Hill Protects Tricare

For those of you in the military, this is a good article explaining how your Tricare benefits will be affected under the new health care law.

Swing Districts Oppose Health Care Reform

What is truly astonishing is the dems insistence that people want this legislation even when the polling numbers substantially demonstrate otherwise.

"Don't Pull The Plug On My Baby!"

As a mom and a former neonatal intensive care nurse I cannot imagine how I would feel if I got a letter from a government health service telling me the day they intended to let my baby die. If this isn't a prime example of a "death panel" I don't know what is. Click on the title to read about Baby Isaiah, his brave parents and the government health care system that would like to let him die for his own good and the greater good. Then join the facebook group for Baby Isaiah and pray for him and his parents.

I worked in neonatal intensive care units for over 10 years. Many of the babies I took care of had little chance of survival but thanks to medical personnel who wouldn't give up and wouldn't play God, many of these babies have grown into adulthood. Some have problems, some don't. All are a source of great joy to their parents. The point is, we really have no way of knowing how some of these children will turn out. Don't these parents deserve a chance to see how much function their baby will have? Above all don't the parents and his physicians deserve to make decisions about his care without undue government interference? Do we really want to give our government the right to deprive any parent of a child?

We here in America need to realize that this is how government-run healthcare operates. While we may not have death panels per se, the amount of high risk care will definitely be rationed. Scenarios like this with Baby Isaiah will be far more commonplace. The decision to "pull the plug" would belong to the government rather than the parents and physician. We have the power right now to keep our government from going down this path. Keep up the pressure on your senators and congressmen. Tell them you don't want a government program that would allow a Baby Isaiah scenario to happen. Stop all efforts at government-run, socialized medicine now!

Dems Looking at Smaller Health Care Bill

Now is the time to contact your senators and congressmen to let them know your feelings about health care. Don't let the momentum go to waste!

Is Non-Compliance Keeping You Sick?

Is Non-Compliance Keeping You Sick?

Posted using ShareThis Dr. Mark Wiley makes some excellent points about team work between patient and healer as well as the importance of compliance with a treatment plan for illness, especially chronic illness. As a nurse practitioner I wholeheartedly agree that compliance is key to any treatment regimen. A treatment regimen will work most of the time if used properly. Therefore the first thing to assess in any healer-patient interaction is compliance issues. I spend a lot of time first finding out what has worked and not worked for patients. Sometimes it takes awhile to uncover compliance issues but it is worth the effort because treatment plans are doomed to fail unless the issues are resolved.

I also agree that many patients want the healer to figure it all out and solve their problems. But this never works, largely because it was never meant to work that way in the first place. There is no "magic bullet" treatment plan, no "magic wand." Believe me I would have a magic wand if there was such a thing! The real key, the real "wand" here is that people have the power within them to achieve optimum health even with a chronic illness. The challenge is helping them realize they have it and then helping them access it so they "own" the problem along with the plan to solve it. So for all you patients out there who have struggled with chronic illness with no end in sight I have good news for you. You have it within you to be healthy or at least improve your status. With the right healer you can discover what is holding you back from achieving a better level of health. There may not be a cure, but you can come optimally close by charting your course with a healer that is in tune with your needs but who will also give you advice you may not want to hear at the time. But take time to hear it and take that first step to try. I promise you will be amazed at the results. Then keep taking more steps. You can do it!

For all you practitioners, physicians, nurses, and other healers take the time to assess compliance issues with your patients right from the beginning and throughout your interactions with them. Trust me, your treatment plans will fail if your patients haven't bought into them so don't waste your breath telling me you don't have the time. Resolving compliance issues will actually save time and money in the long run for you, your patients and society as a whole. Now that's reform that will really help patients and that we can pay for!

The Corn Husker Push Back

So was Ben Nelson simply looking out for Nebraska when he cut his special deal at the expense of other states? Or was he being just as corrupt as the others? Read about how several states AG's are saying his deal is unconstitutional. Seems like everyone has conveniently forgotten about the Constitution altogether in this process. What a shameful disaster! Shame on them for doing it and shame on us for allowing it to happen by continually electing these butt heads. We have a chance to change things in this election. The question is, will we?

