Wu defends health care reform in Portland, despite hecklers

Top 10 Reasons Obamacare Is Wrong for America

1.. Millions Will Lose Their Current Insurance. Period. End of Story:
President Obama wants Americans to believe they can keep their insurance if
they like, but research from the government, private research firms, and
think tanks show this is not the case. Proposed economic incentives, plus a
government-run health plan like the one proposed in the House bill, would
cause 88.1 million people to see their current employer-sponsored health
plan disappear.

2.. Your Health Care Coverage Will Probably Change Anyway: Even if you
kept your private insurance, eventually most remaining plans--whether
employer plans or individual plans--would have to conform to new federal
benefit standards. Moreover, the necessary plan "upgrades" will undoubtedly
cost you more in premiums.

3.. The Umpire Is Also the First Baseman: The main argument for a "public
option" is that it would increase competition. However, if the federal
government creates a health care plan that it controls and also sets the
rules for the private plans, there is little doubt that Washington would put
its private sector "competitors" out of business sooner or later.

4.. The Fed Picks Your Treatment: President Obama said: "They're going to
have to give up paying for things that don't make them healthier.... If
there's a blue pill and a red pill, and the blue pill is half the price of
the red pill and works just as well, why not pay half for the thing that's
going to make you well." Does that sound like a government that will stay
out of your health care decisions?

5.. Individual Mandate Means Less Liberty and More Taxes: Although he once
opposed the idea, President Obama is now open to the imposition of an
individual mandate that would require all Americans to have federally
approved health insurance. This unprecedented federal directive not only
takes away your individual freedom but could cost you as well. Lawmakers are
considering a penalty or tax for those who don't buy government-approved
health plans.

6.. Higher Taxes Than Europe Hurt Small Businesses: A proposed surtax on
the wealthy will actually hit hundreds of thousands of small business
ownerswho are dealing with a recession. If it is enacted, America's top
earners and job creators will carry a larger overall tax burden than France,
Italy, Germany, Japan, etc., with a total average tax rate greater than 52%.
Is that the right recipe for jobs and wage growth?

Heckler and other critics?
Hummmmmmmmm seems to me the
words Citizens and Taxpayers
with First Amendment rights
are missing in action!

Problem for D.C. is we UNDERSTAND
what's in the bill and that it's
not in the final version. You know
those "final version bills" voted
on have been packed full of amendments
over night just before going to a
vote. Example Stimulous Package!

1. ABORTION
Pro-choice groups, like NARAL and Planned Parenthood, are demanding that
abortion be covered in any healthcare reform bill. In a recent interview
with Politico, Laurie Rubiner, vice president for public policy and advocacy
at Planned Parenthood, defends this demand by saying, "the alternative would
be slashing benefits for millions of women who currently have [private]
coverage for abortions..." In addition, key administration officials refuse
to rule out abortion coverage. When asked on Fox News Sunday whether
taxpayer money would go to pay for abortions, White House Budget Director
Peter Orszag replied, "I am not prepared to say explicitly that right now.
It's obviously a controversial issue, and it's one of the questions that is
playing out in this debate."
Pro-life senators on the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
Committee forced a roll call vote on the issue when Senator Barbara Mikulski
(D-MD) attempted to add an amendment to the healthcare bill that would, in
her words, "include women's health clinics that provide comprehensive
services...deemed medically necessary or appropriate." She admitted that
such "health clinics" would include Planned Parenthood. The pro-life
amendment to prohibit funding of abortion lost 11-to-12.

Question for your Congressmen: Will you oppose any healthcare reform bill
that uses my tax dollars to pay for abortions?

2. EUTHANASIA
In a recent New York Post column, Betsy McCaughey, a former lieutenant
governor of New York and health care expert, wrote:

"One troubling provision of the House bill compels seniors to submit to a
counseling session every five years (and more often if they become sick or
go into a nursing home) about alternatives for end-of-life care (House bill,
p. 425-430). The sessions cover highly sensitive matters such as whether to
receive antibiotics and 'the use of artificially administered nutrition and
hydration.' This mandate invites abuse, and seniors could easily be pushed
to refuse care."

