Thread: Do you support Obama Care ?

AARP asks Obama not to cite them when pitching the health care law
By Doug Powers • October 5, 2012 09:48 AM

–The American Association of Retired Persons has worked as tireless advocates and sales reps for Obamacare http://michellemalkin.com/2009/08/06...-work-for-you/ in spite of opposition from many of their own members. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009...reform-stance/

–AARP has enthusiastically endorsed Obamacare. http://michellemalkin.com/2009/11/04...care-takeover/

–AARP has hosted townhall meetings with President Obama, http://michellemalkin.com/2009/07/28...care-townhall/ offering the president (and other Democrats who supported the law) a platform from which to sell seniors on the health care law. http://legalinsurrection.com/2009/09...s-for-kennedy/

–The Hill reported that without AARP’s backing, the Obamacare law likely wouldn’t have even cleared the then Democrat-controlled Congress. http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch...lthcare-ruling

In other words, AARP, President Obama and the Democrats are fused at the genetic level when it comes to the health care law. Inextricably linked. Joined at the hip replacement. They are one.

This is why it was so funny to find out that AARP asked President Obama to stop mentioning them as backers when promoting Obamacare: http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch...top-citing-us-

AARP has a message for President Obama: Stop using us to score political points.

Obama cited the nonpartisan senior lobby twice in Wednesday’s debate when arguing against Mitt Romney’s Medicare proposals.

The remarks prompted a polite statement from AARP Senior Vice President John Hishta asking candidates to refrain from mentioning the group.

“AARP has never consented to the use of its name by any candidate or political campaign,” Hishta said.

“AARP is a nonpartisan organization, and we do not endorse political candidates nor coordinate with any candidate or political party.”

Glenn Reynolds sums it up: You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/152743/


**Written by Doug Powers http://michellemalkin.com/2012/10/05/aarp-obama/


Sorry AARP, you own Obamacare
Posted by William A. Jacobson Thursday, October 4, 2012 at 4:44pm

I have written numerous times about AARP’s love affair with Obamacare, including recently disclosed documents showing coordination of strategy. Proponents of Obamacare often cited AARP’s support as the equivalent of the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.

Some AARP members probably do not realize just how big a role AARP played in Obamacare.

AARP, however, is not happy that Obama brought up AARP at the debate last night, as reported at The Washington Examiner (via Drudge) http://washingtonexaminer.com/aarp-t...rticle/2509844

President Obama invoked AARP to defend his health care law last night, prompting the influential group to release a statement telling him not to do that again. http://blog.aarp.org/2012/10/04/aarp...ential-debate/

“While we respect the rights of each campaign to make its case to voters, AARP has never consented to the use of its name by any candidate or political campaign,” the group posted in a statement. “AARP is a nonpartisan organization and we do not endorse political candidates nor coordinate with any candidate or political party.”

Obama can perhaps be forgiven for thinking he could mention AARP given how they coordinated with him to pass Obamacare, which is a golden goose for the organization. http://washingtonexaminer.com/obamac...3#.UG20Wa6nc9o

“Thanks to its cuts to Medicare Advantage, Obamacare is expected to expand the number of seniors buying “medigap” supplemental insurance plans,” The Washington Examiner explained in an editorial. “AARP controls 34 percent of the market for such plans. According to a 2011 House Ways and Means Committee report, AARP stands to make between $55 million and $166 million from Obamacare in 2014 alone.”

Now you don’t want credit for Obamacare?

Too late. You broke the health care system, now you own Obamacare.

http://legalinsurrection.com/2012/10...own-obamacare/

Who will vet the story-teller-in-chief’s latest Obamacare anecdote?
By Michelle Malkin • October 8, 2012 12:37 PM

Man of the people Barack Obama schmoozed 150 high-dollar Hollywood donors at the Ritz-Carlton in Los Angeles last night. Cost of admission? $25,000/plate. A transcript of his remarks is posted on the White House website. He told a new, self-aggrandizing health care tale about his life-saving powers that caught my eye.

