The Autumn season is upon us, a time when Mother Nature offers up colorful visual spectacles and cooler temperatures before her Winter slumber. The Autumn season in Washington is itself offering up its own kind of spectacles, but temperatures are becoming hotter, not cooler, as millions are realizing that the Obamacare promise of “if you like your health plan, you can keep your health plan. Period.” was as fictitious as the Great Pumpkin.

As a friend of 60 Plus you were there with us from the beginning, way back in 2009, when we warned of the dire consequences of the President’s healthcare reform long before its passage. Now that people have seen and felt the devastating consequences of Obamacare, we remain committed as ever to fighting for its repeal, and replacing it with healthcare reform that puts doctors and patients first!

Whether standing tall on Capitol Hill for renewed legislation to kill the Death Tax, honoring our veterans at the DC War Memorial or beating back the AARP’s coordination with Obama’s EPA to shut down coal plants in Alabama and all across America, we at 60 Plus remain ever vigilant defending the traditions that made America great, supporting the free-market economy and promoting an often ignored document called the U.S. Constitution.

As the air begins to frost in the Winter weeks ahead, rest assured you can continue to count on your friends at 60 Plus to keep the heat turned up on our elected decision makers, as we fight to protect the future of seniors and every American!

In this issue:

• 60 Plus Supports the Keep Your Health Plan Act
• Congress Takes Action to Kill the Death Tax
• Obamacare OFF the Rails, Part II
• AARP Wants Seniors on Food Stamps
• Honoring the 50 Year Anniversary of the March on Washington
• 60 Plus In the News

60 Plus Supports the Keep Your Healthcare Act

Thanks to Obamacare, there are three basic types of people in the country: those who have lost their insurance, those who are going to lose their insurance, and friends of Obama and Members of Congress who were never stuck with Obamacare to begin with. Unfortunately most of us are not in that 3rd category, which leaves us in the same position as the five million Americans (and counting) who have lost their healthcare coverage since Obamacare was launched this year.

The historic lie of President Obama promising Americans that “if you like your healthcare, you can keep your healthcare… no matter what” under Obamacare is being addressed by Congress with the introduction of Congressman Fred Upton’s (R-MI) Keep Your Health Plan Act, in the House, and Senator Ron Johnson’s (R-WI) If you like your healthcare plan, you can keep it Act in the Senate. These companion bills seek to stem the widespread cancellation of health plans by allowing them to be continued through next year.

Said 60 Plus Chairman Jim Martin, “The rollout of Obamacare has been, as many predicted, an absolute nightmare for millions as they learn they are being tossed off their plans and being forced to pay through the nose for plans they do not want. The two Keep Your Health Plan Acts will go a long way toward waking Americans from this nightmare, and giving them peace of mind by preserving the coverage and health care services they rely on.”

While the collapse of Obamacare appears imminent, seniors and their families desperately need protection until that day comes. Thankfully, there are still plenty in Congress taking a courageous stand by continuing to fight the ill effects of Obamacare at every opportunity.

Congress Takes Action to Kill the Death Tax

60 Plus has been the national leader in fighting to repeal the job-killing, un-American Death Tax. For over 20 years, Chairman Jim Martin, in several books and commentaries, is even credited by many for helping brand it with its rightful name. So it should be no surprise that 60 Plus was once again front and center this Summer with Congress as new legislation to kill the Death Tax was introduced on Capitol Hill, the Death Tax Repeal Act of 2013.

Senator John Thune (R-SD) and Congressman Kevin Brady (R-TX) introduced S.1183 and H.R.2429 respectively, bills that call for the permanent repeal of this most despised tax. Thune and Brady were joined by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-UT), along with the lone Democrat, Rep. Mike McIntyre (D-NC) and Rep. Kristi Noem (R-SD), among others.

Proclaiming that “death should not be a taxable event,” Sen. Thune noted how toxic the death tax has been for family businesses, with 70% failing to make it to the 2nd generation, and 90% of family businesses never making it to the 3rd generation.

At the Capitol Hill press conference announcing the legislation, Martin proclaimed the “temporary” tax, which was passed in 1916 to help fund WWI, must be killed by its 100th birthday, not tinkered with as politicians in tax writing committees have been complacent to do through the years.

Said Martin, “In this age of gridlock, here is a truly bi-partisan opportunity for Congress to work together to repeal a tax that cuts across philosophical lines, with many liberals and conservatives supporting total repeal, along with better than 70% of the voting public. It’s a terrible tax that does more harm than good. It’s worth noting that in 2005, the last significant vote on repeal, over 40 Democrats joined 230 Republicans in voting ‘aye!’

