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Obama Sticks To His 3-Step Health Care Strategy

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The Blair House Project summit neatly summarized President Obama’s yearlong strategy for pushing his health care agenda.

1. Focus on health care even as economic data show heavy job losses continuing. — Voters love that.

2. Call for bipartisanship then immediately pivot to a Democrat-only path to victory.

3. When in trouble, catch your breath, stop for a chat — then declare that the time for talking is over.

It’s an audacious program with a lot of fancy footwork to impress the audience. But as Olympians know, if you want the gold, you’ve got to stick the landing.

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GOP Had Its Best Day In Years

Healthcare Summit:
Stop the presses: David Gergen actually said something nice about the GOP Thursday.

"I don't think [the Democrats] got the breakthrough they were looking for in terms of the public, reaching the public and trying to change opinions," Gergen told Wolf Blitzer's "Situation Room" panel shortly after President Obama's healthcare summit ended.

"That is because intellectually, the Republicans had the best day they have had in years."

Gergen even reiterated, "The best day they have had in years."

Less amazing was the silence from the panel -- which consisted of Candy Crowley, John King, Gloria Borger, and Joe Johns -- when Gergen made this statement (video embedded below the fold with transcript, h/t Hot Air):

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POLL: Did Either Party Emerge Victorious from Yesterday's Summit?

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Democrats push ahead

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Democrats pushed hard to revive President Barack Obama's stalled health care overhaul on Friday. At the White House, press secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama would unveil a "way forward" next week on legislation that has been his foremost domestic priority.

At least for now, Democrats envision prevailing by getting the House to pass a Senate health bill, and also sending Obama a separate measure making changes in the Senate package.

The alterations include deleting a politically toxic provision that would have Washington finance expanded Medicaid coverage in Nebraska, easing a new tax on high-priced insurance policies that would have affected labor unions and making federal subsidies for poorer people more generous.

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POLL: Most Americans Don't Want Obamacare

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A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 51% fear the federal government most when it comes to such decisions. Thirty-nine percent (39%) fear private insurance companies more.

Forty-one percent (41% ) of voters favor the proposed health care plan, while 56% oppose it. Just 23% Strongly Favor the plan while 45% are Strongly opposed. Support for and opposition to the plan are at the same levels they’ve been at since just after Thanksgiving...

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POLL: Only 21% Say U.S. Government Has Consent of the Governed

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A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 61% disagree and say the government does not have the necessary consent. Eighteen percent (18%) of voters are not sure.

However, 63% of the Political Class think the government has the consent of the governed, but only six percent (6%) of those with Mainstream views agree.

Seventy-one percent (71%) of all voters now view the federal government as a special interest group, and 70% believe that the government and big business typically work together in ways that hurt consumers and investors.

That helps explain why 75% of voters are angry at the policies of the federal government, and 63% say it would be better for the country if most members of Congress are defeated this November. Just 27% believe their own representative in Congress is the best person for the job.

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Transformation

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On Sean's panel last night, when the conversation turned to how nervous Democrats supposedly are over what for now is teeing up like a very bad November, I felt like I was channeling Mark Steyn, Mark Levin and Rush.

That is, I think our side is analyzing this all wrong: Today's Democrats are controlled by the radical Left, and it is more important to them to execute the permanent transformation of American society than it is to win the upcoming election cycles.

That is, they have already factored in losing in November but deemed the power grabs of their policies to be worth it...

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Health Care Action Alert

Subject: txt action hcare action NPAC >>> !

The fight against the government takeover of our nation’s healthcare system isn’t over. In fact, we’re in even more danger now. It’s time to take action and hold Congress accountable.

Watch the video here…

[Then >


"OPPOSE ALL OBAMACARE"


YOUR Senators: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Californians:
Barbara Boxer web mail http://boxer.senate.gov/en/contact/policycomments.cfm
Dianne Feinstein webmail
http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactUs.EmailMe

YOUR Congressman: https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml

or: Speed Message them with your personal distribution list...

and as always, pass it on...

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We Are NOT Doing a Scaled-Back Bill,' Says House Democratic Source

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Before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., brings the Senate Democrats' health care reform legislation to the floor for a vote, she and her team are currently assessing whether or not they have the votes to pass it. They need 217 votes, a majority of the 432 members currently in Congress. They don’t have them right now. If the House doesn’t have the votes, senior White House officials say they would like Congress to pursue a more modest health care reform bill. But there seems little desire for that among House Democrats...

