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OBAMA’S MISINFOMERCIAL: HEALTH CARE BS

Predictably, Barack Obama’s  pregame show was not only cheesy and trite, it contained a number of hopelessly implausible claims about his health care plan:

My health care plan includes improving information technology, requires coverage for preventive care and pre-existing conditions and lowers health care costs for the typical family by $2,500 a year.

I think not.

His plan does not lower premiums by $2,500, or any set amount. Obama hopes that by spending $50 billion over five years on electronic medical records and by improving access to proven disease management programs, among other steps, consumers will end up saving money.

And are Obama’s “hopes” justified? 

Many economists are skeptical those savings can be achieved, but even if they are, it’s not a certainty that every dollar would be passed on to consumers in the form of lower premiums.

Not that Obama has any real intention of pursuing his health care plan as currently structured. After he is elected, he will remember that he is a proponent of a single-payer universal health care plan and will  sign on to the Kennedy plan.

So, all of this BS about saving families $2,500 is just something to fill time on the Obama show.  

Posted 30 October 2008 † Catron § Obama BS ‡ Comments (0)

MYTH: ALL YOUNG VOTERS WANT “UNIVERSAL” HEALTH CARE

It should be no shocker that U.S. registered voters aged 18-28 have a definite lack of faith in what the government can do to actually manage or improve health care.   In fact, they rank health care fifth in their considered voting priorities in the coming election— after the economy, energy and gas prices, jobs and unemployment, and the war in Iraq— though a majority of those surveyed are concerned about their current and future ability to access affordable health care.

The survey, commissioned by the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest available at their site BigGovHealth.org, reflects a general distrust in the government’s ability to actually carry out the undertaking of health care reform despite a general desire for such reform.  79% of the respondents had health insurance but more than 80% said they are satisfied with the level and quality of health care they receive, revealing a 1% population of self-trusting, self-insured.

While 83% of the total group said the system was in need of reform, only 70% said they would “support the creation of a new government program to manage and administer public health insurance coverage options,” revealing that 13% think there might be a better way.  While 60% of them would support increased government spending to finance health reforms, 62% of the same group would not support measures which would “increase wait-times to see a doctor or the availability of treatments and medicines” or “increase the role of the government regulation and oversight in doctor-patient decision-making.” 

It isn’t that we feel the government is completely impotent; it’s just that experience has made us skeptical.  Having grown up with the broken promises of a system that generally doesn’t completely deliver, 51% of us are saying “no new taxes” (a motto we well know) no matter what is brought to the table in the way of health care reform by the U.S. government.  Any major change in the structure of the current health system would potentially involve increased costs and tax increases in the short run.

So what do we, the Millennial voters, want?  We the mall rats of the United States of America, accustomed to our A&W hotdogs along side our Sbarro pizza and McDonald’s salads want more health options along with what we already have available.  And we want it our way— without additional costs in the way of a more expensive government or reduced choice.  If our government is ready to serve that up, then we might be game for what’s on the new menu.

Posted 30 October 2008 † Elizabeth A. Terrell § Insurance BS § Political BS § Reform BS § Universal BS ‡ Comments (3)

OBAMA’S LATEST HEALTH CARE LIE

Not satisfied with his egregious misrepresentation of John McCain’s Medicare proposal, Barack Obama has deployed another whopper about how McCain’s health care tax credit would compare to employer-based insurance:

This morning, we were offered a stunning bit of straight talk – an October surprise – from [McCain’s] top economic advisor, who actually said that the health insurance people currently get from their employer is – and I quote – `way better’ than the health care they would get if John McCain were president,” Obama told more than 8,000 people inside an arena this afternoon at James Madison University. 

Only that’s not what the guy said. Douglas Holtz-Eakin is the advisor in question, and here’s how he responded to Obama’s latest prevarication:

The question I answered was, ‘Will the young and healthy leave their generous employer-sponsored coverage as the Obama campaign claims?’ My response was that, obviously, if they had better coverage, they would not change. The Obama campaign deliberately took the quote out of context. This continues their disgraceful campaign.

And disgraceful it has indeed been. As I pointed out in my recent piece for AmSpec, Obama has increasingly resorted to the hoary Democrat practice of frightening voters into supporting him.

Let’s hope the voters see through his slimy fear-mongering and send him packing next Tuesday.

Posted 29 October 2008 † Catron § McCain BS § Obama BS § Political BS ‡ Comments (0)

AN OHIO DEMOCRAT COUNTING VOTES IN VIRGINIA?

The other day I did a post on the attempt to toss out military ballots in Virginia. Attorney General Bob McDonnell put a halt to that skulduggery, but no one has explained why a Democrat hack from Ohio is counting votes in Virginia.

The primary figure in the vote-tossing scam is one Rokey Suleman, Fairfax County General Registrar. This character, according to the DC Examiner, was until recently a Democratic operative in Ohio:

Suleman was active in Ohio Democratic politics at his previous job with the Trumbull County Board of Elections, and ran for office earlier this year before taking the job at Fairfax.

He attracted attention earlier this month by leading a vote registration drive for inmates of the County jail. In Virginia, felons are not permitted to vote, but this guy doesn’t seem overly concerned about mere laws.