READ this and pay attention to the part I’ve bolded:

8:26 P.M. PDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, everybody. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you so much. Everybody, please have a seat. First of all, you just heard from the future of the Democratic Party — the great Mayor of San Antonio, Julian Castro. (Applause.) We’re so proud of him.

There are so many people I could thank tonight, so I’m just going to focus on three individuals. First of all, my unbelievable Southern California co-chairs — John Emerson and Ken Solomon. Please give them a big round of applause. (Applause.) They have been tireless in their efforts. They have been unbelievable.

The other person that I want to acknowledge in particular — because I said this to them privately, I’ve got to say it publicly — Jeffrey and Marilyn Katzenberg have been — (applause) — they have been tireless and stalwart and have never wavered through good times and bad since my first presidential race, back when a lot of people still couldn’t pronounce my name. (Laughter.) And I will always be grateful to them for just the incredible support that they’ve given. So thank you very much. (Applause.) Thanks, both of you.

Some of you are aware that — well, all of you are aware that Michelle and I just celebrated our 20th anniversary. (Applause.) And the actual anniversary date was not that romantic. (Laughter.) There was some speculation as to whether this had an impact on my performance. (Laughter.) But I did make it up to her on Saturday. We went out to dinner, a date night. And it was a wonderful evening. It was a private room, because people kind of lean over and start listening if we’re in the booth next to them. (Laughter.) And Secret Service gets nervous. (Laughter.)

And we had this wonderful young waiter, and he brought us all our stuff, and he was patient with us as we were dawdling over the menu. And we were milking it for all it was worth because we don’t get out that often. But at the end of the dinner — it was very professional, very unobtrusive — but at the end of the dinner he just said, I wanted to just say how much I appreciate you because you saved my mother’s life — because my mother had a stroke, she wasn’t yet qualifying for Medicare, and because of the Affordable Care Act, we were able to get her coverage that allows her to take her medicines and is keeping her alive.

The restaurant that POTUS and FLOTUS dined at for their anniversary dinner was DC’s Bourbon Steak house in Georgetown. http://www.obamafoodorama.blogspot.c...twentieth.html

Will any reporter follow up on this new Obamacare anecdote? Obama disseminated this hearsay story to Hollywood writers, celebs, and producers to bolster his case that the behemoth federal health care law provided coverage that a woman would not have otherwise had.

(And remember: The Obamacare-created health insurance exchange in California is enlisting Hollywood to create story lines pimping Obamacare on TV. http://michellemalkin.com/2012/09/16...re-tv-shows-2/ )

But is it true? Is it really true that Obama’s waiter’s mother could only obtain medicines as a result of Obamacare?

Prior to its passage, hundreds of private pharmaceutical companies and state programs already existed to provide patient prescription assistance for those not eligible for Medicare. https://www.pparx.org/en/prescriptio...ating_programs In any case, did the waiter’s mom already have health insurance coverage through other means, as many purported Obamacare beneficiaries have turned out to have upon closer look?

The reality is that this president and his spin doctors have manufactured many high-profile Obamacare fables that simply have not added up. And the lapdog press is guilty of collective dereliction of duty in vetting the tall tales. Here’s just a quick refresher on some of the phony yarns.

Who in the D.C. press corps will do their freaking job?

http://michellemalkin.com/2012/10/08...care-anecdote/

FLASHBACK
July 15, 2011
The expanding catalogue of Obamacare fables
by Michelle Malkin

Is there a health insurance horror story disseminated by the White House and its allies that ever turned out to be true? Obamacare advocates have exercised more artistic license than a convention of Photoshoppers. Now, a prominent sob story shilled by President Obama himself about his own mother is in doubt. It’s high past time to call their bluffs.

The tall-tale-teller-in-chief cited mom Stanley Ann Dunham’s deathbed fight with her insurer several times over the years to support his successful push to ban pre-existing condition exclusions by insurers. In a typical recounting, Obama shared his personalized trauma during a 2008 debate: “For my mother to die of cancer at the age of 53 and have to spend the last months of her life in the hospital room arguing with insurance companies because they’re saying that this may be a pre-existing condition and they don’t have to pay her treatment, there’s something fundamentally wrong about that.”