A Fine Mess

More evidence of the pass-the-bill-no-matter-what-so-we-can-finalize-the-power-grab-and-get-re-elected attitude prevailing in Congress now. Don't let the ugly process distract you from what is in the bill. Continue to do your homework and stay alert and informed. We can never let down our guard again as long as this crowd is in office.

EDITORIAL: Hiding health bills behind closed doors - Washington Times

EDITORIAL: Hiding health bills behind closed doors - Washington Times

More skullduggery and trickery. Contact your senators and reps and do not let them get away with this!

Dems Don't Have The Votes-Vote Delayed

Click on the article for more details and keep up the pressure on your reps!! Great job everybody!!

Side By Side Comparison of the House and Senate Health Care Bills

Click on the title to see a great side by side comparison of the House and Senate Health Care Bills from the Wall Street Journal. In terms of how to pay for health care, I do not know which is worse, the incredibly brazen taxes and fines proposed by the House or the brutal cuts to Medicaid and Medicare proposed by the Senate! The outcome of any merger between these two bills is bound to be very painful. Contact your reps and tell them to defeat these bills!

It's official! Obama declares an H1N1 swine flu national emergency. So what?

It's official! Obama declares an H1N1 swine flu national emergency. So what?

Posted using ShareThis Click on the title to read the article. The comments attached to this are particularly telling. As a nurse practitioner I am well aware that we have a problem with swine flu and that it could certainly get much worse. But I also believe we do not need a national emergency declaration at this point. The flu mostly affects those with high risk conditions. Ambulance services are not carting victims to the ER in droves. The time to initiate a national emergency is best initiated when the disease puts everyone at risk for mortality. The administration may have good intentions in trying to be proactive but initiating a national emergency prematurely creates negative perceptions of fabricated crises, powergrabs, and political posturing to get health care reform passed. If people believe this now, what will happen when we truly need a national emergency declaration? The timing of this could not have been more unfortunate as it is occuring at the same time our legislators are crafting health care reform. It certainly looks to me like the administration is acting on its philosophy not to waste a good crisis and it is quite evident many others think so as well. Whether they intended it this way is subject to debate. What I know for sure is that the perceptions and misperceptions generated by such posturing can put an entire nation at risk.

Heritage Foundation--Obamacare Round One Knockout

Here is an exerpt from an email sent to me today from the Heritage Foundation:

