Ten Questions For Obama And Your Representatives

Ten Easy One's for your Washington employees.....

The real interesting question is will they answer them?

Tom Coburn (U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. Oklahoma) poses ten questions that politician's won't answer, with an insightful subtitle "Evasive politicians, not concerned citizens, are dividing America over health-care reform."

1. Why do we need to increase spending on health care by at least $1.6 trillion and steal prosperity from our children and grandchildren when we spend nearly twice per person what other industrialized nations spend on health care?  

In my (Tom Coburn's) view, any bill that increases spending is a failure and not serious reform. The problem is not that we don’t spend enough on health care, but that we don’t allocate resources efficiently and get value for what we pay.

2. What programs will you cut and whose taxes will you raise to pay for health-care reform?

Any politician — Republican or Democrat — who refuses to answer this question or avoids the topic by deferring to the committees of jurisdiction doesn’t deserve to be in office.

3. What earmarks or pet projects that you have sponsored will you sacrifice to help finance the cost of health-care reform?

It is immoral, in my (Tom Coburn's) view, to ask taxpayers to make more sacrifices while politicians practice business-as-usual pork-barrel politics.

4. Will you vote for a public option that requires taxpayer-funded abortion?

The current version of the so-called reform bill requires taxpayer-funded abortion. In the House, this fact prompted 19 pro-life Democrats to send a letter of protest to Speaker Pelosi. In the Senate, an amendment by Barbara Mikulski (D., Md.) that would require taxpayer-funded abortion passed in committee. Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) objected and voted no, saying, “The way it [the Mikulski amendment] is written could be interpreted down the road to include something like abortion.” Are these Democrats also part of the right-wing scare-tactic conspiracy?

5. If the public option is so wonderful, will you lead by example and vote for a plan to enroll you and your family in the public option?

I (Tom Coburn) offered an amendment in committee to force members of Congress to enroll in the public option. Nine out of eleven Democrats on the health committee who back the public option refused. If the politicians creating the public option don’t have confidence in it, neither should the American people.

6. Will you vote for a plan that will allow a board of politicians and bureaucrats to override decisions made by you and your doctor?

Both the Senate and House bills set up a government-run “comparative effectiveness” board that will make final decisions about treatment and care. In committee, I gave senators several opportunities to accept language that would forbid this board from denying care. All of my amendments were rejected, which suggests that the intent is to set up a board that will ration care, as is done in the United Kingdom.

7. If you support a “comparative effectiveness” board, what qualifies you, as a politician, to practice medicine? Have you delivered health care to a single person, much less entire classes of people you claim to represent, such as the poor, the uninsured, or children?

I’m (Tom Coburn) one of two physicians in the Senate, along with John Barrasso of Wyoming. I know for a fact that very few leaders in this debate have any firsthand experience or knowledge of health care, which is disturbing.

8. How will a government-run public option perform better than other failing government programs, such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Indian Health Care?

Forty percent of doctors refuse to accept Medicaid patients because the program is broken. Access to a government program — such as the public option — does not guarantee access to health care.

9. If increasing spending on health care was the solution, why hasn’t it worked yet?

The public-option “reform” is not new at all but an extension of 1960s-era public policies that say a little more government spending and intervention is always the answer.

10. Are you more committed to doing reform right or quickly? Would you consider backing a thoughtful alternative to the public option? If so, which one?

Now, here's my view.....I especially liked Sen. Coburn's comment that "any bill that increases spending is a failure and not serious reform. The problem is not that we don’t spend enough on health care, but that we don’t allocate resources efficiently and get value for what we pay."  If we look at the example of our spending on education, we'll see the exact same result that we can expect from increased spending on health care...i.e.: the more we spend, the worse the results will be.

If you can't get satisfactory answers, fire your Representative, and or Senator, the first chance that you have.

(Complete article....)

Obama Gives Us The Finger

Pointedly....

You know that a salesman is in trouble when he starts pointing the finger at the customers telling them that they just don't understand, that everything really will be ok, what the contract says isn't what it means..... just trust him.

Actually, Obama and the rest of the Democrat 'Rat Pack' have been pointing the finger at just about everybody but themselves since they took office in January.  First it was George Bush, then the greedy and corrupt Bankers, then the greedy and corrupt Stockbrokers and Hedge Funds, then the greedy and corrupt Real Estate people, then the Automakers, then George Bush again, then the Doctors, then the Hospitals, then the Pharmaceutical companies, then the Health Insurance companies, then George Bush again, and now us.....anyone who questions the obscene and devastating Heath Care Bill that Congress passed and that Obama is selling, now gets pointed at and vilified.

Even after smearing lipstick on this pig of a Bill by saying that it doesn't say what is written in it, and even if it gets a face lift and tummy-tuck when the Senate reconvenes, this Health Care Bill (now being called Heath Insurance Bill....notice how the Democrats always change terminology when their programs don't sell) is, and will continue to still be a PIG  and worse!  It will further destroy our freedom to decide the health care approach that we want to choose, and it will create a governmental monster that will make Medicaid and Medicare look like an Omega watch in retrospect.

When the Democrats want to push through a 'Comprehensive' Bill, no matter what it issue it supposedly is designed to 'fix' - Immigration, Housing, or now Health Care, you know that they are really attempting to reduce our freedom, increase Government control, and somehow reinforce and strengthen their control of  our lives.  And that's exactly what's happening now with their 'Comprehensive' Heath Care Bill.

No system is perfect, and the current state of Heath Care in the U.S., despite being the best in the world, reflects that truth.  However, the current problem with the U.S. system of health care is one more of cost than any other factor.  And, if reducing cost is the major thrust of this whole exercise, there is no amount of rhetoric and demagoguery that the Democrats can employ that will ever be able to show that expanding the role and scope of Government programs, will ever reduce the costs...yet that's what Obama expects us to believe, despite the Congressional Budget Office's explicit findings of a $1+Trillion deficit if the plan is enacted.  The longer term impact of this Bill on health care and medical innovation will be extremely negative yet isn't even being discussed, despite its potential greater significant impact on our lives.

The simple truth is that there are six major major cost drivers in our Health Care system:

• Governmental programs, Medicare and Medicaid, promote significant abuse, create tremendous direct overhead costs and cause cost-shifting to private insurance carriers 
• Out of control medical malpractice settlements drive additional significant costs because of subsequent CYA medical practices 
• Lack of tax exemption for individual private health insurance drives up its net cost and eliminates it as an option for many 
• Unnecessary State mandated health insurance coverage elements drive up the cost of all insurance plans 
• Preventing Health Insurance companies from establishing national risk pools increases risk and costs
• Illegal immigrants abusing our hospital Emergency Rooms shift more costs to private health insurance carriers and individual payers

If Obama and the Democrats really wanted to improve health care they would address each of those causal elements and develop a simple plan to fix each problem separately, but the truth is, that's not their objective.  They want to control the health care system in a misguided objective of 'equalizing' Health Care, just as they've 'equalized' Education....and we've seen how well that's worked out.  And, in case you haven't noticed, they're working on 'equalizing' income too.

It's amazing, but somehow, we simple people can solve the exceedingly everyday issues of providing for our own individual lodging, and our own individual food and clothing requirements without Government intervention, but for health care, Democrats think we need the Government.

Follow Obama's advice, "argue with them, and get in their face".

Never again.....no more silent majority.  Make your voice heard, and prevent this invasion of your wallet, your privacy, and your right to live free and unimpeded by government.