But there was something fundamentally wrong with Obama’s story. In a recently published biography of Obama’s mother, author and New York Times reporter Janny Scott discovered that Dunham’s health insurer had in fact reimbursed her medical expenses with nary an objection. The actual coverage dispute centered on a separate disability insurance policy. http://www.amazon.com/Singular-Woman.../dp/1594487979

Channeling document forger Dan Rather’s “fake, but accurate” defense, a White House spokesman insisted to the Times that the anecdote somehow still “speaks powerfully to the impact of pre-existing condition limits on insurance protection from health care costs” — even though Dunham’s primary health insurer did everything it was supposed to do and met all its contractual obligations. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/14/us...ther.html?_r=0

No matter. Expanding government control over health care means never having to say you’re sorry for impugning private insurers. Democrats have dragged every available human shield into the contentious debate over Obama’s federal takeover of health care. Personal anecdotes of dying family members battling evil insurance execs deflect attention from the cost, constitutionality and liberty-curtailing consequences of the law. The president’s Dunham sham-ecdote is just the latest entry in an ever-expanding catalogue of Obamacare fables:

– Otto Raddatz. In 2009, Obama publicized the plight of this Illinois cancer patient, who supposedly died after he was dropped from his Fortis/Assurant Health insurance plan when his insurer discovered an unreported gallstone the patient hadn’t known about. The truth? He got the treatment he needed in 2005 and lived for nearly four more years. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125314896131518267.html

– Robin Beaton. Also in 2009, Obama claimed Beaton — a breast cancer patient — lost her insurance after “she forgot to declare a case of acne.” In fact, she failed to disclose a pre vious heart condition and did not list her weight accurately, but had her insurance restored anyway after intense public lobbying. http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2011...acare-at-sotu/

– John Brodniak. A 23-year-old unemployed Oregon sawmill worker, Brodniak’s health woes were spotlighted by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof as a textbook argument for Obamacare. Brodniak was reportedly diagnosed with cavernous hemangioma, a neurological condition, and was allegedly turned away by emergency room doctors. Kristof called the case “monstrous” and decried opponents of Democrats’ health care proposals as heartless murderers. The truth? Brodniak not only had coverage through Oregon’s Medicaid program, but was also a neurology patient at the prestigious Oregon Health and Science University in Portland (a safety-net institution that accepts all Medicaid patients). Kristof never retracted the legend. http://michellemalkin.com/2009/11/30...bamacare-ever/ http://michellemalkin.com/2009/12/02...-got-crappier/

– Marcelas Owens. An 11-year-old boy from Seattle, Owens took a coveted spot next to the president in March 2010 when Obamacare was signed into law. http://michellemalkin.com/2010/03/10...iddie-shields/ Owens’ 27-year-old mother, Tiffany, died of pulmonary hypertension. The family said the single mother of three lost her job as a fast-food manager and lost her insurance. She died in 2007 after receiving emergency care and treatment throughout her illness. Progressive groups (for whom Marcelas’ relatives worked) dubbed Marcelas an “insurance abuse survivor.” But there wasn’t a shred of evidence that any insurer had “abused” the boy or his mom. Further, Washington State already offered a plethora of existing government assistance programs to laid-off and unemployed workers like Marcelas’ mom. The family and its p.r. agents never explained why she didn’t enroll.

– Natoma Canfield. The White House made the Ohio cancer patient a poster child for Obamacare in 2010 after she wrote a letter complaining about skyrocketing premiums and the prospect of losing her home. After Obama gave Canfield a shout-out at a health care rally in Strongsville, Ohio, and promised to control costs, officials at the renowned Cleveland Clinic, which is treating her, made clear that they would “not put a lien on her home” and that she was eligible for a wide variety of state aid and private charity care. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010...lose-home-aid/

Since Obamacare passed, the amount workers pay in health care premiums has soared an average of nearly 14 percent; thousands of businesses have sought waivers in search of relief from the law’s onerous mandates; medical device makers have slashed jobs and research; and the private individual health insurance market is in critical condition.

