In simplicity lies clarity. In complexity lie great opportunities for mischief. This is the story of the massive 1900-page House bill, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, HR3962. Like all the Democrat health care bills it’s huge, complicated and expensive. It hikes taxes, is coercive and is likely to insert bureaucrats into the doctor-patient relationship.

Here are some specifics of the bill. Beginning in 2013, the sale of private health insurance is prohibited, forcing individuals to purchase coverage through the federal government (page 94, section 202c)

Page 111 (section 223) establishes a new board of federal bureaucrats, the Health Benefits Advisory Committee, to determine what insurance plans we must buy.

Page 297 (section 501) imposes a 2.5 percent tax on all individuals who do not buy government-approved insurance. The tax will apply to people making under $250,000, breaking an oft-repeated promise by President Obama and Congressman Massa.

Page 313 (section 512) imposes an 8% tax on businesses that cannot afford to buy bureaucrat-approved insurance.

Page 336 (section 551) imposes an income tax surcharge on individuals making more than $500,000 and couples making more than $1,000,000. This will hit small business owners especially hard, costing more than 5.5 million jobs, according to an analysis done by one of Obama’s economic advisers.

Health care reform is a deadly serious matter which demands an honest and careful approach. So far, the Democrat-controlled Congress and Senate, along with President Obama, have failed this crucial test. We all deserve better.

InsidePolitics, from the blog monroerising.com, posted a story on the Stimulus and Eric Massa. There was a great video with the story including an interview with Tom Reed who’s running against Rep. Massa. Even though Massa claims the bill was good for us I think we all know better.

Even the AP is reported that the stimulus jobs were way over inflated. There’s been reports of double counting and mis-counting. People have used the stimulus for things it shouldn’t have been.

This goes back to the ideas that government is not the answer. Government is the problem. The real solution is for government to focus on things like encouraging investments by eliminating capital gains taxes. China has done this and many other countries where our manufacturing jobs have been shipped to. When states have done this they have attracted jobs and people.

Another real stimulus effort would be to reduce business tax rates to 12.5%, which is the lowest tax rate of Ireland. We need to send the message to the world we want your business to be in the US. We need to spur job creation.

Finally, we need to have a balanced budget and eliminate earmarks. We have a society where we measure Congressman by how much they bring back to the district. It’s time we start measuring people that reprsent us by the quality of their decisions.

On September 23, Congressmen Charlie Rangel and Barney Frank held a birthday party for Rep. Eric Massa at the home of a Washington lobbyist. Had you known about it, you could have attended as a “host” for $5,000, a “sponsor” for $2,500 or a “guest” for $1,500. Who are the men who hosted this gala?

My father, Michael Salvatore Morrongiello, came to this country via Ellis Island with his family when he was eight years old. He loved this country deeply, and served with the War Department during World War II. He loved having family and friends gathered around the table sharing food, wine and a funny story.

He walked for miles, hauled heavy loads and read widely into his 90’s. He was forthright and generous. Dad shared the bounty of his amazing garden with friends and neighbors, and helped them with home repairs. Children were drawn to him; they knew a true heart when they saw one. Dad was always making friends, many half his age. Adults knew a true heart too.

Dad was diagnosed with cancer when he was 86. His strong body was beginning to betray him; it happens to us all. “Can he survive the surgery?” I asked his doctor, who replied, “He’s an ox. He’ll make it.” He made it, and lived nine more happy, productive years.

Dad’s great loves, besides my mother, were gardening and baseball. He was 88 when we took him to the Baseball Hall of Fame. “I faced Satchel Paige,” he said. “He threw so hard the ball looked like an aspirin.” When asked, “Did you hit the ball, Dad?” he grimaced: “Don’t ask.” “I saw Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb play,” he told anyone who would listen. “This guy is really old,” someone said, I replied, “Yeah, he’s great”.

Jane Sturm (available on Utube) told the story of her elderly mother who was denied, but eventually got, a pacemaker. She asked Obama, “Outside the medical criteria…is there consideration given for a certain spirit…and quality of life?” Obama coldly said, “Maybe you’re better off not having the surgery, but taking the painkillers.”

Dr. Zeke Emanuel is an Obama health care adviser and an advocate of the “Complete Lives System” of health care distribution, in which people ages 15 to 40 get the most health care; if you’re younger or older, your chances are “attenuated.”

