The Free Market and Health Care.

Republicans Denounce Republican Health Care Plan
Tim Noah on Republican outrage over high risk Health Insurance pools: Of all the arguments Republicans have been waging against ObamaCare as the House of Representatives prepares to vote for its Repeal, none is harder to take than their criticism of the federally subsidized high-risk pools the law created to provide immediate relief to the Uninsured. In May, the House Republican Conference complained that these high-risk pools would be unfair to people currently enrolled in existing state-run r...

It was never really about Loughner [Darleen Click]
The speed and viciousness of the Left’s coordinated reaction to the Giffords’ shooting in blaming - not Mitt Romney or John McCain or Olympia Snow - Sarah Palin, the Tea Party, Talk Radio and FoxNews, is illuminating in the way it clearly demonstrates that the Left - including many so-called liberals and Democrats - don’t respect Elections when they lose. They will use anything, including a totally unrelated act of evil, and use their poodle Main Strea...

Rep. Shuler: Repealing Obamacare Would be 'Immoral' and Take Away Health Insurance from Children
Monday, January 10, 2011 By Dan Joseph Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) (AP photo) (CNSNews.com) - Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) will not support Republican efforts to Repeal the Health Care bill that he voted against in 2010 and will not vote to defund many provisions in the bill that are already in effect. On Capitol Hill last week, CNSNews.com asked Shuler: “Rep. Steve King is advocating including language in every appropriations bill to prohibit money from that bill funding implementation of O...

House Republican Says Health Care for Me, None for You
      While House Republicans have put a vote on Health Care reform Repeal on hold in the wake of the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the Murder of six others in Tucson Saturday, they haven’t backed off their threat to Repeal a law that eventually will provide health coverage for 30 million people. With the exception of three freshmen lawmakers, according to The Hill, repeal-backing Republicans are maintaining their Taxpayer supported Health Insurance. That is comprehensive co

Detroit News writer so far in the tank for ObamaCare, she's about to be crushed by hydrostatic pressure
I don't know a lot about Marisa Schultz, but based on her writing she is so far into the tank for ObamaCare that the hydrostatic pressure is about to crush her into the size of a pea. She took it upon herself to release the result of a biased, partisan report from a supposedly non-partisan organization that most never heard of to put out the canard that repealing the Unconstitutional ObamaCare law would hurt Michigan. This was apparently so important that she wrote it twice with 2 different hea...

Cross-Dressers and Sex-Changers Want Military Jobs, Too!
Remember what I said in this post after the Senate vote to Repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell?”   Remember I said how it would create a morass of legal issues that most well-meaning liberals and Libertarians don’t fathom because they really aren’t around a robust Gay Agenda Bureaucracy like I am out here in the San Francisco Bay Area?   I have been observing blatant gay Appeasement for more than 20 years.   Those of you who think the &...

Pennsylvania subsidized health insurance for low-income people to end
Pennsylvania's subsidized Health Insurance for low-income working people will likely end next month, officials on Gov.-elect Tom Corbett's transition team said Tuesday, leaving more than 40,000 people with less palatable options and dashing the hopes of more than 400,000 on the Waiting List. "AdultBasic is not sustainable," said Kevin Harley, a spokesman for the transition, referring to the Insurance program that began eight years ago under Gov. Tom Ridge, a Republican, and was expande...

Chris Korzen: If the Health Care Repeal Vote Is Symbolic, Why Have Such a Divisive Debate?
At a moment when we need to tone down the discourse in our politics, why have a purely symbolic debate over Health Care Repeal in the U.S. House of Representatives? The debate may take us back to the worst days of the Health Care discussion, when swastikas were commonplace at anti-reform rallies, and some Talk Radio and TV turned into hate radio and TV. Will opponents talk about "Death Panels," or "killing grandma?"  Will people carry signs that say "bury ObamaCare with Kennedy" or wear t-shi...

