Tag Archives: Obamacare

News

Idaho and Virginia pass legislation to opt-out of Obamacare

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First, Idaho. (H/T Secondhand Smoke via ECM)

Excerpt:

Idaho took the lead in a growing, nationwide fight against health care overhaul Wednesday when its governor became the first to sign a measure requiring the state attorney general to sue the federal government if residents are forced to buy health insurance. Similar legislation is pending in 37 other states.

And then, Virginia. (H/T Secondhand Smoke via ECM)

Excerpt:

The Virginia General Assembly has given final approval to a bill that would make it illegal for the government to require individuals to purchase health insurance, a measure intended to conflict with Democratic efforts to reform health care in Washington.

[…]Gov. Robert F. McDonnell said Wednesday that he intends to sign the legislation.

The measure had been virtually assured passage since five Democrats crossed party lines last month in the state Senate, which their party controls, and supported the proposal.

Proponents of the measure said the federal government should not force private citizens to enter into private contracts for insurance. The legislation, they said, was a way to send a message to Washington.

Idaho is a red state, but Virginia is purple. Interesting. It looks like people are not interested in paying for mandatory coverages for medical services that they will never use, like abortions, in-vitro fertilization or sex changes. I guess people do who want those services will have to pay the full price themselves, while the rest of us who don’t want those services will just buy what coverage we need, and spend the rest of our money on gas and groceries, instead.

Tom Coburn warns corrupt Democrats

Sen. Tom Coburn, M.D., warning Democrats who vote for Obamacare in exchange for pork and bribes.

Suddenly, I feel proud to be a Republican. How about you?

News

Massachusetts treasurer says Obamacare could wipe out the economy in 4 years

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Story here from Business Week. (H/T ECM)

Excerpt:

The Massachusetts treasurer said Tuesday that Congress will “threaten to wipe out the American economy within four years” if it adopts a health care overhaul modeled after the Bay State’s.

Treasurer Timothy Cahill — a former Democrat running as an independent for governor — said the 2006 law has succeeded only because of huge subsidies and favorable regulatory changes from the federal government.

[…]Cahill said he’s called for the state to abandon its plan, and for the federal government not to match it.

He also gave reporters a copy of a state ledger sheet showing the state’s Medicaid program ballooning from $7.5 billion to a projected $9.2 billion since the health care law was adopted. Of the 407,000 newly insured, only 32 percent paid for insurance wholly on their own.

The remaining received partial or total taxpayer subsidies.

[…]Cahill [pointed] out the Obama administration is asking the House and Senate to approve a national plan that includes an “individual mandate,” similar to Massachusetts’, and an entity designed to match buyers with private health insurance plans.

Cahill said the Massachusetts equivalent, the Health Care Connector, had helped only 5 percent of those who bought private insurance without any type of government assistance.

While the Massachusetts program has increased access to health insurance, he said it hasn’t cut underlying cost increases, steering more people to a broken system.

“If President (Barack) Obama and the Democrats repeat the mistake of the health insurance reform adopted here in Massachusetts on a national level, they will threaten to wipe out the American economy within four years,” the treasurer said.

Let’s learn from the mistakes of others who tried to do what Obama is doing.

News

Survey of doctors finds 46% would quit practicing if Obamacare passes

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The survey was commissioned by the New England Journal of Medicine.  (H/T ECM)

Excerpt:

In a physician survey conducted December 2009 by The Medicus Firm, a national physician search firm, 24.7% of physicians stated that they would “retire early” if a public option is implemented, and an additional 21.0% of respondents stated that they would quit practicing medicine, even though they are nowhere near retirement. This brings the amount of physicians who would leave medicine to a total of 45.7%.

[…]Over 50% of physicians who responded predict that a health reform would cause the quality of medical care to deteriorate in America. When asked how health reform could affect the quality of medical care, 40.7% stated it would “decline or worsen somewhat,” while another 14.4% stated that the quality of medical care would “decline or worsen dramatically”. If a public option is implemented as part of health reform, 64.1% of physicians predict that the quality of medical care in general will decline.

It’s hard enough to be a doctor already. Making it harder, and less profitable, just results in fewer doctors. Why don’t Democrats understand that people respond to incentives and disincentives?