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Not all the action on healthcare reform is happening in smoke filled rooms.
This week the Senate is considering its next payoff to a powerful lobbying group—a $247 billion package for the American Medical Association. The funding is not offset and would dramatically increase the deficit. Harry Reid is betting that the bill will prove politically impossible for most Senators, including Republicans, to oppose as it addresses the number one priority for most doctors over the years—the fact that Medicare doesn’t reimburse them enough. By considering the “doc fix” apart from overall healthcare reform, he and Max Baucus remove a major cost to that package. As Senator McConnell said, “This is so transparent. They’re taking this issue out of health care, suggesting that we spend a quarter of a trillion dollars, not pay for it, so that they can then argue, the very next week potentially, that this trillion-dollar health care bill is paid for.”
Even the media is reporting this is a bribe. Harry Reid will pay off the doctors’ lobby and in exchange the doctors lobby will support Obamacare.
The strategy is simple.
- Payoff the docs;
- Make your bill appear to cost less; and,
- Force Republicans to choose between their doctors and the fiscal health of the nation.
Now to be fair even many conservatives agree that Medicare’s physician reimbursements are set ridiculously low, amounting to a form of price controls on the system. And since doctors don’t have to participate in Medicare or take new seniors on as patients, if reimbursements are set too low, it creates access problems. That has led many to support short-term fixes that are often paid for with other spending reductions as stop-gaps until the overall system could be reformed. But let’s remember something folks. Medicare is a government-run healthcare program—the fact that it proves so costly that price controls are adopted is exactly what we’ve been arguing the future holds if Obamacare gets passed. Making it work right is not something that Republicans in Congress should sell their soul to fix and its certainly not something that should be allowed to enable a government takeover of the health care system.
Republicans need to fight this for what it is—a quarter of a trillion dollar payoff to the AMA to get them to keep supporting Obamacare. This will be a great litmus test of whether Republican claims of fiscal responsibility have any merit whatsoever. It’s easy to oppose a nearly trillion dollar stimulus and a nearly trillion dollar health takeover. It’s hard to tell your doctors back home, in the words of the immortal Meatloaf, that you’d do anything for love but won’t you do that. But that is exactly how we activists will ever know that Republicans have gotten our message—when they learn to say no to their voters when it comes to spending.
A brief message to you doctors out there, many of you good Republicans. Seriously, chill out. Congress is not going to let your reimbursements get cut so stop believing your AMA spam—from the same people who are no doubt enjoying their coffee and donuts over in Rahm Emmanuel’s office. These people (at least their lobbyists in DC) don’t want you to be free; they want you to be slaves to government in as much as many of you are already to Medicare. Don’t let that happen on your watch and with your dues and don’t be fooled by this shell game happening in the Senate and presumably soon in the House of Representatives.
Call your Senator and Representative — particularly those of you in Republican states and districts — and tell them to oppose S. 1776, a $247 billion doc fix that isn’t paid for and enables the passage of Obamacare.
Why don't they just pass it already?
suzieQ Tuesday, October 20th at 11:25AM EDT (link)They claim that the majority of America wants socialist medicine. They claim that the republicans are standing in their way. It takes 41 votes to make a filibuster successful. Why can’t they just admit that it is the democrats that are standing in the way of a democrat bill? Or just use reconciliation and prepare for the consequences? If the majority of America wants nazi health care, there shouldn’t be any consequences at the polls.
“It’s finally happened: Abortion stopped a bleeding heart.”
- Ann Coulter, January 25, 2006
“My concern about the role of the federal government is that an intrusive government, a government that says, ‘Don’t worry, we will solve your problems’ is a government that tends to crowd compassion out of the marketplace, that too often in the past people said: ‘Somebody else will take care of the problem in my area. Don’t worry. The government is here.’”
- George W. Bush October 31, 2000
“Had the decision belonged to Senator Kerry, Saddam Hussein would still be in power today in Iraq. In fact, Saddam Hussein would almost certainly still be in control of Kuwait.”
- Dick Cheney
Obamacare = HORROR!
njre Tuesday, October 20th at 12:30PM EDT (link)Horror! Doctors to be bribed for Obamacare? Don’t the doctors know they are on the butcher blocks?
