Good News: Obama Now Sending Out 'Mystery Shoppers' to Spy on Doctors

These people will not rest until every facet of our lives in run by the government.

Obama administration officials are putting together a team of 'mystery shoppers' to pose as patients, call doctors’ offices and request appointments to see how difficult it is for people to get care when they need it.

The move follows increasing alarm over the shortage of primary care doctors.

The administration says the survey will address the shortage and try to discover whether doctors are accepting patients with private insurance while turning away those in government health programmes that pay lower reimbursement rates.

Federal officials predict that more than 30 million Americans will gain coverage under the health care law passed last year.

'These newly insured Americans will need to seek out new primary care physicians, further exacerbating the already growing problem' of a shortage of such physicians in the United States, the Department of Health and Human Services said in a description of the project prepared for the White House.

Plans for the survey have riled many doctors because the secret shoppers will not identify themselves as working for the government.

Dr. Raymond Scalettar, an internist in Washington, said: 'I don’t like the idea of the government snooping. It’s a pernicious practice - Big Brother tactics, which should be opposed.'

According to government documents obtained from Obama administration officials, the mystery shoppers will call medical practices and ask if doctors are accepting new patients and, if so, how long the wait would be, the New York Times reports.

The government is eager to know whether doctors give different answers to callers depending on whether they have public insurance, like Medicaid, or private insurance, like Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

Dr. George J. Petruncio, a family doctor in Turnersville, New Jersey, said: 'This is not a way to build trust in government. Why should I trust someone who does not correctly identify himself?'

Dr. Stephen C. Albrecht, a family doctor in Olympia, Washington, said: 'If federal officials are worried about access to care, they could help us. They don’t have to spy on us.'

Dr. Robert L. Hogue, a family physician in Brownwood, Texas, asked: 'Is this a good use of tax money? Probably not. Everybody with a brain knows we do not have enough doctors.'

If they're concerned about a shortage now, just wait awhile, especially when you treat doctors like criminals.

An Obama stooge claims everything will be kept confidential. Sure, who wouldn't believe them?

In response to the criticism, a federal health official said doctors need not worry because the data would be kept confidential. 'Reports will present aggregate data, and individuals will not be identified,' said the official, who requested anonymity to discuss the plan before its final approval by the White House.

Socialized Medicine Horror Story of the Day

Your future under ObamaCare. But remember, it's Paul Ryan who wants to kill grandma or something.

Doctors are prescribing drinking water for neglected elderly patients to stop them dying of thirst in hospital.

The measure – to remind nurses of the most basic necessity – is revealed in a damning report on pensioner care in NHS wards.

Some trusts are neglecting the elderly on such a fundamental level their wards could face closure orders.

The snapshot study, triggered by a Mail campaign, found staff routinely ignored patients’ calls for help and forgot to check that they had had enough to eat and drink.

Dehydration contributes to the death of more than 800 hospital patients every year.

Another 300 die malnourished. The http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.giflatest report – by the Care Quality Commission – found patients frequently complained they were spoken to in a ‘condescending and dismissive’ manner.

The watchdog said three of 12 NHS trusts visited in the past three months were failing to meet the most basic standards required by law.

They were: Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust and Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust in North London.

The findings follow a joint campaign by the Mail and the Patients Association last year which exposed shocking examples of substandard care.

Similar failings were highlighted earlier this year by the Health Service Ombudsman who cited cases of patients left to become so thirsty they could not cry for help.

It's not just the elderly having problems under the NHS.

Heartwarming Socialized Medicine Success Story of the Day

The easiest way to stop something so ridiculous would be to stop taking organs from diseased patients.

Desperate transplant patients are being given the lungs of chain smokers because the NHS is so short of organ donations.

Surgeons are also being forced to use diseased body parts from cancer sufferers, drug addicts and the very elderly.

Experts say that the waiting list for transplants has now grown so long that hospitals are increasingly resorting to implanting so-called 'high risk' organs.

There are around 8,000 people needing an organ donation at any one time and every day three patients die because they do not get one in time.

As a result, doctors say that most patients would probably accept a 'high risk' or 'marginal' organ as without it they may not survive the year.

