Category Archives: Health Care

Passages

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Two British actors died over the weekend. One was world famous, the other less so. Christopher Lee starred in many films in the ’60s and ’70s playing Dracula in numerous Hammer Horror films. More recently he was known for his portrayal of the wizard, Saruman, in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Christopher-Lee_2015

Sir Christopher Lee died Sunday, June 7, 2015 at London’s Chelsea and Westminster Hospital

Sir Christopher Lee dies at 93 – latest reaction and tributes

Screen legend famous for roles in Hammer Horror films, Lord of the Rings and Star Wars dies in hospital after suffering heart and respiratory problems

The other British actor was Ron Moody who played Fagin in the musical, Oliver! He died over the weekend, too, at age 91.

http://assets-s3.usmagazine.com/uploads/assets/articles/88170-ron-moody-dead-oliver-actor-dies-at-91/1434026571_ron-moody-lg.jpg

Ron Moody as Fagin in the musical, Oliver!

Oliver! actor Ron Moody dies aged 91

Actor Ron Moody, who played Fagin in the hit film version of Oliver!, has died aged 91, his family says.

The British character actor was nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe for his performance in the 1968 Charles Dickens adaptation.

It’s always a sad day when old familiar faces leave us. These two now join a memorable list of British actors who are no longer with us, Alec Guinness, James Mason, Ralph Richardson, to name a few.

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This headline appeared today.

Few GOP candidates are prepared with alternatives if court rules against Obamacare

It is a stupid headline. Why should the GOP come up with an alternative. The healthcare we had before Obama and the democrats ruined it, was excellent! Contrary to the lies spread by Obama, NO ONE WAS WITHOUT HEALTHCARE! It was a violation of law to turn anyone away from an emergency room—if they really needed care.

The truth was that hospitals were inundated by people, without health insurance, who came to the ERs who were not sick. The ER was the place to go for drugs (if they could talk a doc into giving them some), to get away from an abusive spouse, or, not uncommonly, to just hang out in a cool place during the summer heat.

Were there issues with healthcare before its destruction by Obama? Yes. For instance, healthcare plans were limited to each state. What a plan could offer in one state, may not be allowed in another. One change that could be done would be to allow insurance companies to provide the same plan in multiple states. That would drive insurance costs down through competition.

Beyond that, not much else is needed. One exception would be to deny insurance to illegals. Force them to go to ERs where they could receive care, and then be identified, detained, and shipped back to wherever they came from. That alone, would solve much of our illegal alien problem.

Just because Obama and the democrats hated our healthcare doesn’t mean it was bad, nor ineffective. Some democrats never heard the old phrase, “If if ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” Our healthcare system wasn’t broke, far from it, it was the best in the world. Obama and the democrats have reduced that effectiveness to a 3rd world level.

No, GOP, you don’t need an alternative. Kill Obamacare and I’ll bet insurance companies would respond as before. Like your old healthcare? Kill Obamacare and you’ll get it—if we ignore the lies and caterwauling from the democrats and libs.

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It’s Monday!!

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It’s the start of another week and the nation staggers on under the growing burden of socialism.

We had a prime example of the cultural changes had has happened of the last fifty years.  Last night was the first installation of The Bible miniseries created by the star of the old “Touched by an Angel” TV series, Roma Downey and her husband.

All I can say is, “What a disappointment!”

First, according to the series, the Bible starts with Noah. Then it jumps to Abraham, Moses and Joshua, skipping all the events in between. It does show Moses dealing with Egypt and the Ten Plagues, receiving the Ten Commandments but skips how the Israelites came to Egypt. It skips the Golden Calf and the forty years wandering in the desert; the next scene is Joshua before the walls of Jericho. That event drops the marching around the walls and the blowing of trumpets.

It’s Bible Lite!

Now, contrast the portions about Moses in this miniseries with Cecil B. DeMille’s epic, The Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston as Moses and Yul Brenner as the Pharaoh. DeMille’s version was an epic with all the pomp and majesty of the wondrous epic history. The Ten Commandments included actual Bible quotes from Exodus, narrated personally by DeMille. This new series played loose with Biblical text. For instance, when Abraham takes Isaac up the mountain for the sacrifice, the Bible says God provided a ram. In the movie, it’s a lamb. Minor? Yes, but if small liberties are being taken with Biblical text, what other liberties will be taken in future episodes. A scene of Lot leaving Sodom has, as labeled by the Christian Science Monitor, ninja angels!

