Archive for the ‘Health Care’ Category

Many reports are surfacing about Saturday’s “Kill the Bill” Rally in Washington DC and reports are that tens of thousands and up to one hundred thousand may have participated in the rally Saturday.

http://teapartyexpressblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/dc-kill-bill-rally-draws-tens-of.html

http://nicedeb.wordpress.com/2010/03/20/kill-the-bill-rally-in-washington/ - sign says “We drove ALL NIGHT to Kill the Bill!”

On Sunday, Immigration Reform Rally is planned for the Mall in Washington DC.  Stay tuned to see how our media cover these two weekend events.

DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION!
Wisconsin Patriots Head to DC to Protest “Slaughtering” of Our Rights

Milwaukee - Wisconsin patriots are planning a last ditch effort to prevent the “slaughtering” of our Constitution. A bus tour to our nation’s capitol will leave Sheboygan TODAY, March 19, 2010 and drive to Washington in time to protest a Sunday vote to violate the Constitution and force through a government take-over of health care.

The State Director for Americans for Prosperity, Mark Block, says the tour will make sure Congress can’t hide from the people.

“This is the most dangerous breach of our Constitution in the history of our country,” Block said, “If there are members of Congress who think they can get away with violating our freedoms without anyone noticing, they are dead wrong.”

What: Defend the Constitution Bus Tour
Where & When: Bus ride begins 5:00 PM today, Friday, March 19th in Sheboygan, with stops planned in Milwaukee and Racine. Bus will leave Washington DC at 3:00 PM after the vote (2:00 PM) and will arrive home about 6:00 AM Monday.
Cost: $145 for bus ride, cash or check only. Please make checks out to Sheboygan Liberty Coalition or Oriannah Paul (hotel arrangements will be extra)
Contact: Oriannah Paul for reservations. 920-946-5938

Members of Americans for Prosperity-Wisconsin Chapter will gather at Upper Senate Park on Constitution Avenue and Delaware Avenue at noon on Saturday, March 20th. Wisconsin groups are urged to look for the Wisconsin flag. Contact for meeting at noon is Tim Dake at 262-308-0553.

For those who cannot make the trip, Block encourages them to sign the petition at novemberiscoming.com to make their voices heard. The petition can be found at www.fightbackwisconsin.com.

Urgent Appeal From Scott Wheeler
Executive Director

The Time is Short and the Stakes are High

Healthcare Vote This Week

National Republican Trust Responds Again

‣ Play our new ad to stop Obamacare

Dear Supporter:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi intends to pass the disastrous healthcare bill this week.

This is it. She knows this is her last chance. Obama knows it too! Any shred of credibility he has left is hanging in the balance this week. We must Act now! The vote could come as early as Friday.

The National Republican Trust, the nation’s third largest PAC, launched a new ad today to kill this bill. We have the ability to do it. We remain the group the Democrats fear most.

We are targeting specific Democrats who are vulnerable to defeat in the November elections.

These target Democrats masquerade as conservatives or independents despite the fact that they are at Nancy Pelosi’s beck and call. We will not let them get away with it!

That is why we created the Pelosi Index to expose those Democrats who are trying to con their hometown voters into believing they are “independent” of Democratic leadership. The Pelosi Index is helping to bring down the (Democrat) House. With your help, we can strip Pelosi of her power this November. CLICK HERE NOW to Help Kill Obamacare and Take Back the House

As Pelosi strong-arms another member to vote her way, we push another one out, forcing the Democrats to play “whack-a-mole” that is why you hear them saying they have the votes and then not voting on the healthcare bill, because as soon as they think they have the votes, we pick another one off.

As I told you before we have a strategy that will work even if they finally get healthcare passed we will force them to pay a high price for it. Remember, I said that as we shine the light on their corrupt activities it will force them to expose themselves even more, which will make the Democrats lose more seats in November. This is part of a larger plan.

Right now we are better off than I expected we would be at this point. We have a very good chance of defeating the government takeover of healthcare but we need your continued support.

We need your help to get this ad and others like it on the air as quickly as possible. The vote is this week so we must act now! Click Here To Join the FIGHT!

Please forward this email to at least one person! We need every soldier possible to win this important battle!

The National Republican Trust has been fighting this healthcare disaster for over a year and you have fought alongside us every step of the way. This battle will be over in a matter of days. I ask that you join with me one more time. If we all come together, we can and will prevail. Obama will meet his Waterloo this week.

The day Scott Brown celebrated his victory in Massachusetts; we predicted the Democrats would “pull out their army of slimy lawyers, lobbyists and deceitful legislative tactics to pass their disastrous Health Care Bill.” AND they would “try to pass health care through trickery bypassing Scott Brown and legislative protocols”.

We knew they would do this so we launched our Strategy of Deterrence months ago. This new ad is just the latest component.

