Tag: Obamacare

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Obamacare is a Financial Disaster

Obamacare

As Obamacare continues to decimate the American healthcare system, few media outlets highlight the facts about this ever growing problem. Though Obama claims his new law (which he enforces on an imperial, piecemeal basis) is a success, the truth is much different. When you break down the over 8 million enrollees signed up by the plan, you will quickly realize that over 5 million of them are on the federally funded Medicaid program. Then, with regard to the remaining 3 million, it is uncertain how many actually paid their premiums and how many needed this insurance because they were kicked out of their previous health plans due to the Affordable Care Act. A recent article in The Business Insider sums up the economics of Obamacare: Of the 5.45 million people who signed up through the federal exchange, 5.18 million (or 95%) applied for financial assistance in their insurance plans. As a businessman and physician, I can sum up these numbers in a very easy way:

  1. Only a very small percentage of patients enrolled through Obamacare are actually paying for it

  2. Our government has created a new and massive bureaucracy to manage Obamacare

  3. We can’t afford the Medicaid program which has been expanded another 5 million people

  4. Few doctors actually accept Medicaid, leaving the “newly insured” without true access to the healthcare system

  5. We can’t afford the Medicare program

  6. Where do we get all this money needed to pay for 2 programs we can’t afford and a new program, Obamacare, that is financially unsustainable?

The financial truth about Obamacare is that it is an economic disaster. Many think the Tea Party and Conservatives are against it just because they are displeased with Obama. The truth is, most of them understand that the health insurance programs created by our national government are financially unsustainable and will eventually bankrupt our country. We are in 18 trillion dollars of debt already. Where will this madness end?

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Could the Massive Influx of Illegal Immigrants across the Border be Hazardous to the Health of American Citizens?

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The surge of illegal immigrants across the border has caused a humanitarian crisis and possibly a medical one also. Worse yet, Breitbart Texas states that just in 2013, 36,000 convicted criminals were among those illegal immigrants released into US territory. And the number is growing. In 2013, the Border Patrol in the Rio Grande Valley sector arrested 154,453 immigrants in 2013, which is a marked increase from 97,762 in 2012- and these tallies are just a small fraction of those crossing the border.

The biggest question is where are the illegal immigrants going, and what diseases can they potentially be spreading to American citizens? Border Patrol agent, Chris Cabrera states that many of these illegals are carrying contagious illnesses with them when they enter the states. He states, “There’s been an outbreak of scabies that’s been going on for the past month. We are (also) starting to see chicken pox, MRSA staph infections, we are starting to see different viruses.”

Plus, Cabrera also admitted that these diseases are “contagious. We are transporting people to different parts of the state and different parts of the country. Just the fact we are exposed to it, and so is everyone here in south Texas, it’s a great concern to us.” Governor Brewer of Arizona recently chastised the federal government for bussing and flying these illegals to her state without her consent. My question is, where else are the feds transporting them without our knowledge?

The Department of Homeland Security states that they are screening all the illegal immigrants in custody. However, as border patrol agents admit, those with infectious and contagious illness are still being placed into the general population. Plus, the bigger concern are all those illegals that were not caught or evaluated by the Department of Homeland Security. What could they be spreading into our country that has gone undocumented?

Senator Cruz openly admonishes Obama and his administration for this crisis. He said, “We need a president who is willing to uphold the law,” Cruz said. “On issue after issue the Obama Administration has openly ignored, defied, and unilaterally tried to change the law. Just a few months before the last election the president illegally and unconstitutionally granted amnesty to some 800,000 people illegally. If the president wants to change federal immigration laws, the Constitution lays out a way to do so–you go and make your case to Congress and you convince Congress to change the laws…unfortunately for President Obama, following the Constitutional structure is apparently too cumbersome. One of the consequences were seeing on the border is a humanitarian crisis that is a direct consequence of Obama’s lawlessness.”

Will this massive increase in illegal immigrants instigated by the failure of the Obama administration to uphold the law cause unintended medical consequences in our country. As our health system becomes decimated through government interference, could we handle the possibility of a new, emerging medical crisis? Only time will tell.

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First Monarch President of USA: Obama

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An article by Jessica Berardino recently piqued my interest. Though many have dismissed Obama’s daily assault on our Constitution, powers grabs and ratcheting down of American’s civil liberties, Law Professor and Author Francis Buckley appropriately pointed out what most in the media have failed to expose. He wrote that Obama was the first elected official, “who assumed king-like powers as President.”

Berardino’s article went on to state: Buckley explains that while this government didn’t start with President Obama, he has certainly taken it to a higher level. The professor says that the way President Obama makes and unmakes laws without consent on Congress; the spending of government dollars; committing America to war; and rewarding his friends while punishing his enemies makes him “rex quondam, rex futurus – the once and future king.”

