Will Obamacare Be the Ruination of Medicine?

"When then-Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama promised not to sign major legislation until it had been posted on the Internet for public reading at least five days, trusting voters took him at his word.
Now they know better. Not only is the actual language of what is likely to become the main legislative vehicle for Obama’s signature health care reform not available on the Internet, it hasn’t been given to members of the key Senate committees or the Congressional Budget Office." That is a quote from the San Francisco Examiner.

Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist appeared on FOX News yesterday with Neil Cavuto and denied that he is in support of the President's health care reform plan, whatever that may be. The White House implies that since Frist is in support of reform, as most Americans are whether Democrat or Republican, so he is in support of the legislation being tossed about in Congress. He made it perfectly clear that he does not support Obama on his overreach.

Not only is Obama going back on his campaign promise of the American public being able to read the bill online 5 days before a vote but he also is going back on his word that all deliberations of something as important as health care insurance reform would be broadcast on C-SPAN in the effort of transparency. He will meet with Senator Baucus, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi in private in the White House to flesh out the final legislation request, as reported.

Yesterday the Congressional Budget Office scored the pending concepts of the Baucus bill in the Senate. It is concepts, not actual legislative language that was scored since the bill is not formally written. The Senate will be asked to vote on concepts. Concepts of 1/6 of our national economy. Do you have a problem with that?

The CBO found that the federal deficit will be $1.4 trillion at the end of 2009. That is 9.9% of GDP, the biggest deficit since World War II. Obama criticized the deficit under George W. Bush then came into office and tripled it. Do you have a problem with that?

The CBO scoring report shows taxes in the disguise of fines and fees added to make the "reform" more economically appealing. For instance, there are new taxes on manufacturers of medical devices, drug companies and hospitals that amount to $120 billion in new revenue. Are those the areas we want to encourage shrinking, because that will be the result of stifling new taxation. Even with the increase of insured Americans, by 2019 there will still be about 25 million uninsured, mostly illegal immigrants. The "reform" doesn't address that problem. By 2019 the number of covered will be at 94% if all goes as planned, which you can be certain it will not. No government program performs as planned and certainly not efficiently.

The President has a photo op of a speech to a bunch of doctors and medical professionals in white coats earlier this week. The White House passed out the white coats so that all would wear them and be a part of the dog and pony show. They complied. We are told that the AMA supports Obama care. We are not told, however, that only about 20% of American doctors are members of the AMA. Are 20% of doctors a number to brag about in support of a plan?

The support on Capitol Hill is partisan. During the Bush administration when the Medicare prescription drug benefit was dramatically increased, the effort was bi-partisan. Solutions were based on the free market. This "concept" being shopped around from Senator Baucus assumes a cut in Medicare benefits of $400 billion. The probability of that is nil. Seniors would be rioting in the streets. $133 billion is to come from savings by eliminating provisions in Medicare Advantage, which directly affects rural senior citizens. $4 billion comes from those fined for not being insured. Is it Constitutional for the government to require an American to be insured for health care?

This is a new nearly one trillion dollar entitlement. Is that even possible with a record federal deficit?

Breaking another campaign promise of listening to all opinions, President Obama is falling into the trap of desperation - only listening to his liberal enablers in Congress. "It just appears that the president of the United States, at this point, is choosing to meet only those who support his agenda," said Dr. Margaret Flowers, a Maryland pediatrician and congressional fellow for Physicians for a National Health Program, a group not invited." That is from an article in Investors.com . Their own poll shows that 72% of doctors disagree with Obama Care's claim that the government can cover 47 million more people with better quality health care at a lower cost. 65% polled say they oppose the government expansion plan.

From Dr. George Watson, a Kansas physician and president elect of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons in an interview with FoxNews.com : "This is war. T his is a bureaucratic boondoggle to grab control of health care. Everything that has been proposed in the 1,018 page bill will contribute to the ruination of medicine."