We may not succeed in killing this legislation but as American loving conservatives it is our duty to give it – and you – our best effort!

We must make their corrupt legislative tactics as visible as possible and politically wound them for all future legislative battles and elections.

We want to force them to use all of their dirty tricks because it will make them look worse to everyone - and WE STILL MIGHT BE ABLE TO STOP IT but we must act fast.

Even if they manage to get this bill passed, it makes it even more critical for us to beat them up and expose their ways so that we will be better equipped to win back our country in November.

We can do it but we must act now! Please go here to JOIN OUR FIGHT to defeat Obamacare!

Leading the Conservative Cause

We are proud to be the Republicans you can trust. We led the way in Massachusetts when we backed Scott Brown before anyone thought a victory was possible and when we paved the way for crucial Republican victories in Virginia and New Jersey last fall. When other conservative groups refused to call attention to presidential candidate Obama’s radical ties, we launched our national TV ad campaign blasting the anti-American Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Other political organizations ask for money to support intangible concepts. Not us! The money we raise actually goes toward the conservative mission, not to fatten some Washingtonian’s wallet.

We carry out real, effective actions and we’re accountable to you, our supporters. We will lead the battle to take back our country. We’re the only group with the agility to effectively combat the liberal left and kill healthcare. Together we will lead the conservative resurgence this year.

CLICK HERE TO KILL HEALTHCARE! Our Future is At Stake

Obama and the Democrats are not just forcing unwise or even reckless legislation and debt on us. Their massive expansion of government has launched a real financial crisis that threatens the economic future of our country.

We cannot afford to allow Obama and Pelosi to saddle future generations with a multi-trillion dollar healthcare entitlement.

Running ads and exposing their corrupt tactics is our best chance to kill healthcare once and for all. The good news is that some Democrats are already running for cover. We have just a few days to peel off enough votes or we will lose!

Our ad campaign can do it. Read the text of the ad below or click on the text to hear it:

What makes Americans angry? Politicians who have buried this country in massive debt and squandered a year on healthcare instead of jobs.

What makes Americans angry? Politicians who don’t listen, put party loyalty before representing the people and don’t even know what they’re voting for.

What makes the American people really angry about healthcare? People like Nancy Pelosi:“But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.”

Pass a bill before you know what’s in it??? That’s crazy. So why is Nancy Pelosi counting on Congressman Gerry Connolly to strong-arm other Democrats, in secret, to pass a bill Americans don’t want?”

Because Gerry Connolly votes the way Pelosi tells him to vote–one hundred percent of the time. Just go to Pelosi-Index-dot-com. But this November, we have a message for every congressman who follows Nancy Pelosi orders on healthcare: you’re fired!

This ad and others like it can force enough Democrats to vote NO and permanently kill Obamacare! We only have a few days left and this is our best chance.

Join our fight today! Together we can save America!

Click Here to Kill Obamacare! The Battle Plan

In addition to Congressman Connelly (a critical vote needed by Pelosi and potential GOP pick-up this fall) we are targeting the top 10 most vulnerable Democrats. Each of these ten targets voted in favor of Obamacare last fall. They were each elected from conservative districts that the McCain/Palin carried last cycle. Despite the conservative district these targets on average support Pelosi’s radical agenda more than 77% of the time.

Additional targets include:

Baron Hill, IN

Chris Carney, PA

Zach Space, OH

John Salazar, CO

Harry Mitchell, AZ

Gabrielle Giffords, AZ

Michael Arcuri, NY

Earl Pomeroy, ND

Alan Mollohan, WV

Thomas Perreilli, VA

CNN and Politico have already reported on this campaign and the Democrats are starting to feel the pressure.

We don’t have a single minute to spare. Pelosi plans on ramming this legislation through by the end of the week. Please help us STOP THIS BILL!

Together we can DEFEAT OBAMACARE and TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY!

CLICK HERE TO HELP KEEP OUR ADS ON THE AIR

We Need Your Help

Please forward this email to families, friends, and colleagues. We need everyone to come together if we are to successfully defeat Obama and the Democrats.

Please help us get these ads on the air as quickly as possible. CLICK TO JOIN THE FIGHT!

Thank you for your tremendous support for The National Republican Trust. Together we have fought this battle from the beginning. NOW it is time for one last push!

Please GO HERE NOW. We only have a few days left.

Yours for America,

Scott Wheeler
Executive Director
www.goptrust.com

http://feingold.senate.gov/listening/advisories/10/vilas.html

FEINGOLD HOLDS LISTENING SESSIONS
IN VILAS AND FOREST COUNTIES ON MARCH 20

U.S. Senator Russ Feingold will hold listening sessions in Vilas and Forest Counties on Saturday, March 20. Senator Feingold has pledged to hold listening sessions in all of Wisconsin’s 72 counties each year of his six-year term and this will be the Senator’s 18th year of holding listening sessions. These sessions will mark the 32nd and 33rd listening sessions of 2010 and the 1256th and 1257th since 1993. If constituents need special accommodations at the listening sessions they should contact Senator Feingold’s Middleton office at 608-828-1200.