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Of all the issues we expect from Obamacare, the damage done to our culture is the worse. Obamacare coarsens our view and attitudes of  personal care. We have a prime example from that heart of liberalism, California.

Elderly woman dies after nurse refuses to do CPR

Updated 4:41 pm, Saturday, March 2, 2013

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (AP) — An elderly woman being cared for at a Bakersfield retirement facility died after a nurse at the facility refused to perform CPR on the woman after she collapsed, authorities said.

When the 87-year-old resident of Glenwood Gardens collapsed at the facility around 11 a.m. Tuesday, a staff member called 911 but refused to give the woman CPR, Bakersfield television station ABC23 (http://bit.ly/YQULm3 ) reported Friday.

In refusing the 911 dispatcher’s insistence that she perform CPR, the nurse can be heard telling the dispatcher that it was against the retirement facility’s policy to perform CPR.

During the exchange between the nurse and the dispatcher, the dispatcher can be heard saying “I don’t understand why you’re not willing to help this patient.”

An ambulance arrived several minutes after the call and took the woman to a hospital, where she was later pronounced dead. She has been identified as Lorraine Bayless, a resident of the home’s independent facility, which is separate from the skilled and assisted nursing facility.

The retirement facility released a statement extending its condolences to the family and said its “practice is to immediately call emergency medical personnel for assistance and to wait with the individual needing attention until such personnel arrives.”

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There has been numerous articles over the last month about huge ammunition purchases by the Department of Homeland Security. According to some, the purchases have totaled well over a billion rounds in the last two years.  Some critics claim those figures are too large, others say the numbers are understated. 

With all that controversy comes this item in the news. DHS is buying light armored vehicles designed to be IED resistant.

IED resistant? Here in the US. Why? Are they suspecting an armed uprising? Should we rename the DHS to the Department of Internal Security?

No doubt, there will be more articles that the transfer of these “surplus” vehicles from the Army to DHS is just coincidental. On the other hand, what justification is there for these transfers?

What does DHS need with 2,700 armored vehicles?

Rick Moran, March 4, 2013.

More to the point; why isn’t anyone in Congress asking?

You see a story like this – and the one about a billion bullets bought by the government – and you wonder why no one in Congress has bothered to look into it. I am totally unconvinced there are any dark designs by DHS on American citizens or our democracy. But this seems a colossal waste of money – if true – and isn’t ferreting out waste like this what we are paying those jamokes on Capitol Hill for?

Jim Hoft:

Modern Survival Blog reported:

The Department of Homeland Security (through the U.S. Army Forces Command) recently retrofitted 2,717 of these ‘Mine Resistant Protected’ vehicles for service on the streets of the United States.

Although I’ve seen and read several online blurbs about this vehicle of late, I decided to dig slightly deeper and discover more about the vehicle itself.

The new DHS sanctioned ‘Street Sweeper’ (my own slang due to the gun ports) is built by Navistar Defense (NavistarDefense.com), a division within the Navistar organization. Under the Navistar umbrella are several other companies including International Trucks, IC Bus (they make school buses), Monaco RV (recreational vehicles), WorkHorse (they make chassis), MaxxForce (diesel engines), and Navistar Financial (the money arm of the company).

DHS even released a video on their newly purchased MRAPs.
Via Pat Dollard:
Put down the tin foil hat and pick up your green eyeshades. Ask your congressmen to find out first and foremost if this is true, and secondly, to ask DHS what the hell they need 2700 armored cars for.

And they better have a damn good reason to spend that kind of money when budgets are so tight.

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I am a Heretic!

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You read the post title. I am not a believer in, nor a practitioner of…The One True Way!

That’s right. I refuse to use a CPAP. I “supposedly” have sleep apnea. I was tested back in the early 1990s at a local hospital. They declared I had sleep apnea. It was the first time I’d heard of the condition.

I’d gone to my family doc for something. During the session, he asked how I slept.  At that time, I was in a high stress job, worked long hours and, yes, I didn’t sleep well. I’d go to bed at 10pm and still be awake at midnight. When I did sleep, I’d wake frequently. I also had a lot of back pain. When the Doc asked if how I slept, I naturally said not well.

