The Independent

This past Wednesday marked the three month anniversary of ObamaCare being rushed through Congress and signed into law. As Speaker Pelosi famously stated that “we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,” Americans are beginning to dislike the health care law more and more as its harrowing details are unveiled. Although the Majority claimed the health care law would reduce premiums by $2,500, in actuality it is expected to raise premiums by as much as $2,100, according to the Congressional Budget Office. In addition, during debate of the bill, Democrats claimed their government takeover of the health care sector would create millions of new jobs. However, according to a study by the National Federation of Independent Business, the health care law’s employer mandate could eliminate 1.6 million jobs through 2014, with 66 percent of those coming from small businesses. Because the health care law raises health care costs and kills jobs, among other atrocities, Con...

This week, President Obama embarked on a public relations offensive hoping to convince skeptical Americans that the Democrats’ health care overhaul is good for them.  First up, the President held a nationally televised question-and-answer session with seniors to highlight the one-time, $250 rebate check that relatively few seniors will receive if they reach the Medicare Part D donut hole this year.  In fact, more than 9 in 10 Medicare beneficiaries will never receive one of these checks. Despite the PR campaign, the problem remains in the policy.  According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the $250 one-time check pales in comparison to the $8,980 per senior cut in Medicare spending under the law over the next ten years.  Because the new health care law harms seniors by slashing Medicare, Congressman Miller and his Republican colleagues will continue to fight to repeal the law.   

Last week, the chief actuary of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) concluded that under Obamacare half of all seniors who have Medicare Advantage plans will lose their coverage.  Created in 2003, Medicare Advantage (MA) makes Medicare payments to private insurers seeking to provide health insurance to  America ’s seniors as a substitute to traditional Medicare coverage.  Under Medicare Advantage, the beneficiary pays traditional Medicare premiums and sometimes an additional premium for the extra benefits that may be provided under their new plan.  Under the new government-run health care system, CMS estimates that in 2017 – when the MA provisions will be fully phased in – enrollment in MA plans will be lower from its projected level of 14.8 million under the prior law to 7.4 million under the new law.  This will greatly affect seniors across the country.  In fact, in California ’s 42nd Congressional District, over 31,000 seniors rely on MA plans to meet their health car...

California single-payer plan advances Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau Friday, January 22, 2010 (01-22) 04:00 PST Sacramento - As national health care reform grew more uncertain, the California Legislature on Thursday pushed forward a controversial proposal to create a single-payer health system in the state. The Senate Appropriations Committee voted 6-3 along party lines, with Democrats in favor of the proposal, which will be considered by the full Senate next week. The vote came two days after Massachusetts voters elected a Republican U.S. senator to fill the seat long held by Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy - putting President Obama's national health bill in jeopardy. Backers of the California plan said the timing was coincidental and due to legislative timelines. But political observers said the vote could come back to hurt state Democrats in November and viewed the move as motivated by the turmoil in Washington, D.C. Similar incarnations of the Cali...

By ROBERT PEAR Published: December 28, 2009 WASHINGTON — At the heart of the fight over health care legislation is a paradox that befuddles lawmakers of both parties... Expanding Health Coverage and Shoring Up Medicare - Is It Double-Counting? - NYTimes.com  

House Passes $210 Billion Doc-Fix Without Paying for It On Thursday, the House passed a $210 billion stand-alone bill to protect doctors from scheduled cuts in Medicare payments over the next ten years, also known as a doc-fix. In 1997, Congress attempted to control Medicare’s skyrocketing growth through a payment formula known as the sustainable growth rate (SGR), and since its enactment it has been difficult for Congress to adhere to the resulting reductions in physicians’ payments. In fact, since 2002, Congress has stepped in to delay these cuts from taking place which has made the problem worse. Beginning January 2010, absent a change in law, Medicare physician payments will be reduced by more than 20 percent. In order to address this, the Majority cunningly detached the permanent doc-fix provision from the larger health care bill, the so-called Affordable Health Care for America Act, and introduced it separately—without it being paid for—so that the cost of the doc-fix would n...

November 25th, 2009, 5:00 am · Post a Comment · posted by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer There were 2,386 reports of adult abuse in Orange County in 1994. There were nearly triple that many - 6,380 - in Orange County last year. And 2009 is on track to break records, with 21 new reports every day, or some 7,500 this year. The vast majority of these involve seniors being taken advantage of in their own homes, by friends or family members who are supposed to be protecting them. “Often, the people being abused and neglected don’t want their family member to get in trouble, so they’re hesitant to report anything,” said Carol Mitchell, program manager for Orange County Adult Protective Services. “That’s the biggest threat people get - ‘If you call them to complain, they’re going to put you in a nursing home.‘ But that can’t happen. We don’t have the authority to do that. Our goal is to maintain people in their homes.” Abuse investigations fall into Mitchell’s lap when people live in pr...

Health care reform squeaked through the House Saturday by a 220-215 vote as the threat of working during the Christmas holiday got the House version moving. The plan passed with virtually no discussion as speaker Pelosi squashed any attempts at questioning the bill or virtually any portion of the bill. Democrats must now be especially motivated to get this passed after viewing the results in Virginia and New Jersey, which could be a precursor to the 2010 elections. A loss of even a handful of seats next year could mean this type of bill won’t get passed in the next session. It was interesting to note that one Republican voted for the bill while 29 Democrats voted against it.