“While Congress has a penchant for literally taxing anything that moves, it has actually outdone itself — taxing things that don’t move! The new game plan for death tax repeal is to keep getting more and more Members of Congress, in a spirit of bi-partisanship, to vote to repeal the ‘temporary’ death tax that was imposed way back in 1916 to help finance WWI. It’s the only thing still alive from that conflict. It’s time to bury it once and for all,” Martin concluded.

Rest assured it is only a matter of time before the Death Tax is killed off for good. With a strong push and continued bi-partisan support, that day can’t come soon enough!

Obamacare OFF the Rails, Part II

Back in the Spring, 60 Plus chronicled the many failings of Obamacare with a story titled, ‘Obamacare off the Rails.’ Now just a few months later, the legislation that many have called a ‘train wreck’ is unraveling, and momentum for its repeal is picking up like a steaming locomotive. Setting aside the obvious problems with Americans losing their healthcare coverage due to Obamacare, there are still LOTS of other problem areas for this law yet to come. Here are just a few of the reasons why, hopefully, Obamacare WON’T be coming soon to a town near you!

• Delays in ImplementationPresident Obama sensed a possible senior citizen revolt with pending Medicare cuts last year, so he delayed them until after the election. Now with the 2014 midterm elections just over the horizon, Obama is sensing a repeat of 2010 when more than 60 Democrats lost their seats and is again delaying key parts of Obamacare’s implementation. The employer mandate which could kick between 70 to 93 million people off their healthcare plans is now conveniently off the table until after the next election, as are dozens of other provisions that will give most Americans high blood pressure.

  As the Chicago Tribune recently stated, “Democrats strong-armed Obamacare into law three years ago. Now they’re busy flouting it.” Obama, they point out, is re-writing the law as he goes along, without the authority to change what Congress has already passed.

  In fact a recent study by the Congressional Research Service shows that of 82 Obamacare deadlines embedded in the law, Obamacare has already missed 41 of these implementation dates. Now if your child brought home a report card showing only 50% of the answers correct on tests, wouldn’t it be time to maybe withhold some allowance? Obama’s failing grade with implementing his own healthcare law makes probably the best case for withholding Obamacare’s allowance from Congress!

• Former Supporters Now Turning Against ObamacareFor years liberals mocked Sarah Palin for calling the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) a ‘death panel,’ but now even former DNC Chairman Howard Dean agrees, saying it does nothing but ration care and should be done away with. And while Mr. Dean may be the most notable Democrat now calling for the repeal of IPAB, he’s far from alone. Many fellow members of his party are increasing in their call to repeal it (the ones up for election). Combine this change of heart with the labor unions now howling over Obamacare’s decimation of their current health plans and demanding out, and it looks a lot like rats running from a sinking ship.
• IRS: Obamacare for You, but Not for UsSpeaking of abandoning ship, what does it say about a law when the very people who wrote Obamacare and collect its taxes want absolutely nothing to do with it? In a move that breaks the needle of the hypocrisy meter, the National Treasury Employees Union representing IRS workers (yes, the IRS has its own union) whined about getting shackled with Obamacare as the rest of the public is forced to do, and got a waiver out. In fact, thanks to Obama’s personal intervention ALL federal employees, including the members of Congress and their staffs who forced this on us are now Obamacare free, meaning the government will still make contributions to their insurance plans. Isn’t this the kind of hypocritical elitism that got King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette into so much trouble?
• Sales Job Not SellingObamacare is so unpopular and confusing to regular Americans that the Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) is spending $67 million in grants to help sell the program and sign people up. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius also solicited elite athletes in the NBA and NFL to promote Obamacare. Much to their credit, they said ‘no thank you’, aware that Obamacare is just hazardous to your health.
• Part-time NationWhile President Obama attempts to spin terrible economic news as a positive, remember that 2/3rds of the jobs ‘created’ under his Administration are part-time, while nearly 80% of the jobs lost since he took office paid middle-class wages. In fact many economists are concerned Obamacare is creating a ‘part-time nation,’ built on low wage food service and clerking jobs. NBC news recently conducted a survey of businesses and found that a majority plan to freeze or cutback hiring, while also cutting worker hours below 30 hours, the threshold under which Obamacare kicks in. Obama must think that since he only works part time, it must be ok if the rest of America does the same!
• Who Needs Privacy Anyway? Another area of Obamacare far behind schedule is the mechanism by which peoples’ health records will be kept private and confidential. We all know by now that the IRS keeps information about as private as former New York Congressman Anthony Weiner’s Twitter account, so be prepared to have your identity and personal information advertised to the world. As the Daily Caller pointed out, ” Take, for example, recent warnings by a former Social Security Commissioner about the startling absence of privacy protections in the portals the public will use to enroll under the new healthcare system. He warns that HHS has ignored predictions from experts that the lack of adequate privacy measures will lead to massive identity theft. Who would risk signing up if they knew it would open them to identity theft?”