What the health reform repeal effort says about the 112th Congress
Members of the House of Representatives will vote next week on a bill to Repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010, the health reform law that aims to cover the Uninsured through state Health Insurance exchanges, an individual coverage mandate, and an expansion of the Medicaid program, among other provisions. While the measure will probably pass the House, it is unlikely to be approved by the Democrat-controlled Senate, and even if it were to pass both chambers, the President has threatened t...

Waddington ends free insurance for supervisors
WADDINGTON — Former Waddington town supervisors receiving Health Insurance benefits now must contribute 50 percent of the cost, following a decision at Monday's board meeting. Town Board Member Stephen McKnight was the lone no vote on a resolution that will force former supervisors W. Reginald Greene and William L. Dalton to pay a portion of their Health Insurance costs. Town Supervisor Mark Scott and Councilors Shirley L. Robinson and David L. Putney voted in favor of the change. Co...

OVERNIGHT HEALTH: Giffords shooting sparks mental health debate
Welcome to The Hill's evening roundup of the day's health policy news and advance look at tomorrow's schedule. Tuesday's health news Lawmaker calls for briefing on Mental Health danger signs: A leading lawmaker on Mental Health issues is calling for a Bipartisan debate on how to keep lawmakers and their staff and families safe in the wake of Saturday's deadly shooting in Tucson.  Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.), co-chair of the Congressional Mental Health Caucus, along with Rep. Tim Murphy (...

Liberals see America as a series of problems waiting for government solutions [Reader Post]
In some respects liberals and Progressives have it easy. All they have to do is look around and they can find problems for government to solve. Kids are too fat? Let’s get the government to decide how restaurants market their offering. Somebody walked away with a bad haircut? Impose government testing and licensing for barbers. Crime getting out of control? Let’s ban all guns. Someone loses their job? Let’s give them three years of Unemployment checks. And just in case there we...

Why Are They Doing This?
It’s a rhetorical question, to be sure, that I pose at the end of the post below: why the fact-free blood Libel, from the L.A. Times or any other lefty? Again, I won’t insult your intelligence by answering the question — but just to confirm that you’re on the right track, I commend to you these Quotes of the Day from Hot Air. Every single one is about how the Republicans really need to tone it down — especially when seeking to Repeal Health Care. When they turn back...

Health Care Opt-Out Amendment Bill Breezes Through Committee
A Controversial bill that would place a Constitutional Amendment on the ballot -- allowing the state to opt out of the Individual Mandate portion of the federal health-care law passed last year -- cleared another hurdle in the Senate Tuesday. The Judiciary Committee moved along the bill, known as SJR 2, by a 5-1 vote on partisan lines. The joint resolution -- which has a counterpart in the House known as HJR 1 -- is moving swiftly through the Senate, already moving through two committees. T...

Why Public Sector Unions Are Worse Than Private Sector Unions
Kevin Drum, as usual, gets it wrong on Public Sector Unions: Public sector unions are a lot like that: Conservatives don’t like them in the first place, and crippling them would also seriously cut into a major funding source for the Democratic Party. It’s another twofer. And as Surowiecki notes, they’re a ripe target right now. I left the below comment over there: I’m as free-market Libertarian as they come, but yet I understand the potential benefits of Private Sector ...

And now, on to a subject that unites us (not) | Michael Tomasky
As a result of changes in direct spending and revenues, CBO expects that enacting H.R. 2 would probably increase federal Budget Deficits over the 2012-2019 period by a total of roughly $145 billion (on the basis of the original estimate), plus or minus the effects of technical and economic changes that CBO and JCT will include in the forthcoming estimate. Adding two more years (through 2021) brings the projected increase in Deficits to something in the vicinity of $230 billion, plus or min...

ObamaCare Lies About Helping Small Business
The Propaganda issued by the Obama Administration to obtain support for ObamaCare is blatant and wrong. An example is touting that ObamaCare has helped small businesses to obtain medical Insurance. The federal Department of Health and Human Services cites a Democrat-front organization. The real facts say otherwise. The federal Department of Health and Human Services website HealthCare.gov offers this “fact...

