10 Questions which need answers

Ten Questions Politicians Won’t Answer

From National Review by Tom Coburn - Senator from Oklahoma

While I have confidence in the American people to come up with their own probing questions, let me suggest a few questions that my own colleagues have been loath to answer:

1. Why do we need to increase spending on health care by at least $1.6 trillion and steal prosperity from our children and grandchildren when we spend nearly twice per person what other industrialized nations spend on health care?

In my view, any bill that increases spending is a failure and not serious reform. The problem is not that we don’t spend enough on health care, but that we don’t allocate resources efficiently and get value for what we pay.

2. What programs will you cut and whose taxes will you raise to pay for health-care reform?

Any politician — Republican or Democrat — who refuses to answer this question or avoids the topic by deferring to the committees of jurisdiction doesn’t deserve to be in office.

3. What earmarks or pet projects that you have sponsored will you sacrifice to help finance the cost of health-care reform?

It is immoral, in my view, to ask taxpayers to make more sacrifices while politicians practice business-as-usual pork-barrel politics.

4. Will you vote for a public option that requires taxpayer-funded abortion?

The current version of the so-called reform bill requires taxpayer-funded abortion. In the House, this fact prompted 19 pro-life Democrats to send a letter of protest to Speaker Pelosi. In the Senate, an amendment by Barbara Mikulski (D., Md.) that would require taxpayer-funded abortion passed in committee. Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) objected and voted no, saying, “The way it [the Mikulski amendment] is written could be interpreted down the road to include something like abortion.” Are these Democrats also part of the right-wing scare-tactic conspiracy?

5. If the public option is so wonderful, will you lead by example and vote for a plan to enroll you and your family in the public option?

I offered an amendment in committee to force members of Congress to enroll in the public option. Nine out of eleven Democrats on the health committee who back the public option refused. If the politicians creating the public option don’t have confidence in it, neither should the American people.

6. Will you vote for a plan that will allow a board of politicians and bureaucrats to override decisions made by you and your doctor?

Both the Senate and House bills set up a government-run “comparative effectiveness” board that will make final decisions about treatment and care. In committee, I gave senators several opportunities to accept language that would forbid this board from denying care. All of my amendments were rejected, which suggests that the intent is to set up a board that will ration care, as is done in the United Kingdom.

7. If you support a “comparative effectiveness” board, what qualifies you, as a politician, to practice medicine? Have you delivered health care to a single person, much less entire classes of people you claim to represent, such as the poor, the uninsured, or children?

I’m one of two physicians in the Senate, along with John Barrasso of Wyoming. I know for a fact that very few leaders in this debate have any firsthand experience or knowledge of health care, which is disturbing.

8. How will a government-run public option perform better than other failing government programs, such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Indian Health Care?

Forty percent of doctors refuse to accept Medicaid patients because the program is broken. Access to a government program — such as the public option — does not guarantee access to health care.

9. If increasing spending on health care was the solution, why hasn’t it worked yet?

The public-option “reform” is not new at all but an extension of 1960s-era public policies that say a little more government spending and intervention is always the answer.

10. Are you more committed to doing reform right or quickly? Would you consider backing a thoughtful alternative to the public option? If so, which one?

I’ve introduced a bill along with Sen. Richard Burr (R., N.C.) and Reps. Paul Ryan (R., Wisc.) and Devin Nunes (R., Calif.) called the Patient’s Choice Act that guarantees coverage and choice for every American without raising taxes or increasing spending. In fact, our bill will save taxpayers at least $70 billion. Many other members of Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, are working on alternatives that don’t herd the American people into a government-run program.

The choice is not between the public option and nothing. The choice is between the public option and an option that can win the support of the public. The future of health care truly is up to you.

— Dr. Tom Coburn (R.) is a U.S. senator from Oklahoma. (Click on bold headline for complete story)

Open letter to the White House

Dearest Linda Douglass,

This is laughable. At http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Facts-Are-Stubborn-Things/ you directly request the public to respond:

If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.

OK. Since a representative like John Conyers publicly admits he hasn't even read the bill, and would require the assistance of a couple of lawyers to interpret the bill either way, how would I know what sounds fishy? If he's ignorant of what's in it, why should I rely on my government to adequately inform me? Hmmm? Our own majority members of congress are not intimately familiar with this massive boondoggle and therefore they are unworthy of our inquiry. That irresponsible representation alone directs me to seek alternative sources for information.

Now, you sit here and lie to me regarding your own plan to eliminate the private individual medical insurance market with government run health care and insist that false rumors abound? You're truly out of touch. And, you must be very naive and simple. Via your plan, the only folks who will NOT lose their private insurance coverage are members of Congress!

1,000 plus pages of government run trash. Dump it! You can keep your attempt at communism. There's not even a lick of tort reform in this hastily compiled garbage!

I will continue to seek out alternative views on this disastrous attempt at legislation for no other reason than that I cannot trust you or your president to be truthful. I'd be delusional to think otherwise.

Jeff Wahlen - Orlando


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I'm stickin' with the IBD...

The Investor's Business Daily gallantly continues the fight against the BarryCare government run elimination of the private medical insurance market despite all of the White House denials. I'm stickin' with the IBD for my truth, not Captain Barry!

(Click on bold headline for complete story)

Is This Barry's Kenyan Cert?

Since the Congress has collectively chosen to accept some Hawaiian's verbal that she's seen Barry's stateside birth cert, I feel it is my patriotic duty to accept an attorney's claim that the cert in the above photo is the real birth certificate from Kenya. Makes sense to me. I'm OK with it too!

Like I've always said, all I ask of this president is not financial bailouts, free government run healthcare, or even a highly paid do-nothing, unaccountable assignment with ACORN. All I want is his birth certificate. That's all I ask.

A hat tip to both Orly and Joe! The principal responses oughta be marvelous! Interestingly, the Clinton campaign couldn't find such material leading up to the election. Of course, that same bunch couldn't find her Rose Law Firm billing records for two full years all the while under subpoena either.

Let's see how quickly Dan Rather weighs in on this one. If we find out it is a fabrication, I'll opt for this one as offical instead of that forgery sitting in the Hawaiian vaults.

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Pink Slip Model