According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the Senate Finance Committee’s health care mark, like the House health care bill, would mandate health insurance.  Specifically, beginning in July 2013, the proposal would establish a requirement for individuals to obtain insurance and would in many cases impose a financial penalty on people who did not do so.  Moreover, the Senate mark would allow the government to decide what health care insurance policies are acceptable, thereby limiting consumer choices and increasing government intrusion in personal decisions.  Although CBO estimates the modified Senate Finance Committee healthcare overhaul bill would cost $829 billion over 10 years and will decrease the deficit by $81 billion, this is accomplished by raising taxes by $500 billion on employers and those who already have insurance, as well as by cutting Medicare and Medicaid benefits by over $400 billion.  Furthermore, according to CBO and the Joint Committee on Taxation, at l...

Q: I take several medications that need to be refrigerated. Should I be concerned about ordering them from Web sites and having them sent in the mail? A: Order only from sites that carry the VIPPS seal, indicating that they are Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites. Most major national chains, such as CVS and Walgreens, carry this seal. All these sites ship medicines requiring refrigeration on a rush basis, with cold packs to keep them at the right temperature. This is the same way drugs are shipped to pharmacies by wholesalers and manufacturers. Verified sites also require that someone be home to receive and sign for the refrigerated package -- this ensures that the medication will not sit outdoors and get too warm. If you are in doubt, check the shipping information listed on the Web site or call to confirm the shipping methods.

Mark Hyman, MD The UltraWellness Center The aging American population is facing a sharp increase in diagnosed cases of dementia. Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia affect about 10% of people 65 and older. Among those in their mid-80s and older, up to half have a significant degree of cognitive impairment. Millions of younger Americans suffer from less obvious mental impairments, including mild memory loss and diminished alertness, as well as brain-related disorders, such as depression and chronic anxiety. Neurologists now believe that most mental impairments are caused by lifelong exposure to toxic agents, including pollution and tobacco, and to naturally occurring molecules that damage brain tissue and impair circulation to the brain. Research clearly shows that some foods can improve mental performance and help prevent long-term damage. Best choices... Sardines. They have two to three times more omega-3 fatty acids than most other fatty fish. Our bodies use omega-3s...

Laura Lee People tend to worry about the wrong things. We worry about safety each time we board an airplane, though we are far more likely to die in a car accident. We worry about a terrorist attack, though the household chemicals that we keep under our sinks are more likely to cause us harm. Some seemingly harmless products pose significant risks that most Americans have never considered. Here, six of the surprising dangers that most of us encounter regularly... DISHWASHERS Each year, an average of about 7,500 Americans suffer dishwasher-related injuries. Most of these are cuts or punctures caused by upturned knives or forks. In the past 10 years, at least two people were killed when they slipped and fell onto open dishwasher drawers and landed on sharp knives. Steam burns from opening the door and leaning over the dishwasher -- or reaching in immediately after the cycle is finished -- also are common dishwasher injuries. Young children...

Robert McHugh, Ph.D. The Labor Department reported Friday that Unemployment for September rose to 9.8 percent. One out of ten Americans who are seeking work, are out of work. If laid off full time workers settling for part-time work are included, the unemployment rate in the U.S. is now up to 17 percent. If we include discouraged workers who are no longer seeking employment (they are not included in the Labor Department's unemployment figures), then the unemployment figures rise to 10.1 percent and 17.3 percent. The problem is getting worse, and evolving into a crisis of Family Household income. Consumers account for 70 percent of all spending, of GDP. The Labor Department reported Friday that 263,000 more people lost jobs in September, non-farm payroll job losses, but actually the number was even worse than reported because the Labor Department reduced the actual number of job losses by "let's pretend" jobs that they imagined in their deepest melatonin dreams wer...

By Bill O'Reilly for BillOReilly.com Thursday, October 1, 2009 You've got to love Michael Moore. He's running around promoting his new film that says capitalism is a terrible system, a rotten-to-the-core philosophy. But hold it. Didn't Moore have to raise money to make the movie through capitalistic vehicles? Or did his dad give him the dough? In one of his many interviews, Moore began lecturing President Obama: "You are one of us... this is not the time to be the representative of the private health insurance industry. We need you to stand up... and we want universal health care for every single American and we want it controlled in a single payer system..." Wow, anything else, Mike? I'd love to know how President Obama feels about being told what to do by the likes of Michael Moore, a man who admires the Cuban political system. I'd like to believe the president tunes radical stuff out, but there is growing evidence that he does not...

Although President Obama repeatedly claims that requiring Americans to buy government-approved health care does not constitute a tax increase, the text of the 1,018-page House bill proves otherwise.  Specifically, on page 167 of H.R. 3200, the title of section 401 reads: “TAX ON INDIVIDUALS WITHOUT ACCEPTABLE HEALTH CARE COVERAGE”.  For those who fail to purchase a government-accepted health care plan, this provision imposes a 2.5 percent tax on the taxpayer’s modified adjusted gross income.  Furthermore, the House bill attempts to plug part of the $1.5 billion fiscal hole it creates with a $544 million new surtax on high-earning individuals and small businesses.  Specifically, on pages 197-198 taxes would be increased by 1 percent for gross income exceeding $350,000; 1.5 percent for gross income over $500,000; and 5.4 percent for gross income over $1 million.  In the end, according to the nonpartisan Joint Taxation Committee and the nonpartisan Congressional ...