They are also using tissue from those more at risk of carrying HIV and Hepatitis C such as gay men and drug users.

I guess it would be homophobic or something to not use such tissue.

'We have certainly, and so have other units, transplanted organs from 70-year-olds.'

'But last year a young woman died just five months after being given the lungs of a 30-a-day smoker.'

Lyndsey Scott, 28, a cystic fibrosis sufferer, developed severe pneumonia shortly after the transplant.

She was never told the organs would be coming from a smoker and her family claimed that she would never had gone ahead with the operation if she had known.

Socialized Medicine Success Story of the Day

Your future under ObamaCare.

A schoolgirl suffered multiple organ failure and four heart attacks just days after doctors sent her home with paracetamol and told her to take 'plenty of rest', an inquest heard.

Amy Carter, 15, begged doctors not to discharge her, telling them 'I'm dying' but medics assured her she would be fine.

She developed septicaemia after being released by doctors who had diagnosed her with glandular fever.

Two days later on Christmas Eve, Amy - who had not been able to eat for 19 days and weighed just six stone - was taken to hospital and died hours later.

She developed septicaemia after being released by doctors who had diagnosed her with glandular fever, an inquest heard.

A post-mortem examination revealed Amy, from Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire, died from glandular fever and streptococcal toxic shock syndrome - a lethal combination of conditions never before seen in a patient.

But despite the hospital's evidence that Amy was treated in the correct manner being accepted, her parents Richard, 43, and Jacqueline, 48, are still demanding answers.

Maybe I'm being cynical. Obama promises we'll all have better care and it'll cost less, so who am I to disagree? That would make me racist or something.

Joys of Socialized Medicine, Continued

Just can't wait until ObamaCare fully kicks in. We've got much to look forward to.

A YOUNG mum died after a series of blunders by doctors who failed to spot a six-inch long TOILET BRUSH HANDLE embedded in her buttock, an inquest was told today.

Cindy Corton, 35, was left with the bizarre injury after a drunken fall in a friend's bathroom in 2005 but "serious errors" by doctors then led to her death.

It was two years before Cindy, who was in constant pain, was able to convince doctors that the thin serrated plastic handle was stuck in the flesh of her bottom.

By then what should have been a routine procedure to remove it had become much more dangerous because the handle had become embedded in her pelvis.

After two unsuccessful operations in 2007 the mother-of-one was in such agony that she agreed to undergo further surgery in June last year despite being told it could prove fatal.

Cindy of Sleaford, Lincs, spent more than ten hours in surgery at Nottingham's Queens Medical Centre but died from massive blood loss.

Husband Peter, 61, said that when his wife first attended A&E at Lincoln County Hospital she was sent home with painkillers, despite showing them the wound on her bottom.

Four days later she was in such pain she went to Grantham Hospital and, although x-rays were taken, nothing was found.

He told the inquest in Grantham: "She wasn't properly examined by the doctor at Lincoln.

"At Grantham she wasn't examined properly again.

"This was unsatisfactory. The failures to investigate sufficiently in the first place at Lincoln and Grantham were a major factor in Cindy suffering.

"This could have been prevented by early location and removal of the foreign body which would have been a simple procedure at the time."

But fear not, out healthcare system will be better than ever!

Cindy's husband, a construction manager, is now taking legal action against United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust.

He said after the hearing: "Ok she was drunk but they didn't take her seriously. She showed them the wound but they didn't do a proper examination.

"I think it was probably down to the hospitals trying to save money and doing things as cheaply as possible."

He added: "Cindy got a very poor service from the NHS. I'm sure she would have got better treatment in foreign countries."

Don't bank on that much longer.

One Way For Greece to Survive

The economic meltdown in Greece has led to some interesting steps being taken for their survival. One of which is the realization that socialized medical care is a failure and needs to be privatized.

Policy Failure: Greece was told that if it wanted a bailout, it needed to consider privatizing its government health care system. So tell us again why the U.S. is following Europe's welfare state model.