I do admit that on occasion, not frequent at all, I’d wake coughing and once gasping. When the hospital tech said I had obstructive sleep apnea and described the cause, I accepted it.

Then he tried to sell me a CPAP…a very expensive CPAP. I said I’d talk it over with my doc.  He, too, tried to sell me on the idea of a CPAP. In fact I tried one out.

It was pure torture.

For me, it didn’t work. I could not sleep with that infernal device strapped to my face.

I’m an engineer. Engineers have a peculiar mindset. When confronted with a problem, they tend devise solutions. I found one that works for me.

Sleep apnea, according to wiki, is…a condition when breathing is interrupted by a physical block to airflow despite respiratory effort, and snoring is common.

The CPAP is supposed to force air through the nasal passages forcing the palate aside and allowing air to reach the lungs. I’m sure there are more technical definitions but basically that is what is done. It’s one engineering solution to a physical condition. And, it works. It works for tens of thousands of people, maybe more.

It doesn’t work for me.

When I examined the problem with my engineer’s eye, I found an alternative. The blockage of air by the collapse of the palate in the back of the throat is caused by gravity. If there was no gravity the palate wouldn’t collapse.

For me, that condition occurred only when I slept, tried to sleep, flat on my back. Given the conditions necessary to cause sleep apnea, what could I do to change those conditions?

1. Don’t sleep flat on my back. Sleep on one side or the other.

2. Change the angle of the pull of gravity, Elevate my upper body. That would change the direction of the pull of gravity. I don’t have any blockage when I’m vertical, standing that is. What angle is required that does not block my breathing when my palate relaxes? For me that was 15°. A surgical wedge available at medical supply stores would, when slept  upon, raise my upper body and fulfill that requirement.

Alternately, sleep in a recliner…one that raises the upper body, not one that lays flat when extended. That would defeat the purpose of preventing blockages.

3. All of the above.

My engineered solution works—for me. I do not endorse it for anyone else. It is a customized solution only for me.

You would think my doc and others would appreciate my design. It’s cheap, not like a CPAP. It doesn’t require frequent cleaning nor filters as do some CPAPs. It doesn’t require battery nor a electrical power outlet. It works. Most of all, it doesn’t require a CPAP.

Instead of having my solution accepted I have been called by some CPAP proponents ignorant, stupid for defying orders to use a CPAP, a murderer for proposing there was a solution that didn’t require a CPAP, and then the responses got personal.

My doc was more polite. He just didn’t believe my solution worked. He still asks if I want to be retested.

It seems that I endangered some rice bowls. There is an entire industry in manufacturing CPAPs, selling and marketing CPAPs and sleep testing. They have their lobbyists and supporters. They have sold the medical community on the CPAP as the ONLY solution to sleep apnea. Naysayers beware!

It didn’t occur to me until later that the organizations that conducted the sleep testing were also the same ones selling CPAPs. Most people would see that as a conflict of interest.

I have, over the years, asked people if they had ever had sleep testing. Many, many have. Not one ever passed the test. Most use CPAPs. Those who don’t are being constantly badgered to buy and use CPAPs. I’ve yet to encounter anyone who has been tested and didn’t have sleep apnea!

I was first tested over twenty years ago. I bowed to my doc’s insistence a number of years ago and was tested again. I knew more about the condition when I was tested the second time.

I arrived, was conducted to the test room and hooked up with all the expected sensors and told to lay flat on the bed. There wasn’t a pillow. I have bone spurs in my neck. I need some head support.

I asked for a pillow. One, a small flat pillow, barely a cushion, was provided. I asked for another because the single pillow didn’t provide enough support. At first the technician refused saying there wasn’t any more. At my insistence he found another.

Then he left.

I wasn’t sleepy. I’d had a full day working a problem for my employer. Like many, I continued to work the problem in my head. It’s one reason why I have difficulty sleeping.

I glanced at my watch from time to time. Thirty minutes passed. An hour. The tech looked in at one time. My back began to hurt. I couldn’t get comfortable. I tried to shift my position to relieve the pain. I rolled on one side. The tech rushed in. He said I had to lay flat for the test. My suspicions rose. The pain continued, growing. I still couldn’t get comfortable.