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ObamaCare will “divide and bankrupt America”

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Sen. Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican and personal friend of President Obama’s, on Saturday took a highly public stand against the president’s health care plan and against his intentions to “ram” a bill through Congress, warning that such a move will “divide and bankrupt America.”

Coburn, chosen as the Republican lawmaker to deliver the party’s regular weekend address to the nation, cautioned Obama against supporting the use of “reconciliation,” a legislative maneuver Democrats could execute to pass a bill through the

“If the president and the leaders in Congress are serious about finding common ground they should continue this debate, not cut it off by rushing through a partisan bill the American people have already rejected,”

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Higher Premiums, Service Cuts Coming with ObamaCare Reforms

Higher Premiums, Service Cuts Coming with ObamaCare Reforms

"You know 37 states already have tort reform," Siegel said. "That's one of these political solutions that doesn't make any sense - the same as today's summit. The problem with tort isn't even the issue with caps. It's the issue of nuisance suits. Once a doctor has been to a lawyer's office and has their charts combed through, they feel raided. The way they practice medicine changes. They become more defensive. We've got to get boards that cut down on nuisance suits. None of that is in the legislation. And if the American public is cynical it's because they know the trial lawyers association is preventing that."

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A NEW APPROACH TO HEALTH REFORM

Subject: txt hcare XFERED? "" in yahoo mail? NNB links?
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has an idea to fix health reform. In his "Road Map for America's Future," reintroduced this month:

• Americans would take refundable tax credits -- $2,300 for singles and $5,700 for families -- and choose private insurance.
• All insurance plans that are licensed in a particular state would be eligible, and each company would be free to set its own premiums.
• Low-income individuals would get extra tax credits so they could buy the same kind of health care as other Americans.

What about Medicare?

• Medicare would remain the same for current beneficiaries and for those 55 and older when they reach 65.
• But when those born in 1955 or later become eligible for Medicare at age 65, their plan would change.
• They would receive $11,000, adjusted for inflation, to buy a Medicare certified plan.
• Those with lower incomes or with more serious health conditions would receive more funding.

Further:

• Health insurance companies could offer high-deductible plans carrying lower premiums combined with health savings accounts, or more traditional managed care or fee-for-service plans.
• Persons with high-cost chronic illnesses, such as hemophilia or diabetes, would be placed in special affordable state high risk pools, with subventions paid by the government.

On Wednesday, Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf wrote to Ryan to tell him that this plan reduced health care costs and the federal deficit. He said:

"Under the proposal, national health expenditures would almost certainly be lower than they would under the alternative fiscal scenario. Federal spending for health care would be substantially lower, relative to the amount in that scenario, for working-age people and the Medicare population."

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['New' approach?

*FLASHBACKs :

Thursday, August 20, 2009

REPUBLICAN HEALTH CARE IDEAS

• The Ryan-Burr proposal would allow employees to opt out of their employer-based insurance plan and get a $5,000-per-family tax credit to buy health insurance or pay medical bills.
• It would also allow individuals and businesses to form pools and buy insurance anywhere in the country, not just in the state where they live.
• This will greatly expand the choices of coverage available to consumers and will also encourage broader competition and diversity among insurers.
• Along with practically every other plan, Democratic and Republican, the conservative plan would require insurance companies to offer insurance regardless of a person's pre-existing medical condition.

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"SUPPORT RYAN-BURR, KIRK-DENT PROPOSALS "

Senate-Reid: http://reid.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm
House-Pelosi: http://speaker.house.gov/contact/
YOUR Senator: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
YOUR Congressman: https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml
or: Speed Message them with your personal distribution list...
and as always, pass it on...

Monday, July 13, 2009

THE RYAN PLAN

"Having the government compete against the private sector is kind of like my seven-year-old daughter's lemonade stand competing against McDonalds"
Congressman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.)

Ryan argues that providing every American with a tax-free voucher specifically for the purchase of health insurance not only levels the playing field, but puts consumers in the position to make the health care choices that make sense to them.

Obviously, a lot of disentanglement would have to take place there involving regulations that have taken root over the years in all 50 states, but this is true consumer empowerment long overdue...

