| | Wow! We had a great meeting Tuesday night! For those who were unable to join us, we wanted to provide you with a summary of the information that C. Steven Tucker shared with us about the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. Mr. Tucker has worked in the insurance industry for a long time and has already seen the devastating effect this legislation is having on his customers. When you look at the facts, the Truth About Obamacare can be summed up very simply: this bill will have far-reaching negative effects on our medical care in this country AND our deficit!
The Truth About Obamacare Obamacare was first promoted as Healthcare Reform. When that didn't poll well, they switched the messaging to Health Insurance reform. That played much better with folks because it villainized the evil insurance companies instead of doctors and hospitals! The Democrat-controlled Congress first tried to deem it passed, but that effort was stopped, so, instead of bringing it to the floor of the House and Senate for a legitimate vote, they mis-used the reconciliation process to cram it through. This was an ILLEGAL use of reconciliation--rules for reconciliation require the legislation to be deficit neutral or to decrease the deficit--we knew then, as we definately know now, that this is NOT the case!
In order to get the American public to embrace the government takeover of 1/6 of the U.S. economy, they fed us massive doses of lies and propaganda:
Lie # 1.) 100 Million Americans are uninsured and desperately need these reforms. They started with the figure of 40 million uninsured...then it grew and eventually ended up claiming there were 100 million people. Harvard came out with a "study" which claimed there were 45,000 people "dying in the streets" each year because of lack of access to healthcare. (I haven't seen those folks...have you?) No one in this country can be denied treatment...if you walk into any hospital emergency room in the country, they are required, by law, to treat you...even if you cannot pay them a dime for their services!
For the sake of argument, let's say that there truly were 50 million uninsured. According to the US Census, HALF of those people were TEMPORARILY uninsured (less than 4 months...while switching jobs). Of the remaining 25 million uninsured, 38% earn over $75,000/year and could afford to purchase health insurance, but for some reason have chosen not to do so. Approximately 12 million of the remaining uninsured are in the country ILLEGALLY. So, that brings the real number of those who truly need help obtaining insurance to around 10 million people.
Time Magazine ran a story in 2010 which claimed that there is $680 Billion/year in fraud and waste with our Medicaid and Medicare programs. If we could eliminate only half of that loss, taxpayers could purchase cadillac health insurance premiums for all of those uninsured and still see BILLIONS of dollars in savings every year!
Lie # 2.) Passing this legislation will lower premiums for the average family of 4 by $2500/year. In the past 17 years, the yearly increase in individual premiums has generally not exceeded 15% or approximately 10-12% for group premiums. Since Obamacare has passed, we have seen annual increases between 31-40%!!! So much for your costs going DOWN! Under Obamacare, the government has added dictates to insurance carriers that are very costly. You will no longer be able to choose the services that you want coverage for...you will have to carry coverage for all of the services the government deems necessary, including hair plugs, contraception, infertility treatment and gender-reassignment surgery!!!!
Lie # 3.) If you like your insurance, you can keep your plan. Your plan may no longer exist because of all the new mandates. If your insurance company goes out of business or your employer can no longer afford to provide your policy, you can't exactly "keep your plan"! 20 health insurance companies have closed their doors since the healthcare bill passed. Many more will have no choice but to do the same once the mandates are fully implemented. Where does that leave you?
The major insurance carriers actually supported this bill. Why, you may ask? Well, if you sell a product that is optional, you have to compete for your share of the market. But, when the government says everyone MUST purchase the product you sell (under penalty of law), you have a guaranteed revenue stream--you can charge whatever you want for it and folks will have to find a way to pay you, or face penalties. They say that you can't go to jail for not purchasing insurance, but, they have put the IRS in charge of enforcing the mandate through a "tax". What happens if you don't pay your taxes for an extended period of time? That's right, you go to jail!!!
