine states – Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.  

The target Senators are:  Mark Begich (D-AK), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Bill Nelson (D-FL),  Evan Bayh (D-IN), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Kent Conrad (D-ND), Byron Dorgan (D-ND), and Tim Johnson (D-SD).

The $2.0 million ad buy highlights the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) report which confirms cuts to Medicare of half a trillion dollars and reports seniors could have benefits cut and could “jeopardize access” to health care.

The :30 second TV ad begins running in each state tomorrow .  See the national version at www.60plus.org.  See the Florida version at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeVl7KLXEP0.

 “This should be a week of Thanks, but these Senators will be receiving ‘No Thanks’ from seniors.  The chief actuary says the House bill cuts Medicare.  The Senate bill is no better.   Seniors have already lost their Social Security COLA and now President Obama, Senator Reid and Speaker Pelosi want to cut Medicare, too.  Senators should take notice, seniors are upset and taking a stand to say ‘Don’t cut our Medicare,’” said Jim Martin, President of 60 Plus.

Titled “Devastating”, the ad features the new report from CMS citing the potential effects to Medicare and the coverage seniors would receive, and members of our Greatest Generation begging Congress not to cut Medicare to pay for health care reform.  The state specific ad asks seniors to call their Senator, and ends with a senior reminding Congress “Seniors will NOT forget.”

 “Members of Congress are trying to hide behind the AARP endorsement of this bill as a defense, but AARP makes hundreds of millions of dollars a year on royalty payments from selling insurance plans.  Senators would be smart to read the bill and listen to the experts that run Medicare, instead of hiding behind the rhetoric and accounting gimmicks in Sen. Reid’s bill,” continued Martin.

With this buy, 60 Plus has now allocated over $8 million to the health care debate.

A full transcript of the Florida version of the ad can be found below.

###

The 60 Plus Association is a 17-year-old nonpartisan organization working for death tax repeal, saving Social Security, affordable prescription drugs, lowering energy costs and other issues featuring a less government, less taxes approach.  60 Plus calls on support from nearly 5.5 million citizen activists.  60 Plus publishes a magazine, SENIOR VOICE, and a Scorecard, bestowing awards on lawmakers of both parties who vote “pro-senior.”   60 Plus has been called, “an increasingly influential senior citizen’s group” and since 1992 “the conservative alternative to the AARP.”

FINAL 60 PLUS ASSOCIATION TV :30 – “DEVASTATING-FLORIDA”

SPA-09-TV-42

VIDEO	AUDIO
U.S. Capitol and Senior B-Roll SUPER: What does health care reform mean for seniors?	(Music Up and Under) ANNOUNCER: What does health care reform mean for seniors?
U.S. Capitol CMS Report/Logo	A new report from the agency which runs Medicare says it could be devastating.
Hospital B-Roll Washington Post Masthead “…hospitals and nursing homes… could stop taking Medicare altogether.” CITE: Washington Post, 11/15/09	“Medicare cuts ... so costly to hospitals and nursing homes that they could stop taking Medicare altogether.”
Doctor and Senior B-Roll Washington Post masthead $500 Billion In Medicare Cuts: “…would sharply reduce benefits for some senior citizens…” “…could jeopardize access to care for millions of others…” CITE: Washington Post, 11/15/09	500 billion in cuts that... "would sharply reduce benefits for some … and “could jeopardize access to care for millions of others.”
Seniors on camera SUPER: Call Senator Bill Nelson Stop the Medicare Cuts (813) 225-7040 www.60Plus.org DISCLAIMER: PAID FOR BY 60 PLUS ASSOCIATION	SENIOR: Don’t make us pay for health care reform by cutting Medicare.   SENIOR: Seniors will not forget.

NetRight Daily: Health Care, Taxes

Senate Must Filibuster "Public Option":  In a 60-39 party-line vote on Saturday, Harry Reid's ObamaCare bill (H.R. 3950) cleared a critical test vote, which allows the bill to proceed to the floor for debate. Senate Republicans needed just one of their Democrat colleagues to vote with them against cloture, and the bill would have been defeated right then and there.

Too Good for their Own Taxes:  With the Bush tax cuts set to expire at the end of 2010 and both health care reform bills calling for increased tax revenue, the Obama Administration and Congress are about to saddle the American people one of the largest tax increases in history. The standard liberal litany for such a raid on taxpayers' pockets is that working Americans have a "moral obligation" to "feed the poor" -- or in the case of health care, pay their medical bills.

Washington WIRE - Atlas Shrugs:  Chicago, Illinois, is 660 miles west of Washington, D.C. There, on Wednesday, November 11, 2009, a Power Point presentation was given that Barack Obama, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi should have seen. In fact, so should every member of Congress. But, they didn't. And that's unfortunate.