His Vilas County listening session will be held at 12:00 p.m. in the Gymnasium at the St. Germain Community Center, 545 Highway 155, St. Germain. The meeting will last up to an hour.

His Forest County listening session will be held at 3:15 p.m. in the Auditorium at Crandon High School, 9750 US Highway 8 West, Crandon. The meeting will last up to an hour.

“I look forward to meeting with constituents in Vilas and Forest counties, as I learn more at these town meetings than I learn anywhere else,” Feingold said. “In order for me to be an effective legislator, I need to hear from the people I represent and they deserve every opportunity to let me know directly what they think about a particular issue. This is democracy in action and I am grateful to all those who take time out of their busy schedules to come to my meetings and let me know about the issues important to them. The feedback I receive is essential to my job as a U.S. Senator.”

NOTE: SENATOR FEINGOLD WILL BE AVAILABLE TO MEET WITH THE MEDIA FOR A SHORT TIME PRIOR TO THE LISTENING SESSIONS.

These are the last hours before Obamacare is voted on.  Express your opposition in every way possible.  Click to sign the on-line petition, call your Congressman (KAGEN:  1-202-225-5665, and Kagen’s on-line comment submission).  Honk Against Obamacare in Wausau today, email congressmen, call congressmen, fax congressmen!  This is your day to participate in our republic — let your voice be known!!

Does this petition represent your views?  Then CLICK and sign the petition at gop.com!

Start Over on Health Care Reform

Preamble

President Obama’s initial attempt to seize control of one-sixth of the U.S. economy by nationalizing the American health care system has failed.

But serious issues continue to plague our health insurance system, and they must be addressed.

Now is the time to start over on health insurance reform and do it right.

Petition

We ask that President Obama and Congressional Democrats join with Republican leaders to start over on health insurance reform.

We ask that they help craft sensible reforms designed to lower costs and expand access without violating individual rights or the integrity of the market.

We ask that they enact medical liability reform and put an end to frivolous lawsuits that drive up the cost of medicine.

We ask that they allow individuals and small businesses to pool together to purchase high-quality affordable health care coverage.

We ask that they allow Americans to shop for health care coverage from coast to coast and purchase insurance policies across state lines.

We ask that they create new incentives to save for current and future health care needs by allowing people to use their health savings accounts funds to pay premiums for high deductible health plans.

We ask that they guarantee individuals with pre-existing conditions or past illnesses access to affordable coverage through the expansion of state-based, high-risk pools, and reinsurance programs.

We reject any attempt by the federal government to force any American to purchase an unwanted insurance plan.

We reject any attempt to implement a government-run insurance program.

We reject individual mandates, rationing, and special deals for any state.

We reject a separate set of rules for government and private sector health insurance purchases.

We oppose any plan that betrays our senior citizens by cutting Medicare coverage, or that allocates taxpayer funds to pay for abortion.

We reject any proposal that authorizes a government takeover of any portion of our health care system.

We ask that Congress and the President above all pledge to ensure the constitutionality of any health insurance reform legislation considered by the federal government.

We implore the President and his allies to listen to the will of the American people and start over on health insurance reform.

Legislation has been introduced in Wisconsin to join dozens of other states in passing legislation that says citizens cannot be required to have medical insurance (opposing Obamacare). Our Representative Meyer is one of the sponsors of the bill. See article below.

• Call Rep. Dan Meyer 608-266-7141 or 888-534-0034 or email Rep.Meyer@legis.wisconsin.gov and thank him.
• Call Sen. Jim Holperin 608-266-2509 or 800-334-8773 or email Sen.Holperin@legis.wisconsin.gov and ask him to support the bill.
• Call Sen. Jon Erpenbach 608-266-6670 or 888-549-0027 or email Sen.Erpenbach@legis.state.wi.us and ask him to take up the bill.

3/15/2010

Nullification? Might not need it this time around

published at FoxPolitics.net: http://foxpolitics.net/politics.iml?mdl=issues.mdl&issue_id=42531&Category=1

Virginia says no way will they allow the federal government to mandate their residents purchase health insurance and as such is seeking to nullify the federal law.

The Virginia Legislature this week is poised to become the first state to pass legislation that says citizens cannot be required to have medical insurance.

Dozens of other states are considering similar measures, possibly setting the stage for one of the greatest tests of federal power over the states since the civil rights era.

If states are allowed to opt out of the mandate, the foundation of Obama’s effort would be undermined, turning the nascent revolt here into one with national implications.

