Recent Articles

As one of the backroom deals required to pass ObamaCare through the Senate, Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) earmarked special funding for Libby, Montana to deal with an asbestos problem. At a town hall meeting featuring HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, residents weighed in with strong objections to the new law, even though they were the recipients of special treatment. “And while some Libby residents thanked Sebelius and Baucus for the health care reform law that passed last year and extended Medicare coverage to those sickened by asbestos, others questioned whether the changes to America’s health care system were Constitutional. “

“From 1990 to 1995, we served as public trustees for Social Security and
Medicare. As a Democrat and a Republican (now an independent), we worked
together on a professional and nonpartisan basis with the other trustees – the
secretaries of health and human services, labor and Treasury – to ensure the
integrity and credibility of the annual reports on these critically important
social insurance programs. [T]he conclusions expressed in this year’s Medicare
report were, to our minds, based on unreasonable assumptions that produced
unrealistic and misleading results. The unwarrantedly optimistic report could
produce a serious misunderstanding of the true financial condition of Medicare
and result in significant public confusion.”

“Fewer than 2 million of the nation’s 6 million companies with employees qualify
for the small-business tax credits included in the new health insurance reform
law, says the National Federation of Independent Business. The law’s supporters
had projected that twice as many small businesses would qualify for the tax
credit.”

Doctor-owned hospitals were virtually banned by ObamaCare, making them the
“biggest losers in federal health care reform.” Existing ones are looking to
merge, or be acquired by existing hospital systems, restricting choice and
competition in the market.

The Florida chapter of the American Medical Association expressed “no
confidence” in the national organization for their endorsement of and
campaigning on behalf of ObamaCare.

Many doctors acquire their own imaging equipment so they can conduct CT scans,
MRIs, and other services directly in their office without an outside referral.
They say this allows them to better treat their patients in a more timely and
efficient manner. ObamaCare put new regulations on doctors providing
self-referrals, because bureaucrats mistrust the motives of doctors, believing
them to be ordering wasteful, extra tests.

ObamaCare supporters are abandoning their campaign to tout the law, instead advising lawmakers running for reelection to promise to “improve it.” Their polling shows that Americans have not been persuaded by advocates’ claims that the law will lower costs or reduce deficits.

Blue Cross of North Carolina announced their rate increases for next year and blamed ObamaCare regulations for some of the added costs. “While citing rising medical care costs as a primary driver in the proposed rate increases, company officials said provisions of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act health care reform law also will impact rates charged under the two plans. Those provisions include requiring insurers to remove the cap on lifetime benefits, enhance preventive care coverage and allow unlimited mental health services, prescription drugs and other types of care.”

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius claims ObamaCare is a partnership between the federal government and state governments, not a national take-over. Given the vast new powers claimed by Washington after ObamaCare, the pleas of cooperation ring hollow.

The outside groups that championed ObamaCare and continue to campaign on its behalf are admitting defeat behind closed doors when it comes to claims that the law will lower costs. “The presentation also concedes that the fiscal and economic arguments that were the White House’s first and most aggressive sales pitch have essentially failed.”