The requirement, part of a deal arranged by the IMF, the European Union and the European Central bank, is a tacit admission that national health care programs are unsustainable. Along with transportation and energy, the bailout group, according to the New York Times, wants the Greek government to remove "the state from the marketplace in crucial sectors."

This is not some cranky or politically motivated demand. It is a condition based on the ugly reality of government medicine. The Times reports that economists — not right-wingers opposed to health care who want to blow up Times Square — say liberalizing "the health care industry would help bring down prices in these areas, which are among the highest in Europe."

Of course most of the media have been largely silent about the health care privatization measure for Greece, as it conflicts with their universal, single-payer health care narrative.

The public health system in the Hellenic Republic is operated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, where centralized decisions and rules are made.

It provides free or low-cost treatment through what is essentially a single-payer system established in 1983 when the Socialist Party was in power. Family members and retirees are also covered. Like the systems in Britain and Canada, it has agonizingly long waiting lists.

It should be no surprise that in Greece, health care spending as a percentage of the economy is relatively steep. According to Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development data, it's higher than that in the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and Japan. Despite all the spending, Greece could never cover 100% of its citizens, reaching only about 83% for primary care.

Today, the patient most in need of a room in the intensive-care ward is Greece itself — what with government debt nearing 120% of GDP and the deficit at 13% of GDP.

So let me get this straight.

The Democrats in Washington have been adopting the European socialist economy model, the same one that is melting down now before our eyes. Those same European socialists are just now realizing that their socialized health care system is too expensive and cumbersome and can't be sustained. Some of their public is rioting over the prospect of losing their government handouts.

At the same time, in the U.S., the socialists who have taken over Congress and the White House are sending us headlong into socialism in general, with the centerpiece of their agenda the socialized ObamaCare program. They claim that their socialized medicine plan is needed to save money and make the health care delivery system viable, even though that same system fails everywhere it is tried.

This is either the height of arrogance or insanity.

Another Heartwarming Socialized Medicine Success Story: 'I Think Dogs are Treated Better Than My Mother Was'

This should help do wonders for Labour's chances in the upcoming British elections.

A devastated daughter has accused Gordon Brown of betraying the elderly today after her elderly mother died 'wallowing in filth' in an NHS hospital.

Clara Stokes, 84, who was honoured in 2008 by the Prime Minister for her work as a Land Girl during the Second World War, was left partially paralysed by a massive stroke in December 2009.

Her daughter Elle Chambers, 57, claims her mother's subsequent care at Luton and Dunstable Hospital was 'inhumane' and 'not fit for dogs'.

The case is acutely embarrassing for Labour just days before the general election.

It follows a poll in today's Daily Mail that found that voters no longer believe the NHS is safe in Mr Brown's hands.

The shocked mother-of-two said Mrs Stokes was ignored by overworked nurses who left her dehydrated, hungry and lying in her own faeces for up to six hours.

In a series of sickening pictures taken by Mrs Chambers on the hospital ward, Mrs Stokes can be seen lying helpless and confused in the mess with her foot trapped in the bedstead.

Mrs Chambers and her daughter Michelle Plaford, 37, also found that water had been placed too far away from her bed and no staff had come to help her drink for up to 16 hours.

The pair were so disgusted by conditions they tried to feed other hungry and thirsty patients, only to be told by nursing staff they could not for 'health and safety reasons'.

At one stage the hospital almost ran out of supplies so nurses trawled wards for medication, Mrs Chambers added.

Remember though, the Democrats have told us that care will never be rationed. You believe them, right?

A temporary nurse misread Mrs Stokes' notes and forced uncrushed tablets down her throat, almost causing her to choke to death.

Doctors and nurses who misplaced health notes even thought Mrs Stokes was a man for the first two days, after she was admitted on December 16.

Outraged at her treatment, Mrs Stokes's family removed her from the hospital in Luton.

She died in a nursing home just days later on February 28.

Mrs Chambers wrote to Gordon Brown following the death to complain of the 'negligence', and was told by No.10 the matter had been passed to the Department of Health.

A death panel would have actually shown more compassion.

Mrs Stokes, a retired hairdresser, was left paralysed down the left side of her body by the stroke and unable to speak.

