New World Order

CBO report on healthcare reform

Turn on the nightly news on any major network and you will hear that Obamas healthcare bill is 'closer than ever before', rallying behind a CBO report that declares the bill would 'cut the deficit by $81 billion in 10 years'. How, you ask? Read on, you will be glad you did; or mad as heck.

Death&Taxes. Tax increases to high-premium insurance plans , taxes in the form of penalties to employers who do not offer insurance to their employees, and in some instances, taxes on the employees and employers.

From the CBO report Oct. 7, 2009:

“As a rule, full-time workers who were offered coverage from their employer would not be eligible to obtain subsidies via the exchanges. However, an exception to that 'firewall' would be allowed for workers who had to pay more than a specified percentage of their income for their employer’s insurance— 10 percent in 2013, indexed over time—in which case the employer could also be penalized.”

Further down int the CBO report you find this key bit of information:

“Under the proposal, firms offering a section 125 (“cafeteria”) plan allowing their workers to pay premiums with pretax funds would be considered offering firms for purposes of the exchange “firewall” (so those workers generally could not purchase subsidized coverage through the exchanges), and employees who had received an affordability exemption to that firewall would not be allowed to pay their portion of the exchange premiums through a cafeteria plan.”

Putting these two items together, one would find that a person earning $40k per year and paying $4k per year or more in insurance premiums could opt for the subsidized health plans, but the premiums would be paid from post tax wages. To add insult to injury, in doing so, the employee could also be subjecting his employer to 'penalties'.

Other Taxes: yes there is a line item named other taxes in this CBO report. Don't worry though, its only $52 Billion in 'other taxes' and the effects of coverage provisions. The dollar amount is so miniscule in comparison to the overall scope of the healthcare bill that we need not discuss it any further.

Those examples are just the direct taxes, but Obamas healthcare bill is about more than just taxes, its also about shifting liabilities off of the Federal Government and onto unsuspecting rubes. Its about getting more people insured at any cost. The total increase in non-elderly insure would increase by a whopping 11% or roughly 29 million people. The price tag for that: a paltry $829 Billion. Now I'm no mathematician, but seems to me that works out to over $28,000 per addition insured individual. Don't get exited now, they have plans to make that 'budget neutral'. Most of the price tag is to be offset by taxes, but they have some other creative book-keeping tricks up their sleeves. For example:

“CBO estimates that state spending on Medicaid would increase by about

$33 billion over the 2010–2019 period as a result of the specifications

affecting coverage.”

Now who do you suppose is going to pay for that? Call it an educated guess, but I don't think our elected representatives are going to make up the difference by riding coach on all of those expensive trips back and forth to D.C.

“You lie”, is now solidly in my list of all time favorite quotes, but did he lie? I guess that is just a matter of semantics. Technically, the healthcare bill does prohibit illegals from enrolling in subsidized insurance programs. However, it does nothing to prevent the illegals from exploiting our healthcare system in the same fashion they have been employing for years. No I.D. required healthcare is free illegal alien healthcare, plain and simple. Don't fret, Obama wont let that minor detail ruin his 'budget neutral' healthcare bill. He has a plan :

“Reducing Medicare and Medicaid payments to hospitals that serve a

large number of low-income patients, known as disproportionate

share (DSH) hospitals, by almost $45 billion—composed of roughly

$22 billion each from Medicaid and Medicare DSH payments.”

Sounds great right? Sure, unless your are considered middle class or even(heaven forbid) wealthy. Unless we want all of the hospitals in the country to file for bankruptcy, somebody is going to compensate for those reduced payments. Brilliant strategy isn't it? Shifting costs in every conceivable manner to the privately insured, inevitably raising premiums to the point where they are no longer viable.

The hardest hits, however, are reserved for the Medicare enrolled masses. The healthcare bill states that new programs will increase eligibility for CHIP and Medicaid by about 14 million people(accounting for nearly half of the newly insured under the healthcare bill) and yet they plan on cutting $404 million dollars from the collective programs.

“Other components of the proposal would alter spending under Medicare,

Medicaid, CHIP, and other federal health programs. The proposal would

make numerous changes to payment rates and payment rules in those

programs (the budgetary effects of which are shown in Table 1 and detailed

in the enclosed table). In total, CBO estimates that enacting those

provisions would reduce direct spending by $404 billion over the 2010–

2019 period.”

So, increased enrollment and reduced direct spending, sounds like a recipe for reduced benefits to me. Now to be fair, they don't plan on making up that much money just in reduced benefits. They also have plans on increasing premiums on Medicare Advantage.

“· Reductions in subsidies for non-Medicare benefits offered by

Medicare Advantage plans;

· Reductions in subsidies of premiums charged by Part D plans; and

· Changes to payment rates or methodologies for services furnished in

the fee-for-service sector by providers other than hospitals,

physicians, hospices, and suppliers of durable medical equipment

that is offered through competitive bidding.”

We all have a stake in this shell game, and we need to know it is a con. Take the time to read the CBO report and you will see that we are being intentionally misled. To say that the CBO is skeptical about the program would be putting it to lightly. So in their own words:

“CBO and JCT’s analysis is preliminary in-large part because the Chairman’s mark, as amended, has not yet been embodied in legislative language.”

“Those estimates are all subject to substantial uncertainty.”

“Does not include effects on spending subject to future appropriations.”

“The estimates presented in this preliminary analysis do not incorporate the

potential effects of using this proposed failsafe mechanism, although CBO

and JCT estimate that the amended mark would increase the deficit in fiscal

years 2015 through 2018.”

“Important Caveats Regarding This Preliminary Analysis

There are a number of key reasons why the preliminary analysis that is

provided in this letter and the enclosures does not constitute a final cost

estimate for the proposal:”

“These projections assume that the proposals are enacted and remain

unchanged throughout the next two decades, which is often not the case for

major legislation.”

I know what you are thinking. “I didn't hear any of that on(insert mainstream media outlet here).” Well you are not going to. So tell your friends. Tell your family. Tell anyone who will listen.

Very Interesting and insightful

Tocqueville's Critique of Socialism (1848)

Seems as though history does repeat itself. It is ironic how Tocquerville firmly believed that socialism had no chance of taking root in America, and yet here we stand at the threshold. I must assume that Tocquerville had no idea how insidious progressivism would become. Slowly but surely creeping its way into every aspect of American life. Creating dependency, providing a crutch when rehabilitation is needed. Americas people have become so atrophied(by design), that we submit to the chains of socialist enslavement in exchange for the meager welfare our elected masters bestow upon us. How could we be willing to hand over liberty in exchange for free health care. Or surrender freedom for the greater good. How can we demand respect in the world if will will not respect ourselves. Our sovereignty cannot be sustained if we continue to look for a handout instead of looking for a job. The value of a country is not in its governance, it is in its people, and when a government freely distributes the taxpayers money to those who will not contribute, it weakens the resolve of all. There is no government program that can make a lazy man work, but hunger often proves a strong motivator. Do not let sympathy be the mechanism of our countries demise.
We are all assured equal opportunity, we are not all guaranteed equal outcome. The difference in the two is the amount of effort. Remember "heaven helps those who help themselves," this adage holds true even today. Self help will provide compound benefits, the immediate effect is a feeling of self worth, and the long term effect is the accumulation of wealth. It is this individual wealth that makes our country the envy of the world, not our governments ability to redistribute it. So work hard, be frugal, and teach your children to do the same, and we can prove Tocquerville right. We can show the world that socialism has no place in America.

Very moving and inspiring

Real Leadership

Drill Here Drill Now

Link to support drilling for domestic oil.

Nail in ACORN coffin