October 23, 2009 By Amanda Reinecker

First Senate health care vote flops
President Obama has repeatedly claimed that America is closer to passing health care reform than ever before. But proponents of big-government health care nevertheless suffered a major setback on Wednesday when the first Senate floor vote on health care legislation failed with only 47 votes in favor.
Senators voted not to act on a $247 billion "doctors' fix" that would have blocked scheduled costs savings in Medicare. This legislation is formally separate from the health care "reform" proposal, but it's nonetheless an integral part of the overall package, so its defeat is telling.
The vote, which Heritage Foundation expert Brian Darling dubs "round 1 of the battle over Obamacare," represents a major victory for conservatives who, from the beginning, have argued that real reform should be principled, fiscally responsible and bipartisan.
Detaching this legislation from the broader health care reform bill was part of a White House "strategy to smooth passage of President Barack Obama's $1 trillion-plus health care overhaul by transferring a quarter of its cost into a separate, and completely unpaid for, bill," explains Heritage's Conn Carroll in The Morning Bell.
Every Republican Senator and 13 fiscally-conscious Democrats (including Connecticut's Joe Lieberman) saw through this "transparently dishonest shell game" and voted down the measure.
A long history shows that promised Medicare cuts -- an effort to control runaway spending on the entitlement program -- rarely come to fruition. The cuts are either frozen or, when implemented, are undone after the fact. And, as in this case, lawmakers rarely offset the cost of the restored Medicare spending with cuts elsewhere, which simply adds to the budget deficit.
"The moment this became a fiscal and moral gut check, the people prevailed and the special interests lost," writes Heritage Vice President Michael Franc on National Review Online.
This was the first real demonstration of bipartisanship in the health care debate, and the Left lost. "A bipartisan majority rejected the Democrat leadership's attempt to add another quarter-trillion dollars to the national credit card without any plan to pay for it," McConnell said. "With a record deficit and a ballooning national debt, the American people are saying enough is enough."
> Other Heritage work of note
Heritage experts are working harder than ever to make sure the public has access to the facts and conservative principles on issues like health care, big-government spending and the war on terror. For example, since January, Heritage experts have made nearly 1,000 television appearances, conducted over 1,700 radio interviews and been cited over 6,800 times in print and online news publications. With several months left in 2009, these numbers already significantly surpass those from all of 2008. » Watch Heritage's recent television appearances.
Top administration officials are attacking Fox News for its bias, with even President Obama saying the network "operat[es] basically as talk radio." Of course, this ignores other media outlets' strong liberal bias. And as Heritage Vice President Mike Gonzalez explains, "with news commoditized," networks differentiate themselves by their opinion content. The administration wouldn't be "doing the nation or democracy any favors by depriving it of the only national television outlet that breaks the left's monopoly on news."
Social networking is nothing new, writes Heritage national security expert James Carafano. What used to be done at cocktail parties and weekend picnics is now done online through tools like Twitter and Facebook. But though the medium is new, the risks of these interactions remain the same for those in government: secret, dangerous or false information can be easily disseminated. "As Washington embraces social networking, it needs to think more about how it will protect against these kinds of anti-social activities that will inevitably make their way online," Carafano argues.
At the core of American constitutionalism is the rule of law, the notion that all laws apply to everyone equally. "But one powerful group in our democracy rarely misses a chance to exempt itself from laws that apply to the rest of us," writes Heritage Vice President Stuart Butler. "We're talking about members of Congress." Many lawmakers support proposals that would give Big Labor the upper hand in organizing elections joining unions. But this wouldn't apply to Congress' own workers, perhaps because members of Congress understand the downsides of unionization. If it's a great idea for the private sector, Butler maintains, "then presumably it's a great idea for Congress as well."
> In other news
A federal judge has upheld Craigslist's right to display ads for prostitutes on its online listing service. The website has agreed to require credit cards and contact information for those posting such ads.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney, a strong defender of the former administration's national security policies, is now accusing the current administration of libeling its predecessor and spreading untruths about its interrogation policies.
Iran is unwilling to renounce its right to enrich uranium to weapons-grade purity.
The White House is walking back its extraordinary claims about the "stimulus" legislation. A top administration economist admits that the $787 spending bill will likely have minimal effects going forward. In addition, she said unemployment will remain above 9.5 percent for another year -- this after the administration claimed the program would cap unemployment at eight percent.
As a result of the federal government's spending binge, Congress will soon have to increase the national debt limit to more than $13 trillion. A more serious reform would rein in runaway spending and pare back waste.
> Coming up at Heritage
To attend these or any other events at Heritage please RSVP at Heritage's website. Or you can view these events live online. All times are Eastern.
On Friday, October 23 at 11 a.m., Heritage senior fellow Helle Dale will host the event Past and Present: Estonia and U.S. Partnership with former Estonian Ambassador to the United States Hon. Sven Jürgenson and former U.S. Ambassador to Estonia Hon. Aldona Zofia Wos, M.D.
Amanda Reinecker is a writer for MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation. Nathaniel Ward, the Editor of MyHeritage.org, contributed to this report.

Reid Likely to Make Entire Health Care Bill an Amendment to Unrelated Tax Bill that House Passed in March

This is just one example of the kinds of tactics that our reps use to pass legislation that otherwise would not pass as a stand alone bill. Do not become complacent, as this battle is far from over! Contact your reps and let them know you are wise to such tactics and you are watching. It is critical to stay informed and keep up the pressure because it is working! But don't let up for one minute because the Dems have a lot on the line here with this legislation and they will stop at nothing to get it passed.

He Hasn't Read the Bill

Oh good grief. The chosen one to lead the way on health care reform apparently hasn't read the bill and is unfamiliar with key precepts in it. Yep you heard me right. He hasn't read the bill. Click on the title to read more.

