Bob Kemp
Healthcare reform: a vast leftwing conspiracy
By Bob Kemp
As I sit and write this column, Mr. Obama is on national TV pitching to the American sheeple why we have to have reform of the healthcare we receive and why we have to have this reform now. He is going to tell those that will listen to him that healthcare has gotten too expensive for most folk. He's going to paint sad stories of the disadvantaged in American society that cannot afford to go to the doctor, so their health gradually deteriorates. He will talk about how those that oppose his plan do not share his vision for America, which, is true. Mr. Obama is the town crier bringing us the bad news of how terrible and greedy the wealthy are and how we should take our fair share from them so we can have what is our right to have. He will also read off his Teleprompters how he is going to fix everything with the help of other socialist minded leftist like himself. Now, let's take a look at what Mr. Obama is not going to tell you, those independent minded individuals that like to know all the facts so you can make an intelligent decision on your own.
The House bill is estimated to cost us $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years. The White House believes the way to pay for it is to raise taxes on the top 5% of incomes, in other words the rich, the very people that employ the rest of us. This is supposed to generate $544 billion. Ok, where is the other $1 trillion coming from? Mr. Obama says the government will save this much by reducing healthcare cost! Hmm. But when the higher taxes on the upper 5% fails to workout (because any individual smart enough to generate this level of income is smart enough to hide it), and the savings do not appear (because we all know the fed's cannot save money or cut cost), then the middle class income earners will be hit with tax increases. How do I know this? All I have to do is look at all the other promises Mr. Obama has flip-flopped on. A tiger cannot change its stripes.
Douglas Elmendorf, Director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said he "sees no savings" from the health reform plans being offered. He believes the current legislation would raise costs of healthcare.
The House reform plan will mean that millionaires will receive a 5.4% tax surcharge, and gradually raise taxes on everyone earning of $280,000 or more.
Mr. Obama has repeatedly said he will not raise taxes on those making less than $250,000. This statement is misleading to say the very least. Those of us earning $250,000 and less will be hit with new taxes also. If you do not sign up for the mandated healthcare, you will have to pay a penalty tax (the fed's call it a "fee") of 2.5% of your gross income. I personally have no health insurance. I work for a non-profit Christian ministry, and I have opted not to burden my employer with paying a monthly premium for me because I know it is an expense the ministry cannot really afford for reasons I will not go into. So that means I will have to pay a 2.5% penalty tax of my gross yearly income for not being insured! Does that seem upside down to anyone besides me?
Small businesses that don't provide healthcare plans for its employees will have to pay a "fee" or penalty tax of as much as 8% of their payroll. These new taxes will increase the tax burden for the average American household to around 50% in 39 states. Now I ask you to name any smart and savvy business person that is going to be motivated to create new jobs if they know that fully half of their income is going to the fed's. Where is the motivation to grow a business, or even start up a new one? The U.S. economy will become stagnant, and then it will vaporize.
On page 16 of the 1000+ page bill, there is an item titled "Protecting The Choice To Keep Current Coverage" the "Limitation On New Enrollment" section of the bill states the following:
"Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day" of the year the legislation becomes law.
In English please. It means the bill will make it against the law for you change your existing individual coverage. It also means that if you leave a company to start up your own company, you will not be allowed to buy healthcare insurance from a private insurance company; you will have to buy your healthcare insurance from the government. It means there will be no new private healthcare insurance policies written once this bill becomes law. Where is the freedom of choice in that? This will effectively kill the private healthcare insurance industry in America, leaving Americans no choice, in time, but to accept the only option available to them, the fed's. The federal government has no moral or legal authority to outlaw private markets.
Modernizing healthcare records means placing all your healthcare information on computers that can be accessed by government offices to help them decide the comparative effectiveness of proposed tests and treatments in relation to your age and health. That sounds like rationing to me. The healthcare plan being decided on right now will put unaccountable bureaucrats in charge of deciding who gets what treatments and when, as well as deciding who has to wait for life-saving treatment. To quote Mr. Obama when asked by a reporter about healthcare for the elderly and terminally ill, Mr. Obama's response was, "Maybe you just need to take some pain pills and get as comfortable as you can" while you wait to die. I wonder what his mother would have said to the doctor if he had told her that as she was seeking treatment for her cancer. Your medical records will no longer be private. Even prospective employers could gain access to your records to see how much they think they will have to pay to cover you before you are even interviewed for a position. That's just one of many examples of how what is in your medical records could suddenly be used against you without you even being aware of it.