Denying health care to the old is justified, according to Emanuel, because “everyone who is 65 now was once twenty-five.” What a striking contrast to the words of Thomas Jefferson, who said, “The care of human life…is the first and only legitimate object of good government.” He understood that the old and the sick are gifts to us, deserving of our protection.

Under ObamaCare, would my dad have gotten the cancer surgery? I doubt it. Some Obama appointee would say, “take the pain killers.” In Britain they call it Quality Adjusted Life Years (QUALY). In their single payer plan, if you have too few QUALY’s left, take the pain killers. Under ObamaCare, as in Britain, the old, the very young and the sick are “attenuated.”

Lawyers say: when you have the facts, argue the facts; when you have the law, argue the law; when you have neither, throw food. On health care, they’re throwing food. By calling us “misinformed,” “angry,” “unruly,” and my personal favorite, “a mob,” Democrats are trying to change the subject. Don’t let them. Continue to focus on their failed ideas and their misery-making health care legislation. Here are more questions to ask your legislators at town hall meetings.

1. Free markets work because of the thinking, research and decisions of thousands of your fellow citizens. You said famously, or infamously, “I will vote adamantly against the interests of my district if I actually think what I am doing is going to be helpful.” Are you saying your judgment is superior to the individual and collective wisdom of your district?

2. The House health care bill creates a “Health Choices Commissioner” who will decide what private insurance companies must cover and what services they must offer. The commissioner will have the power to audit and fine anyone, employer or insurer. The audit target will be forced to pay for the cost of the audit. There is no trial or appeal. How will this encourage competition between private insurers and get costs down?

3. A survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 89 percent of Americans are satisfied with the health care they receive. Seventy percent of the uninsured report being satisfied or very satisfied with their health care. Given these numbers, why would you support such a radical overhaul of American health care?

4. In 1948, the UK began single-payer health care. The sytem’s founder, Aneurin Beven, said, “We now have the moral leadership of the world.” The BBC reports that the 2009 wait time for hip replacement is 11 months, cataract surgery is 8 months, knee replacement is 12 months, slipped disks and hernia surgery are 5 months. Since you favor single-payer, do you consider these waits for care to be “moral?”

5. Most American doctors say CT and MRI scans are the most important technical leap in patient care. The US has 34 CT scanners per million Americans; Canada has only 12 and Britain has 8. The US has 27 MRI machines per million people, compared to only 8 in Canada and Britain. Why should we accept the substandard level of care offered in counties with government-run heath care?

6. Canada has a single-payer health care system. The Vancouver Sun reported that 6,250 surgeries will be cancelled in Vancouver to close a budget shortfall of 200 million dollars. If this is how a single-payer system operates in a country of 33 million people, wouldn’t it be worse in a country of 300 million? Why would you support such a system here?

7. The UK has a population of about 59 million. Their health care bureaucracy, the National Health Service, employs 1.5 million Britons. In our country, with a population of 300 million, that works out to 7.5 million new Federal employees. Given our current enormous budget deficits, how can you justify a huge increase in the size of the Federal government?

8. Medical malpractice suits drive up the cost of health care. One study (Towers Perrin 2001) found that the tort liability system costs each US citizen $721 per year. The health care “reform” bills do nothing to reduce this cost. Why are you not insisting that this be addressed?

9. The top 5 US hospitals conduct more clinical trials than all the hospitals in any other developed country. In the past 34 years, Americans have won 29 Nobel prizes for medicine. Are you concerned in the least that if America adopts a single-payer system, we will lose our technological edge in health care, costing American lives?

10. The stimulus bill, which you voted for, created the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research. This is modeled after Britain’s National Institute of Clinical Effectiveness, or NICE. In 2006 NICE denied the use of a drug to prevent macular degeneration until patients went blind in one eye. Why should we think this will never happen here?

Democrats have been beaten up, but they are not giving up their dream of government-controlled health care. They will roll out a new marketing strategy and 150 million dollars of advertising to back it up. Please consider giving to these organizations running health care ads to counter the Democrat ad blitz:
www.joinpatients.com
www.conservativesforpatientsrights.org

Single payer healthcare is the most liberal version of healthcare reform being espoused. Barak Obama is on record wanting to go there, but knowing he can’t get it there yet. President Obama’s version of the healthcare document is a road to socializing medicine. It’s a first, but necessary step.