Lie # 4.) We need Obamacare to make sure that insurance companies can't deny you coverage for pre-existing conditions. You don't need a 2,700+ page piece of legislation to fix that...it can be done by adding ONE SENTENCE to current HIPPA Laws! Here is a little background: HIPPA stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. It was passed in 1996. This act protected people with employer provided insurance from losing coverage for pre-existing conditions. If you had carried insurance for 18 months before losing your coverage, your next employer must cover any pre-existing conditions from day one, with no waiting period. All that needed to be done to fix the problem for individuals is amend HIPPA to include ONE SENTENCE which would extend that protection to people with individual insurance policies! For those without qualifying insurance, there are state High Risk Pools. These policies cover those with pre-existing conditions who did not have qualifying coverage before getting sick. This does cost the states a lot of money, but a few states have solved that problem by requiring insurance companies to set aside 4% of their business for people with pre-existing conditions who cannot get other coverage.
Miscellaneous facts presented:
---There is no citizenship requirement for IL medicaid! A Kentucky pharmacist testified that some of her best customers (in KENTUCKY) were Illinois medicaid recipients!
---SCHIP was designed to cover children of indigent parents. In Illinois, it was known as Kidcare--Blago created two new programs, Moms & Babies, and Family Care. Moms & Babies now covered mothers of indigent children and Family Care even covered the fathers! Of the aid recipients in these programs, about 77,000 are here illegally (about 75%)!!!
---Blago also changed the earning threshholds to qualify for these programs to 4x poverty level. That means that a family of 4 earning $89,000/year qualifies for medicaid in Illinois!
---Before Obamacare, there were 279 mandates for insurance companies on things they must cover--now there are 2,316.
---When the Affordable Care Act was being heard before the Supreme Court, Elena Kagan asked, "Why do the states have such a problem with Obamacare when they are getting buckets of free money?" Does she really NOT know where that money is coming from???!!!
---Obamacare cut $500 Billion from medicare for seniors who have paid into it the majority of their lives to give free stuff to those who may have never paid so much as a dime into the system!
---Obamacare decimated the Medicare Advantage program, however, Obama used stimulus money to fund the program until right after the election--convenient!!!!
---In Obamacare, you are taxed for non-compliance. They say that no one will go to jail for not purchasing insurance, but what happens if you fail to pay your taxes for 5 years in a row? That's right, you go to jail!
---Paul Ryan did not design the "Ryan Plan" on his own...he worked hand-in-hand with liberal Senator, Ron Wyden--interesting that you NEVER hear that tidbit in the news or campaign commercials!
---The Ryan/Wyden plan would allow you to choose between traditional medicare or the subsidized exchanges and would introduce competition into the market which is the only way to truly bring down the cost of your coverage!
---Romney/Ryan are committed to restoring $700 Billion to Medicare.
---MEDICARE WILL BE BANKRUPT BY 2016 IF IT IS NOT ADDRESSED SOON! How can you add so many new Americans to a program that will be gone in a few short years? Will there be ANY healthcare system left under Obamacare? Obamacare extends its life through 2023 by cutting payments to doctors and healthcare providers...but they say your quality of care won't be diminished?
---Lloyds of London did a survey of 80 top companies in America. They asked their actuaries how Obamacare will affect them. Beginning Jan. 1, 2013, Walgreens expects to see a $44 Million Loss, Pfizer $270 Million, EcoLab $5 Million, John Deer $129.5 Million, Verizon $970 Million, AT&T $1 Billion--PER QUARTER!!!!
Help Get Out the Vote!!! Time is running out! American Action Network is a non-partisan, conservative think tank and grassroots action network. They are committed to getting out the vote and mobilizing local voters. We need to make sure that we get conservative voters to the polls in November! You can check out their website HERE 2016, Obama's America Watch the Trailer HERE (Available on DVD October 16 on Amazon.com) Yard Signs If anyone is interested in yard signs for the
following folks, I can get them to you.
Just email saukvalleyteaparty@live.com
Bill Albracht -- IL Senate District 36
Richard Morthland -- IL House District 71
Bobby Schilling -- US Congress, District 17
Kurt Glazier -- Whiteside County Board, District 1 Sue Britt -- Whiteside County Board, District 3 ANOTHER Executive Order!!! This newest edict "targets industrial efficiency and carbon emissions"
Read about Obama's latest circumvention of Congress PLEASE Take a Moment to
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