Special Interests

Consti here playing connect the dots over Healthcare, taxes, SEIU and the Presidency. Healthcare reform as I am sure you know will be an expensive piece of legislation. Much hay has been made about how we are going to pay for it. The language of the legislation is at best muddled with legal speak most people won’t understand. Savings in Medicare/Medicade, taxing of “Cadillac” health plans, penalties for not obtaining coverage, as well as picking the pocket of the “rich” are supposed to miraculously cover the expense of healthcare coverage for an additional 20% of the population. Sounds good on paper, but then again so does communism. Let’s start with a few quotes.

THEN-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE BARACK OBAMA: “We’re going to have to change the culture in Washington so that lobbyists and special interests aren’t driving the process and your voices aren’t being drowned out.”

THEN-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE BARACK OBAMA: “I’ve spent my entire adult life working with SEIU. I’m not a newcomer to this.”

Well we know how that one has turned out. Andy Stern President of the SEIU has had the most visits to the White House than anyone else reported so far. That’s so far since the “most transparent” administration in history refuses to release a complete White House visitors list. The SEIU is a big labor organization and I would say qualifies it as a special interest group. So special in fact that they helped write the Healthcare legislation. The administration didn’t seem to mind when the SEIU bussed in hundreds of supporters to Healthcare town halls in the summer of 09 to “drown out” the voices of concerned constituents. The treatment of those constituents consisted of being called ‘stupid‘, ‘racist’, ‘terrorist‘ or ‘evil-mongers‘. Old Harry Reid even recently tried to compare opponents of Healthcare to supporters of slavery. Some proponents of healthcare were even assaulted by SEIU members. This however is all old news.

Andy Stern President of SEIU: “The question is how is everyone going to share in the wealth? And I think that after we get through this health care situation and finally solve this problem of 223 years, you know, we are going to see a change in our labor laws.”

Apparently “share the wealth” does not include the SEIU since in recent closed door meetings with the Administration and Congressional leaders big labor negotiated an exemption from the Cadillac tax for union members.

“The sweetheart deal, hammered out behind closed doors, will save union employees at least $60 billion over the years involved, while others won’t be as lucky — they’ll have to cough up almost $90 billion.”

So in reality “share the wealth” means taking other people’s money since big labor has spent years negotiating, threatening, and bribing business to bend to its will. “Now Consti union workers are people just like you and me don’t they deserve it?” The short answer is NO. A lot of noise has been made on this blog and others about people taking “responsibility” and “paying their fair share”. But apparently big labor is exempt from that as well. Never mind that labor contracts have caused production to be move over seas or raised the price of goods due to the perks of being a union worker. Now big labor wants to tax everyone else for healthcare but union workers who stand to benefit the most from Healthcare reform.

“In a Dover, N.H., campaign stop, Obama pledged that “no family making less than $250,000 will see their taxes increase – not your income taxes, not your payroll taxes, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes.””

Well if Unions are not paying their fair share then the cost will have to be moved somewhere else to pay for Healthcare reform. Where do you think that will be? If you said the cost will be passed onto the general public then move to the head of the class. And when someone tries to tell you that savings from Medicare/Medicade are going to pick up the slack just remind them of this little fact.

“According to their own auditors, Medicare knowingly overpays for almost everything it buys. Examples include:

– $7,215 to rent an oxygen concentrator, when the purchase price is $600.

– $4,018 for a standard wheelchair, while the private sector pays $1,048.

– $1,825 for a hospital bed, compared to an Internet price of $1,071.

– $3,335 for a respiratory pump, versus an advertised price of $1,987.

– $82 for a diabetic supply kit, instead of a $47 price on the Web.”

Or this little fact;

“According to the American Medical Association’s National Health Insurer Report Card for 2008, the government’s health plan, Medicare, denied medical claims at nearly double the average for private insurers: Medicare denied 6.85% of claims. The highest private insurance denier was Aetna @ 6.8%, followed by Anthem Blue Cross @ 3.44, with an average denial rate of medical claims by private insurers of 3.88%”

Healthcare reform is not about being compassionate and helping people without coverage. If it were the leaders in Congress would take their time and insure that more than just 20% of the population is added to the rolls. If it were about compassionately caring for the “general welfare” of our citizens they wouldn’t be racing to get this bill passed using legislative tricks or before Massachusetts elects a Republican representative.

Like all things in D.C. Healthcare reform is about power and money. It’s about “sharing the wealth” of others with those who don’t feel the need to succeed on their own. It’s about ego and political legacies. It’s not Ted Kennedy’s seat. It’s the peoples seat, and it’s about time government is reminded of that.

The vultures are circling the corpse of promises broken.

Consti

Tagged as: Barack Obama, Health Care Reform, Healthcare, obama administration, politics, SEIU