… Virginia’s lawmakers are focused on constitutional questions and the power of states to run their own affairs.
Wisconsin State Representative Leah Vukmir says it just right: “The real goal of national health insurance exchange isn’t competition — it’s a federal power grab that flies in the face of the Tenth Amendment.”

Well, Wisconsin is on of those “dozens of other states” attempting a similar nullification effort. Senate Joint Resolution 62 would create a constitutional amendment which requires adoption by two successive legislatures, and ratification by the people, before it can become effective. It’s pretty straightforward:
The people have the right to enter into private contracts with health care providers for health care services and to purchase private health care coverage. The legislature may not require any person to obtain or maintain health insurance coverage or to participate in any health care system or plan.
Senator Leibham is the bill’s chief sponsor, joined by Senators Lazich, Kapanke, Darling, Grothman, A. Lasee, Hopper and Schultz; and Representatives Vos, Davis, Pridemore, Suder, Petersen, Meyer, Nygren, Kestell, Townsend, Kerkman, Tauchen, Kramer, Knodl, Gunderson, LeMahieu, Strachota, Honadel, Lothian, Kleefisch, Spanbauer, Ballweg, Nass and Ziegelbauer.

This is very serious stuff. Normally I’d say If your state representative or state senator isn’t on the list of supporters above (all Republicans by the way, except Rep. Ziegelbauer, D-Manitowoc), call them and ask them to add their name. I’d also suggest railing on Sen. Erpenbach (D-Waunakee), chair of the Senate Health, Health Insurance, Privacy, Property Tax Relief and Revenue Committee, who so far hasn’t taken up the bill.

But I don’t think we need it!

(It’s a good thing too. I can’t imagine Erpenbach will allow the bill to be heard in committee. On top of that, there’s a good bit of doubt that these state challenges would stand up to constitutional tests - yeah, explain that one – geeez.)

Timothy Jost, via the New England Journal of Medicine, suggests that while the Senate bill imposes a mandate and imposes a slap-on-the-wrist penalty for not complying with the mandate, the penalty may not even be enforceable!
… the mandate is particularly vulnerable from an enforcement perspective. It essentially imposes a tax penalty (to begin in 2014 and to be fully phased in by 2016) on uninsured individuals who do not purchase health insurance, subject to a number of exceptions for those who cannot afford health insurance or who oppose it for religious reasons. Individuals are supposed to pay this penalty with their annual income taxes, but the Senate bill waives criminal penalties and prohibits the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from imposing liens or levies on a taxpayer’s property for failure to pay. Compliance will, therefore, be largely voluntary (although the IRS can still make a tax resister’s life miserable, whether or not it can ultimately collect). The state bills can thus be seen as invitations to civil disobedience that counsel state citizens to “violate the federal law, wave this statute in their face, and dare them to come after you.”
Time to wave the statute in somebody’s face.

Jo Egelhoff, FoxPolitics.net

As House Democrats piece together a second health care reform bill, Representative Steve Kagen of Wisconsin’s 8th Congressional District is calling for more transparency in health care costs.

Late last month Kagen, who’s a medical doctor himself, introduced a bill that would require hospitals, clinics — really, any health care provider — to openly disclose the price of its services.

Monday Kagen likened the proposal to a menu at a fast food restaurant,  saying it would give patients a clear picture of the costs any procedure or appointment would incur –  a picture he says now doesn’t exist.

“No, they don’t, and if they ask their doctor, as I did when I had my knee surgery, ‘Well, Doctor, what’s this knee surgery going to cost?’ he said, ‘I’m not sure.’”

However, the Wisconsin Hospital Association, which represents each of Green Bay’s hospitals, says sometimes pinning down a price can be a complicated procedure.

“It’s kind of difficult to estimate what the cost of an episode of care or what the cost of care is going to be if there’s complications when we don’t know what those are upfront,” WHA executive vice president Eric Borgerding said.

The hospital association, however, says the industry has embraced the idea of price transparency.

By law, the association has a web site that details the average price of each the establishment’s 75 most common procedures.

www.wbay.com article

The Heritage Foundation: http://blog.heritage.org/2009/12/10/morning-bell-obamacare-is-seriously-unconstitutional/
December 10, 2009

On October 23rd, a reporter asked Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA): “Madam Speaker, where specifically does the Constitution grant Congress the authority to enact an individual health insurance mandate?” Speaker Pelosi shook her head and before moving on to another question replied: “Are you serious? Are you serious??” Pressed for a more substantive response later, Pelosi’s press spokesman admonished the reporter: “You can put this on the record. That is not a serious question. That is not a serious question.”

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) disagrees. In 1994, the CBO said of an individual mandate to buy health insurance:

Read the rest of this entry »

Why Dems Are Obsessed by Health Reform

Wall Street Journal | December 4, 2009 | JOHN FUND
Posted on Saturday, December 05, 2009 11:35:21 AM by neverdem