October Surprise

The Obamacare Follies
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, aka ObamaCare, turned six months old on September 23. Hardly anybody celebrated the occasion, and it isnt hard to figure out why. Last spring President Obama promised Democrats that supporting the new entitlement would turn out to be a political winner. But, like a lot of Obama promises, this ones turned out to be a bunch of baloney. ObamaCare is less popular than it was on the day it was born, and it wasnt popular then, either....

At least they're gone
Democrats have lefttown without passing a Budget or any appropriations bills, nor have they answered the questionAmericansin every Tax bracket are asking: What will my taxrate be comeJanuary 2011? The focus for Democrats now is not on legislating, nor on touting their unpopular accomplishments, but rather on Attack Ads calling into question the personal records of their Republican opponents taxes, business dealings, Divorce proceedings. It isn't likely to be so effective,...

Movie Star/Actor
Vol. 16, No. 04 The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, aka ObamaCare, turned six months old on September 23. Hardly anybody celebrated the occasion, and it isnt hard to figure out why. Last spring President Obama promised Democrats that supporting the new entitlement would turn out to be a political winner. But, like a lot of Obama promises, this ones turned out to be a bunch of baloney. The War on the Young

Obama hails departing Rahm Emanuel, the #$&@)* tough guy who chokes up anyway (SFW)
Rahm Emanuel, the savyy, rough-talking top aide to President Obama , left his White House job today to return to what every Windy City pol regards as the Big Leagues, the nation's No. 3 city where he'll seek to become head of the long-dominant Democratic machine that he once served as a go-fer. He must register his candidacy by Nov. 22. Obama gave his longtime political friend a send-off full of bounteous praise (see full text and video below), and what sounded like a mayoral...

Statement by President Obama on California Health Benefits Exchange Legislation
I want to congratulate Governor Schwarzenegger, Speaker Pérez, President Pro Tempore Steinberg and the members of the California State Legislature for passing and signing the Bipartisan California Health Benefits Exchange Legislation.   They are taking an important early step toward reforming our private Insurance marketplace so that California families and small businesses will have high quality and affordable Health Insurance choices in 2014 when reform is fully...

Presidential Proclamation--National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
 While considerable progress has been made in the fight against Breast Cancer, it remains the most frequently diagnosed type of non skin Cancer and the second leading cause of Cancer Deaths among women in our country.  This year alone, over 200,000 Americans will be diagnosed and nearly 40,000 lives will be claimed.  During National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we reaffirm our commitment to supporting Breast Cancer research, and to educating all Americans about its risk...

Towey's Hypocritical Hooey: Bush 'Faith Czar' Complains About Politicization Of White House Faith-Based Office
Under James Towey, the White House faith-based office was used to promote Republican Candidates in tight House and Senate races. James Towey, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives under President George W. Bush, had an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal recently carping because President Barack Obama has used his administrations faith-based offices to let Americans know about the New Health-care law. Towey says if he had politicized his...

Re: ObamaCare will make doctor shortage 50% worse by 2015
Topics: Political News and commentaries It seems that more and more disturbing truths about the monster called ObamaCare just keeps coming out almost daily. After learning the latest truth about Obama's lies - that 'you can keep your current Health coverage' - now comes the news that a new study by the Association of American Medical Colleges and reported by Reuters shows that the bill will have a big impact on an expected shortage of physicians over the next few years -- by amplifying it ....

Flatlines: Seniors and Thousands of Others Will Lose Their Current Health Insurance Under ObamaCare
On Wednesday, The Boston Globe reported that ObamaCare will cause 22,000 seniors in Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire to lose their current Medicare Advantage Health Insurance plans.        Meanwhile, The Principal Financial Group announced Thursday that it will no longer sell Health Insurance and all its customers will lose their current Health plan.

Sebelius: Anonymous Political Speech 'Dangerous'
Filed under:  Cato Publications ; Government and Politics ; Health, Welfare & Entitlements ; Law and Civil Liberties Tags:  Andy Griffith , anonymous Speech , Campaign Finance reform , Censorship , chill Speech , Citizens United , CMS , free Speech , Freedom of Speech , Health Care reform , Health Insurance exchange , hhs , Kathleen Sebelius , Medicare , ObamaCare , Political Speech , Speech Rationing , Wisconsin right to life Share/Bookmark

DISCLOSE act obituaries are premature
Reports of the DISCLOSE Acts death are greatly exaggerated. Certainly, the current version is unlikely to recover from again falling one vote short of the 60 needed to obtain Cloture. But the upcoming Election is bound to breathe new life into the legislative effort to provide the American People with information about the flood of money -- much of it completely anonymous -- that is pouring into key races. The flood comes courtesy of the Supreme Courts shocking decision...

What makes the US health care system so expensive - Introduction
Recent Publications: "Beneficiary Price Sensitivity in the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Market" (Health Economics 19(1), 2010). [ summary ] "Uninsured Adults with Chronic Conditions or Disabilities: Gaps in Public Insurance Programs" (Health Affairs, 2009). [ summary ] "Payment Reduction and Medicare Private Fee for Service" (Health Care Financing Review 30(3), 2009). [ summary ]

Patient Choice Can Prevent Rationing Abuses
This is the fourth installment in a series on correcting the mistakes in the Democrats Health Reform Bill. Click here to read the rest of the series. Uniting insurers and providers into an integrated Health delivery System would better preserve patient choice, insure quality Care and manage Costs than the Democrats Health Reform Bill. Rising Health Costs could better be managed when insurers provide a Budget and affiliated providers make decisions about Care within that Cost...

