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Dick Morris stated months ago that President Obama was on the “down escalator” of approval ratings and it looks like that is beginning to pan out. While he is personally popular, his ridiculous policies, obscene deficits and continued push for more federal takeovers are killing his political capital, thankfully.
Politico reports:
Trust in President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies to identify the right solutions to problems facing the country has dropped off significantly since March, according to a new Public Strategies Inc./POLITICO poll.
Just as Obama intensifies his efforts to fulfill a campaign promise and reach an agreement with Congress on health care reform, the number of Americans who say they trust the president has fallen from 66 percent to 54 percent. At the same time, the percentage of those who say they do not trust the president has jumped from 31 to 42.
The president’s party has taken a similar hit since the last Public Trust Monitor poll, with only 42 percent of respondents saying that they trust the Democratic Party, compared with 52 percent who do not. The party’s numbers are nearly the inverse of March’s survey, in which 52 percent said they trusted Democrats and 42 percent did not.
Obama’s personal approval rating has fallen below 60 percent in a number of recent major polls, and according to a Washington Post/ABC News survey out Monday, support for the president’s leadership on several key issues has fallen below 50 percent.
So we know trust in general has begun to erode, but what about his signature issue of health care?
Asked what effect a government-managed health care coverage option would have on access to health services, 40 percent said it would make the situation worse, 38 percent said it would make it better and 22 percent said it would remain the same. Asked what its effect would be on the quality of health care, 42 percent said it would make health care worse, 33 percent said it would make it better and 25 percent said it would not have an effect.
Nearly half of respondents — 44 percent — believe government-managed coverage will increase the price of health care. Only 27 percent think a government-managed health care system would lower costs, while 29 percent said prices would remain the same.
So a majority of respondents believe that Obamacare will make health care worse, more expensive and cause people to lose their private care.
Now do you see why he has to ram this through like the flash? He has to push this on people before there is time to digest the ramifications of this abysmal failure.
This health care proposal would be the boondoggle to end boondoggles. Think of over a hundred million people being funneled off their private insurance onto the government-run plan. The insanity is more than I can bear.
When President Obama states that you will be able to keep your current insurance, that is a backhanded lie to your face. Sure, you can keep it, until your employer decides to kick you off it and onto the government plan. Furthermore, there are provisions which force you onto the public plan if you lose your insurance. It is a total overstep of federal power.
The American Revolutionary War was fought over issues less egregious that the things President Obama is trying to do to our country.
His lofty rhetoric is despicable as he continues to be totally dishonest with the American people with regard to his vision for a “remade” America. Why the urge to “remake” something which became the beacon of freedom, capitalism and prosperity for the entire world?
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“Glenn Reynolds on the hidden cost of national health care”
By: Glenn Harlan Reynolds
July 12, 2009
“The key point, though, is that these treatments didn’t just come out out of the blue. They were developed by drug companies and device makers who thought they had a good market for things that would make people feel better.”
“But under a national healthcare plan, the “market” will consist of whatever the bureaucrats are willing to buy. That means treatment for politically stylish diseases will get some money, but otherwise the main concern will be cost-control. More treatments, to bureaucrats, mean more costs.”
“It doesn’t always work that way, of course. The rise of proton-pump inhibitors like Nexium or Prilosec has made ulcer surgery a thing of the past. But to the bureaucratic mindset, those pills are a cost, and ulcer-surgery expenses can be dealt with by rationing. Let ‘em eat Maalox while they wait.”
http://www.washingtonexam.....69092.html
I have been hearing a lot about the pill that substance is worth 50 cents but that mean drug company charges $5.00. That government reform will get rid of this injustice. And you know what, I believe they will.
If I ran Amgen I would shut down R & D the day it passes Congress. I would begin slow down now.
I have been listening to ignorant Congress members talk about $5.00 pill with 50 cent chemicals ( yes, I know I said this moments ago, but it’s important. OK ). What stupidity !!! In this climate, R & D is dead. Save those $ billions…Live for generics pills…
No use in educating Congress, that Congress person wants a catchy 5 second sound bite. Reality is re-election. That’s our future health care.
So bring in the illegals. Let the 70-90 year old die a dignified death.
Bring in the clowns. Play Doctor.
“America’s Health Care Is Better Than Europe’s”
http://glennbeck.blogs.fo.....n-europes/
……….
“Health Care in France—and in America”
“The French have a higher life expectancy, lower infant mortality, and lower costs than we do. In 2000, the World Health Organization ranked the French system the best in the world. The U.S. ranked thirty-seventh.”
But story ends…In facts of life…
“Benefits to raise money for health care in France? C’est impossible! Kind of makes you wonder what’s so bad about the French health care system, and all those skinny children who look the way American kids once looked.”
http://www.cjr.org/campai....._in_am.php
For those who hear Obama speak, listen to what he doesn’t say… Hear between the lines or is it lies ???
“Is America ready for single payer healthcare?”
Diana Furchtgott-Roth
July 17th, 2009
“President Barack Obama has repeatedly said “First of all, if you’ve got health insurance, you like your doctors, you like your plan, you can keep your doctor, you can keep your plan. Nobody is talking about taking that away from you.”
“But America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009, the bill under discussion in the House of Representatives, would result in the demise of private health insurance in America.”
“This would solidify government control of all health care in America, force most private insurance companies out of business, and lead to a single payer health system, like Britain or France”
“The bill’s focus is to drive people to the new public health-care plan or to Medicaid, the federal-state plan for low-income people. It would motivate many employers to drop insurance and pay the 8 percent tax, effectively steering employees to the new public plan.”