By now, over two hours had passed. I still hadn’t slept. The tech was supposed to be video taping the session. He came into the room every fifteen minutes or so. I made a game of waving at him whenever he entered.

At the three hour mark, the tech entered again and said the reading proved I had sleep apnea and that I’d stopped breathing, one time for over a minute.

What! How could that happen when I’d never been asleep?

He proceeded then to fix me up with a CPAP. They had a new model, he said. This one covered both my nose, like the old style CPAPs and my mouth. He tightened the straps—TIGHT!. The CPAP sealed my mouth and nose. I could get no air. That was the purpose of the design. Then the tech turned on the regulator and left.

My lungs blew up like two balloons! The tech must have put the regulator on high. The pressure was so great I had extreme difficulty exhaling. It was work to exhale every breath. At the slightest relaxation my lungs expanded again under the pressure of the CPAP.

I fought trying to breath for several minutes and was getting desperate. I was finally able to get the CPAP off. The tech was enraged. I’d ended his experiment. Now he would have to start it all over. He refused to listen to me.

I had had enough. I gathered my clothes put on my shirt and pants and walked out the door. When I looked in the mirror the next morning I had bruises around by nose, mouth and chin. I had large blue patches under both eyes like I’d had both blackened.

I called the testing company and spoke with the manager. He offered to test me again using another tech. I’d have to take a day off work to do so. I refused. I never went back. I wrote a letter to the testing company, copying my doc, and described by ordeal. I stated that I would not pay for the testing. They had run my credit card when I had arrived because my insurance wouldn’t pay. I was never billed.

I now have a note in my medical records. “Subject diagnosed with sleep apnea and has refused to use a CPAP.”

Every time I see my doc, he asks how I sleep. Much better now that I have a solution. I still wake frequently and like many my age, I have difficulty getting to sleep. Those conditions aside, I sleep reasonably well. The doc also asks if I wake with headaches? No. Do I wake gasping or dreaming of suffocating? No to both.

Will I use a CPAP? No. I don’t need one. I don’t have high-blood pressure, another symptom of sleep apnea. It was 121/72 at my last visit. I have no symptoms nor, according to my wife, do I snore when I sleep. I don’t gasp, nor stop breathing. She’s listened as instructed by my doc.

But that one statement is still in my medical records. My wife and I applied for some extended care health insurance recently. The insurance company had a nurse visit us. She weighed us. Had us fill out a medical questionnaire. Checked our blood pressure noting that mine was very good and gave us several tests to check our mental acuity. We both passed those tests with ease.

We received a note from the insurance company last week. My wife was accepted. I was not. Why? I was overweight and refused to use a CPAP. They would reconsider if I lost some weight and would use a CPAP.

I’m still a Heretic and the Powers that Be have not forgotten. I won’t bend nor bow to The One True Way.

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Response to yesterday’s post

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See yesterday’s post concerning a bill to create health insurance pools for Missouri.  I sent the link to the Breitbart “Big Government” webpage to Chris Molendorp and asked for his comments.  The text below is his reply.

From:  Chris Molendorp
Date:  August 22, 2011 10:35AM
To:    Mike Watson

Yes.  Thank you for the email.

The fact of the matter is this:  Health Exchanges will be forced upon us by the federal government if the brief filed by Attorney General Chris Koster-as well as the 11th Circuit ruling-holds up.  In short, the individual mandate is unconstitutional(and I believe that just like you do).  However, the balance of the bill is not unconstitutional.  Poorly written, yes.  A large tax increase, yes.  A horrible piece of legislation, yes.  But still allowed as law of the land.

IF that scenario holds, Missouri policy makers have no choice but to intervene.  Period.

My bill does several things to preserve a private marketplace.

First, we build a coverage firewall between a private health insurance policy and a standard Medicaid offering.  The federal bill expands Missouri’s eligibility from 19% of the Federal Poverty Level to 133%.  This is DEVASTATING for budget makers.  The current Medicaid budget in MO is $6.8 billion.  I must provide a reasonable private market alternative for small business owners to look into the exchange for group coverage.  If left to individual employees to find coverage themselves, the medicaid rolls will explode.  A family of four that makes $80,000 will qualify for medicaid.  I have no possible way to pay for that long term once the federal medicaid subsidy phases downward starting in 2017.