What has any of this to do with Congressman Massa? Well he’s a supporter of H.R. 676,which is a far more liberal healthcare bill. This is for single payer healthcare, which gets us to socialized medicine immediately. We shouldn’t be surprised he campaigned even out in California in favor of socialized medicine. Good thing someone shot video huh?!

Also, while campaigning for four years he was for socialized medicine too. He was interviewed by an organization that supported Democrats that supported single payer healthcare. In that interview he says in his own words, “I support the idea of a single-payer health care system in which the doctor-patient relationship remains personal and private, but costs and payments are centrally managed. We can reduce overhead and operational costs. Such a plan would encourage preventive health care and dramatically simplify paperwork and reimbursement processes.”

This statement not only shows his views, but is plagued with wrong notions. The idea that big brother writing the checks would keep the doctor-patient relationship in tact is certainly in question. But a larger violation of commonsense is that the single payer system wouldn’t by necessity dramatically simply paperwork or encourage preventative care.

If all this isn’t enough, The Democratic National Committee (DNC) put out an ad praising Massa for his job in healthcare reform. So we have a constant position held before the election and after the election. When he got a formidable challenger, Tom Reed, and the popularity of his idea was in question he put out press releases like this one to the Star-Gazette. He said at various Townhall meetings that he was going to vote against Obama’s bill.

However, it’s important that everyone know why: Obama’s bill is not socialized enough. It doesn’t go far enough. He said it during the campaign and after the campaign and even in front of others. There are ideas out there that will make a difference. Ones that put the decision making and power back in the hands of the people. However, people like Congressman Massa believe that government can do better. Haven’t they done a great job with Social Security and Medicare?

After writing this, another video sprung up from the Washington Times. A startling video where he declared, “I will vote adamantly against the interests of my district if I actually think what I am doing is going to be helpful.” Don’t take my word for it, see it for yourself.

I must first say I’m a little biased on immigration, because I’ve worked for an organization that has educated Americans on the topic and mobilized them to make a difference: NumbersUSA. And my job wouldn’t be complete without urging you as a private citizen to go and take a look. However, as Republicans we all have slightly different feelings about immigration.

We are a nation of laws and whatever you think on the topic of immigration most people agree that breaking the laws are bad. It’s already against the law to be an illegal immigrant. The name actually says it all. It’s already against the law to hire illegal immigrants, actually a federal crime.

So that’s what makes Congressman Massa’s response to me outrageous. I have written several faxes to my Representative on immigration issues. I have received letters several times with wording almost exactly the same. I have not responded hoping that he really didn’t feel this way. However, after receiving at least three letters myself and others I know who have received similar letters receiving the exact same wording I must call him out on this.

He mentions that he is fighting for a solution to the problem that will address the national security issues “while at the same time protecting those who came to this country legally and those who are undocumented but employed by businesses that depend on their contributions.“

Congressman Massa with these phrases is declaring his support of illegal immigration. He’s also saying that he supports businesses that break the law by hiring them. With the economy the way it is and millions of Americans out of work, the unemployed don’t need this kind of help from Congressman Massa.

As health-care reform winds its way through Congress, let’s take a look back and a look ahead.

The most recent attempt at “reform” was Medicare, the health insurance program for seniors. They said seniors couldn’t afford health care, so we needed a government program. Now the Medicare trustees say the program is 38 trillion dollars in debt. Private insurance for seniors has largely disappeared.

Senator Kennedy’s “Affordable Health Choices Act” will limit your choice of health-care plans and restrict your access to specialists. You will be required to pay as much as 10% of your income to purchase health insurance. You must prove you have “approved” health-insurance or be fined. Your health care will be coordinated by a primary care physician. Doctors will be pressured to provide “cost effective” care or be penalized. This bill will also create a “government option”, health insurance provided by the government. What if you have private insurance and want to keep it? No details are offered yet, but the HHS secretary will be authorized to limit insurance company profits, thus killing them off.

How are private companies going to compete with a government that can undersell them, fund itself through taxation and print money? Imagine a baseball league where the chosen team starts 2 runs ahead and hand-picks the umpires. This is competition the Obama-Massa way, a game rigged to swiftly get us to a Canadian-Style (government) system.