Post-Obamacare truth is bloodier than pro-Obamacare fiction.

Just How Much Will ObamaCare Cost You?
Wednesday, 24 Oct 2012 12:38 PM

Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you probably know that ObamaCare is now poised to trigger massive healthcare changes for all Americans.

Unfortunately, very few Americans know what’s in store for them, given ObamaCare’s 2,700 pages of legal jargon.

And if you’re like most people, you’re probably not prepared to deal with ObamaCare’s major financial pitfalls either, which include crucial issues such as these:

1. How much ObamaCare’s $716 billion in Medicare cuts could cost you as a retiree

2. What ObamaCare means to you as an American taxpayer (particularly homeowners, who face a new, so-called surtax)

3. How the lack of price controls on the health insurance industry could skyrocket your insurance premiums, deductible, even your co-pays

4. New fees for those who need to use prescription drugs

5. Hidden taxes, levies, penalties, and other costs no one has told you about


And this is just the tip of the iceberg...


Fortunately, there is now a simple solution to help you and your loved ones survive these critical — and potentially very expensive — changes you can expect in the near future.


The newly released ObamaCare Survival Guide will help you thrive under these new rules for healthcare, whether you are a retired senior or a small business owner, unemployed or a middle-class wage-earner, whether you are healthy or have a pre-existing condition.


ObamaCare will not only complicate your ability to receive quality healthcare, but could also rob you blind — if you let it. The ObamaCare Survival Guide is aneasy and inexpensive way tonavigate these changes and keep as much cash in your pocket as possible.


In fact, Newsmax magazine says: “The ObamaCare Survival Guide is the first and best road map for you to understand the new law. Every American is affected by ObamaCare — making this book essential to you and your family.”


http://www.newsmax.com/outbrain/Obam...n=widgetphase1

If President Obama is re-elected, Obamacare will continue to go into effect piece by piece. By now, you already know about the 20 new or higher taxes in the bill, but most Americans are not yet aware of the intrusive role the IRS will play in enforcing Obamacare.

Starting in 2014, all Americans who file income tax returns must complete an additional IRS tax form- the Obamacare Individual Mandate Tax Compliance form. Under the Obamacare mandate provision, you must disclose your personal health ID information to the IRS. To educate voters about this rarely reported requirement, Americans for Tax Reform has released a projected tax form to help American families realize how much more the IRS will be invading your personal lives going forward.

“Highlights” from the Obamacare Individual Mandate Tax Compliance Form include:


Determination of “qualifying” health insurance. Under the Affordable Care Act, most Americans must purchase health insurance deemed “qualified” by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) starting in 2014.

Disclosure of personal identifying health information. Every family that files a tax return (140 million households) will have to disclose whether or not they were covered by a qualifying plan, in which months they were covered, and what type of coverage they received.

IRS penalties and interest on unpaid mandate taxes. Because the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate penalty is a tax, the IRS will be able to assess interest and non-criminal penalties on those families who will not or cannot pay the tax. The IRS will issue regular, periodic correspondence audits to these families to help them comply with their filing responsibilities.

Take action now by making sure your friends and family are aware of the new IRS requirements and what the Obamacare Individual Mandate Compliance Form could look like in the future. Obamacare played a major role in reshaping Congress in 2010; it can have the same impact in 2012.

Please make sure your friends and family know what’s coming in 2014 if Obama wins!

Onward,
Grover Norquist
President
Americans for Tax Reform

P.S. - Help put an end to Obamacare. Forward this email on to your friends and family.

Obamacare Summed Up In One Sentence
... it's a long sentence ....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=vdnY8r7_fLw

We’re going to be gifted with a healthcare plan
we are forced to purchase, and fined if we don’t,
which puportedly covers at least 10 million more people,
without adding a single new doctor,
but provides for 16,000 new IRS agents,
written by a committee whose chairman says he doesn’t understand it,
passed by a congress that didn’t read it but exempted themselves from it,
and signed by a president who smokes,
with funding
(laughing & applause)
- same sentence –
with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn’t pay his taxes,
for which we will be taxed for four years before any benefits take effect,
by a government which has already bankrupted social security and medicare,
all to be overseen by a surgeon general who is obese and (laughing & applause)
and financed by a country that’s broke. (laughing & applause)

So, what the blank (laughing & applause) could possibly go wrong?

http://lybio.net/dr-barbara-bellar-o...ntence/people/

“Free” Healthcare is not Free. Somebody Must Pay For It.