Other than this, the $716 billion cut from Medicare, the $2.16 trillion (and counting) Obamacare will add to the deficit, the $819 billion in new taxes and an upcoming shortage of over 60,000 doctors, this law seems to be working just great!

AARP Wants Seniors on Food Stamps

Since Obama took office, nearly 20 million additional Americans have been added to the food stamp rolls, an atrocious statistic that speaks to the desperation created by the President’s flawed and incoherent economic policies.

Enter the AARP, who far from demanding a change of direction on behalf of their members have instead chosen to send people door-to-door to help enlist seniors to take part in this ever-expanding entitlement.

Let’s not forget that in 2008 and 2012 seniors voted overwhelmingly against Obama, and the President remains most unpopular with seniors compared to any other age group. So if you can’t beat ’em, might as well buy ’em! Making more seniors dependent on government is a pitiful legacy that mocks the values of older Americans, and conflicts with their wish of living out their golden years independently, and with dignity.

60 Plus Chairman Jim Martin responded to this outrage on Varney & Company on the Fox Business Network, and surmised, “The AARP has been with Obama hand-in-hand from the very beginning, helping sink our economy with their support of Obamacare and extreme environmental regulations that put energy companies out of business. To say they are now ‘helping’ seniors by putting them on government assistance is a disgrace.” You can watch the Martin interview here.

Honoring the 50 Year Anniversary of the March on Washington

August of this year marked the 50th anniversary of the historic March on Washington, an event that championed liberty, promoted equality and celebrated the unique individualism of the American spirit. That year, 1963, a newspaper reporter by the name of Jim Martin covered that event, and just a few months later the tragic assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Now Chairman of 60 Plus, Jim was invited to participate in the 50 year remembrance held by the Southern Baptist Leadership Conference, a night that included many participants from the original march.

Said Martin, “Dr. King’s words, from the moment he uttered them, were destined to be heard by every generation of Americans yet to come, and with the eyes of the nation on him, he lifted our character to a higher level, and forever changed the world. This was a proud moment to be an American. Every stripe of American was there to bear witness. Champions for equal rights, victims of discrimination, celebrities, politicians, rich, poor, from every walk of life, of every race, of every creed.”

To read Jim Martin’s full comments marking this historic occasion click here.

In the News

JFK – 50 Years Later

In 1963, Jim Martin was a 27 year-old reporter on Capitol Hill. 50 years later, he offers this exclusive to the Washington Times, a recollection of that dark day when our 35th President was struck down by an assassin’s bullet in Dallas. Click here.

Martin also participated in a short video retrospective honoring the memory of JFK through the Sinclair network. To watch Jim Martin’s reflection of the day on Capitol Hill when JFK was shot please click here.

Pat Boone and Jim Martin Take the Court at the National Senior Games

Legendary entertainer and 60 Plus National Spokesman Pat Boone shook the rust off his sneakers and hit the hardwood at the National Senior Games, joining 60 Plus Chairman Jim Martin’s Virginia Creepers in the 75-79 year old division. Though the Creepers won easily in the early rounds, in the end it was not their year to bring home the trophy. But some great basketball memories were created and rekindled, including Pat’s former stint as an owner of a team in the old American Basketball Association.

To see Pat Boone’s amazing behind-the-back pass for an easy bucket click here, and for a slideshow of Pat on the hardwood click here.

Jim Martin on the Mike Gallagher Radio Program

Jim Martin joined national conservative radio host Mike Gallagher recently to discuss all the setbacks and problems with getting Obamacare off the ground, and why the law increases in unpopularity with the American public by the day.

60 Plus on Fox News

60 Plus President Amy Frederick appeared on Fox and Friends to discuss the broken promises of Obamacare. To see Amy’s excellent breakdown of Obamacare’s failings on America’s most-watched morning cable show, click here.

Last month 60 Plus Chairman Jim Martin appeared on Fox Business Channel’s “The Willis Report” to discuss the potential impact of the government shutdown on senior citizens. To see Jim’s interview, click here.