Congressman Mike Honda in a Dispatch article on Nov. 13
said,
”
for 70 years Americans have been waiting for this moment.
”
He was talking about the passage of the health care bill in
Congress, the holy grail for some politicians. But, what the
article failed to say is that the majority of American people do no
want this bill. The latest Rasmussen poll shows it is opposed by 56
percent.
Congressman Honda hardly telling the whole truth about health care
Dear Editor,
Congressman Mike Honda in a Dispatch article on Nov. 13 said, “for 70 years Americans have been waiting for this moment.” He was talking about the passage of the health care bill in Congress, the holy grail for some politicians. But, what the article failed to say is that the majority of American people do no want this bill. The latest Rasmussen poll shows it is opposed by 56 percent.
Congressman Honda is not telling you what this bill will do to California in terms of taxes for its people or business and neither are Sen. Boxer or Sen. Feinstein. Under the present health care bill in the Senate, California will be forced by the federal government to increase the spending on Medicaid by 50 percent. That amounts to $2 billion a year. The state of California is $20.7 billion in debt on the operating budget and there’s a $7.4 billion deficit in the unemployment fund. Where will the money come from to balance the budget? You? Businesses? Companies are leaving our state in droves due to too much taxing. Less employers equals less jobs and more unemployment. And where is fellow Californian, Speaker Pelosi?
Congressman Honda said, “Americans live in the wealthiest, most powerful nation in the world … and yet we don’t have the best health care in the world.” Our health care system is not perfect. It needs reform but not this massive takeover by the federal government – $2.5 trillion is the actual cost of the Senate bill if you factor out all the budget gimmicks and look at 10 years of actual implementation. According to William Galston, a policy advisor for former President Clinton, “we’re already facing an unsustainable fiscal future.” On Nov. 18, President Obama told Fox News’ Major Garrett that there is a threat of a “double-dip recession” if the government piles on too much more debt. Yet, there is more debt with this Senate healthcare bill, both federal and state.
Author, Scott Winship says, “the level of taxation it would require to meet projected spending needs is far higher than anything the country has ever seen or tolerated.”
Speaker Pelosi in October, Rangel in June and Podesta and Volcker in September all have talked about implementing a European-style value added tax. There will also be 15 new or increased taxes just from the Reid-Obama Health Bill. Many of these tax hikes raise taxes on health insurance you already have today. One unfathomable tax hike is called “Special Needs Children Tax (page 1999/Sec. 9005).
What Congressman Honda did not tell you is that you could go to jail or be fined if you don’t buy what the government deems a sufficient health insurance policy. People with pre-existing conditions will have to wait an extra six months to get insurance and a catastrophic insurance policy does not suffice as a qualified insurance policy for younger people.
Unprecedented new powers would be given to the secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius. Her title is mentioned 1,697 times where she is given the authority to create, determine or define things in the Senate bill, including where abortion is allowed. Where is her experience in operating 1/6 of the economy? Kathleen Sebelius couldn’t even get the H1N1 vaccine delivered on time.
Dean of the Harvard Medical School, Jeffrey Flier said, “the people who favor the legislation (health care) are engaged in collective denial. There are no provisions to substantively control the growth of costs or raise the quality of care. So the overall effort will fail to qualify as reform.”
This bill is a bureaucratic nightmare of over 2,000 pages. We are trying to do too much, too quickly with too much government in our lives and still not addressing all the problems and all the uninsured (24 million still will not have insurance) and creating a whole new set of problems. Problems like a shortage of doctors.
In July President Obama said, “we don’t have enough primary care physicians.” In September, Investors Business Daily found that 45 percent of doctors would consider quitting medicine altogether if Congress passes its plan. Yet, what was eliminated in the Senate health care bill to keep the price tag down? Subsidies to financially assist medical residents in becoming primary care physicians and general surgeons. The Association of American Medical Colleges predicts a shortage of about 57,000 primary care physicians by 2025 if universal health care passes.
Dr. Anthony Fiore of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states, “When there is a vaccine shortage, you must prioritize.” George Anter is a Korean War vet and his Stanford doctor says he would not survive the H1N1 flu because he is immune compromised. George at 74 was one of two elderly people featured in the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Nov. 29. When he tried to get the shot he is told that he is too old, he is not in the priority group and the vaccine is still in short supply. His sad commentary, “… they see me and other older people as garbage and are just waiting for the trucks to come pick us up.” H1N1 vaccine shortages, doctor shortages and the mammogram controversy are shades of things to come from government run health care.
We will have the “clunker” healthcare plan and the politicians will be driving the Ferrari plan and you will be taxed and taxed.
L. Tyson, Gilroy