GOP walks unarmed into health-care repeal battle
By Nicholas Wilbur Ed. note: Most of our posts the past few days have, understandably, been on the Arizona shooting. We'll have more on that terrible story, but now let's turn back to Congress and the House Republicans' effort to Repeal the Affordable Care Act. This is the first of two excellent posts by Nicholas on that very topic. The second will appear tomorrow. -- MJWS ********** It would take more than a Golden Parachute from Goldman Sachs, more than a harem of Argentinian mistresses, mor...

McDonnell wants to privatize ABC retail operation
Gov. Bob McDonnell is pursuing a new liquor privatization plan that he hopes will be easier to swallow. McDonnell proposes that the state retain control of the wholesale operation and privatize the retail portion to reap a $200 million to $400 million Windfall for transportation, under a plan to be crafted into Legislation for the General Assembly session that starts Wednesday. Annual revenue to the state's general fund from liquor sales - budgeted at $324 million in the Fiscal Year that b...

Will French Fries Become the New Broccoli for Health Reform Opponents?
Will French Fries Become the New Broccoli for Health Reform Opponents? The Supreme Court recently declined to hear a case claiming a federal ban on violent Felons owning Body Armor violates the constitution, over the dissents of Justices Scalia and Thomas. Numerous commentators are now combing that dissent for hints on whether the justices will vote to uphold the landmark Affordable Care Act. Predictions that the three Conservatives who did not join this dissent will also reject the Affordabl...

Single, Self-Employed And Without Insurance? Get Married And Hire The Spouse
What is this? As The Economy continues to limp along, individuals on the lookout for Health Insurance don't have a lot of options, especially if they have Health Problems. Of course, there are the Pre-existing Condition Insurance plans called for in the health overhaul law, but those have restrictions. And some states have plans guaranteeing coverage. Self-employed people without Insurance should put a ring on it, some say. Self-employed people without Insurance should put a ring on it, some say...

SustiNet debate returns to legislature, where cost is the issue
By delivering a more-than 200-page report to State Legislators last week, members of the SustiNet board opened the next chapter in the debate over a proposed state-run Health Insurance plan. It's a fight that will likely hinge on cost. Supporters say the proposed health plan, envisioned as a Public Option that would combine State Employees and Medicaid recipients into one Insurance pool that is opened up to the public, could help the state save more than $200 million a year. "I see this as a b...

The Opt-Out Problem We Dont Talk About
I was eight months pregnant with my first child when Lisa Belkin introduced the concept of “The Opt-Out Revolution” in The New York Times Magazine. It was October 2003, and the last year or so had seen a flurry of books and articles devoted to the challenges (to put it politely) of working Motherhood. There was Allison Pearson’s comic novel I Don’t Know How She Does It, in which the protagonist, a perpetually frazzled hedge-fund manager and mother of two, finds herself i...

The Gabby Giffords I know -- A reflection on rhetoric
I met Gabby Giffords six and a half years ago. Oddly enough, it was in Switzerland (we were both on "Young Leaders" program). Mostly I remember her being nice and friendly to everyone in a group full of folks with strong political views. I also remember a lunch in the mountains, when she and I sat across from one another and argued Immigration. It got a bit heated, but never unfriendly. The argument also may have been productive, as our views have since met in the middle. I am much less restrict...

States Cry to Washington: Remove Obamacares Medicaid Handcuffs
The big news out of a majority of state capitols is that ObamaCare’s Medicaid mandates will exacerbate state Budget problems and drive many states to the brink of insolvency. Thirty-three Republican Governors and governors-elect have signed a letter to the White House and Congress making an emphatic appeal that ObamaCare’s Medicaid provisions be repealed. Medicaid pays Health Care and long-term care expenses for certain categories of individuals. Medicaid has many problems, but the central...