Guest Post on Healthcare Reform by Dr. Michael Schneider, founder of Vail Valley 9.12 Project

Speaker Pelosi announced today (10/29) that a (1,990 page)Healthcare Reform Bill was on its way to the Senate. It includes a public option and will finally insure 90+% of the people in the United States. She claimed that it will cover the 36 million uninsured in this country. Is it 36 million, 47 million, or 50 million? How about 20 million or 12 million? I know that the number is somewhere in there...maybe.

Speaker Pelosi's televised announcement was followed by another televised announcement by President Obama speaking to, what was said to be, a representation of small business owners from across America. He told us once again that “if you like your insurance, you can keep it without any changes to coverage.” He told us that there will be insurance pools from which you can choose an insurer if you do not already have insurance for your business employees. I interpreted this to mean that businesses will be mandated to cover their employees. President Obama said that this reform will pay for itself.

Well... I thought... if this is so then I have been oh-so-wrong in my assessment of what the financial impact and reduction of quality healthcare on Americans, our children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and..on and on will be if the Congress passes this healthcare reform bill. If what Speaker Pelosi and President Obama said is true then I am “on board” with the whole program and I will issue another “mea culpa”. Oh!...you ask...what if that old adage that if someone in authority tells you something (not factual) to your face enough times that you will actually believe it? Well then...if that is the case...I am on board with Rep. Joe “you lie” Wilson.

The President has told us that cracking down on Medicare and Medicaid fraud will be a large part of the savings in paying for healthcare reform. My question is, "has the crackdown begun?" If not, why not? 60 Minutes televised a special recently in which a convicted felon admitted stealing over $20 million from Medicare through fraudulent claims. That person said that it was a no brainer and is being done every day.

Once again, the truth is that government has never successfully run any type of program. I know you all have heard it before, but let me refresh your memories. There is Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, U.S. Postal Service and Amtrak, all of which are broken and broke. If the government competes with private insurers the private insurers will disappear. Those who know me know that I have no love lost for the private insurers, but this is the United States of America. The home of capitalism. The greatest republic* in the history of civilization. That being said, there is great room for health insurer reform starting with portability and the ability for individuals and businesses to purchase insurance across state lines. All the government has to do is print some more money to compete and the competition goes away and the quality goes down.

President Obama also neglected to remind us of the $500 BILLION cuts to Medicare and the pending 21.5% Medicare cuts to physician reimbursements in 2010 if this bill gets passed. If you would like to read the bill you can download it at:

http://docs.house.gov/rules/health/111_ahcaa.pdf

I wonder if all of our elected House of Representatives officials have read it.

* Benjamin Franklin said “I give you a republic if you can hold on to it”. By definition a republic is a political unit governed by a charter (The U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence are U.S. Federal Charter Documents), while a democracy is a government whose prevailing force is always that of the majority. One of the difficulties in defining these two words, democracy and republic, stems from the fact that many people consider them to be synonyms, which they are not. They are no more alike than Nancy Pelosi and Puff the Magic Dragon, and yet they are often used interchangeably

Dr. Michael Schneider

“Real Change” in 2010
Vail Valley 9.12 Project
www.meetup.com/vailvalley912project.com/

Activism Today!

1. Healthcare Activism: Call Senators and tell them to vote NO on the healthcare bill!

From Hugh Hewitt on 10/01/09: "Medicare benefits will be slashed (by about $500 billion) and Medicare Advantage costs will skyrocket under all the versions of Obamacare."

Federally-funded abortion is still in the healthcare bills: the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) explains in a Sept. 30 letter sent to members of the Senate, “So far, the health reform bills considered in committee, including the new Senate Finance Committee bill, have not met President Obama’s challenge of barring use of federal dollars for abortion and maintaining current conscience laws,” states the letter.

Phone these U.S. Senators to say NO to cloture and ObamaCare :

