Left And Right Politics

Interesting article from Investors.com. A poll of 1,376 practicing physicians, chosen randomly throughout the country, said they oppose the medical overhaul plan and would think about shutting down their practices or retiring early if universal health care were passes.

“The poll contradicts the claims of not only the White House, but also doctors’ own lobby — the powerful American Medical Association — both of which suggest the medical profession is behind the proposed overhaul. It also calls into question whether an overhaul is even doable; 72% of the doctors polled disagree with the administration’s claim that the government can cover 47 million more people with better-quality care at lower cost.”

“More than seven in 10 doctors answered “no” when asked if they believed “the government can cover 47 million more people and that it will cost less money and the quality of care will be better.”

“This response is consistent with critics who complain that the administration and congressional Democrats have yet to explain how, even with the current number of physicians and nurses, they can cover more people and lower the cost at the same time.

The only way, the critics contend, is by rationing care — giving it to some and denying it to others. That cuts against another claim by plan supporters — that care would be better”.

Read the rest of the article at the link above.

I come across good, and not so good, sites in my daily internet travels and I wanted to share some of the ones I’ve enjoyed. Hopefully you’ll find a few you enjoy as well.

The Liberator is a free newsletter from the Libertarian site, Advocates for Self-Government. The latest issue has an article on health care being called a ‘right”.

The right questions to ask about medical care and medical insurance:

* Which laws, regulations, or government mandates drive up the costs of medical care, medicine, and medical insurance?

* Which of these laws, regulations, and government mandates can your state legislature and governor repeal? Which need to be repealed by the U.S. Senate, the House, and the president?

* Which government-granted privileges and special protections has government enacted for the benefit of pharmaceutical corporations, hospitals, doctors, nurses, lawyers, or insurance companies that make medical care more expensive?

* Which of these privileges and special protections can your state legislature and governor repeal? Which need to be repealed by the U.S. Senate, the House, and the president?

100 Stimulus Projects Guaranteed To Make Your Blood Boil, is from June but I wanted to share it with you. The article comes from American Thinker and is just a fraction of what our tax dollars are paying for.

A California skate park will get a $620,000 “facelift.” Plans to refurbish the skate park in Long Beach, California, had stalled for months as local funds put towards higher priority park projects. With $620,000 in federal stimulus funding available to upgrade the skate park, the city council decided to move forward.

$800,000 for a backup runway for the now famous airport to nowhere, also known as the John Murtha airport in Johnstown. This is critical, because if they were to lose their current runway, all three flights a day and 20 daily passengers might have to find an alternative airport.

Last, but not least is Free Talk Live, a pro-liberty radio show that you can listen to on their website.

All the talk about universal health care has caused a major ripple in the political sphere. With 46 million people uninsured, the government is trying to have us believe that it’s necessary for health care reform. The question is though…will it really work?

Let’s take a look at the state of Maine. A state that had 128,000 citizens that were uninsured in 2003. At the time, Governor John Baldacci (D) signed into law a state-wide health care plan to combat the situation. By the time 2009 arrived, it would cover all of Maine’s citizens. The system would help keep control of hospitals and physicians to hold down insurance premiums. It was sold as a way to provide everyone insurance as well as save business and patients money. To top it off, it was stated that there would be no increase in taxes.

Well after five years of the program, not only has the program not save any money, but it has also cost the taxpayers of Maine $155 million and is still rising. Here’s how the program was supposed to work. There were to be two government programs that would cover the uninsured. The legislature greatly expanded MaineCare, the state’s Medicaid program. Today Maine families with incomes of up to $44,000 a year are eligible; 22% of the population is now in Medicaid, roughly twice the national average.

Then the state created a “public option” (where have you heard that lately?) known as DirigoChoice. The plan would compete with private plans such as Blue Cross. To get lower income Mainers to enroll, it offered taxpayer-subsidized premiums. (again, this sounds familiar) The plan’s original funding source was $50 million of federal stimulus money the state got in 2003. Over the years, the plan was to be “funded by the savings in the health-care system.”

During the peak of the program in 2006, only about 15,000 people had enrolled in the DirigoChoice program. That number has now dropped to below 10,000, according to Maine’s own reporting. About two-thirds of those who enrolled already had insurance, which they dropped in favor of the subsidized public option. So instead of the 128,000 that were uninsured, the actual number is only 3,400.

Most of what is in Maine’s health care program is actually in the Obama-care bill. So why bother with trying to have a national health care program when they can’t even get it to work on a small scale? If Obama and his friends are so into this bill, then may I suggest that we do a test on the actual program on the state level. Sort of like a “try it before you buy it” program. Try it in California for five years and let’s see how successful it is at that point. If it can survive without a constant need of federal stimulus money, then I say we go ahead with it on a national level.

I know it will never work. One because that it has already been tried in Maine as well as Massachusetts and Tennessee and each time it failed. Currently in Maine, a healthy single male at the age of thirty, pays a monthly premium of $762 while a citizen in the same condition in New Hampshire only pays $222.

This bill (HR3200) needs to be stopped and the discussion of health care reform needs to be re-focused to look at tort reform. A major part of health care costs come from malpractice insurance that the doctors need to have to protect themselves from from major law-suits. The lawyers have pushed the price of health care up from the class-action suits to individual cases. As for class-action suits, no one benefits from this type of practice other than the lawyers. Lawyers will pocket millions of dollars while the people who are affected by the situation only get a few dollars each as compensation.

Will Universal Health Care really work here in America? The answer is no. If you don’t believe it, then you need to go look for the information like I did.

Many members of Congress have had town hall meetings within their districts. I’m sure you’ve seen the many videos that have surfaced on You Tube. Of course the ones that are really being seen are the ones where the crowds are yelling or the Congressman isn’t listening.

The latest one to make the rounds features Congresswoman Shelia Jackson Lee, a Democrat from Texas. It shows Jackson-Lee answering and talking on her cell phone while a woman from the audience is asking a question. As you watch it, it seems that this Congresswoman isn’t even listening.

The Congresswoman was a guest on the Greta Van Sustren show on Thursday to have her chance to explain. Throughout the entire segment, Congresswoman Jackson-Lee was filibustering. She was being very evasive and only wanted to get the health care message out. When Greta asked her who was on the phone (in the video), she replied, she was wasn’t trying to be rude and apologized to the woman that asked the question at the town hall meeting. She continued with pushing the health care bill and stated that she has read all 1,100 pages of the bill. She finally confessed that she was on the phone with the “Hot Line” that was set up for the politicians to get assistance during tough questions at town hall meetings. Here’s one of the clips. You decide if she is being rude.

Jackson-Lee said that what she is trying to do is to convince the people that this is what’s best. What I want to know is, why is she trying to convince anyone? I may not have read all of the bill myself, but I have read a few highlights. This bill is not a bill to reform health care, it’s going to change it completely.

It’s a shame that the people that were elected to these positions aren’t listening to the people who voted them in. The politicians in Washington aren’t listening to the American people any longer and the only way to change that is to vote them ALL out when they’re up for re-election.