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Senior Alert: First Shoe Drops, Senate Finance Approves Obamacare Legislation
Despite the fact that America’s seniors OVERWHELMINGLY disapprove of President Obama and the Congressional Democrats pushing for a government takeover of health care, the Senate Finance Committee approved by a 14-9 margin a plan that does just that (See Sad Day for Seniors).
The legislation, called a “down payment” on nationalized health care by the AFL-CIO is now moving to the full U.S. Senate for a vote, where a razor-thin 60-vote majority can pass it and defeat a planned filibuster by a unanimously opposed Republican Senate delegation.
As 60 Plus has stated repeatedly and adamantly since the time this legislation was first conceived, massive cuts to Medicare are in the works — more than half a trillion dollars for starters. Health care legislation pushed by Obama and the Democrats will cause severe rationing of services, medicine and preventative care for seniors, and push thousands of doctors and nurses out of the profession.
We must FIGHT BACK immediately. Call your Senator today and tell them you will commit yourself to voting him or her out of office if they support this legislation! 202-224-3121.
One Party Rule Unacceptable in Health Care Reform
We hear it again and again from the Democrat majority in Washington as well as President Obama himself; if we don’t pass their version of health care reform, Western Civilization as we know it will collapse.
As Obama said during his address to the joint session of Congress in September, “Everyone knows what will happen if we do nothing, our deficit will grow, more families will go bankrupt, more businesses will close, more Americans will lose their coverage when they are sick, and more will die as a result.”
Unless I am missing something, I think the President told America we have two choices; pass his health care reform or die. Surely we deserve better.
With poll after poll showing seniors — the most informed demographic in America on the details of the Obama plan — overwhelmingly rejecting Obamacare, 60 Plus remains as committed as ever to halting this devastating legislation in its tracks.
Now we see a report in Investor’s Business Daily from last month that nearly half of all doctors would consider quitting the profession of medicine if Obama passes his plan.
If you were afraid of rationing of health care before, imagine when America has half as many doctors!
As we have reminded the press corps and many in the halls of Washington, “candidate” Obama promised a health care reform process performed with total transparency, done in broad daylight on television for all to see, at a big table filled with doctors, nurses, insurers and other interested parties.
To date, the President has not held anything remotely resembling a public town hall with a free exchange of ideas from interested parties. The reality is all legislation has been written in the back rooms of Democrat leaders by policy wonks and “think tank” experts who have a decidedly clear ideological slant.
Recently I had the opportunity to spend time with Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele at a conference in Florida and applauded him for his leadership in submitting something that is absent from both President Obama’s as well as AARP’s stance regarding health care reform, namely a Senior Citizens’ Health Care Bill of Rights.
This simple checklist of a half dozen “dos and don’ts” offers a contract of sorts to America’s seniors, spelling out in black and white the clear responsibility our leaders have in ensuring that health care reform won’t be achieved on their backs and at their expense.
The Seniors’ Health Care Bill of Rights starts with the single biggest priority of ANY piece of legislation that reforms health care, namely, demanding that Medicare is not gutted in the process. Current proposals will cut $500 from Medicare by conservative estimates, and that figure may be $150 billion too low.
The Bill of Rights also makes other common sense proposals that one would assume would be universally agreed upon. Sadly, Obama, the AARP, and Democrat leaders in Washington won’t even give the agenda listed below the time of day, let alone the simple assent it deserves. Which of the items below could any person be opposed to?
- Prohibit Government From Getting Between Seniors and Their Doctors
- Prohibit Efforts To Ration Health Care Based on Age
- Prevent Government from Interfering with End-Of-Life Care Discussions
- Ensure Seniors Can Keep Their Current Coverage
- Protect Veterans By Preserving Tricare and Other Benefit Programs for Military Families
As President of the largest senior’s organization that represents the alternate viewpoint and agenda of the liberal AARP, I suppose I should know better than to remain astounded that our counterparts at that mammoth organization cannot agree to this simple list. Yet with decades of experience in Washington both observing and being intimately involved with the legislative process I remain dumbstruck as ever.
Michael Steele and the brain trust of the Republican National Committee should be cheered and congratulated for filling the breach and providing the necessary leadership to protect seniors from Obama’s proposal of devastating cuts to Medicare.
The Seniors’ Health Care Bill of Rights simply must be a part of any health reform proposal, otherwise one can only conclude that both Obama and the AARP have no interest whatsoever in protecting seniors.
60 Plus was Right – Health Care Reform Will Bankrupt America’s Families
Anyone who thinks that health care will cost less with the government running it clearly hasn’t been paying attention. When Democrats proposed their version of health care reform, 60 Plus — along with many other groups that realized the numbers just don’t add up.
With America now looking at an unbelievable $1.85 TRILLION dollar deficit for this year alone, the last thing we need is the government picking up the tab for an inferior medical system run by bureaucrats and politicians.
Why? Because when the government can’t pay the bill, working Americans will be left holding the tab, and be forced to pay much more for health care, or forego it completely.
Now even allies of President Obama have come to this conclusion, and not a moment too soon. With votes last week in the Senate Finance Committee, the insurance industry – which had been working behind the scenes with policy makers to pass legislation, now says that Americans will pay thousands more for their health care if his legislation passes.
Just like the legislation itself, the reasons are complicated and varied, but the end result is surely a much higher health care bill for Americans. What makes this claim so credible is the fact that the insurance industry was part of the Obama health care reform team, and as they say, seeing is believing.
A study done by an accounting firm they hired showed that by 2019, family premiums could be $4,000 higher per year, and individual premiums could be $1,500 higher.
So when health care advocates tell you that Americans need reform to make medicine more affordable, agree with them, and tell them this is exactly WHY we don’t need Obama care.
60 Plus Takes on AARP in PBS Debate
For months 60 Plus has been taking the AARP head-on in their absolutely confusing decision to back Obama’s plan for health care reform, despite the fact that the President has put over $500 billion in Medicare cuts on the table.
Thanks to PBS, our debate has gone public, with an on-line “clash” on the issue where 60 Plus President Jim Martin goes toe-to-toe with the AARP’s John Rother. Read it for yourself here, and then VOTE on who YOU think wins the debate!
60 Plus in Action
60 Plus President Jim Martin has been traveling the country and preaching the book of sanity and caution against the radical agenda of those in Washington who want to pass a government takeover of health care on the backs of America’s seniors.
In Florida he was with RNC Chairman Michael Steele praising the RNC’s “Seniors Health Care Bill of Rights” and with Americans for Prosperity as they continue with their bus tour.
Jim has a warning for politicians who push through healthcare.