Second, an exchange designed by HHS will eliminate your insurance agent/broker relationship.  You will receive policy information and advice from a government bureaucrat, not an independent business person of your choosing.  Why?  Because HHS will promulgate an exchange that is built upon the Medicaid model-not private insurance offerings.

Third, my bill is revenue nuetral.  I extend the current per member per month fee health insurance companies pay for the MHIP(MO HIgh Risk Insurance Pool).  I couple that with some federal grant money and premium collections to make an exchange NON dependant upon state general revenue funds.  Highway patrol, state parks, public education-and on and on and on-all rely on state general tax revenue.  My exchange avoids an additional line item drawing upon these funds.  I would predict HHS will hit our general revenue for creation.  In fact, the Mass Connector in Boston, required a $25 million general revenue loan for start up.  Thanks Romney!  I cannot do that in Missouri; I will not do that in Missouri and I have created a way to keep the liability to general revenue at zero.

Fourth, a handful of insurance companies have built a large part of their business model administering Medicaid for state governments.  My exchange encourages the NON-medicaid plan administrators to stay in the marketplace.  If HHS promulgates a medicaid style exchange only people like Molina Health Care will have a reason to participate.  Not that theres anything wrong with Molina or other carriers who choose to make money in that business model.  But you could say goodbye to folks like BlueCross, Cox Health Plans of Springfield, Anthem of St. Louis, Aetna, United HealthCare and Coventry-they are all goners if there is no rational business model going forward.  They have communicated to me that its hard to conceptualize a business model long term in Missouri if a medicaid style promulgation takes place.   They have no real chance to participate when the plan administrators for these government plans are already in place and on contract.  Thousand of layoffs and tens of millions of dollars lost in premium taxes Missouri collects on insurance companies are at risk. 

Fifth, an exchange is in and of itself not liberal.  KC Livestock Exchange, a farmers market, Expedia, Travelocity, esurance.com and Progressive are all examples of commerce built in an exchange format.  In fact the Heritage Foundation has advocated for this kind of free-market concept in the health insurance marketplace.  So has Newt Gingrich and his Healthcare Transformation Group-a group I’ve had excellent discussions with over the last year.  I would respectfully argue the conservative nugget and best part of the bill is indeed the concept of shopping exchanges.  In fact, in 2007, several very conservative state senators introduced an exchange bill-I think it was SB 556-to enact an exchange in Missouri.  I’ve considered these folks’ ideas during this process.

Sixth, my bill goes away if the entire federal healthcare bill is thrown out.  I have a nullification clause built in to HB 609.    So, the only guy who wasted his time was me.  Who really cares about me?  Better to waste my time worrying about this than other more important people.  If the Supremes dump PPACA, HB 609 gets dumped too.  No harm, no foul.  Unless, of course, the Supremes keep this as the law of the land.  And I don’t have any requirement to purchase insurance.  None.  You want to be uninsured and negotiate with a hospital-great, do so.  In fact, I will introduce HB 609 again and hope to add some language that tips my cap to Prop C.  I voted for Prop C as did you.  So, why would I require you to buy insurance.  Would be inconsistent, right?

Kathleen Sebilius or Chris Molendorp?  The known or the unknown?  Excercise our sovereignty by doing the heavy lifting of designing the unfunded mandate seems preferable to waiting for the unfunded mandate to be forced upon us-without funding.

It is a Hobson’s Choice; it is the burden of governing a state in 2011.  I choose to govern wisely and prudently instead of waiting for the great unknown.  I was elected with the task of balancing a state budget; anticipating future changes to public policy and I think folks want me to protect private decisions in a private market setting.  HB 609 attempts to do that in a reasonable way. 

I’ve voted with the GOP on every single non binding  healthcare resolution in the General Assembly during my tenure.  My healthcare voting record in Jefferson City was the same as Jane Cunningham’s until HB 609’s final days.  And, I would mention, EVERY single House member voted to support my HB 609.  That’s every economic Republican, every moderate Republican, every Tea Party Republican and every movement conservative Republican.  All factions within the GOP supported my bill. 

Chris

 I responded with the text below. 

Chris, I’ll post your reply tomorrow on my blog and to the CCRCC FB page as well to give you a fair hearing.