The only time they didn't go and visit Mrs Stokes was when her ward was in isolation following a stomach bug outbreak and visiting hours were restricted.

But when they were finally allowed into the ward, they were left stunned by the conditions Mrs Stokes had been left in.

She added: 'We finally walked in and my daughter said what is that under her arm? We lifted it up and she was covered in her own diarrhoea.

'She was paralysed and couldn't call for help. This was after 3pm in the afternoon and the last time she had been checked was at 9am.'

Just 24 hours later the family found a stricken Mrs Stokes' foot trapped between bed posts caused by a faulty bed pump.

It was not known how long she was trapped and had to be freed by the matron.

Mrs Chambers added: 'I think dogs are treated better than my mother was. She was left in a pond of her own filth. Worse than an animal.

Once the joys of ObamaCare kick in we may see a massive spike in assisted suicides if this is any indication what we're in for.

Socialized Medicine Success Story of the Day

Just a preview of the fiasco to come once the joyous Obama/Pelosi "health care" plan becomes law. Aspiring doctors will skip medical school for other fields and practicing physicians will flee the field leaving our hospitals manned by dubious doctors like this.

An elderly woman died after a German locum doctor carried out one of the “worst botched operations” seen in a British hospital, an inquest heard yesterday.

Ena Dickinson, a former NHS volunteer, was left unable to walk after the locum made a series of errors during a routine hip operation at Grantham & District Hospital.

Werner Kolb removed bone that should have remained intact and severed a major artery during the operation.

Mrs Dickinson, a 94-year-old former nurse and Red Cross volunteer from Barrowby, Lincolnshire, was left bleeding to death on the operating table. It was only when a consultant at the hospital stepped in that her life was saved.

However, two months after the August 2008 operation Mrs Dickinson died.

Kathy Ingram, her daughter, said that after dedicating her life to the NHS it had “let her down” when she needed it most.

Orthopaedic specialist Professor Angus Wallace told the inquest it was “the worst botched operation” he had seen.

The professor, who is based at Nottingham’s Queen’s Medical Centre, was so concerned about the case that he reported the doctor to the General Medical Council.

Last week MPs heard how a “gaping hole” in the rules on foreign doctors working in Britain is putting patients at risk.

The Health Select Committee is currently investigating out-of-hours-care following the death of David Gray in Cambridgeshire in 2008. He was killed by another German doctor, Daniel Ubani, who administered 10 times the normal dose of diamorphine.

Dr Ubani had flown to Britain to provide out of hours care under a contract from the local health authority.

We'll probably be seeing "specialists" flown in from Cuba before long since we all know how wonderful their "free" health care system.

Another Socialized Medicine Success Story

Can't wait to get me some of that ObamaCare.

An NHS patient has spoken of her horror after the body of a woman was left in an adjacent bed for up to eight hours.

Sarah Stevenson, 64, said staff left the corpse on a packed ward from 1pm until after 8.30pm.

Two other patients who died on the same day were also left for several hours behind thin curtains on the ward where Mrs Stevenson was being treated for pneumonia, she said.

The three bodies were finally removed in front of distressed families and young children during visiting hours.

Bosses at Heartlands Hospital, in Birmingham, last night apologised.
...
She said: 'At about 1.10pm the woman in the bed opposite me, a lady in her late-50s or early-60s, died and I had to alert the nurse that she had passed away.

'Another one died at around 2pm and the third a while later. I was upset because I was so ill myself and to lie next to a dead body all day was my worst nightmare.

I don't think they showed the patient any dignity in death. My daughter is a nurse so I know bodies are only supposed to stay on the wards for a maximum of four to six hours, but it was nearly eight hours before they came to take her to the mortuary.

'It was appalling and it should never take that long. The nurses were pushed to the limit and couldn't control a lot of what was going on.'

Mrs Stevenson, who has been married and divorced twice and was a stay-at-home mother to her three children and four step-children, was discharged on February 22.

Her allegations came after a damning survey revealed the Third World conditions on overcrowded NHS wards, despite the budget being tripled under Labour over the past ten years.

A survey of 900 nurses this week showed patients are routinely treated in kitchens, corridors, mop cupboards and TV rooms because wards are full.