Question for your Congressmen: Will you oppose any healthcare reform bill
that in any way promotes euthanasia?

3. COST
The United States faces a debt crisis. According to many analysts, including
Senator Judd Gregg (who is so respected by President Obama that he offered
Gregg the post of Secretary of Commerce), the Obama budget will give us $11
trillion of debt at the end of five years and $17 trillion of debt at the
end of ten years.(Source: PolitiFact.com )

Question for your Congressmen: Why is Congress and the president pushing
through a healthcare bill that would cost another trillion dollars over the
next ten years? Shouldn't we concentrate on getting the debt under control
first?

4. RATIONING CARE
According to a July 15th report by The Hill, "The House bill would be paid
for by roughly $500 billion in Medicare and Medicaid cuts..." These "cuts"
would come as millions of Americans are retiring. Logic suggests that if we
are "cutting" hundreds of billions of dollars healthcare would have to be
limited or rationed in someway to accommodate more people. And seniors would
be most affected by Medicare cuts.

In addition, advisors to President Obama, such as Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel,
brother of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, have suggested that
healthcare should be rationed to certain individuals. Dr. Emanuel once wrote
that "services provided to individuals who are irreversibly prevented from
being or becoming participating citizens...should not be guaranteed. An
obvious example is not guaranteeing health services to patients with
dementia."
(Source:
http://www.ncpa.org/pdfs/Where_Civic_Republic... )

Question for your Congressmen: How can government promise to do more with
less? Will you oppose any healthcare reform bill that in any way limits my
access to healthcare or medicines recommended by my doctor?

5. MORE BURDENS ON SMALL BUSINESSES
Despite a 9.5%(and rising) unemployment rate, the healthcare bill in the
House imposes a new 8% payroll tax on small businesses with payrolls of
$400,000 or more that don't provide health insurance for their employees.
This is in addition to the current 15% payroll tax. What this means is that
any employer with a payroll of $400,000 dollars or higher will have to pay
at least 25% above the salary just to hire someone. Common sense tells you
that any struggling small business will likely lay off workers to avoid this
additional tax. On the other hand, if the tax is cheaper than the cost of
health insurance, larger businesses may opt to cancel their health
insurance, forcing employees into the government's "public option," and
simply pay the 8% fine.(Source: Wall Street Journal, July 15, 2009)

Question for your Congressmen: Why are you imposing additional mandates and
taxes on small businesses, which create the overwhelming majority of new
jobs, in the middle of a severe recession?

6. QUALITY CARE
American healthcare is better than that in European countries with
socialized medicine. The German breast cancer mortality rate is 52% higher
than in the United States. Prostate cancer mortality is 604% higher in the
United Kingdom and 457% higher in Norway than in the United States. Canadian
healthcare lags behind the United States too. Canadian patients wait twice
as long to see a specialist for hip surgery or cancer than we do in the
United States. Most Americans say they are satisfied with the U.S. health
care system, but more than 70% of Germans, Canadians, Australians, New
Zealanders and Britons say that their systems need "fundamental change" or
"complete rebuilding." (Source: National Center for Policy Analysis.)

In an editorial on July 26th, the Washington Post criticized President Obama
for not "leveling about the consequences of change" when it comes to
healthcare costs versus quality. Here's what the Post wrote: "The
Congressional Budget Office estimates that new technology accounts for about
half the increase in health-care costs over the past several decades. This,
for the most part, is a good thing. Adjusted for inflation, health-care
spending per person is six times what it was 40 years ago. But no one today
would settle for 1960s-style medicine."

Question for your Congressmen: Why are you trying to force us in the
direction of more government involvement in healthcare when everywhere
government-run healthcare has been tried, quality declines and care is
rationed?

7. THE PEOPLE ARE BEING IGNORED
According to a recent poll, just 23% of voters believe healthcare reform
legislation will lower costs, while 53% believe it will lead to more
expensive care. By a margin of 50% to 23%, voters believe that "reform"
legislation will make the quality of care decline. And while voters believe
they will get worse care at higher costs, 78% also believe that healthcare
reform will result in middle class tax hikes. In addition, a recent Fox News
poll found that 91% of those surveyed have health insurance, 84% said that
the quality of their health insurance was either excellent or good and 83%
said the quality of health care they receive from their private insurance is
either good or excellent. And only 12% of those surveyed said reforming
health care was the most important issue Congress should be working on right
now.(Source: Rasmussen Reports, July 28, 2009 and Fox News poll July 23,
2009.)