I’ll have to think on this awhile.  I’m not against the “pool” concept—if it can provide sufficient competition and profit for the carriers.  I don’t want to end up in a single or limited carrier environment.  But it must also be available at a cost to individuals that’s not ruinous.

I have a personal interest.  My wife and I are retired but not yet eligible for Medicare.  If I had my druthers, I wouldn’t sign up for MC, but my options are limited.  I currently receive health insurance via my employer.  I built a fund, while working, to pay for two years of retirement insurance.

But, next year when we are Medicare eligible, will my employer still provide health insurance for us?  I don’t think so. If they do, the cost will be higher than my pension.

So I’m caught betwixt a rock and a hard place.  I still am unsure what I’ll do.  I suspect I’ll have no choice but to sign for Medicare.  If so, I’ll add supplemental insurance—if that is still available.

I’d really like more options and at an affordable cost. So far, I don’t see any.

Mike Watson
Raymore, MO

It’s going to be an “interesting” year.  I hope it won’t be in the form of a Chinese curse.  Medicare and Medicaid WILL change.  No one at this time can truly foresee what those changes will be. Regardless of the media and liberal hype, we have no choice.

Dirty Little Secret

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There’s s story passing around the internet at the moment about a man who robbed a bank of $1 and then stood by to be arrested.  Why?  To get the free health-care available to jail inmates.

Of course the media glommed on to the story like fleas on a dog.  they took the story and presented at face value. It fit their political and world-views.  It was also totally false.

Oh, he really did rob the bank.  That’s true.  His motivation, however, had no validity.  Why?  Because all around the country, indigent people have access to free health-care.  All they have to do is look a bit.

Here’s a piece from Investor’s Business Daily that looks into this story and fills out the background.

A Phony Tale Of Woe

 Posted 06/21/2011 06:40 PM ET
Health Care: The story currently making the rounds about the guy who robbed a bank for $1 to get free jailhouse health care is supposed to expose how terrible our medical system is. It actually exposes something worse.
It’s a story tailor made for the news media. James Verone, an out-of-work 59-year-old, robbed a bank in Gastonia, N.C., for $1.
Then he waited patiently for the cops to arrest him.
In an interview with a local TV station, Verone claimed it was out of sheer desperation. He needed health care and had no other way to get it than through the free care provided in jail.
The story flew across the Web and was picked up by ABC News, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Good Morning America and any number of local papers.

Not surprising, since it fit perfectly into one of the media’s cherished memes.

Come see how terrible health care is in the United States! The most expensive in the world, and yet it forces people to take desperate acts to get treatment! Thank goodness for ObamaCare!
There’s just one little, inconvenient fact missing from all this coverage. Verone had access to free care — outside of jail — and plenty of it.
The dirty secret about our health care system is that it is, in fact, very generous to the poor. A recent study from the N.C. Justice Center notes that North Carolina hospitals provided $694 million in free care in 2008.
Nationwide, hospitals provide more than $34 billion in unpaid care. Then there are all the private charities, Medicaid, and various other state and federal programs that offer the poor and destitute access to care.
A hospital in Gastonia, N.C., — Gaston Memorial Hospital — offers discounts up to 100% to low-income patients. There’s also a free health clinic just five miles from where Verone robbed that bank, and many more in nearby Charlotte.
If he wanted to travel a bit farther, Verone could have availed himself of the state-of-the-art medical facilities at the University of North Carolina, whose mandate is to provide “medically necessary health care to the citizens of North Carolina, regardless of their ability to pay.”
That our hapless bank robber apparently didn’t know about any of this is excusable.
But the fact that not one reporter trafficking this story bothered to point these facts out is an example of gross dereliction of duty or extreme bias — or both.

“But the fact that not one reporter trafficking this story bothered to point these facts out is an example of gross dereliction of duty or extreme bias — or both.”  This quote is the real reality of the story. The incompetency and bias of the Main Stream Media. 

And people wonder why newspapers and other print media are failing and why FOX continues to outpace all other contenders for cable news.  More and more, the people of this nation realize that the MSM, or state media to be more accurate, is a failure and nothing but a tool of the statists who covet this nation.