“The bill would create a new Health Insurance Exchange, where “qualified health benefit plans” are allowed to advertise their health insurance plans to individuals and firms. Only qualified health benefit plans are permitted to participate. In order to achieve the status of a qualified plan, an insurance company has to offer a certain package of benefits, meet guidelines on who can sign up, and agree to limits on profitability. It is unlikely that insurance companies can meet these requirements and stay in business.”
“Men would have to pay for maternity services and baby and child visits even if they are single and childless. People who do not abuse drugs would have to pay for substance abuse. This basic plan is like making everyone pay for a Cadillac when they would be glad to drive a used Ford.”
“Insurers would be required to accept all applicants, no matter how sick, and would be always required to renew coverage. With the exception of age, everyone, no matter how sick or healthy, would be charged the same premiums. When pricing by age, the highest premiums could not be more than twice as high as the lowest.”
“This means that in order to stay in business the prices charged by insurers would necessarily have to be very high. Companies would be required to cover a broad range of services, to accept anyone who applies without regard to sickness or health, and to keep premiums within a narrow range.”
“In addition, if companies were to make more than a certain level profit in a particular year, they need to return funds as rebates to enrollees. This prevents insurance companies from building up a reserve in some years to guard against losses in other years.”
“This pricing mechanism would quickly force private plans in the Health Exchange out of business—and leave consumers with the public plan.”
“Employers are also driven towards the Exchange. Beginning five years after passage of the bill, they would either have to offer health insurance comparable to plans in the exchange, or pay an 8 percent tax specifically designated towards subsidizing coverage in the Exchange.”
“Although President Obama repeatedly says that Americans who are happy with their medical insurance plans will be able to keep them, the House bill will make these plans disappear. Then, it’s a short step to a single payer system. Is America ready.”
http://blogs.reuters.com/.....ealthcare/
THIS LINK READS BETWEENS OBAMA’S LINES AND SPEAKS OUT ON OBAMA-SHIFTY- HEALTH CARE deflagration.
In my last comment, no doubters that believe private is not meant to fail and will fail, must re-read one important paragraph again…
“In addition, if companies were to make more than a certain level profit in a particular year, they need to return funds as rebates to enrollees. This prevents insurance companies from building up a reserve in some years to guard against losses in other years.”
This means plans will run out of money to pay bills at some point. Period… Just as government set it up to do.
A response to a single point.
I have been watching Fox and Friends this morning. One point that they made is that if we give insurance to every single patient that would overwhelm physicians by adding nearly 50 million more patients to the US physicians.
I feel that this statement says a couple things.
It states that we do not have enough physicians in the US to take care of the population of the US. This is not a problem with health care reform, this is a problem of staffing. How absurd is it to say that US citizens should not have insurance because there are not enough physicians to see them.
Ok that was point one of my response.
Point two is that, we have been blessed to have Physician Assistants (PA) and Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioners (ARNP). It is not only common that physicians hire PA’s and ARNP’s to work with them to cover all patients, but it is even common that when you visit a doctors office that you see the same ARNP or PA. It has further become popular that ARNP’s are gaining autonomy in certain states so that they do not even need a physician to sign off on protocol and ARNP’s can be the primary care provider for patients.
This does two things. It makes it cheaper to have primary care, as ARNP’s are paid less than MD/DO’s. It also adds to the amount of primary care providers seeing patients. This is why I say it is absurd to say that there are two many people in the US to all receive primary care.
If you want reform, how about adding to the bill, autonomy for ARNP’s in all of the US States so that they can be primary care providers for patients. This will mean, less waiting to get a appointment, it will lower the cost of primary care, and will take a ton of burden off of physicians who are so overwhelmed with patient loads that they can spend more minutes to see patients and patients receive better quality, less expensive care.
Not to mention that ARNP’s are not only master and doctorate level health care professionals, they are also bachelors trained nurses. The patient, in my opinion, will receive better holistic care from ARNP’s then physicians with no health care background, but this is a debate amongst health care professionals.
So to break it down:
http://www.census.gov/
This site stats there is approximately 307 million citizens in the US.
http://www.ama-assn.org/a.....2006.shtml
This is the AMA website that states that there are, as of 2006, aproximately 922,000 physicians in the US
This means roughly 323 citizens per physician.
If all 323 get sick all in one week the physician would have to see about 64 patients per day in a 5 day work week. That is 8 patients per hour.
Yes this is too many. It is also unlikely all 323 would get sick in the same week. Let’s say they do. If a physicians has 323 patients and they all get sick in 1 week, imagine the revenue that would bring that physician.
The average office visit in FL is $65, multiply that by 323, that is about $21K. This means that physician can certainly afford to pay ARNP’s and PA’s to work with him in the office and in the hospital.
Say he hires 4 people (no matter if they are ARNP or PA), this cuts the patient practitioner ratio to 65:1. Which is much more reasonable. If 65 people got sick in 1 week, the health care providers would have to see around 8-9 patients per day. Say they ONLY work 8 hours per day in the office. That is 1 patient per hour.
So when I hear there are not enough doctors to see ALL US citizens, I find that to be a ridiculous statement.
Again, I am NOT for socialized medicine, but the arguments I see on the news and on the internet are poor.
I always hear that the cost of health care is too high. I use this as an argument to give autonomy to ARNP’s.
Reform malpractice insurance and frivolous lawsuits.
Reduce the cost of medications in hospitals and other facilities.
Reduce the cost of insurance, or give other incentives to patients who choose to be healthy.