So, a Democrat from Ohio moves to Virginia, somehow finds a “non-partisan” job as a County Registrar in Fairfax County, and immediately starts engaging in dubious campaign activities.

This kind of crap may be commonplace in Ohio, where state and local officials apparently abuse their power on a routine basis, but Virginia is usually pretty straight-laced about such things.

It’s beginning to look like Democrat Governor Tim Kaine has teamed up with the Obama campaign to transplant some pretty unsavory characters to the Commonwealth. 

Am I being paranoid in thinking that this is just the tip of the iceberg?

Posted 28 October 2008 † Catron § Corruption § Obama BS § Political BS ‡ Comments (0)

OBAMACARE, STATISM & ABUSE OF POWER

George Will’s latest column is about a last ditch effort in Arizona to stop our long slide toward government-run health care:

On Election Day, Arizonans can give the nation the gift of a good example. They can enact a measure that could shape the health care debate that will arrest or accelerate the nation’s slide into statism. Proposition 101.

He’s talking about ”The Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act,” which would put the following language into Arizona’s Constitution:

No law shall be passed that restricts a person’s freedom of choice of private health care systems or private plans of any type. No law shall interfere with a person’s or entity’s right to pay directly for lawful medical services, nor shall any law impose a penalty or fine, of any type, for choosing to obtain or decline health care coverage or for participation in any particular health care system or plan.

If you think such language is unnecessary, that there is no threat to these freedoms, you need to read Barack Obama’s health care plan.  It contains several provisions that would violate the Arizona amendment.

Obama’s plan would make it illegal for a parent to “decline health care coverage” for a child. And, despite the lies he told during the presidential debates, his plan would impose “play or pay” fines on businesses.

The voters of Arizona (and the entire U.S.) need to consider how much power we will give bureaucrats if we allow the government to get any more control over the health system than it already has.

Anyone doubting that state and federal apparatchiks will abuse this power should read about the Obamatons who have been rummaging through Joe the Plumber’s records in Ohio.

If you think such creeps will hesitate to likewise abuse your medical information, you had better wake up and smell the coffee.

Posted 28 October 2008 † Catron § Corruption § Government BS § Obama BS ‡ Comments (0)

OBAMA’S WEATHERVANE HEALTH ADVISORS

Today’s WSJ exposes the cynicism of Barack Obama’s main health care advisors, Jason Furman and David Cutler, who executed neat pirouettes on health policy after signing on with “the One.”

Before becoming an Obamaton, Furman was a vocal advocate for very type of reforms that John McCain proposes to make in the employer-based insurance system:

When President Bush unveiled a health reform similar to Mr. McCain’s in 2007, Mr. Furman co-authored a Tax Policy Center paper that called it “innovative and a step in the right direction.” As recently as May, he published a long article in Health Affairs on the possibilities of health-care tax reform.

Now Furman is working for a man committed to preserving an employer-based system he once (correctly) denounced as regressive and inequitable. And his fellow weathervane, David Cutler, was just as critical:

Health insurance is not something that is made better by tying it to employment. As a result, essentially all economists believe that universal coverage should be done outside of employment.

Both Furman and Cutler know that Obama’s insistence on preserving the employer-based system is a dumb idea that will exacerbate health care inflation. Moreover, as the WSJ points out:

These advisers know that Mr. Obama’s claim that Mr. McCain will tax health benefits ‘for the first time in history’ is particularly disingenuous.

In other words, they know Obama is a liar as well. And yet, apparently hoping for prestige posts in an Obama Adminsitration, they stay with this fraud and parrot his dishonest talking points.

Do we really want such cynical people making health care policy during the next four years?

Posted 26 October 2008 † Catron § Employer BS § Obama BS § Political BS ‡ Comments (0)

DEMS TOSS MILITARY BALLOTS IN VIRGINIA

Remember back in 2000, when Al Gore attempted to steal Florida by tossing out legitmate military absentee ballots? Well, a group of Obamatons in Virginia are at it again. Per the Virginian Pilot:

State officials confirmed Thursday that they’ve instructed local registrars to set aside any vote submitted on a federally furnished write-in ballot unless the ballot includes both the name and address of the person who witnessed the vote.

Basically, the Democrats who now control the machinery of Virginia’s government are exploiting a loophole in a hastily written state law meant to prevent this sort of skulduggery:

Virginia’s address requirement was adopted in 2002 as part of a sweeping revision of state election laws … The bill was intended to lower barriers to voting by service members and to ensure their votes are counted.

But the political hacks appointed by Virginia’s Democrat governor discovered that the federal form used by many service members is vague about the need for a witness address:

The witness address requirement is specified by Virginia law but not spelled out on the federal form.

And it gets worse. These same Democrat-appointed election officials are perfectly content to allow state-issued absentee ballots with precisely the same technical flaw.

Adding to the confusion is the fact that the state does not require the witness address for absentee voters who opt for a different, state-furnished form.

If a Virginian working in Tennessee uses a state-issued absentee ballot, he doesn’t need to provide a witness address. But a soldier fighting in Iraq using a federal form DOES have to provide one.