Book Review - Economic Contractions:  In "Economic Contractions in the United States: A Failure of Government," Charles K. Rowley and Nathanael Smith use their unique Public Choice lens to analyze the Great Depression and the current recession. Public Choice Economics, developed by James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock, is a revolutionary way for economists to look at government and its attempts at market intervention.

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DNC - Keene Sentinel: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce wants you to love the current health insurance system

KEY POINTS: So, what is the health care system that the U.S. Chamber is so devoted to preserving intact?

A system in which small businesses are all but crushed under the cost of providing coverage for employees, who are nonetheless always just a pink slip or serious illness away from health care destitution.

A system where the insured are forced to pay increasingly large premiums, an expanding share of their own medical expenses and subsidies to care for those who are not insured.

A system in which private insurance is so ruinously expensive and callously administrated that between 45 million and 50 million Americans have no coverage at all, including people with so-called pre-existing conditions who are refused the right to buy insurance.

...

But the champions of the status quo nixed universal health insurance when Harry Truman proposed it in the early 1950s. They did it when Richard Nixon proposed health insurance reform 20 years later. They did it when Bill Clinton tried 20 years after that. And they are working mightily again today to crush another effort. We should all bear that in mind whenever that gravelly voiced TV guy and his colleagues open their well paid mouths.

http://www.keenesentinel.com/articles/2009/11/21/opinion/sentinel_editorial/free/id_379814.txt

SENTINEL EDITORIAL: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce wants you to love the current health insurance system

 

Published: Saturday, November 21, 2009

There’s that voice on TV again. It’s a raspy voice, mature and serious, the voice of a talented announcer generally associated with Republican campaign commercials. This time he’s warning us about reforming the nation’s health insurance system. Reform will drive up health care costs, he says, and make a shaky economy worse. “Call Congress,” he urges. “Tell them the new health care bill is a bill America can’t afford to pay.”

This series of commercials is paid for by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, an organization that once was known in the past to play a constructive role in public affairs. This time, in a bit of cart-before-the-horse flimflam, the chamber has sent an e-mail to other business organizations asking for help hiring a “respected economist” to conduct a $50,000 study that would conclude that health care reform “will kill jobs and hurt the economy.”

The ads are a scare tactic, of course, part of a wave of special interest commercials seeking to preserve the grip of private health insurance on our economy and our lives. Someday we’ll laugh about this latest melodramatic assault, just as we shake our heads today over the fact that so many people were duped by the pharmaceutical industry’s Harry and Louise ads the last time reform was proposed.

Meanwhile, we are witnessing another expensive and potentially effective campaign to scuttle reforms that would assure access to health care for all Americans. The effort takes many forms.

There are the earnest op-eds and speeches of thoughtful conservatives, such as New Hampshire’s senior U.S. senator, Judd Gregg. These people have ideological objections to government intervention in health care. They would prefer libertarian nostrums that, even if reasonable, will never see the light of day in Congress. Bringing them up at this time serves only to sidetrack real reform. They must know this.

There are the political and media zealots intent on thwarting an initiative associated with President Barack Obama. They include Sarah Palin and her “death panels” claptrap. And they include House Minority Leader John Boehner, who came to New Hampshire the other day to pledge his continued opposition to health care reform, which he said is “the greatest threat to freedom that I’ve seen in the 19 years I’ve been in Washington.” That’s what he said.

u And now there are people and institutions attempting to kill health care reform by turning it into a debate over abortion.

Back to those TV ads. The Associated Press says opponents of reform are outspending supporters 2 to 1. Dozens of institutional players are involved. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has spent $24 million on its commercials during the past month alone.

The chambers of commerce in Brattleboro, Keene and Peterborough aren’t part of the vicious campaign. They don’t belong to the U.S. Chamber, mainly because of its partisan proclivities. In interviews, executives with each organization said they don’t take public stands on national issues. “That’s not what we’re about,” said Thomas Dowling, head of the Keene chamber.

So, what is the health care system that the U.S. Chamber is so devoted to preserving intact?

A system in which small businesses are all but crushed under the cost of providing coverage for employees, who are nonetheless always just a pink slip or serious illness away from health care destitution.

A system where the insured are forced to pay increasingly large premiums, an expanding share of their own medical expenses and subsidies to care for those who are not insured.

A system in which private insurance is so ruinously expensive and callously administrated that between 45 million and 50 million Americans have no coverage at all, including people with so-called pre-existing conditions who are refused the right to buy insurance.

Given this sorry situation, unique among western democracies, it takes a great deal of special interest resources to stamp out efforts at reform. We have established Social Security and health care for seniors, both highly popular and effective programs, although periodically in need of structural modifications.

But the champions of the status quo nixed universal health insurance when Harry Truman proposed it in the early 1950s. They did it when Richard Nixon proposed health insurance reform 20 years later. They did it when Bill Clinton tried 20 years after that. And they are working mightily again today to crush another effort. We should all bear that in mind whenever that gravelly voiced TV guy and his colleagues open their well paid mouths.