Please continue calling your Representative and Senators and tell them to oppose the Obama plan!
July 28, 2009
Don't be fooled by reports that the so-called "fiscally conservative" Blue Dog House Democrats have killed Obama's plan for a government takeover of the American health care system. Roll Call reported today that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is more determined than ever to bring the House bill, H.R. 3200, to the floor for a vote by the end of this week. She is reportedly turning up the pressure on the House Energy & Commerce Committee as well as the Senate Finance Committee to reach a "deal" on the 1,000 page, $1 trillion-plus bill and to "pull the plug" on Sen. Max Baucus' (D-MT) bipartisan negotiations altogether and just jam it through for a vote.
As Democrats attempt to frame Republicans as the party of "No," congressional liberals have revealed their health care bill to be the nightmare that its critics have claimed all along. Over the past two weeks, Democrats have defeated and said "NO" to 31 common-sense Republican amendments to H.R. 3200, including:
* Preventing bureaucrats from making personal medical decisions for patients (offered by Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-GA).
* Requiring all Members of Congress to get their health insurance through the proposed government-run plan (offered by Rep. Dean Heller, R-NV).
* Protecting Americans from "hurry up and wait," the rationing mechanism when average waiting time for a medical treatment exceeds the average wait times in private plans (offered by Rep. Kevin Brady, R-TX).
* Preventing taxpayer-funded health benefits from going to illegal immigrants (offered by Rep. Dean Heller, R-NV).
* Specifying that Congress should read the health care bill before voting on it (offered by Rep. Kevin Brady, R-TX).
* Ensuring that workers who like their current health plan can keep it (offered by Rep. Judy Biggert, R-IL).
* Stopping seniors from being stripped of their health care choices, as the Democrat bill cuts the Medicare Advantage program (offered by Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-FL).
* Allowing states to opt out (offered by Rep. Tom Price, R-GA).
* Allowing Americans to continue to enroll in private individual market health plans (offered by Rep. Dave Reichert, R-WA).
* Waive the employer mandate if it will cause layoffs, worker salary cuts, or reductions in hiring (offered by Dave Reichert, R-WA).
A recent Rasmussen poll found that a majority of Americans oppose Obama's plan for government-run health care, an ever increasing trend as more details of the bill, and information about defeated amendments which most Americans would support, are disclosed.
Since our last action alert on this topic, many more dangerous provisions have surfaced in the text of H.R. 3200, particularly those that target senior citizens by cutting funding for Medicare and by mandating "end of life" counseling, which should be seen as the beginning of a treacherous path toward government-encouraged euthanasia. Even President Obama told the The New York Times in an interview about his health care plan: "The chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives are accounting for potentially 80 percent of the total health care bill out here...There is going to have to be a very difficult democratic conversation that takes place." So-called "universal health care" depends on a rationing mechanism, and in the Democrats' bill, the rationing will begin with and directly affect the elderly.
H.R. 3200 also provides for the following seriously concerning items:
* Government real-time access to individual's finances and a national health care ID card (p.58).
* Government use of left-wing community groups, such as ACORN and AmeriCorps, to register individuals for the government health care plan (p. 95).
* No company or business can sue the federal government for price fixing, which means that there will be no judicial review against a government monopoly of the health care industry (p. 124).
* Any nonresident alien is exempt from the individual taxes, insurance purchasing mandates, and fines which are required of every legal, U.S. citizens (p. 170).
* Government will restrict the enrollment of special needs people (p. 354).
* Government mandates Advance Care Planning Consultation-that is, end-of-life counseling on "the use of artificially administered nutrition and hydration" and other end of life treatments. (Section 1233).
* "Advance Care Planning Consultation" may include a government order for end of life plans (p. 429).
* Government Marriage & Family therapy sessions (p. 489).
* Government will design and implement the Home Visitation Program for families with young children and families expecting children, parenting counseling is included (p. 838-845).
* Government-established National Medical Device Registry (p. 1001).
Make no mistake, Obama's and congressional liberals' goal is to vote before the August Recess because they know that when their Democrat colleagues return to their states and districts to hold townhall meetings, they will not be able to avoid the outrage of opposition from their constituents!
Take Action!
It's now or never to turn up the heat on your representative and your two Senators to defeat this bill! The phone lines on Capitol Hill are nowhere near jammed, so we need you to keep up the pressure (remember, phone calls are best) and not allow Nancy Pelosi to bring this bill to a vote this week.
The August Recess is scheduled to begin at the end of Friday, July 31st, so there is no time to waste-start calling now! We cannot allow Pelosi, Obama, or their liberal allies in Congress to think that the opposition has cooled down!
Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121