Question for your Congressmen: Why are you and the White House rushing this
bill through Congress and ignoring the concerns of the American people?

8. LOSS OF FREEDOM
The healthcare reform legislation under consideration in the House will
eventually force all Americans into a government-approved plan. After a
five-year grace period, every new insurance policy will have to comply with
government mandates, and any policy changes - "altering co-pays,
deductibles, or even switching coverage for this or that drug" - invalidates
your previous coverage and forces you to choose a government "qualified"
plan. In addition, the House plan mandates coverage for every individual. If
you are self-employed or choose not buy insurance for whatever reason, the
bill imposes a "healthcare tax" of 2.5% of your income.(Source:
CNNMoney.com , July 24, 2009 and Bloomberg.com , July 15, 2009)

Question for your Congressmen: Why do you believe bureaucrats can make
better decisions than me about what kind of health insurance I should have?
And will you guarantee that any healthcare reform bill passed by Congress
will always allow me to choose my own doctor?

9. RACIAL PREFERENCES
Do you care about the race of a doctor who is getting ready to operate on
you? Of course not. Most Americans want their doctor to be the best
professional available regardless of race or ethnic background. But
congressional liberals have a different idea. On page 909 of the House bill,
grants to medical schools will be awarded "to entities that have a
demonstrated record of the following...training individuals who are from
underrepresented minority groups or disadvantaged backgrounds." (Source:
Investors Business Daily, July 27, 2009)

Question for your Congressmen: Why are you throwing affirmative
action/racial set asides into a healthcare reform bill?

10. PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS
President Obama has repeatedly said that "no insurance company will be
allowed to deny you coverage because of a pre-existing medical condition."
That sounds wonderful until you apply common sense, which is in short supply
in Washington. What if we made a law that allowed you to buy car insurance
after you got into an accident and that required the insurance company to
pay for the damage? Wouldn't many people just wait for an accident before
buying insurance? Why wouldn't many Americans wait until they were sick to
buy health insurance?

Question for your Congressmen: Isn't it clear that this provision would
drive up the cost of health insurance for everyone?

Bad Employer Bailout? Reform Could Fund Health Care for Illegal Workers

Under health care legislation on Capitol Hill, undocumented workers would technically not be covered. But the reality, immigration analysts say, is that the legislation is missing any mechanism to keep them out of the system. And if they exploit that loophole, taxpayers could be on the hook for billions to cover health care costs that employers don't.

Health care reform could end up bailing out employers who hire illegal immigrants and skimp on their health benefits.

Under the legislation being considered on Capitol Hill, undocumented workers would technically not be covered. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said as much in an interview Sunday.

"No, illegal immigrants are not covered by this plan," she said.

But the reality, immigration analysts say, is that the legislation is missing any mechanism to keep illegals out of the system. And if they exploit that loophole, taxpayers could be on the hook for billions to cover health care costs their employers do not.

Already, illegal immigrants account for $10.7 billion in state and federal health care spending, according to preliminary numbers from The Federation for American Immigration Reform.

Special projects director Jack Martin said that amount, which derives in large part from emergency room visits and births, would only rise unless the health care proposals on the Hill are changed.

"The bill in its current form is in effect going to be tempting to illegal immigrants who are not yet receiving medical benefits," Martin said. "We would expect that the cost would increase."

In a recent study, FAIR said that nothing in the health care package would prevent illegal immigrants from enrolling in a taxpayer-funded public plan, and that no verification mechanisms exist to prevent them from receiving credits to help with private plans.

The increased burden on taxpayers means they would inevitably end up footing the bill for employers who hire illegal immigrants.

The Center for Immigration Studies estimates that 7.25 million illegal immigrants do not have health insurance.

Steven Camarota, research director at the non-partisan think tank, said that of those, about 4 million are probably employed -- and that the cost of covering all of them could be in the neighborhood of $8 billion to $12 billion annually.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/07/30/re...