Abortion rights activists have long said women can’t be told what to do with their bodies, that medical decisions are between women and their doctors. If this “reform” passes, bureaucrats will be in your doctor’s office, standing between you and your doctor. In fact, the components of rationing and government control of health care are already in law, thanks to Obama’s “stimulus” bill and Massa’s vote. Hidden in the Stimulus package was the mandatory computerization of our medical records, all to be turned over to the government. The stimulus also created a government health-care rationing board.

In all their talk of reform, Obama-Massa never say freedom. It’s not in their vocabulary. Other words come with alarming ease, such as: mandate, regulate, penalize and of course tax.

Our health-care problems can be solved with fundamentally American words and the ideals they represent: individual, the respect for the uniqueness of each of us; freedom, which allows us control over our bodies and lives.

Change the tax code to allow individuals and families to deduct the cost of insurance. Allow the purchase of insurance across state lines. Expand Health Savings Accounts. This will lead to savings and increased competition between the 1300 insurance companies already vying for our business.

Passage of a “government option” is a deliberate step toward a single-payer system like Canada’s. Breast cancer survivors in Quebec must wait 60 days to begin post-op radiation therapy. Several brave women are suing for their lives the government sworn to protect them.

Government health care is the road to rationing and denial of care; reject it. Instead, embrace expanding markets and most importantly, personal choice.

Health care reform is important to every American. With the Democrats firmly in control of the Senate, House and White house, the future of our health and quality of life rests with them. Decisions they make may decide who lives, who dies, who gets health care and who does not. The mechanisms for rationing health are already in law, passed in the stimulus bill.

The worry is the health care bill will be rushed through, like the stimulus. Congressman Eric Massa said he had to “pull an all-nighter” to read the bill before the scheduled vote. A bill this complex and expensive shouldn’t have been rushed. This was a failure of presidential and congressional leadership. The result was a spending and deficit exploding orgy. The same politically motivated hustle will not do when it comes to health care. Our lives and the lives of our loved ones are at stake.

Deliberation, care and thoughtfulness should accompany every step of the process. We must have a full and open debate. There is no need to rush such an important issue. Contact your local representatives. Tell them to exercise great care. We are all worth it.

Run! Here comes health care reform Obama-Massa style. This is not really reform, it’s a take over. The statists differ on how to accomplish this. Eric Massa wants a single-payer system while Obama says he wants the government to compete with private insurance.

“Reform” is already well under way. Obama slipped government control of health care into the stimulus bill with the creation of two new bureaucracies, the Federal Coordinating Council for
Comparative Effectiveness Research and the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology. He mandated the computerization of our medical records by 2014. This will enable bureaucrats to “guide” your doctors decisions about treatments that are “cost effective”. Penalties may be imposed on physicians who refuse to comply. David Blumenthal, appointed by President Obama to oversee this effort said, “Government controls on health care spending are associated with longer waits for elective procedures and reduced availability of new and expensive treatments and devices”. But wait, there’s more “reform”. Another Obama appointee, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, wants to remake the Hippocratic oath. This is the oath doctors take to,”keep the good of the patient as the highest priority”. Dr. Emanuel said medical students should be trained ” to move to more socially sustainable, cost effective care”. According to Emanual, medical comforts drive up costs: “Hospital rooms in the United States offer more privacy, comfort and auxiliary services than do hospital rooms in most other countries”.

The Federal Coordinating Council is modeled after Great Briton’s National Institute for Clinical Effectiveness (NICE). They approve or reject treatments on the basis of age and cost effectiveness. NICE denied use of Temodar, an oral medication for brain tumors. They said while it will help people live longer, it wasn’t cost effective. Senator Ted Kennedy, long a champion of single payer health care, takes Temodar. He would be denied Temodar in a system he would create for the rest of us.

The implementation of government health care will forever alter the relationship of doctor to patient and people to government. It will destroy our individuality, freedom and faith that our doctor works for us, and is not an agent of the state. Free people do not stand in line to wait for care, as supplicants to an all powerful government. This is an abomination of our founding principles. It is a triumph of Big Brother over Washington, Jefferson, Madison and all they stood for, and fought for.

Obama’s proposal and Massa’s vote will result in bureaucrats deciding the worth and value of each of us. Politicians and their bureaucratic lackeys are wholly inadequate to this task. It is a decision far above the pay grade of such men. It is cruelty to lie to citizens, telling them they will have all the health care they will need, when the mechanism for rationing is already in place. Americans will suffer at the hands of a government sworn to protect them.