So if Obama hasn't read the bill, and our senators and congress reps haven't read the bill, who has? Who really knows what it contains? Why are we the people allowing our legislators to shove this thing down our throats when nobody knows what is in it? Aren't we the ones in charge here?

Time to take a stand folks before it is too late. Time to call, email, fax and petition our reps and DEMAND they defeat this bill. Or at least allow us time to read it which by the size of it may take some of us a year or two to read AND understand it.

I propose that we set aside this bill for now and allow about two years for the economy to recover. If it looks like the economy is in better shape then we can look at health care reform. In the meantime everyone should be required to read the bill and that means EVERYONE. Then we should debate the issue so thoroughly and completely that there can be no doubt in anyone's mind what kind of health care we want, what we are willing to do to get it and how we will pay for it. We the people need to make this decision, not the government, not special interest groups and not our legislators. We need to take control and make our legislators carry out our wishes for health care reform. But we can't do this unless we have an informed debate. Contact your reps today and take back your health care! The time is now!

Thoughts on Health Care Reform

Click on the title for a great discussion on how this administration's public health care plan compares to the Clinton plan from 1993. The author makes a good argument that health care reform has far more consequences than cap and trade because we can repeal cap and trade once we figure out it is a dumb idea. He seems to think that once we accept national health care there would be no turning back. I agree with him that government run health care would be worse than cap and trade for many reasons. But the biggest reason I think this is because the government would be intruding in our lives on the most personal level imaginable--our right to make our own health care decisions for ourselves and our loved ones. If we go to national health care our freedom of choice concerning health care would be gone forever. Besides if we go to national health care where will everyone who can't get the care they need in their own countries go? My my, oh dear oh dear! Check out that clause that allows for Canadians to get reimbursed for heath care obtained in the states! And pay very close attention to the first comment about what is actually covered under the Canadian plan--very revealing!

Stop Obama Care--It Can Be Done!

Click on the above title to see a great article about the upcoming healthcare legislation. It contains talking points that can help you when communicating with your reps. It lists specific weaknesses that makes the plan extremely vulnerable to defeat. DO NOT ASSUME that passage of this bill is inevitable! It is still in the works, and we can still defeat it if we keep up the pressure on our reps. Bear in mind that there are moderate reps that have reservations about parts of this plan. The article lists them by name so if any of their constituents are reading this they should demand that these reps not support this bill and encourage their efforts to defeat it. The rest of us need to write to our reps and demand they stand up and defeat this bill. If it passes, it will make things worse for health care in this country. Let's get cracking on those letters and emails--there is no time to loose!

Health Advocates Fear Betrayal

Well well well...could the dems be a little nervous? It looks like Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana) may be softening his stance on a public health, or gov't run health care plan. It seems he is not as much for it now as he was back in November. Now that the true work has begun on health care reform it seems the details are making some uncomfortable. Particularly telling is Lem Nichols' comment on page three--"We're past kumbaya--we are now getting into the serious phase...the closer you get to the details being revealed the more nervous you get." This could be our window of opportunity to make a difference. Email, write, call your senators and congress people letting them know you are against government run health care. Keep up the pressure!!! It is working!

Don't be delusioned

If you had any illusions about this administration's true intentions to reform health care click on the title above and see this video of Rep. Jan Schakowski's (D-IL) recent speech. Make no mistake, government controlled health care is coming unless we do something quickly to turn the tide. Write to your senators and congress people letting them know you are against government controlled health care. Tell them to make health care a top priority and you expect them to aggressively look for free market solutions. Tell them you will not tolerate socialized medicine. It is time to act!

Stuart Browning's Healthcare Reform Series

For those of you in the Westlake, OH area you might be interested in attending this event. Click on the title of this post for details. Stuart Browning is a political commentator, writer, film director and producer, entrepreneur and health care policy commentator. He has written and produced several documentaries exposing the myths about government controlled health care and proposing free market solutions. Those of us who cannot attend this event check out his website http://www.freemarketcure.com/ for more information. We can't just be against government controlled health care. We must make health care a top priority and come up with a free market plan that is better than socialized medicine. It is time to get serious about health care reform. If you think that government control of corporations is bad wait until you experience government controlled health care!