This is probably some of that good stuff we'll find out about later after ObamaCare is rammed down our throats.

I guess on the upside this woman didn't die of thirst while laying next to all the dead bodies.

'It's Crazy -- Unethical, Really'

Somehow I suspect Nancy Pelosi will not be subjected to such guidelines. She's one of the elites. The rest of you women out there?

You're expendable.

Women in their 40s should stop routinely having annual mammograms and older women should cut back to one scheduled exam every other year, an influential federal task force has concluded, challenging the use of one of the most common medical tests.

In its first reevaluation of breast cancer screening since 2002, the independent government-appointed panel recommended the changes, citing evidence that the potential harm to women having annual exams beginning at age 40 outweighs the benefit.

Coming amid a highly charged national debate over health-care reform and simmering suspicions about the possibility of rationing medical services, the recommendations immediately became enveloped in controversy.

It's all about money, boys and girls. Can you say rationed healthcare? You know you can.

Several patient advocacy groups and many breast cancer experts welcomed the new guidelines, saying they represent a growing recognition that more testing, exams and treatment are not always beneficial and, in fact, can harm patients. Mammograms produce false-positive results in about 10 percent of cases, causing anxiety and often prompting women to undergo unnecessary follow-up tests, sometimes-disfiguring biopsies and unneeded treatment, including surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.

But the American Cancer Society, the American College of Radiology and other experts condemned the change, saying the benefits of routine mammography have been clearly demonstrated and play a key role in reducing the number of mastectomies and the death toll from one of the most common cancers.

"Tens of thousands of lives are being saved by mammography screening, and these idiots want to do away with it," said Daniel B. Kopans, a radiology professor at Harvard Medical School. "It's crazy -- unethical, really."

How long until Kopans is audited and accused of being in the pocket of some interest group. I figure by the end of the day.

I wonder who'll be running the death panels that will tell elderly women they can't have a mammogram? It'll also be interesting to see the reaction of those alleged "women's rights" groups out there. Will they sell their souls and health to the government?

British Healthcare System Wants To Kill Infant With Breathing Problems

Still want an omnipotent government-run healthcare system? Maybe you will change your mind after reading this story.

In England a hospital is seeking permission to kill a couple's infant because he was born with congenital birth defect with makes breathing on his own difficult. The baby has to be assisted with a ventilator. This does not stop the child from functioning. He plays with his toys and responds to his surroundings. The reason they want to kill him is because they say his quality of life is too low.

Who are they to decide this? The parents are split on this also, but for the life of me I cannot fathom what kind of macabre world we live in where a living human being can be sacrificed on the altar of medicine just for some sort standard of life that doesn't meet their ideals.

Despite having to remain in hospital and being dependent on a ventilator to breathe, he enjoys having stories read to him and listening to music, they say.

The lawyers are submitting video footage to the court, which they say shows him playing with his toys.

Lest you think this is some sort of disease that reduces its sufferers to some sort of vegetative state, think again.

An estimated 300 people have CMS in the UK, with varying degrees of severity.

Some who inherited the condition die soon after birth, while others can expect to live a relatively normal life with medication.

Is this what human life is being reduced to? Some sort of data point on an actuarial table? What makes this act any different from the Islamic homicide bomber who walks into a school and kills children?

Is this what you want in America?

Another Heartwarming Socialized Medicine Success Story

You ever notice the Democrats never quite get around to pointing out the joys of socialized medicine in other countries? Well, except for the braindead Michael Moores of the world just performing their clown act.

If you needed another reason to oppose the government overseeing your healthcare, read on.

A grandfather who beat cancer was wrongly told the disease had returned and left to die at a hospice which pioneered a controversial 'death pathway'.

Doctors said there was nothing more they could do for 76-year- old Jack Jones, and his family claim he was denied food, water and medication except painkillers.
He died within two weeks. But tests after his death found that his cancer had not come back and he was in fact suffering from pneumonia brought on by a chest infection.

To his family's horror, they were told he could have recovered if he'd been given the correct treatment.