Can’t brag anymore

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For years I’ve bragged that I’ve been able to keep my hide intact—excluding some stitches in my forehead a long time ago. That will end next week.  I visited my doc this morning and I need to have surgery to correct a minor condition before it turns into a big issue.  I have to get it before my health insurance runs out in a few months. He said it is better get it done now when it should be just an easy task.

It’s not a “big” deal.  I’m just getting a hernia fixed. But it will require general anesthesia and maybe an overnight stay in the hospital.  The last time I spent a night in the hospital was when I was born. 

If I find some interesting items to post, I’ll queue them up ahead of time.  Worst case, I’ll just miss a day or two in my posting schedule.

I’ll be back and will continue bashing Obama and libs as before.

If this passes, we’re screwed! (Pelosi’s Healthcare Plan)

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The dem House version of Obamacare has just been released. Grover Norquist’s website has published a list of some of the tax increases contained in it. The bill mentions “Tax” explicitly 87 times.

Monstrous!

Here’s some examples from ATR.

BREAKING: Comprehensive List of Taxes
In House Democrat Health Bill

From Ryan Ellis on Thursday, October 29, 2009 12:20 PM

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H.R. 3962, the “Affordable Health Care for America Act” has been introduced–all 1990 pages of it. This gargantuan beast contains thirteen new tax hikes. Here they all are, with description and page number (PDF version):

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Employer Mandate Excise Tax (Page 275): If an employer does not pay 72.5 percent of a single employee’s health premium (65 percent of a family employee), the employer must pay an excise tax equal to 8 percent of average wages. Small employers (measured by payroll size) have smaller payroll tax rates of 0 percent (<$500,000), 2 percent ($500,000-$585,000), 4 percent ($585,000-$670,000), and 6 percent ($670,000-$750,000). Individual Mandate Surtax (Page 296): If an individual fails to obtain qualifying coverage, he must pay an income surtax equal to the lesser of 2.5 percent of modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) or the average premium. MAGI adds back in the foreign earned income exclusion and municipal bond interest.

Medicine Cabinet Tax (Page 324): Non-prescription medications would no longer be able to be purchased from health savings accounts (HSAs), flexible spending accounts (FSAs), or health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs). Insulin excepted.

Cap on FSAs (Page 325): FSAs would face an annual cap of $2500 (currently uncapped).

Increased Additional Tax on Non-Qualified HSA Distributions (Page 326): Non-qualified distributions from HSAs would face an additional tax of 20 percent (current law is 10 percent). This disadvantages HSAs relative to other tax-free accounts (e.g. IRAs, 401(k)s, 529 plans, etc.)

Denial of Tax Deduction for Employer Health Plans Coordinating with Medicare Part D (Page 327): This would further erode private sector participation in delivery of Medicare services.

Surtax on Individuals and Small Businesses (Page 336): Imposes an income surtax of 5.4 percent on MAGI over $500,000 ($1 million married filing jointly). MAGI adds back in the itemized deduction for margin loan interest. This would raise the top marginal tax rate in 2011 from 39.6 percent under current law to 45 percent—a new effective top rate.

Excise Tax on Medical Devices (Page 339): Imposes a new excise tax on medical device manufacturers equal to 2.5 percent of the wholesale price. It excludes retail sales and unspecified medical devices sold to the general public.

Corporate 1099-MISC Information Reporting (Page 344): Requires that 1099-MISC forms be issued to corporations as well as persons for trade or business payments. Current law limits to just persons for small business compliance complexity reasons. Also expands reporting to exchanges of property.

Delay in Worldwide Allocation of Interest (Page 345): Delays for nine years the worldwide allocation of interest, a corporate tax relief provision from the American Jobs Creation Act

Limitation on Tax Treaty Benefits for Certain Payments (Page 346): Increases taxes on U.S. employers with overseas operations looking to avoid double taxation of earnings.

Codification of the “Economic Substance Doctrine” (Page 349): Empowers the IRS to disallow a perfectly legal tax deduction or other tax relief merely because the IRS deems that the motive of the taxpayer was not primarily business-related.

Application of “More Likely Than Not” Rule (Page 357): Publicly-traded partnerships and corporations with annual gross receipts in excess of $100 million have raised standards on penalties. If there is a tax underpayment by these taxpayers, they must be able to prove that the estimated tax paid would have more likely than not been sufficient to cover final tax liability.