5 Myths About No Child Left Behind
It's the 800-pound gorilla of U.S. education. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the sweeping Legislation enacted six years ago to improve public Schools, seems to make a lot of people unhappy. But President Bush, undaunted by the barrage of criticism aimed at this beleaguered measure by States, Teachers' Unions and politicians on both sides of the aisle, is pushing Congress to reauthorize it this year . Many Capitol Hill observers believe that it won't survive without the political clout a...

ObamaCare Prods Yet Another Insurer to Flee the Market
By forcing the exit of Principal Financial Group — which ran a profitable, $1.6 Billion Health Insurance business — ObamaCare has now left 840,000 Americans to find another source of coverage. According to The New York Times , other insurers may soon follow: More insurers are likely to follow Principals lead, especially as they try to meet the new rules that require plans to spend at least 80 cents of every dollar they collect in Premiums on the welfare of their...

Six Months Later...
Share with your friends: Six months ago today, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly known as ObamaCare. The intervening six months have shown that this Health Care law offers neither patient protection nor affordable Health Care — in fact, quite the opposite. ObamaCare's greatest selling point was that it would guarantee Health Insurance Coverage to people with Pre-existing Conditions, starting with Children, through government price controls that...

Thanks To Obamacare, Iowa Insurer To Stop Selling Health Insurance
On Wednesday, President Obama was in Iowa to again attempt to sell his policies, particularly his unpopular Health Care law. In a backyard discussion, a woman expressed her concerns to the President about his Health Care bill. Obama assured her , [T]heres nothing in the bill that says you have to change the Health Insurance that youve got right now. He went on to say, [I]f youve got Health Care through your employer, thats not going to change, except to make it a...

Reid Attacks Angle on Federal Benefits
By Danny Yadron Nevada Sen. Harry Reid s re-election campaign is tossing around the H-word in its latest Attack on Republican rival Sharron Angle . Hypocrisy. The radio Ad says shes a hypocrite for advocating drastic cuts in government while she and her husband, who worked for the Bureau of Land Management for 30 years, benefit from his federal Pension and Health Insurance. Shes living off her husbands BLM government Pension and receiving Health coverage from his government-run Insurance...

The War on the Young
Last week, in an effort to limit the damage to Congressional Democrats in Novembers Elections, President Obama set out in pursuit of the Youth Vote, traveling to several college campuses to rally the Young Activists who were so important to his Presidential Campaign. What I want to do is just to speak to Young People directly and remind them of what I said during the Campaign, he told reporters on Monday.  But rather than listen to the president talk about what he said two years...

Healthy Living
In his 2006 book "In Our Hands: A Plan to End the Welfare State," author Charles Murray proposed eliminating Welfare, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, etc., and just giving every adult American $10,000 per year. Murray argues this would "supercharge" the voluntary institutions of civil society (the heartfelt interactions of families, friends, coworkers, charities, private groups, Associations, religious organizations, etc.), and generate an improvement in Public and private...

Medicaid Enrollment Spikes to 48 Million; Huge Influx in Weak Economy
With The Economy barely improving, states are forecasting a 6 percent increase in the rolls next year, meaning another strain on their cash-depleted budgets. Thursday, September 30, 2010 By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press Washington (AP) - More people signed up for Medicaid last year than at any time since the program's inception, as the Recession wiped out jobs and workplace Health coverage. A report released Thursday by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation found that enrollment...

Morning Must Reads: Rouse
--President Obama will make a "personnel announcement" at 11:05 am from the East Room (Spoiler: As Michael noted, Emanuel is out and Pete Rouse is replacing him. ) -- Ezra Klein has a thorough primer/link dump on thesoon-to-be Chief of Staff. --Max Boot critiques Bob Woodward's "Obama's Wars" as too far removed from the conflicts . --Taiwanese animators have their own fire-breathing interpretation. --Elizabeth Warren takes to the Wall Street Journal to explain how she sees the...

Exemption from national health-care law no boon to Hawaii business
By Laura Brown — Business and Health Insurance costs to remain high under Hawaii’s exemption to national healthcare law

Sean Bielat raises $400K in challenge to Barney Frank
B OSTON - Sean Bielat, the Republican challenger to Democratic Rep. Barney Frank, says he raised $400,000 last month to help him compete with the 15-term congressman. Bielat’s campaign released his Fundraising totals for the most recent reporting period Friday, but would not reveal how much of the money came from supporters outside of Massachusetts. A spokesman for Frank’s campaign said they did not have the Fundraising figures for the Newton Democrat since the last reporting...

News Corp. Gives to Business Group
By NEIL KING JR. News Corp. has made another prominent Election-year contribution, this time a $1 million gift to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The contribution comes roughly four months after the company stirred criticism in Democratic circles for giving $1 million to the Republican Governors Association. It was one of the largest corporate donations to the GOP group this Election season. While not an overtly partisan group, the Washington-based Chamber of Commerce is investing millions in...