Hmm, a death pathway? Might that be anything like a death panel, something we we told didn't exist in the healthcare bill only to see it quietly excised later?

Yesterday, after being given an £18,000 pay-out over her ordeal, his widow Pat branded his treatment 'barbaric' and accused the doctors of manslaughter.

Mr Jones was being cared for at a hospice which was central to the contentious Liverpool Care Pathway under which dying patients have their life support taken away, although the hospice claims it wasn't officially applied in his case.

The scheme is used by hundreds of hospitals and care homes, and is followed in as many as 20,000 deaths a year.

Read the rest. It's most depressing.

Your Future Under ObamaCare

Whatever you do, folks, don't become horribly disfigured while we're living under the wonderful dreamstate of ObamaCare. Because you'll be waiting a really long time to get put back together.

A plumber whose arm was left twisted grotesquely out of shape in an accident ten months ago has had an operation to correct it 'cancelled four times'.
Torron Eeles, 50, has been left unable to work since falling down the stairs and now fears he may lose his home after being denied incapacity benefit.

The father-of-three today hit out at the NHS for the 'unacceptable delays', but East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust said Mr Eeles had his operation cancelled on 'only' two occasions on clinical safety grounds.

His left arm has hung limply by his side since he fractured the humerus bone in December 2008.

Mr Eeles, from Welham Green, Hertfordshire, applied for employment and support allowance but a doctor ruled he is ineligible for both because he can turn on a tap.

He can turn on a tap, so move to the back of the line, pal.

He said: 'This whole situation is absolutely disgusting. I have never heard of anyone else having a broken arm for ten months.

'It's been so long the bones have knitted back together. Sleeping is really uncomfortable because whenever I roll over my arm gets in the way.

'I'm a kitchen fitter and plumber by trade but I can't even slice a loaf of bread let alone work.

'This has been going on and on and it's a complete nightmare.'

But no, there won't be any rationed care under socialized medicine.

Plus, we'll be saving money!

Conflict Of Interest? What Conflict Of Interest?

Susan Bayh an issue in fight over health care
President Barack Obama called Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh to the Oval Office on July 17 for a one-on-one meeting about health-care reform, Democrat to Democrat.

The left-leaning advocacy group Move On.org recently called on Bayh to support a new government health insurance plan.

And the right-leaning group Conservatives for Patients' Rights has urged Bayh to oppose a public health plan.

But for Bayh, health care isn't just the latest high-stakes political fight in Congress. It's also a substantial part of his family's income.

As the debate over health-care reform intensifies, Bayh's wife is receiving lucrative payouts from some of the companies that could be most affected by that legislation.

Bayh contends the $2.1 million that his wife, Susan, earned from public health-care companies from 2006 to 2008 represents no conflict of interest. Questions persist, however, for at least two reasons. First, Evan Bayh has been unclear about his positions on many issues related to health-care reform. Second, there's the timing of Susan Bayh's rapid rise into corporate governance.

Susan Bayh, who was a midlevel lawyer for the politically active Eli Lilly and Co. while her husband was governor of Indiana, did not serve on the board of a single public health-care company until it was clear her husband was about to ascend to the U.S. Senate. Only one month before Evan Bayh was elected to the Senate in a landslide vote, his wife was appointed to serve on the board of what would become the nation's largest health insurance company -- and arguably the company with the most at stake in the health-care reform debate.

Within a few years, numerous companies recruited her, and she eventually served on the boards of eight companies. At least one of them asked her to reduce the number of boards she served on, apparently because she was spread too thin to be effective.

Adding to speculation about a connection between her board memberships and her husband's office is Susan Bayh's unwillingness to discuss the matter, including for this story. She has declined several requests for comment on her corporate interests, making it difficult to tell where those interests end.

[....]

Where there's smoke, you usually have some fire.

Helluva lot of smoke here.


Read it all at The IndyStar

'The Curve is Being Raised'

It's starting to look a lot like the Congressional Budget Office isn't down with nationalizing health care.

The director of the Congressional Budget Office issued a warning to Democrats Thursday that their health care proposals would raise costs, not lower them.