Posted on November 11, 2012 by Greg Campbell

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=OtrcxQwdquU

Twitter and various news outlets have been going crazy in recent days as major companies have come out to discuss the kinds of cuts that will be needed in order to pay for Obamacare mandates.

New York Applebee’s CEO Zane Tankel recently came out to discuss his inability to pull money out of thin air to pay for the extra costs of Obamacare for employees. In a recent interview with FOX Business, Tankel explained business 101 by claiming that these extra costs can only be covered by one of three ways. Either prices must be raised, efficiencies must be increased or overhead must be lowered. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/1...?utm_hp_ref=tw

With this economy, Tankel explained that it is infeasible to raise prices and that efficiencies are where they should be. So, costs must be cut from overhead to make the company viable. It’s simple stuff, really.

Tankel stated,

“We’ve calculated it will [cost] some millions of dollars across our system. So what does that say — that says we won’t build more restaurants. We won’t hire more people.”

Tankel is not the only one facing these tough decisions. John Schnatter, founder of Papa John’s Pizza, has made claims that he, too, will have to review the company’s ability to purchase health insurance for everybody. By his estimation, many employees will have to be backed down to part-time to avoid the punishing costs of purchasing healthcare.

And that’s the face of punishing mandates on companies. When companies are already weathering the storm of a bad economy, adding further financial burdens on them is going to force them to make decisions that adversely affect people.

“Free” healthcare doesn’t exist. Somebody has to pay for it. These companies are not charities, they need to function on a for-profit business model. I remember a time when I thought everything was free, and then I turned 8 and realized that the things I was provided came from someone else. Likewise, healthcare costs money, and that means companies are going to have to find it somewhere.

http://dustinstockton.com/2012/11/fr...st-pay-for-it/


John Schnatter Papa John's CEO: Obamcare likely to raise costs, employee's hours being cut
Posted: 11/08/2012 By: JESSICA LIPSCOMB, naplesnews.com

A day after Barack Obama earned a second term in the White House, Papa John's founder and CEO John Schnatter said the president's signature health-care reform law would increase his business costs and possibly result in employees' hours being cut. Schnatter, a part-time Naples resident, made the comments Wednesday night inside a small auditorium at Edison State College's Collier County campus. In August, he made national headlines after telling shareholders the Affordable Care Act — commonly known as Obamacare — would result in a 10- to 14-cent increase for customers buying a pizza.

"I got in a bunch of trouble for this," he told the students. "That's what you do, is you pass on costs. Unfortunately, I don't think people know what they're going to pay for this."

Schnatter, a Mitt Romney supporter and fundraiser, said he was not "pro or against" the reform law but likened the government's involvement in health care to its operation of the U.S. Postal Service, saying "the worst entity in the world for running the thing is the government."

About a third of Papa John's employees are covered by the company's health insurance plan, although Schnatter said he has always wanted 100 percent of them on the plan. The rising costs of health insurance, he said, have been a deterrent.

"The good news is 100 percent of the population is going to have health insurance. We're all going to pay for it," he said, estimating the new law would cost the business $5 million to $8 million annually.

Under the Affordable Care Act, full-time employees — those working 30 hours or more per week — would have to be provided with insurance at companies with more than 50 workers. Schnatter said it was likely that some franchise owners would reduce employees' hours in order to avoid having to cover them.

"That's probably what's going to happen," he said. "It's common sense. That's what I call lose-lose."

Other than his comments on health care, Schnatter largely steered clear of politics. The 50-year-old said future entrepreneurs need to marry talent and passion in their endeavors, his being business-savvy and a love of pizza.

"I don't consider this work," he said. "I wake up thinking about Papa John's and I go to bed thinking about Papa John's."