“Who cares which party controls the Senate, if all the action is at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue,” said Buckley in his column. He believes that the main idea that the founder’s had in mind when creating the Constitution was if political power became centralized in a single person, this would be a threat to liberty. He fears that if the media doesn’t start showing more interest in the quick rise of presidential power then the future will begin to resemble the past.

The past he writes about is a return to a monarchal rule not unlike that of King George III of England during the revolutionary days. One must remember that for our government to properly function each of its branches must stay within their legal boundaries as mandated by the Constitution. The Executive branch was created to enforce the laws passed by Congress. However, Obama selectively chooses the laws he wishes to enforce or picks parts of the law that he puts into effect. Also, through executive orders, he has unilaterally created legislation and bypassed Congress in the process to pursue his socialistic agenda. With his pen and phone, he has usurped the Legislative branch of government’s power and made his position one of total authority.

Unfortunately, this exact scenario is that which the founding fathers fought so adamantly to avoid. They knew what tyranny meant and saw its deleterious consequences.

Must we as Americans head down this path and relearn what our founding fathers warned us about so many years ago? Must we live through tyranny once again before we denounce it evils? Obama has fundamentally changed our country. Unfortunately, he has changed it for the dire WORST.

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What Does the Republican Party Stand For Any Longer?

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As a Republican, I must seriously ask who is really representing us in Congress, and what do we stand for. These simple questions mark the basis of my concern for the party. When you think about it, we couldn’t even beat a socialist community organizer with no skill, talent, ability lead or any credible ties that were not linked to unscrupulous sources.

Call me naïve, but I thought Republicans opposed Obamacare? Remember, Obamacare fundamentally represents all that the Republican Party is supposed to be against. When you break down this law, it essentially becomes a government mandate to take over a substantial part of our economy, grow the national government to outrageous proportions, destroy our economy and place our country deeper into unfathomable debt.

However, I read an article today about our so-called Republican representatives that makes me want to throw all of them out of office. This is the last straw:

To summarize a recent article by Juliet Eilperin and Robert Costa: Republican candidates have begun to retreat in recent weeks from their all-out assault on the Affordable Care Act in favor of a more piecemeal approach, suggesting they would preserve some aspects of the law while jettisoning others.

On the campaign trail, some Republicans and their outside allies have started talking about the health-care law in more nuanced terms than they have in the past. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is running ads suggesting that many of its favored candidates will tweak Obamacare rather than scrap it. One spot says Rep. Joseph J. Heck (R-Nev.) will fix the law, while another says Republican Massachusetts House contender Richard Tisei will “work in a bipartisan manner to fix healthcare the right way.” The business group’s ads in Kentucky use almost identical language, declaring in separate spots that Sen. Mitch McConnell (R) and Rep. Andy Barr (R) would work to “fix” the “Obamacare mess.”

While others like in Minnesota, Republican House candidate Stewart Mills pledges in a campaign ad to “replace” the law, rather than simply repealing it.

“The sentiment toward the Affordable Care Act is still strongly negative, but people are saying, ‘Don’t throw the baby out” with the bathwater, said Glen Bolger, a partner with the GOP polling firm Public Opinion Strategies.

“The wave of the election is already within sight, and I believe we are going to do well,” said House Chief Deputy Whip Peter Roskam (R-Ill.). “I don’t think we need a replacement bill to win the election, but it is something that would be helpful in guiding our governing agenda for next year.”

As a true big “R” and little “r” Republican, I don’t want to tweak, change or switch the law. I want it off the books. It is bad for our economy, bad for our civil liberties and bad for generations of Americans to come. Any Republican who does not stand up and state publically that this law ought to be appealed, should join a different party or be voted out of office.

It’s time we took back the party and made it once again a party of the people. Remember, it is the people who make this country great- not the party or the government.

 

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VA to Let Vets Get More Private Care

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Many are calling for VA Secretary Eric Shinseki’s resignation due to recent, unflattering revelations about the care they are providing our veterans and their cover-ups. Though Pelosi blamed Bush for the incompetence, the problem is much more widespread– especially, when you carefully look at the numbers.

While only 7 percent of the veterans in the system are from current wars, the cost of these veterans is only 4 percent of the total VA budget. What Pelosi does not truthfully tell us is that the VA budget has increased under Obama from 97.7 billion to 153.8 billion dollars.

Where is this money going? It’s like throwing good money onto bad. Unfortunately, that’s how the government works. There is not the same accountability for financial decisions in governmental agencies as there is in the private business world. If there were, our government would be out of business in a day with everyone in Washington DC sent to jail for criminal charges. Plus, the solution Pelosi and the other progressives are calling for in greater funding to the VA.