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Tuesday, March 17, 2009

STAGED

President Obama has used events such as community discussion groups and last week's summit to foster the impression that he is soliciting opinions from all angles of the health care debate, but the reality is a lot different. Obscured by the Administration's theatrics is the fact that it has kept at bay those who advocate free-market solutions rather than government-run health care.

The guest list to the [prior] 'summit' was a telling sign. Despite having representatives from 169 different labor, industry, and policy organizations, the White House did not invite any organizations that advocate a consumer-based free-market approach to health care.

Shadegg noted that other lawmakers who weren't invited included free marketers such as Rep. Paul Ryan...

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A SECOND NEW APPROACH TO HEALTH REFORM

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The Empowering Patients First Act, H.R. 3400, sponsored by Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), a physician and chairman of the House Republican Study Committee, would insure more people and cut costs:

• It would insure more people by letting individuals take tax deductions for health insurance premiums that they pay, just as employers do.
• Workers with employer-paid insurance could retain it.
• Low-income individuals would be given refundable tax credits in advance to help them pay premiums.
• States would be required to set up subsidized risk pools for those with chronic conditions who might otherwise be uninsurable.

The most innovative aspect of the Price bill:

• It allows -- but does not require -- employers to offer a monetary sum to workers so that they can purchase whatever insurance plan they choose in the open market, similar to defined contribution pension plans.
• Employers would still enjoy the same tax benefit for providing coverage, tax-free to the employee, but workers would be able to choose from an entire range of options, policies that they could carry with them when they change jobs.
• Now employees are generally limited to one plan, sponsored by their employer, and lose that coverage when they change jobs.

The contrast with the Democrats' health care plan could not be starker. Rather than turn the insurance industry into a federally-controlled public utility, the Republican plans would allow all Americans, including recipients of Medicare, Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, to shop around and purchase health insurance on the open market.

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[Again, more FLASHBACKS on this 'new' plan...


Monday, October 5, 2009

ANOTHER SERIOUS CONSERVATIVE HEALTH PLAN

For months President Obama has suggested that on health reform the choice is between the Democrats plans before Congress or the status quo. Congressional conservatives, like Rep. Price, have offered serious legislative alternatives that include practical health care solutions, only to have them all closed out of consideration by the majority party.

Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), chairman of the Republican Study Committee, has joined a host of other Republicans in the House of Representatives by crafting another serious conservative alternative to the health plans that the President and the Democratic leadership are trying to push through Congress...

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Thursday, July 30, 2009

GOP BILL PROMOTES CITIZEN CONTROL

"Empowering Patients First Act,"

which Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) will introduce tomorrow, instead promotes the individual insurance market as well as employer-based markets. Instead of focusing on regulating private insurers, the plan would in fact give them more freedom to work across state lines. Republicans say the plan will be paid for by reforms of defensive medicine, creating a more efficient health care system, and overall reductions in non-defense government spending.
"Liability reform has to be one or the hallmarks of a bill," ... "We make certain we pay for our bill by making this a priority."




"SUPPORT 'EMPOWERING PATIENTS FIRST ACT"

House-Pelosi: http://speaker.house.gov/contact/
YOUR Congressman: https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml

or: Speed Message them with your personal distribution list...
and as always, pass it on... [select to forward this Brief by email].

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What Bias? Re: MSM coverage of health care

[Meanwhile, in our professional media...]

• ABC: At 'Landmark' Summit an 'Exasperated' Obama Succeeded in Proving GOP 'Party of No'
• CBS Blames GOP For Gridlock at Health Care Summit
• WaPo Page One: 'Professor Obama' Schools 'Undisciplined Pupils' of GOP
• NYT: 'Unflappable' Obama Wins Day at Health Care Summit
• FNC': 'We're Gonna Lose' and 'Get Nothing' Thanks to GOP"
• MSNBC: GOP Kept Their 'Crazies in the Closet' But Still Sounded Like N. Korean Commies
• Newsweek Denigrates ObamaCare Opponents with Derisive 'Town Hall Face' Gallery

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[Did you do your duty above?

If so, thank you - if not, please...



"OPPOSE ALL OBAMACARE"


YOUR Senators: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Californians:
Barbara Boxer web mail http://boxer.senate.gov/en/contact/policycomments.cfm
Dianne Feinstein webmail
http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactUs.EmailMe

YOUR Congressman: https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml

or: Speed Message them with your personal distribution list...

and as always, pass it on...

.