He credited the business' success to having a strong team of people and a quality product, repeating his commercial's catchphrase — "Better ingredients, better pizza, Papa John's" — several times.

Schnatter answered questions for about 45 minutes before leaving to participate in a telethon with the University of Kentucky basketball team to raise money for Hurricane Sandy victims. He told students he hopes to present the American Red Cross with a $1 million check on Friday.

http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/state/j...#ixzz2C2tytgaf

Beware: ObamaCare’s now reality
By BETSY McCAUGHEY November 13, 2012

President Obama’s re-election and Democratic gains in the US Senate end any possibility of repealing the Obama health law. It will roll out as written, imposing major changes soon on you and your family. If you are uninsured because you can’t afford it, help may be on the way. But if you are one of the 250 million Americans with coverage, there are big problems ahead.

If you get your health insurance through a job, you might lose it as of Jan. 1, 2014. That’s when the new “employer mandate” kicks in, requiring employers with 50 or more full-time workers to provide the government-designed health plan or pay a fine. The government plan is so expensive, it adds $1.79 per hour to the cost of a full-time employee. That’s incidental if you're hiring neurosurgeons but a hefty increase for hiring busboys and sales clerks. Currently, employers in retail and fast-food industries pay less than half that to cover their workers. To avoid thecostly mandate,some employers will push workers into part-time status. Other employers will opt for the fine. Either way, workers lose their on-the-job coverage.

Worse, they risk losing their jobs.Even the fine adds 98 cents an hour to the cost of labor, enough to make some employers cut back on their workforce.

As many as a third of employers are considering canceling coverage, according to McKinsey & Co. management consultants. But that doesn’t mean you’ll be uninsured; you won’t have that choice.

When you file your taxes, you will have to show proof that you are enrolled in the one-size-fits-all plan approved by the federal government. It’s mandatory, starting Jan. 1, 2014, or the IRS will withhold your refund. If you’ve been going without insurance, or your employer drops coverage, your options will be enrolling in Medicaid (if you’re eligible) or buying a government-approved health plan on your state health exchange.

What’s an insurance exchange? It’s like a supermarket that only sells cereal. The exchange will sell only the government-designed plan. In most states, exchanges will be an 800 number, a Web site and a government office, like the DMV. People with household incomes up to $92,200 will be eligible for a subsidy.

If you’re a senior or a baby boomer, expect less care than in the past. Cuts to future Medicare funding pay for more than half the Obama health law. Hospitals, for example, will have $247 billion less to care for same number of seniors than if the law had not passed. Hospitals will spread nurses thinner. California nurses already are striking over the increased workloads.

When Medicare cuts led hospitals to reduce nursing care in the past, elderly patients had a lower chance of surviving their stay and death rates from heart attacks rose, according to a report last year by the National Bureau of Economic Research.

For the first time in history, the federal government will control how doctors treat privately insured patients. Section 1311 of the law empowers the Secretary of Health and Human Services to standardize what doctors do. Even if you have a private plan from Cigna or Aetna and you paid for it yourself, the federal government will have some say over your doctors’ decisions, with an eye toward reducing health-care consumption.

If you sell your house and make a profit, you’ll likely be paying a new 3.8 percent tax on the gain. The law includes about half a trillion dollars in tax hikes, including a new 3.8 percent tax on gains from selling any asset, including your home, small business, stocks or bonds, effective Jan. 1, 2013. That’s on top of capital-gains taxes and applies to any profit that pushes your income over $200,000.

These changes are spelled out in the 2,572-page law, but many more changes will be imposed by regulations yet to be written. The Obama administration is adding federal workers at a rapid pace to churn out and enforce new rules. The government’s own projections say the cost of health-care administration — bureaucrats telling doctors and patients what to do — will soar from $29 billion when President Obama was first elected to $71 billion by 2020, some $40 billion dollars a year more in bureaucracy.

What a shame: That’s enough money to buy private health plans for fully half of all Americans who are now uninsured because they can’t afford it.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion...btZC3KbDONGm4O