7-19 by Richard Keefner

7-19

7-18

Obama urges action on health care reform

(Getty Images) WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says Americans may find it impossible to obtain health insurance if the nation's medical care system is not overhauled this year.Obama said Friday that Congress must not postpone ambitious efforts to expand health coverage and control costs. He said if the nation's health care system isn't reformed now, "no one's health insurance is going to be secure" because costs will skyrocket.Obama said he is absolutely convinced that Congress will enact major legislation this year.Nearly around-the-clock sessions on Capitol Hill have helped House Democrats advance pieces of the health care legislation through two committees Friday. But even with the late-night, early-morning efforts, the package's momentum appears to be sputtering.Democrats are struggling to line up votes needed to push the legislation through a third committee, and talks have been called off for the week in the Senate with no compromise in sight.The Ways and Means Committee voted after midnight for a new 10-year tax increase of $544 billion on the wealthy to help finance the legislation. And the Education and Labor Committee worked through the night to approve its portion of the bill.But, moderate to conservative lawmakers are calling for changes in the legislation being considered in the Energy and Commerce Committee, and threatening to block the measure unless they get their way.The legislation would expand health care to millions of uninsured Americans.©2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

7-17c

Inside The Monstrous Obamacare Bureaucracy
Michelle Malkin - Syndicated Columnist - 9:00 a.m.

If you think government is too big and too costly, wait until Obamacare kicks in. The Congressional Budget Office put the price tag of the House Democrats' healthcare takeover plans at $1.5 trillion over 10 years. But the CBO's fine print included a telltale caveat:

"We have not yet estimated the administrative costs to the federal government of implementing the specified policies, nor have we accounted for all of the proposal's likely effects on spending for other federal programs."

You don't need an accounting degree or clairvoyant powers. The administrative costs and spillover spending effects will be astronomical. Look at existing federal programs. In 1966, the Office of Management and Budget put the total taxpayer costs for Medicare at $64 million. In 2011, Medicare costs are expected to balloon to nearly $500 billion. Medicaid cost $770 million in 1966. By 2011, that program will cost taxpayers an estimated $264 billion. The Virginia-based Council for Affordable Health Insurance estimated that the administrative expenses of both programs last decade were 66 percent higher than those of private sector health insurance companies.

And we ain't seen nothing yet. House Republicans on the Joint Economic Committee sifted through their opponents' 1,018-page healthcare bill and released a dizzying flow chart detailing the Byzantine bureaucracy Obamacare would create. Washington would become the home of at least 31 new federal programs, agencies, and commissions to oversee the government-run health insurance regime.

Because 32 "czars" isn't enough, the Democratic plan would add another overlord to the Obama administration. The new "Health Choices Commissioner" would helm the new "Health Choices Administration" (section 141 of the bill) -- separate from the already existing Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (formerly the Health Care Financing Administration), the Veterans Health Administration, and the Indian Health Service.

Because the government has done such a boffo job managing the near-bankrupt Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds, the Democrats have proposed creating a "Public Health Investment Fund" and a "Health Insurance Exchange Trust Fund." The latter would create a "transparent and functional marketplace for individuals and small employers to comparison shop among private and public insurers."

No matter that state insurance departments already operate such systems. Healthcare must be "fixed." The federal cure is redundancy.

The Obamacare bill also creates a new "Bureau of Health Information" (not to be confused with the already existing National Center for Health Statistics) within the department of Health and Human Services. A new "Assistant Secretary for Health Information" will lead the BHI. The new assistant secretary will coordinate with the recently created "National Coordinator for Health Information Technology" -- who is responsible for monitoring the $19.5 billion in the stimulus law to implement "a nationwide interoperable, privacy-protected health information technology infrastructure."

New bureaucracies always have old special interests to appease. The Bureau of Health Information will house its own "Office of Civil Rights" and "Office of Minority Health." The information czar will be required to collect health statistics in the "primary language" of ethnic minorities -- and, thus, the need for a new "language demonstration program" to showcase their efforts. Obamacare will also ensure "cultural and linguistics competence training" and establish "a youth public health program to expose and recruit high-school students into public health careers." The government healthcare juggernaut must be fed and staffed, after all.

Providing more stimulus for taxpayer-funded jobs, the Democrats' bill would add a new "Senior Advisor for Health Care Fraud" and require the Attorney General to appoint a "Senior Counsel for Health Care Fraud Enforcement." There's already a national Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program, but who's counting?

To coordinate all the new bureaucrats, Obamacare would create a new "Health Care Program Integrity Coordinating Council" to "to coordinate strategic planning among federal agencies involved in health care integrity and oversight."

To make sure all the existing local and state environmental public health agencies don't feel lonely, the Democrats' plan creates a new "Coordinated Environmental Public Health Network" to "build upon and coordinate among existing environmental and health data collection systems and create state environmental public health networks."

A new "National Health Care Workforce Commission" will be "tasked with reviewing health care workforce and projected workforce needs." New funding will be available for a "demonstration program to improve immunization coverage" that would enable government busybodies to send reminders or recalls for patients or providers, or make home visits.

Who'll be looking out for you? The House bill creates a "public plan ombudsman" and a "special health insurance exchange inspector general" to police spending and guard against waste, fraud, and abuse. Given the sad fate of aggressive watchdogs in the age of Obama, however, these positions will end up like every other new agency, commission, task force, and office created to serve the federal healthcare beast: black holes.

COPYRIGHT 2009 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.