One day after a Senate panel approved its version of the health care reform plan, the first committee to do so, CBO Director Doug Elmendorf gave a dose of bad medicine to a separate committee.

Asked by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., whether costs would be lowered -- also known as "bending the curve" -- Elmendorf responded: "The curve is being raised."

Subsidies to help uninsured people would raise federal health care spending, which is already growing at an unsustainable rate, Elmendorf explained at the hearing. The Medicare and Medicaid cuts that lawmakers have offered to pay for the coverage expansion aren't big enough to offset the cost trend, particularly in the long term, he said.

House Republican Leader John Boehner seized on the comments, calling on Democrats to scrap their plans in light of the assessment.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell called it a "wake up call" for Democrats.

Anybody with a lick of sense knows that this will escalate costs, not lower them. Medicare cost some 900% more than originally projected cause they did not take into account the increased consumption of services when the services themselves were perceived to be "free." A basic principle of microeconomics is that people consume resources at their marginal value; in other words, what does it cost me to to consume the next unit? If the cost is perceived to be zero, folks will value it as such and consume it in the same light.

The Democrats need to put down Das Capital and try reading Adam Smith for a change.

Obama's Biggest Supporters to Get Whacked With 59% Tax Rate

Um, I don't think this is change they can believe in.

Congressional plans to fund a massive health-care overhaul could have a job-killing effect on New York, creating a tax rate of nearly 60 percent for the state's top earners and possibly pressuring small-business owners to shed workers.

New York's top income bracket could reach as high as 57 percent -- rates not seen in three decades -- to pay for the massive health coverage proposed by House Democrats this week.

The top rate in New York City, home to many of the state's wealthiest people, would be 58.68 percent, the Washington-based Tax Foundation said in a report yesterday.

That means New York's top earners, small-business owners and most dynamic entrepreneurs will be facing new fees and penalties.

The $544 billion tax hike would violate one of President Obama's ironclad campaign promises: No family will pay higher tax rates than they would have paid in the 1990s.

Oh, so he lied? There's a stunner. If you're a New Yorker, click the image above if you really want the depressing details. But don't complain to me. We tried to warn you, but you voted for Obama in overwhelming numbers.

Meanwhile, if you think you can somehow keep your own insurance, think again.

The nonpartisan Lewin Group estimated in April that 120 million or more Americans could lose their group coverage at work and end up in such a program. That would leave private carriers with 50 million or fewer customers. This could cause the market to, as Lewin Vice President John Sheils put it, "fizzle out altogether."

What wasn't known until now is that the bill itself will kill the market for private individual coverage by not letting any new policies be written after the public option becomes law.

The legislation is also likely to finish off health savings accounts, a goal that Democrats have had for years. They want to crush that alternative because nothing gives individuals more control over their medical care, and the government less, than HSAs.

With HSAs out of the way, a key obstacle to the left's expansion of the welfare state will be removed.

The public option won't be an option for many, but rather a mandate for buying government care. A free people should be outraged at this advance of soft tyranny.

Washington does not have the constitutional or moral authority to outlaw private markets in which parties voluntarily participate. It shouldn't be killing business opportunities, or limiting choices, or legislating major changes in Americans' lives.

It took just 16 pages of reading to find this naked attempt by the political powers to increase their reach. It's scary to think how many more breaches of liberty we'll come across in the final 1,002.

Is it any wonder they're trying to ram this monstrosity through before people even know what they're in for?

Democrats always claim they're pro-choice. Of course, that's a total lie.

Plenty of juicy and unpleasant details will come dribbling out over the next few days, as analysts and reporters plow through the mind-numbing texts and parse the fine print. But the basic picture is clear -- and it's ugly.

If President Obama signs either bill into law, he'll be breaking a host of promises. Neither the House nor Senate would guarantee that you can keep your private health plan if you like it. Or that patients will retain their relationships with their doctors.

And that bit about cutting the typical family's health costs by $2,500 a year? A howler, if there ever was one. Deficit neutrality? Level playing field for plan competition? Fuhgeddaboudit.

More on this monstrosity here.