However, where has greater funding got us thus far? Numbers, unlike Pelosi, don’t lie. Many call Eric Shinseki incompetent. Nevertheless, he has announced the most intelligent statement I’ve heard out of a government agency in years. To sum it up, he will let more veterans obtain healthcare at private hospitals. He said, “(we are) increasing the care we acquire in the community through non-VA care.”

In other words, he is taking the only intelligent option and letting more veterans receive healthcare from a proven, functioning, system—a system Obama is actively tearing down and turning into the new VA.

Don’t let our healthcare system turn into the VA. We have all now seen what government care gets us: long lines, inefficient care, rationing and death. Is that what America is all about?

 

 

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Pelosi Blames Bush for VA Scandal

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As the Obama administration continued to be bogged dogged down in a disastrous foreign policy, mounting economic debt, an anemic economy, multiple scandals and complete disarray, the administration is left with only excuses and class warfare to hide their deplorable record. Now, with the indignities to our vets coming to light, they are without answers or solutions to another American crisis.

Instead of properly addressing the problem, Obama’s crony Nancy Pelosi, house minority leader, lashes out at former president Bush as the reason for the VA scandal. Yes, it does sound like a broken record. However, the lack of responsibility the Obama administration takes have reached new and unfathomable highs.

Pelosi cackled at a recent press conference, “He (Obama) sees the ramifications of some seeds that were sown a long time ago, when you have two wars over a long period of time and many, many more, millions more veterans. And so, I know that he is upset about it.”

The Democratic leader never mentioned Bush by name, but she alluded to him early and often in the press briefing.

“Maybe when we go into war, we should be thinking about its consequences and its ramifications,” Pelosi scandalously continued. “You would think that would be a given, but maybe it wasn’t. And so, we go in a war in Afghanistan, leave Afghanistan for Iraq with unfinished business in Afghanistan. Ten years later, we have all of these additional veterans. In the past five years, two million more veterans needing benefits from the VA. That’s a huge, huge increase.”

However the facts how that only 7% of the vets are from our modern wars, costing the VA only 4% of its total budget. So, where does Pelosi get her facts?

She suggested also delusionary stated that Obamacare is the key to solving the problem. “We have the Affordable Care Act that is out there that is providing resources for more federally-qualified health clinics around the country. Maybe we should take a look at how we deal with our veterans’ needs in a way that says let’s help them closer to home, whether that’s a federally qualified health clinic or in some other institution that provides health care closer to home. [It’s] especially important for our veterans who live in rural areas.”

The thought of using Obamacare to solve the VA problem is like throwing gasoline onto a fire. The sad thing is that she believes that more government is the solution to failing governmental programs. That’s like throwing good money onto bad. The outcome will be the same.

Plus, isn’t it Obama’s job, no duty, as president to combat and solve any current problem. It does not matter when the issue started, the issue now is that it has to be solved.  That is what a real president does.

Our country is in desperate need of leadership. Can we endure a few more years of Obama’s incompetent governance?

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Obama takes massive federal land grab

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Obama today will declare about 500,000 acres as the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument. About half of that land is expected to be set aside as wilderness, meaning it will be closed to vehicles and construction. Though completely legal, it is a slap in the face of the local ranchers, especially Cliven Bundy.

The point is that Obama is a sore loser. Instead of accepting the loss at the Bundy ranch, he again acts like a spoiled despot and does whatever he wants, despite the implications.

Local ranchers say it’s a land grab that will interfere with their grazing rights, and border security advocates said the move will make it tougher for federal agents and local police to patrol the land, leaving a security gap that Mexican smuggling cartels will exploit.

“This is about opposing so many thousands of acres that is going to create nothing more than a pathway for criminals to get into this country to do their criminal acts,” Dona Ana County Sheriff Todd Garrison told The Washington Times in a telephone interview Monday.

The monument has been in the works for some time and has been controversial from the start. But land rights advocates said it is the precursor to more conflicts like the recent standoff in Nevada, where a rancher refused to comply with a court order that he stop grazing on Bureau of Land Management property, prompting the BLM to confiscate his cattle. The BLM, which is part of the Interior Department, will administer the national monument.

The land contains five mountain ranges with fragile landscapes, prehistoric rock art and more recent historic sites such as a training area for the Apollo astronauts.

The monument would cover hundreds of thousands of acres right next to the Mexican border.

If you haven’t felt as if the president has become tyrannical, this should be the final straw.

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MERS cases Triple in Last Month and a Half

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To quote a recent MedPage report by Michael Smith, the total number of cases of the Middle East coronavirus has nearly tripled in the past month and a half, according to the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC).

