Debate on PelosiCare: Crunch Time Tonight in DC

It is crunch time tonight in Congress. Speaker Pelosi is moving towards a full floor vote on the Obama/Pelosi Health Care Plan up for a vote. At the time of publishing, votes are expected around 8 or 9pm EST. I received a call early this morning that my Orthopaedic Services were in demand. Apparently, the Speaker, the President’s Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel and their staffs have been “breaking arms of anyone and everyone in sight that is on the fence about The Bill.” These Enforcers have put Freedom, Liberty and constituent representation aside.

Do your congressmen/women have any idea what is in this 1990 page Bill, and what it means for each and every American? So you do not have to count, it creates 118 new boards, commissions, offices and bureaus. Supposedly, ALL of these new entities will be selflessly looking out for your “betterment.” Somehow, ObamaCare needs all of these levels of review and personnel to provide better and more available healthcare to more Americans, and plans to work this miracle do this at a fraction of current costs. (Oh, and they will eliminate Medicaid fraud in the meantime.) This has little connection with reality.

There is another option. A different reform package has been purposed by The GOP Leadership, and every member of the minority has signed on. In fact, before this debate is over maybe a few “Blue Dog Democrats” (now with broken arms) will sign on as well. This reform package:

– EMPOWERS the public,

– Lowers health care premiums,

– Establishes Universal Access Programs for those with pre-existing conditions,

– Reduces junk lawsuits,

– Prevents insurers from canceling a policy,

– Allows Americans to purchase insurance across state lines,

– EXPANDS HSA’S, and

– Promotes PREVENTION & WELLNESS.

Two Congressmen need to be commended for their support of Prevention, Wellness and HSA’s: Congressman Fortenberry from Nebraska and Congressman McCotter fromMichigan.

As many of you know, last Wednesday Glenn Beck asked me to “borrow” his audience and to give them a frontline assessment of the health care legislation pending in Congress .

In my discussion with Judge Napolitano on the Glenn Beck Show, I hammered on the fact that the rationing and enforcement boards were already created and passed into law through the stimulus bill, and that the President had already appointed the members, funding them to the tune of $20.6 BILLION. When I pointed out that these boards were charged with directing healthcare “at the time and place of care,” Judge Napolitano expressed outrage at the prospect of these government entities insinuating themselves into the previously private and confidential doctor/patient relationship. The biggest outrage is the fact that no one seems to know that THIS IS ALREADY LAW! These rationing boards threaten your privacy, your control, your health, your treatment possibilities, and your future.

Enter Congressman McCotter again. In the GOP Alternative Bill, Congressman McCotter added two very important Sections :

DIVISION D–PROTECTING THE DOCTOR-PATIENT RELATIONSHIP

SEC. 401. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to interfere with the doctor-patient relationship or the practice of medicine.

SEC. 402. REPEAL OF FEDERAL COORDINATING COUNCIL FOR COMPARATIVE EFFECTIVENESS RESEARCH. Effective on the date of the enactment of this Act, section 804 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is repealed.

With the addition of these two Sections, the subterranean health care coup within The Stimulus Bill, becomes NULL & VOID.

I thank those in Congress who were willing to listen to ‘the grunts on the front line of our health care system and to create the alternative Bill. I thank Congressman McCotter for (1) having the “guts” to call out the President, the Speaker, Senator Reid for their subterfuge in enacting the rationing and enforcement boards, and (2) for proposing a remedy for the unpalatable Democratic draught.

Health Care is too important to enact by default. It deserves debate and dialogue. We need Healthcare Reform that is above-board, not back-room. We need a simplified health care system that can deal with reality, not smoke and mirrors. We do not need to add expensive bureaucratic gridlock that limits your access to treatments and care, as we bankrupt the actual healthcare providers, the doctors, nurses, therapists, technicians and hospitals on the front line of health care. We need to identify the ailments in our system, and identify solutions that do not create worse side effects and complications. To quote English dramatist John Fletcher, let’s make sure “the medicine is not worse than the malady!”