7-17b

Tax The Rich To Pay The Healthcare Bill
Pete Chagnon - OneNewsNow

If you're rich and you live in America, you could be hit hard under President Obama's healthcare plan.


Obama's healthcare plan comes with a hefty price tag, which some estimate could reach $1.5 trillion. To pay for this plan, liberals are proposing a hefty tax on America's rich. Curtis Dubay of The Heritage Foundation says people in New York City could face income tax rates upwards of 60 percent. "This would put a tremendous strain on the already-weakened economy," he warns. "If you look at it in international context, taxpayers in New York City will be paying higher rates than all but one of the most economically developed countries in the world -- and that being Denmark. It's truly a staggering tax increase."

The proposed surtax would affect incomes starting at $350,000. "It's a one-percent surtax from $350,000 to $500,000; a 1.5-percent surtax between $500,000 and a million; and a 5.4 percent surtax over a million," he explains.

Dubay adds that those who make less than $350,000 annually will also feel the effects because it will impact job creation and wage growth. He says the people hit with the surtax will be dealt a one-two punch because they are the ones who are likely to start small businesses -- and under Obama's plan, they will be forced to cover healthcare costs for all employees. The Associated Press reported on Thursday that according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the healthcare legislation being pushed by Democrats in Congress will not slow the rising costs of medical care, giving weight to critics who say the legislation could break the bank. Related news: The White House is asking Congress to give the executive branch more power to limit Medicare's rising costs.

7-17a

Senate Votes To Expand Federal 'Hate Crimes'
5:40 AM

WASHINGTON- People attacked because of their sexual orientation or gender would receive federal protections under a Senate-approved measure that significantly expands the reach of "hate crimes" law. The Senate bill also would make it easier for federal prosecutors to step in when state or local authorities are unable or unwilling to pursue those acts deemed to be hate crimes.

Senate Democrats insist the hate-crimes amendment (S. 909) they attached to the defense appropriations bill won't criminalize preaching or speaking out against homosexuality.

Washington Sen. Patty Murray suggested the measure could actually protect people of faith by boosting penalties for hate crimes motivated by anti-religious bias. "Burning down a building is a crime -- but that crime takes on a new character when that building is a church or a synagogue or a mosque," she stated. "It's wrong when one person attacks another person on the street, for sure; but it has a different meaning when violence occurs because a victim is a different race or religion or sexual orientation."

But Sen. Jim DeMint said that since opposition to homosexuality is "a biblical concept," the measure could "serve as a warning to people not to speak out too loudly about their religious views lest the federal law enforcement come knocking at their door." The South Carolina Republican asked, "Can priests, pastors, rabbis be sure that their preaching will not be prosecuted? (Click button to the left to view an 11-minute video of Sen. DeMint speaking against S. 909)

Michigan Democrat Carl Levin responded that only biased acts of violence, and not speech, would be prosecuted as hate crimes.

Thursday night in the Senate
"The Senate made a strong statement this evening that hate crimes have no place in America," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said after the chamber voted Thursday to attach the legislation as an amendment to a $680 billion defense spending bill expected to be completed next week.

The House in April approved a similar bill and President Barack Obama has urged Congress to send him hate crimes legislation, presenting the best scenario for the measure to become law since Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., first introduced it more than a decade ago.

Republicans will have the opportunity to propose several more changes to the hate crimes bill on Monday, but that will not change its status as part of the must-pass defense bill.

Passage of the bill would effect the most significant extension of hate crimes law since Congress first acted in 1968 after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

The 1968 law defines hate crimes as those carried out on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin. It also limits federal involvement to when the victim is engaged in a narrow range of activities, including attending a public school, serving as a juror or participating in an event administered by a state or local government.

The proposed legislation expands federal hate crimes to include those perpetrated against people because of gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. It also removes restrictions on federally protected activities.

"There is no room in our society for these acts of prejudice," said Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore. "Hate crimes fragment and isolate our communities. They tear at our collective spirit."

Some 45 states have hate crime statutes, and investigations and prosecutions would remain mainly in state and local hands. But the bill provides federal grants to help state and local officials with the costs of prosecuting hate crimes and funds programs to combat hate crimes committed by juveniles. The federal government can step in after the Justice Department certifies that a state does not have jurisdiction or is unable to carry out justice.

Joe Solmonese, president of Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest homosexual-rights group, said it "will provide police and sheriff's departments with the tools and resources they need to ensure that entire communities are not terrorized by hate violence."

The Senate approved the measure by voice vote after a 63-28 procedural vote was needed to allow its consideration as part of the defense bill. The 28 no votes were all Republicans. Five Republicans voted for it, giving supporters the 60 votes they needed. (See the roll call vote)

Opponents of the bill, including conservative religious groups, argued that it infringes on states' rights and could intimidate free speech. "The bill could potentially imperil the free speech rights of Christians who choose to speak out against homosexuality -- which could even be extended to preaching against it," The Christian Coalition of America said in a statement.

Supporters countered that prosecutions under the bill can occur only when bodily injury is involved, and no minister or protester could be targeted for expressing opposition to homosexuality, even if their statements are followed by another person committing a violent action.

To emphasize the point, the Senate passed provisions restating that the bill does not prohibit constitutionally protected speech and that free speech is guaranteed unless it is intended to plan or prepare for an act of violence.

The FBI receives reports of nearly 8,000 hate crimes each year. Of those, about 15 percent are linked to sexual orientation, which ranks third after those involving race and religion.