But those cases do not include new cases reported today from Saudi Arabia, which recorded another six patients and three deaths. That brings the nation’s own totals to 520 cases with 163 deaths, up nine and three respectively. Also, it does not include the Illinois hospital worker who contracted the virus without showing signs of infection.

Saudi Arabia is followed in number of cases — although not closely — by the United Arab Emirates, which has recorded 67 cases and nine deaths, according to the ECDC. Seven other countries in the region have a total of 24 cases and 12 deaths.

Other regions — Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas — have seen a total of 19 cases and seven deaths and all patients have had primary epidemiological links to the Middle East.

The exact number of cases is a moving target and has been dogged by delays in reporting. The World Health Organization, for instance, reported Thursday it had been officially informed of just 572 laboratory-confirmed cases, with 173 deaths.

While the virus continues to cause several cases a day in Saudi Arabia, the risk for people outside the Middle East is said to be extremely low. However, 22 U.S. airports are now displaying signs that warn of the virus.

Returning travelers, the agency says, should monitor their own health and see a doctor if they have respiratory symptoms within 2 weeks of coming home. Importantly, they should call first and mention the travel history so the doctor’s office can ensure that proper precautions are taken.

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More Hospitals Laying off People or CLosing

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Remember the day when new hospitals were being built and greater health services were being created every day? Remember when it wasn’t such a fight to get what your insurance owed you, the services that were recommended or the prescriptions the doctor’s gave you?

Unfortunately, there has been a complete unraveling of our medical system, with Obamacare being the final straw. As reimbursement continue to plummet and the expectation of services rise, many hospitals are left either closing their doors or laying of their employees. With less hospital workers or worse yet, less hospitals, care for the sicker patients of our communities is being decimated by the day.

Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines had to lay off 29 people this week. The president of the medical center said that this is a direct effect from both Obamacare and cutting Medicare benefits.

“As the federal government and state payment systems continue to ratchet down on what they pay us and our costs go up, we have to look for opportunities to create cost efficiencies,” the president of Mercy Medical Center said. “And one way you do that is you reduce your management costs. So if we have a department that has a director and a manager and two supervisors for let’s say 75 staff, we may remove one of those positions to what we say are the layers of management.”

Here is the biggest question: if the federal government can’t afford Medicare expenses, how can they afford a multi-trillion dollar Obamacare plan? I’m not an economist but I can do simple math. Obamacare + Increased Medicaid + Increased federal spending + Increased Federal Giveaways + Increased Americans on the Federal dole + the costs of Michelle Obama’s vacations = more debt = more dependence on China = A DECLINING AMERICA.

Will this be the epitaph of our country? I don’t know but there is one person who wishes it to be– Obama.

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Will the Entire US Healthcare system look like the current VA system in a few Years?

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Will the entire US healthcare system look like the current VA system in a few years? Unfortunately, the trend is going that way, and there is absolutely no indication that there is any signs of improvement.

The first, real question each American should ask is why would the US government try to institute a massive medical overhaul with Obamacare when its track record in healthcare delivery is deplorable? The VA system has always had problems, but now under the Obama administration the situation has turned critical.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is facing mounting evidence that some of the hospitals it runs have been keeping two sets of books to make it look as if they were reducing waiting times to see a doctor. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is facing mounting evidence that some of the hospitals it runs have been keeping two sets of books to make it look as if they were reducing waiting times to see a doctor. More damning, the department is investigating the claims of a whistleblower doctor in Arizona that dozens of patients at one hospital died while they were languishing on a hidden waiting list without ever being given an appointment.

Richard Griffin, the department’s acting inspector general, admitted on Thursday that its review could lead to criminal charges. In the first political casualty of the scandal, Robert Petzel, the department’s undersecretary for heath, resigned on Friday.

The budget for the VA has risen from $73.1bn in 2006 to $153.8bn this year. However, the number of outpatient visits at its facilities has increased from 46.5m in 2002 to 83.6m in 2012.

While there have been reports for several years that the new waiting line system was being abused, the subject really began to gather steam three weeks ago when CNN interviewed Sam Foote, who had recently retired as a doctor after working for 24 years for VA hospitals in Phoenix, Arizona.

He said that as many as 40 patients had died after being placed on a hidden waiting list that could last for up to a year, while officials at the hospital shredded documents and faked evidence to make it seem as if waiting times were under control.

Since then, whistleblowers have alleged similar practices at least seven other VA hospitals around the country and claimed that officials at the hospitals were sometimes paid bonuses for reducing declared waiting times.

This is what the US government delivers to the nation’s finest—long waits and insufficient care. Unfortunately, this is what awaits the rest of America under Obama.