Baucus Bill to Skyrocket Insurance Premiums

Health Insurance companies engaged PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to examine the impact of the Baucus Health Care reform bill on private insurance premiums. The results are startling. The audit examined the impact of four key changes in the health care reform legislation and found private health insurance premiums will rise by 111% over the next 10 years if these provisions are enacted.


Here is what this means in dollar values.

This analysis shows that the cost of the average family coverage is approximately $12,300 today and could be expected to increase to approximately:

• $15,500 in 2013 under current law and to $17,200 if these provisions are implemented.

• $18,400 in 2016 under current law and to $21,300 if these provisions are implemented.

• $21,900 in 2019 under current law and to $25,900 if these provisions are implemented.

This analysis shows that the cost of the average single coverage is $4,600 today and could be expected to increase to:

• $5,800 in 2013 under current law and to $6,400 if these provisions are implemented.

• $6,900 in 2016 under current law and to $7,900 if these provisions are implemented.

• $8,200 in 2019 under current law and to $9,700 if these provisions are implemented.

Democrats and the White House claim this analysis is unfair because it does not consider subsidies to the poor and lower middle class. Of course, not everyone will receive these subsidies. The insurance industry responds that subsidies don't change the fact prices will increase.

UK Public Option = Death Sentence: The Truth About Single Payer/Socialized Medicine

In Great Britain, the elderly are being denied treatment and left to die. Read how one woman had to fight to save her mother. Do you really want a system similar to this in America?

From Times Online:

AN 80-year-old grandmother who doctors identified as terminally ill and left to starve to death has recovered after her outraged daughter intervened.

Hazel Fenton, from East Sussex, is alive nine months after medics ruled she had only days to live, withdrew her antibiotics and denied her artificial feeding. The former school matron had been placed on a controversial care plan intended to ease the last days of dying patients.

Doctors say Fenton is an example of patients who have been condemned to death on the Liverpool care pathway plan. They argue that while it is suitable for patients who do have only days to live, it is being used more widely in the NHS, denying treatment to elderly patients who are not dying.

Fenton’s daughter, Christine Ball, who had been looking after her mother before she was admitted to the Conquest hospital in Hastings, East Sussex, on January 11, says she had to fight hospital staff for weeks before her mother was taken off the plan and given artificial feeding.

Tort Reform Would Save $54 billion over 10 years, Says Congressional Budget Office

President Obama said in his health care address to a joint session of Congress that he would consider including tort reform in his plan. Sen. Orrin Hatch asked the CBO for an analysis. The CBO found medical malpractice reform would save the government $54 billion over 10 years. There five different versions of health care reform legislation in Congress now. The amount of tort reform in the the bills is zero. There 43 million reasons President Obama won't push for tort reform. Fox News reported:

Medical malpractice reform would reduce the annual federal deficit, saving the government $54 billion over 10 years, according to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office.

The finding bolsters one of Republicans' top health care reform proposals, and provides them with momentum to press for tort reform to be included President Obama's sweeping health care legislation.

"I think that this is an important step in the right direction and these numbers show that this problem deserves more than lip service from policy-makers," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, the senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, which is to vote on its version of health care reform on Tuesday.

"Unfortunately, up to now, that has been all the president and his Democratic allies in Congress have been willing to provide on these issues," Hatch said in a written statement. "I look forward to having a continued comprehensive dialogue on this critical issue with CBO."

Many doctors pay $100,000 to $250,000 a year in malpractice insurance even if they've never had a judgment against them. Neurology leads the list of high-cost malpractice insurance. Obstetrics isn't far behind.

Supporters of tort reform argue that expense doesn't just drive up the price of medical care, it also leads to defensive medicine, meaning doctors order all sorts of tests they wouldn't otherwise order just to make sure they won't get sued.

Opponents of medical malpractice reforms say it is unfair to limit awards to individuals legitimately injured by a doctor's negligence.

Obama said last month in his address to a joint session of Congress that he would consider including tort reform in his plan.

CNN Promotes Obamacare with Children Singing

In yet one more shameless collaberation of liberal media and educators, CNN brought school kids to their set to sing the praises of Obamacare. Part of the lyrics say, "Obama says everyone needs Health Care now..." The song is set to the music of the Miley Cyrus tune "Party in the USA."

VIDEO: School Kids Sing for Health Care Reform on Set of CNN

Medicare has Highest Claim Rejection rate, Usually Twice the Rate of Private Insurance

Obama and the Democrats' plan is essentially to expand Medicare to cover all Americans. He falsely claims he wants to do this because insurance companies reject too many claims. But it turns out Medicare actually has the highest rejection claim rate. (Not a surprise to anyone who works with Medicare).

Don't expect the media to report this.

image by newsbusters.

More here...

Media Trumpets Bogus Stat To Push Socialized Healthcare

Associated Press, Reuters, ABC, Boston Globe, SF Chronicle... they are all screaming about this new study from the Harvard Medical School that finds 45,000 people die annually from lack of health insurance.


Such a stat surely comes down to subjectivity. Who determines whether lack of health insurance could have saved someone? Barack Obama got caught in several lies about people who he claims could have been saved by health insurance.


This stat is 2 and a half times higher than the most recent serious study. Apparently death rates have more than doubled in the last six years.


This also contradicts the Census Bureau stats on health insurance.


The Organization behind this study has a mission:

Our Mission: Single-Payer National Health Insurance

Leading the study is Dr. Andrew Wilper, who also made these headlines with his "studies":

Millions of chronically ill, lacking insurance, can't get needed

Uninsured Americans Carry Large Chronic Disease Burden

Many U.S. adults with chronic illness are uninsured Physicians

U.S. prisoners sicker than believed and have poor access to care

One-Third of Uninsured Are Chronically Ill

Harvard Study Finds Dangerous Increase in Emergency Department Waits Nationwide

Millions With Chronic Disease Get Little to No Treatment

More...


She sent this action alert: "Tell President Obama that single-payer health reform is the only practicable way to achieve his stated goal of universal, comprehensive coverage at an affordable price... Only single payer can rein in costs. Lesser reforms, with or without a “public option,” won’t fix our broken system."


The other author of the study, David Himmelstein, is even more zealous about pushing socialized healthcare.

He said there is no good way to pay doctors except with a single-payer system: "There are a variety of bad ways of paying doctors, but no particularly good ones. "

Even the Massachusetts model isn't good enough he writes because it still relies on "profitability."

62% of bankrupties are caused by insufficient healthcare he finds in a study

He pushes a single-payer system on PBS

He pushes a single-payer system in this study, and finds that most Americans agree.

Learn From California's Mistakes!

Mercury News makes a great point about learning from history:

The similarities are "downright eerie," in the words of one expert: A popular and charismatic leader launches a yearlong blitz to remake the health care system. Reformers early on brim with excitement about the prospects for change, but enthusiasm wanes over time as Republican opposition hardens and special interests take aim.

One attempt — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's gambit in 2007 to extend coverage to millions of uninsured Californians — died in a legislative committee amid worries that the state couldn't afford the multibillion-dollar price. Now, with similar political dynamics at work, Democratic President Barack Obama is trying to succeed where his Republican counterpart in the nation's largest state fell short.