Hillary Clinton has bragged in the past about how nationalized healthcare will include abortion. The House bill does include this as part of the coverage extended to women. Of course, the National Abortion Federation, Planned Parenthood and NARAL are also fully behind this bill because if it passes, women that could not afford to have abortions before will now be able to kill their inconvenient babies.
So if you are wondering why Mr. Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and most of the other Democrats are lusting and obsessing over getting this bill passed so quickly and before reasonable people have time to read it, well, the answer is as old as sin itself and can be summed up in one word. Greed. The real purpose of the push to reform healthcare is to gain more power and take control over another major industry. This is the goal of the socialists in power.
They also want power and control of your life and every aspect of it. You see, if the government is controlling your healthcare, then that gives them the right to control every other aspect of your life that effects your health. They will be able to control your weight and level of exercise because in their opinion you are obviously too stupid to do these things on your own.
Pelosi said today that they have enough votes to pass the bill. But do they really? There are 19 conservative Democrats that are opposing the bill because of the abortion issue. Rep. David Boren (D-OK) organized the 19, and they sent a letter to Pelosi stating they "cannot support any healthcare reform proposal unless it explicitly excludes abortion from the scope of any government-defined or subsidized health insurance plan."
I urge you to get in touch with your elected representative now and let them know that this bill must be defeated. The cost, both monetarily and morally, is higher that America can afford. Healthcare does need to be reformed, but this is not the way to do it. It needs to be a bi-partisan approach, not partisan where one party locks out the other as was the story with this bill when the Democrats refused to let the Republicans in to have any input into the bill. This is not transparent or accountable government, which is what we, the American people want. When we vote for someone to represent us, we are saying to them, "You go to Washington and represent me and what I believe in".
If you are one of those that voted for Mr. Obama and now find yourself complaining that this is not what you voted for or expected, all I can say is we tried to tell you. Don't complain to us; go complain to those you voted for. If that doesn't get their attention, then make certain they hear from you in 2010 and 2012.
© Bob Kemp
July 23, 2009
As I sit and write this column, Mr. Obama is on national TV pitching to the American sheeple why we have to have reform of the healthcare we receive and why we have to have this reform now. He is going to tell those that will listen to him that healthcare has gotten too expensive for most folk. He's going to paint sad stories of the disadvantaged in American society that cannot afford to go to the doctor, so their health gradually deteriorates. He will talk about how those that oppose his plan do not share his vision for America, which, is true. Mr. Obama is the town crier bringing us the bad news of how terrible and greedy the wealthy are and how we should take our fair share from them so we can have what is our right to have. He will also read off his Teleprompters how he is going to fix everything with the help of other socialist minded leftist like himself. Now, let's take a look at what Mr. Obama is not going to tell you, those independent minded individuals that like to know all the facts so you can make an intelligent decision on your own.
The House bill is estimated to cost us $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years. The White House believes the way to pay for it is to raise taxes on the top 5% of incomes, in other words the rich, the very people that employ the rest of us. This is supposed to generate $544 billion. Ok, where is the other $1 trillion coming from? Mr. Obama says the government will save this much by reducing healthcare cost! Hmm. But when the higher taxes on the upper 5% fails to workout (because any individual smart enough to generate this level of income is smart enough to hide it), and the savings do not appear (because we all know the fed's cannot save money or cut cost), then the middle class income earners will be hit with tax increases. How do I know this? All I have to do is look at all the other promises Mr. Obama has flip-flopped on. A tiger cannot change its stripes.
Douglas Elmendorf, Director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said he "sees no savings" from the health reform plans being offered. He believes the current legislation would raise costs of healthcare.
The House reform plan will mean that millionaires will receive a 5.4% tax surcharge, and gradually raise taxes on everyone earning of $280,000 or more.
Mr. Obama has repeatedly said he will not raise taxes on those making less than $250,000. This statement is misleading to say the very least. Those of us earning $250,000 and less will be hit with new taxes also. If you do not sign up for the mandated healthcare, you will have to pay a penalty tax (the fed's call it a "fee") of 2.5% of your gross income. I personally have no health insurance. I work for a non-profit Christian ministry, and I have opted not to burden my employer with paying a monthly premium for me because I know it is an expense the ministry cannot really afford for reasons I will not go into. So that means I will have to pay a 2.5% penalty tax of my gross yearly income for not being insured! Does that seem upside down to anyone besides me?