Evan Bayh (IN) – Phone: (202) 224-5623; Web Contact (Leadership) Vulnerable on healthcare as of 10/02/09. Up for re-election in Nov. 2010.
Max Baucus (MT), Senate Finance Committee – Phone: (202) 224-6361; Web Contact; somewhat opposed to H.R. 3200.
Mark Begich (AK) – Phone: (202) 224-3004; Web Contact Still vulnerable as of 10/02/09.
Michael Bennet (CO) – Phone: (202) 224-5852, Denver Metro office: 303.455.7600; Web Contact. Vulnerable as of 10/02/09. Cannot win in 2010 AND CO Democrats may float a different candidate.
Jeff Bingaman (NM), Senate Finance Committee -- Phone 202-224-5521
Robert Byrd (VA) -- DC Phone: (202) 224-3954.
Maria Cantwell (WA), Senate Finance Committee – Phone: (202) 224-3441; Web Contact; somewhat opposed to H.R. 3200.
Tom Carper (DE), Senate Finance Committee – Phone: (202) 224-2441; Web Contact (Leadership); somewhat opposed to H.R. 3200
Kent Conrad (N.D.), Senate Finance Committee – Phone: (202) 224-2043; Web Contact Still vulnerable as of 09/21/09. Up for re-election in Nov. 2010; somewhat opposed to H.R. 3200.
Byron Dorgan (D-ND)202-224-2551 is vulnerable on healthcare as of 09/21/09. Up for re-election in Nov. 2010.
Russ Feingold (D-WI) 202-224-5323 is vulnerable on healthcare as of 09/21/09.
Dianne Feinstein (CA) – Phone: (202) 224-3841; Web Contact; somewhat opposed to H.R. 3200.
Kay Hagan (NC) – Phone: (202) 224-6342; Web Contact
Tim Johnson (SD) DC Phone: (202) 224-5842. Up for re-election in Nov. 2010.
John Kerry (MA), Senate Finance Committee -- Phone 202-224-2742
Herb Kohl (WI) – Phone: (202) 224-5653; Web Contact
Mary Landrieu (LA) – Phone: (202) 224-5824; Web Contact Still vulnerable as of 10/02/09. Up for re-election in Nov. 2010.
Joe Lieberman (CT) – Phone: (202) 224-4041; Web Contact Still vulnerable as of 10/02/09. Up for re-election in Nov. 2010.
Blanche Lincoln (AR), Senate Finance Committee – Phone: (202) 224-4814 or (202) 224-4843; Web Contact (Leadership) (Note: Liberal blog Daily Kos reports that Sen. Lincoln is somewhat opposed to H.R. 3200.) Sept. 15: Arkansas school board elections went resoundingly to conservative candidates. Still vulnerable as of 09/21/09. Up for re-election Nov. 2010.
Claire McCaskill (MO) – Phone: (202) 224-6154; Web Contact
Robert Menendez (NJ), Senate Finance Committee -- Phone 202-224-4744
Ben Nelson (NE) – Phone: (202) 224-5274; Web Contact Still vulnerable as of 10/02/09. Up for re-election in Nov. 2010.
Bill Nelson (FL), Senate Finance Committee – Phone: (202) 224-6551; Web Contact Still vulnerable as of 09/21/09. Up for re-election in Nov. 2010.
Mark Pryor (AR) – Phone: (202) 224-2353; Web Contact Still vulnerable as of 10/02/09. Up for re-election Nov. 2010; somewhat opposed to H.R. 3200.
Harry Reid (NV) DC Phone: (202) 224-3542. Up for re-election in Nov. 2010.
Jay Rockefeller (WV), Senate finance Committee -- Phone 202-224-6472
Charles Schumer (NY), Senate Finance Committee -- Phone 202-224-6542
Jeanne Shaheen (NH) – Phone: (202) 224-2841; Web Contact
Debbie Stabenow (MI), Senate Finance Committee -- Phone 202-224-4822
Olympia Snowe (R-ME) 202-224-5344 Still vulnerable as of 09/21/09; somewhat opposed to H.R. 3200.
John Tester (D-MT) 202-224-2644 Still vulnerable as of 10/02/09. Up for re-election in Nov. 2010.
Mark Udall (CO) – Phone: (202) 224-5941; Web Contact
Mark Warner (VA) – Phone: (202) 224-2023; Web Contact Vulnerable as of 10/02/09.
Ron Wyden (OR), Senate Finance Committee – Phone: (202) 224-5244; Web Contact; somewhat opposed to H.R. 3200.
Jim Webb (VA) Vulnerable as of 10/02/09.

2. The Senate Conservatives Fund has a petition which you can sign if you believe that Republican legislators should not compromise on ObamaCare.

3. To fight illegal immigration, visit http://www.numbersusa.com/. Sign up for their Action Buffet. Everytime you visit the website, there will be 15 or so types of protest or support letters waiting for you to click and send to your Congressman and Senators--at no cost!

4. Abortion is not healthcare! Sign the petition to Congress to take abortion out of the healthcare bill. This petition is organized by Susan B. Anthony List.

5. Say "no" to government-controlled access to healthcare! Call these Colorado Congressmen and Senators:

Dianna DeGette, 1st Congressional District
Denver office: 303.844.4988
Washington, D.C. office: 202.225.4431

Jared Polis, 2nd Congressional District
Boulder office: 303.484.9596
Washington, D.C. office: 202.225.2161

John Salazar, 3rd Congressional District
Grand Junction office: 970.245.7107
Washington, D.C. office: 202.225.4761

Betsy Markey, 4th Congressional District
Fort Collins office: 970.221.7110
Washington, D.C. office: 202.225.4676

Ed Perlmutter, 7th Congressional District
Lakewood office: 303.274.7944
Washington, D.C. office: 202.225.2645

Michael Bennet, U.S. Senate
Denver Metro office: 303.455.7600
Washington, D.C. office: 202.224.5852

Mark Udall, U.S. Senate
Denver Metro office: 303.650.7820
Washington, D.C. office: 202.224.5941

6. I received an email from American Family Association telling me about the provision in H.R. 3200 to put Planned Parenthood clinics in schools beginning Fall 2010. They made it easy for me to sign letters in opposition to this plan, and they will send them via email to my Senators and Congressman. If you visit their website and enter your email to receive AFA Action Alerts (top right corner), you will also receive similar pro-life activism assistance.


Recent results:

9/14/09 We were successful in protesting ACORN. The U.S. Senate voted 83-7 to stop giving ACORN Federal housing funds due to repeated criminal charges and additional evidence of criminal goings-on. In addition, the U.S. Census has severed ties with ACORN. Next step: get ACORN out of the healthcare bill!

9/9/09 The "Free Our Health Care Now" petition garnered over 1.3 million signatures, and was delivered to Congress today.

9/5/09 Van Jones has stepped down from his job, so you no longer need to sign the petition.