It is well known that members of the military will cast most of their ballots for John McCain, so the Obamatons plan to disfranchise as many soldiers and sailors as they can.

But hey, not to worry. I’m sure the national “news” media will be all over this, just like they have covered Obama’s ties to prominent anti-semites.

UPDATE:

According to Marc Ambinder, this “problem” is solved. After everyone screamed bloody murder, the election officials in question “discovered” that their “interpretation” of the 2002 law was incorrect. Presumably, they will now count the ballots. But the good guys are going to watch them to make sure:

The National Defense Committee, through its Military Ballot Protection Program, will continue to monitor this development, take appropriate and forceful action where needed.

We’ll see.

Posted 26 October 2008 † Catron § Corruption § Obama BS § Political BS ‡ Comments (4)

COUNTING FIRST TIME AND YOUNG VOTERS BEFORE THEY HATCH?

One reason some pollsters show Obama with implausibly wide leads over McCain is that they have adjusted their normal demographic assumptions in anticipation of a surge in participation by first time and young voters. There’s only one problem with this, as Gallup reports:

Gallup finds 13% of registered voters saying they will vote for president for the first time in 2008. That matches the figure Gallup found in its final 2004 pre-election poll.

That’s right. There is no surge of first time voters. Well, you ask, what about that tsunami of younger voters that will certainly swamp the polls? Well, Gallup has done some work on that question as well:

Younger voters are still less likely than older voters to report being registered to vote, paying attention to the election, or planning to vote this year.

So, should we believe the polls that show huge leads for Obama? I don’t think so. The most accurate poll from 2004, TIPP, is showing a much smaller lead. Moreover, it’s showing a much larger undecided figure:

John McCain vs. Barack Obama
Release Date
McCain
Obama
Undecided
Spread
October 24
42.3%
45.8%
11.9%
+3.5 Obama
October 23
43.7%
44.8%
11.6%
+1.1 Obama
October 22
42.0%
45.7%
12.3%
+3.7 Obama

Meanwhile, another myth that seems to be going by the wayside is the fabled “enthusiam gap.” Looks like early voters are equally split between McCain and Obama. So, what’s up here? Are the big media polls just trying to discourage Republicans? Perish the the thought.

UPDATE I:

It would appear that producing accurate voter survey’s may be more dangerous than one would think. Per the Jawa Report, Obama supporters have been making death threats to pollsters who fail to show the “correct” lead for OBama.

After releasing this morning’s numbers showing McCain ahead in Ohio and Florida, the Strategic Vision polling company received several death threats through the contact e-mail on the company’s web site.

UPDATE II:

Strata has a very interesting post about what a real pollster (and a Democrat) thinks of all the public polls. Cutting to the chase, she believes that the race is actually quite close and that the TIPP poll quoted above is the only public poll that is “worth a bucket of warm piss.”

Posted 24 October 2008 † Catron § Journalistic BS § Political BS § Statistical BS ‡ Comments (0)

KENNEDY’S HEALTH CARE BAIT & SWITCH

While Barack Obama runs for President on an ostensibly ”moderate” health care reform proposal, his accomplice Ted Kennedy is busy putting together the actual program they plan to shove down our throats:

From his sickbed, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy has secretly been orchestrating meetings with lobbyists and lawmakers from both parties to craft legislation that would greet the new president with a plan to provide affordable medical coverage to all Americans, a measure he has called “the cause of my life.”

Obama claims he isn’t for a single-payer system, but he has made no attempt to discourage Kennedy from producing a piece of legislation calling for Medicare-for-all:

Mr. Kennedy is also moving with the knowledge of the presidential candidate who’s now leading in the polls, Sen. Barack Obama.

Here’s how this will come down if “the One” winds up in the White House. He will be presented with the Kennedy legislation in January. And he will sign it, throwing his own phony plan over the side. 

Obama will ask for a few changes just for CYA, but the plan we end up with will be just the sort of single-payer boondoggle he and his supporters claim he doesn’t want.

Then there will be the inevitable appeal an to public sympathy because Kennedy is going to kick the bucket soon, and this is likely to be his final hoorah in the Senate:

There will be a very strong impulse in the Congress to do things for him, especially things he really cares about, and health care would be at the top of that list.

There is no word, of course, on what Mary Jo Kopechne thinks of Kennedy’s plan.

Posted 24 October 2008 † Catron § Obama BS § Reform BS § Single-Payer BS § Universal BS ‡ Comments (1)

ANOTHER HOSPITAL BITES THE DUST

Since 1980 about 2,000 community hospitals have closed. Lincoln Park Hospital is the latest, and the CEO lists the causes:

A higher than anticipated level of uncompensated care (charity care, Medicaid reimbursements) that has resulted in an unprofitable hospital, regulators imposing facility upgrades that are extremely costly and not feasible given our existing financial state, and the credit crisis and deteriorating financial market conditions that have made financing facility upgrades and providing more time to improve operating conditions that could lead to profitability impossible.

Every single problem listed, including the credit crisis, was generated by government meddling in the market. 

Any questions?

[h/t M.D.O.D.]

Posted 22 October 2008 † Catron § Government BS ‡ Comments (5)