As Obama and the Democrats further slip in approval ratings it's clear they realize their only chance they have to socialize a huge portion of our economy is quickly evaporating, so expect a full-court press in the next several weeks. People spending their summer not paying attention to what's going on in Washington are in for a very rude awakening once they realize their freedom is gone.

All in the name of change.

What Kennedy's Tumor Reveals

Ted Kennedy's medical treatment offers a look into socialized medicine.

The Joys of Socialized Medicine

Poor woman can't get her teeth fixed. And boy, does she need a lot of work.

I'd post the photos, but it's just too hideous.

Democrat Presidential Candidates Were Unavailable for Comment

Still think nationalized health care is the way to go in the United States?

Cancer patient 'denied funding'

A cancer patient has been told doctors cannot have funding for a bone marrow transplant from a donor in Australia.

The marrow would have been taken from a donor, frozen and flown to south Wales for the treatment on Alan Francis, 68, of Llanelli, Carmarthenshire.

But I thought nationalized health care was supposed to be the magic bullet, the answer to all our problems, the perfect solution to rising health care costs?

So how do these spending decisions get made?

Health economist Siobhan McClelland with limited resources. HCW had to decide on priorities, which could be "difficult" for public and patients to accept.

Ms McClelland said HCW often had to deal "high cost, low volume services" issues which were particularly emotive.

She said: "People say they don't want to put a price on life and it should not be about money, but at the end of the day, it is about money and making sure we spend that money as effectively as possible.

So, as always, it boils down to money, just like the current system. The only diiference is whether or not a government bureaucrat gets your money and then makes the decision.

Uncle Joe is Smiling

Today, we have look at Senator Clinton's Health Plan.

Although short on specifics, I see enough here to be convinced that it would be, like Barack Obama's plan, turning us into the People's Republic of America.

Some items of note from her website:

Americans can keep their existing coverage or access the same menu of quality private insurance options that their Members of Congress receive through a new Health Choices Menu, established without any new bureaucracy as part of the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program (FEHBP). In addition to the broad array of private options that Americans can choose from, they will be offered the choice of a public plan option similar to Medicare.

Translation: Expansion of Medicare to the general public.

By removing hidden taxes, stressing prevention and a focus on efficiency and modernization, the plan will improve quality and lower costs.

Translation: We are planning on some imaginary savings to make this work.

By creating a level-playing field of insurance rules across states and markets, the plan ensures that no American is denied coverage, refused renewal, unfairly priced out of the market, or forced to pay excessive insurance company premiums.

Translation: We are going to regulate the insurance industry from top to bottom, including price fixing.

The refundable tax credit will be designed to prevent premiums from exceeding a percentage of family income, while maintaining consumer price consciousness in choosing health plans.

Translation: We will use income redistribution to give preferential treatment to our special interest groups.

The Plan will fix the holes in the safety net to ensure that the most vulnerable populations receive affordable, quality care.

Translation: We will expand the role of government in controlling your life.

A new tax credit for qualifying private and public retiree health plans will offset a significant portion of catastrophic expenditures, so long as savings are dedicated to workers and competitiveness.

Translation: A little something for the retiree vote. Question: How do you dedicate saving to the "workers" in a retiree health plan? Their spin is not in sync with itself here.

Over half the savings come from the public savings generated from Senator Clinton's broader agenda to modernize the heath systems and reduce wasteful health spending.

Translation: Hillary thinks she knows how to run your hospital better than the doctors do. My guess is this will include fee and income caps on health care providers.

The plan protects the current exclusion from taxes of employer-provided health premiums, but limits the exclusion for the high-end portion of very generous plans for those making over $250,000.

Translation: We will punish success and call that "fairness".

There are no deatils that I could find on what happens to you if you don't pay for your coverage, other than some references to a tax credit (income redistribution).

Here's an indication of how Hillary looks at America:

"How Hillary's plan affects:

• Women
• African-Americans
• Americans with Disabilities
• Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
• Hispanics
• Seniors"

Look who is missing from that group. White males, of course.

When you read through those sections, the class envy and special interest group pandering is enough to make you sick. These people see the country as a combination of special interest groups, all of whom are dependent upon handouts from Big Brother.

Somewhere, Joe Stalin is smiling.