Justice John Roberts, the King Maker

Supreme Court Justice John Roberts just handed Obama a crown, scepter, and an ermine trimmed velvet cloak.

It isn’t the SCOTUS job to protect the American people from bad political choices? Perhaps not, but it IS SCOTUS job to protect and uphold the Constitution.

If you are not registered to vote, get registered. I don’t care if you like Romney or not; I don’t care if he wasn’t your first choice; he must win. Why you ask? Because he is NOT Obama.  We need every single person to vote because even Obama voters who hate ObamaDoesn’tCare and are disappointed in Obama overall have said they will STILL vote for him in 2012.  That stymied me until I realized that these people have lived most of their lives being indoctrinated by the Progressives and/or living off the government teet. They’d rather throw their fellow Americans into the compost pile of history than to do the right thing and admit that they are personally responsible for the total upheaval of this country.

They must not be allowed to steal our country from us. My flag will hang upside down until Obama is defeated. Make no mistake; we are in distress.

If you haven’t read Ameritopia by Mark Levin, get it, read it, understand it.  It’s important.

 

Is the IPAB the Democrats “Final Solution” ?

The Democrats have been voracious in their attacks on the House Republicans budget plan, especially on the specific proposal to reform and save Medicare. When challenged as to their proposal, Nancy Pelosi responded, “We have a plan. It’s called Medicare.” She then elaborated saying, “We gave the blueprint for how we strengthen Medicare in the Affordable Care Act.”

While the ACA does address an increased focus on eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse, the largest impact from the legislation will be realized through the IPAB or Independent Payment Advisory Board; a 15 member group of unelected bureaucrats with significant authority over Medicare payment rates. Beginning in 2014, in any year in which the Medicare per capita growth rate exceeded a target growth rate, the IPAB would be required to recommend Medicare spending reductions.  Their recommendations would become law unless Congress passed an alternative proposal that achieved the same level of budgetary savings. Subject to some limitations—hospitals, for example, would be exempt until 2020—the IPAB could recommend spending reductions affecting Medicare providers and suppliers, as well as Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug Plans.

Since the other components in the ACA do nothing to bend the health care cost curve down, the actions of this board will most likely result the following;

1.)     Reduced provider reimbursements and the resulting reduction in the number of physicians willing to accept Medicare patients.

2.)    A reduction in coverage of medical supplies and pharmaceuticals including a mandate to the use of a mandatory generic, as well as perhaps a therapeutic substitution policy, in all Medicare services, while demanding more rebates from Rx manufacturers for their brand name drugs in order for them to participate in the Medicare program. This will make approval of coverage of new procedures and technologies significantly less likely.

3.)     Rationing, the IPAB will most likely also utilize rationing to achieve the cost control target as it is the most direct way to get at the problem of cost overruns that they are mandated to control.  

In summary, the Democrats “final solution” for saving Medicare is to preserve the program by denying or reducing the ability for beneficiaries to have access to health Care.

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Dr. Donald Berwick thinks the government should make health care choices for us

The Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Dr. Donald Berwick, recently appeared on CSPAN’s Newsmakers program and claimed that claims of a government takeover of health care is a myth, the government just wants to make choices for us, for our own good. Kudos to Julian Pecquet from the Hill and Noam Levey of the LA Times for asking some pretty objective questions and not the usual main stream media softball questions.

 

The People are Way Ahead of the Political Class

Conventional wisdom has long told us that meaningful Medicare reform is the third rail of politics. So when Paul Ryan proposed the Republican budget containing serious and well thought out and effective reforms of Medicare, it is no surprise that it made headlines and launched a tsunami of criticism from the left.The dispicable ads, including the granny off the cliff posted on this site earlier this week are unfortunate but not unexpected.

What is surprising is that after an overwhelming victory in the house the House Republican Budget started receiving some less than enthusiastic support by establishment types like Mitch McConnell and of course the full assault by the dinosaur Newt Gingrich which he has since issued a retraction and instructed the American people do disregard the statement, I’m not exactly sure how that works but I’ll save that for another post.

We have the old guard, even when faced with the collapse of medicare with this decade, afraid to act while Paul Ryan, who represents the future of the Republican party, boldly proposed and is aggressively advocating for real Medicare reform which will give seniors the power to deny business to inefficient providers, while the Democratic plan is to give government the power to deny care to seniors. These career politicians are conditioned to avoid tough choices and kick the can down the road even when we have come to the end of the road.

The American people do understand that the status quo is no longer an option and they have known it for some time now. The major impetus of the tea party movement was the recognition that this country is in a huge hole and the only two solutions being proposed were digging deeper or kicking the can down the road.

The American people understand that adding four billion dollars a day to our debt is unsustainable. The American people understand that without significant spending cuts and reform of our entitlement programs our debt will continue to explode and destroy our economy. The American people understand that with 10,000 baby boomers a day becoming eligible for Medicare and Social Security, those programs are unsustainable without serious reform.  

With so much on the line this is no time for timidity, Paul Ryan is willing to lead and if the Republican leadership is to take the Senate and the White House in 2012 they should follow Mr. Ryan’s lead.

 

Healthcare Rationing – in the Stimulus Bill?

Dr. Dave Janda is a nationally known healthcare expert. Dr. Janda explains the creation of the health care rationing boards – in the Stimulus Bill. This information is simply chilling. 46% of physicians plan to leave the profession in 2013. Enrollment in medical schools is declining. If you’re going to get sick folks, do it before 2013.