Obamacare Horror! as in
‘3-D Halloween Obamacare Horror Show’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpQlTN9kgfo
Obamacare horror from Obama horror, go figure! Can you find another ‘president’ who spends a million bucks to hire attorneys to hide his original vaulted long form birth ceretificate? Everyone is asking why he hides his BC:-
http://www.scribd.com/doc/20917727/WHOARETHEBIRTHERS4-0
njre check this out
h ttp://www.scribd.com/doc/20917727/WHOARETHEBIRTHERS4-0
h ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpQlTN9kgfo
This isn't the first bribe in obamacare
billyd Tuesday, October 20th at 2:15PM EDT (link)During Rush Holt’s town hall meeting in August, he said on multiple ocassions that if the healthcare bill in the house that he supported didn’t pass, the medicare reimbursement rate doctors currently get would be cut. If it did pass, that cut would not happen. So…. Democrats have threatened doctors with lower payments if their plan doesn’t pass. In other words… You doctors better get behind this and push, or we’re going to cut your medicare reimbursement rate even lower than it already is.
November 2nd 2010. What are you doing today to improve your tomorrow?
Just emailed em'
makemyday Tuesday, October 20th at 2:20PM EDT (link)Stabenow and Levin from the Great State of Michigan just recvd. the following:
This is a total affront to our sensibilities. How can you spend another $257 billion off budget in the name of Health Care and not add to the deficit? You don’t have $257 billion available to spend so where are you going to get it this time? Stop the madness now! Vote NO on SB1776 and tell that pig in a poke Harry Reid to stuff himself.
Will post their response when it arrives.
When all else fails…….. Shoot!
“Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.” –American author Mark Twain (1835-1910)
“We should never despair, our Situation before has been unpromising and has changed for the better, so I trust, it will again. If new difficulties arise, we must only put forth new Exertions and proportion our Efforts to the exigency of the times.” –George Washington, letter to Philip Schuyler, 1777
Solution -- Tax Deductible Charity Care
drfredc Tuesday, October 20th at 5:03PM EDT (link)The solution to poor government health care reimbursement is simple,
Allow providers to deduct unreimbursed charity care from their income.
This simple targeted tax cut would provide a check and balance to who is and isn’t covered by government health care and how much is the taxpayers are paying for that care.
* Get politics out of health care — Allowing tax deductibility for charity care would give providers some modest incentive to offer charity care and you’ll get a lot of clinics that currently provide little to no Medicaid care to step up to provide high quality care, free from the limits of government red tape.
*When a grocery store donates food to a food bank, it’s tax deductible for the store. When Microsoft donates software to schools, it tax deductible for Microsoft. How come the same tax deductiblity doesn’t apply to providers of charity care?
* Tax deductible charity care would be self limiting and subject to less fraud because there’s a break even point where additional tax deductions would not benefit a clinic/provider.
* Tax deductibility of unreimbursed charity care would provide a needed check and balance to poor reimbursement rates and excessive red tape that runs rampant in Medicaid, SCHIP, Medicare care and more
* Clinics everywhere could develop long term stable systems to provide charity care on a sliding scale that makes sense to their community and situation.
* Tax deductible charity care offers about the same cost/benefit as many Medicaid payments, but without Medicaid’s limitations on quality care.
* Also, because such care would be related to provider charity, not political handouts, it’s highly likely that the folks receiving charity care would be much more appreciative of the care than they currently are under Medicaid rules.
Doctors, not politicians, provide health care!
Always, Fred C
Fred, Fred, Fred...
Vegas_Rick Tuesday, October 20th at 5:17PM EDT (link)Your proposition is waaaaayy too fair and makes waaaay too much sense and, more importantly, will not contribute to the socialization of America.
If you ran a practice as an S-Corp, could the care be deducted then?
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” Calvin Coolidge.
Call Tom Udall D-NM
GT350 Tuesday, October 20th at 5:17PM EDT (link)I made it uncomfortable for Tom Udall’s (D-NM) staffer over the phone. Udall is a co-sponsor, and is in a purple state.
I read the staffer the riot act about fiscal responsibility. I left off any mention of healthcare and all my other grievances. My view is to keep it focused on the issue at hand.
He’s not up for re-election until 2014, but I told him to enjoy the view from the Minority offices, since the Dems are going to lose the Senate next year.