Small businesses that don't provide healthcare plans for its employees will have to pay a "fee" or penalty tax of as much as 8% of their payroll. These new taxes will increase the tax burden for the average American household to around 50% in 39 states. Now I ask you to name any smart and savvy business person that is going to be motivated to create new jobs if they know that fully half of their income is going to the fed's. Where is the motivation to grow a business, or even start up a new one? The U.S. economy will become stagnant, and then it will vaporize.
On page 16 of the 1000+ page bill, there is an item titled "Protecting The Choice To Keep Current Coverage" the "Limitation On New Enrollment" section of the bill states the following:
"Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day" of the year the legislation becomes law.
In English please. It means the bill will make it against the law for you change your existing individual coverage. It also means that if you leave a company to start up your own company, you will not be allowed to buy healthcare insurance from a private insurance company; you will have to buy your healthcare insurance from the government. It means there will be no new private healthcare insurance policies written once this bill becomes law. Where is the freedom of choice in that? This will effectively kill the private healthcare insurance industry in America, leaving Americans no choice, in time, but to accept the only option available to them, the fed's. The federal government has no moral or legal authority to outlaw private markets.
Modernizing healthcare records means placing all your healthcare information on computers that can be accessed by government offices to help them decide the comparative effectiveness of proposed tests and treatments in relation to your age and health. That sounds like rationing to me. The healthcare plan being decided on right now will put unaccountable bureaucrats in charge of deciding who gets what treatments and when, as well as deciding who has to wait for life-saving treatment. To quote Mr. Obama when asked by a reporter about healthcare for the elderly and terminally ill, Mr. Obama's response was, "Maybe you just need to take some pain pills and get as comfortable as you can" while you wait to die. I wonder what his mother would have said to the doctor if he had told her that as she was seeking treatment for her cancer. Your medical records will no longer be private. Even prospective employers could gain access to your records to see how much they think they will have to pay to cover you before you are even interviewed for a position. That's just one of many examples of how what is in your medical records could suddenly be used against you without you even being aware of it.
Hillary Clinton has bragged in the past about how nationalized healthcare will include abortion. The House bill does include this as part of the coverage extended to women. Of course, the National Abortion Federation, Planned Parenthood and NARAL are also fully behind this bill because if it passes, women that could not afford to have abortions before will now be able to kill their inconvenient babies.
So if you are wondering why Mr. Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and most of the other Democrats are lusting and obsessing over getting this bill passed so quickly and before reasonable people have time to read it, well, the answer is as old as sin itself and can be summed up in one word. Greed. The real purpose of the push to reform healthcare is to gain more power and take control over another major industry. This is the goal of the socialists in power.
They also want power and control of your life and every aspect of it. You see, if the government is controlling your healthcare, then that gives them the right to control every other aspect of your life that effects your health. They will be able to control your weight and level of exercise because in their opinion you are obviously too stupid to do these things on your own.
Pelosi said today that they have enough votes to pass the bill. But do they really? There are 19 conservative Democrats that are opposing the bill because of the abortion issue. Rep. David Boren (D-OK) organized the 19, and they sent a letter to Pelosi stating they "cannot support any healthcare reform proposal unless it explicitly excludes abortion from the scope of any government-defined or subsidized health insurance plan."
I urge you to get in touch with your elected representative now and let them know that this bill must be defeated. The cost, both monetarily and morally, is higher that America can afford. Healthcare does need to be reformed, but this is not the way to do it. It needs to be a bi-partisan approach, not partisan where one party locks out the other as was the story with this bill when the Democrats refused to let the Republicans in to have any input into the bill. This is not transparent or accountable government, which is what we, the American people want. When we vote for someone to represent us, we are saying to them, "You go to Washington and represent me and what I believe in".
If you are one of those that voted for Mr. Obama and now find yourself complaining that this is not what you voted for or expected, all I can say is we tried to tell you. Don't complain to us; go complain to those you voted for. If that doesn't get their attention, then make certain they hear from you in 2010 and 2012.
© Bob Kemp
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