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	<title>Strict Construction &#187; healthcare</title>
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	<description>The Founders meant what they said!</description>
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		<title>Death by Red Tape</title>
		<link>http://www.strictconstruction.org/death-by-red-tape/</link>
		<comments>http://www.strictconstruction.org/death-by-red-tape/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:44:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ken Cluck</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[American Medical System]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Domestic Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hip-Pocket Congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Democrats]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[healthcare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[liberal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pelosi]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.strictconstruction.org/?p=604</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I case you don’t recognize that the plans of the liberal junta include expansion of government to an unprecedented degree, consider the 111 new government programs and bureaucracies created by the latest Healthcare bill released in the House of Representatives. To see a full list go here.

I will limit myself to mentioning a few with [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I case you don’t recognize that the plans of the liberal junta include expansion of government to an unprecedented degree, consider the 111 new government programs and bureaucracies created by the latest Healthcare bill released in the House of Representatives. To see a full list <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/11/02/raw-data-gop-list-new-bureaucracies-house-health-care/">go here</a>.</p>
<p><img src="http://www.strictconstruction.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Three_stooges_doctor_small1-300x240.jpg" alt="Three_stooges_doctor_small1" title="Three_stooges_doctor_small1" width="300" height="240" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-605" /></p>
<p>I will limit myself to mentioning a few with my own personal remarks. The numbers correspond to the above list.</p>
<p>1. Retiree Reserve Trust Fund (Section 111(d), p. 61)<br />
Because the Social Security Trust Fund has been such a success.</p>
<p>4. Program of administrative simplification (Section 115, p. 76)<br />
Just what we need, an administrative program to simplify administrative programs.</p>
<p>6. Health Choices Administration (Section 241, p. 131)<br />
Since you will ultimately lose your healthcare choices, why do we need to administer those choices?</p>
<p>7. Qualified Health Benefits Plan Ombudsman (Section 244, p. 138)<br />
Because we do not have enough unelected bureaucrats.</p>
<p>11. Health Insurance Exchange Trust Fund (Section 307, p. 195)<br />
We can always use another trust fund for Congress to plunder.</p>
<p>12. State-based Health Insurance Exchanges (Section 308, p. 197)<br />
Can you say “unfunded mandate?”</p>
<p>14. &#8220;Public Health Insurance Option&#8221; (Section 321, p. 211)<br />
A public option will be needed after they bankrupt the entire industry.</p>
<p>15. Ombudsman for &#8220;Public Health Insurance Option&#8221; (Section 321(d), p. 213)<br />
Bureaucrats are popping up like mushrooms after a bad rain.</p>
<p>16. Account for receipts and disbursements for &#8220;Public Health Insurance Option&#8221; (Section 322(b), p. 215)<br />
Special account for all the wealth they will be redistributing.</p>
<p>17. Telehealth Advisory Committee (Section 1191 (b), p. 589)<br />
Because the other government telephone advisory systems have been so popular.</p>
<p>23. Independence at home demonstration program (Section 1312, p. 718)<br />
Who better to teach independent living than a government liberal bureaucrat?</p>
<p>24. Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research (Section 1401(a), p. 734)<br />
Comparative Effectiveness Research? I’m more effective than you.</p>
<p>25. Comparative Effectiveness Research Commission (Section 1401(a), p. 738)<br />
Of course you need an ineffective commission to research effectiveness.</p>
<p>26. Patient ombudsman for comparative effectiveness research (Section 1401(a), p. 753)<br />
Another one! Sheesh!</p>
<p>27. Quality assurance and performance improvement program for skilled nursing facilities (Section 1412(b)(1), p. 784)<br />
28. Quality assurance and performance improvement program for nursing facilities (Section 1412 (b)(2), p. 786)<br />
I can hit both of these with the same statement: Because the federal government has such a reputation for improving performance and assuring quality in other programs.</p>
<p>33. Pilot program to develop anti-fraud compliance systems for Medicare providers (Section 1635, p. 978)<br />
They have such a stellar record at preventing fraud.</p>
<p>34. Special Inspector General for the Health Insurance Exchange (Section 1647, p. 1000)<br />
The head Bureaucrat-in-charge.</p>
<p>39. Comparative Effectiveness Research Trust Fund (Section 1802, p. 1162)<br />
More trust funds. Can’t you just see Pelosi salivating over all that money just lying around?</p>
<p>41. Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (Section 1907, p. 1198)<br />
This will be needed because the new government health care program will squelch all other innovation.</p>
<p>42. Public Health Investment Fund (Section 2002, p. 1214)<br />
They don’t even try to put the word ‘trust’ in this one.</p>
<p>43. Scholarships for service in health professional needs areas (Section 2211, p. 1224)<br />
No one will want to spend their own money to become a doctor when profit is illegal.</p>
<p>44. Program for training medical residents in community-based settings (Section 2214, p. 1236)<br />
See above</p>
<p>45. Grant program for training in dentistry programs (Section 2215, p. 1240)<br />
See above</p>
<p>51. Prevention and Wellness Trust (Section 2301, p. 1286)<br />
Money, money, money!</p>
<p>52. Clinical Prevention Stakeholders Board (Section 2301, p. 1295)<br />
Huh!?</p>
<p>53. Community Prevention Stakeholders Board (Section 2301, p. 1301)<br />
Now they’re just getting silly.</p>
<p>58. Center for Quality Improvement (Section 2401, p. 1322)<br />
Isn’t Government Quality Improvement like military intelligence?</p>
<p>59. Assistant Secretary for Health Information (Section 2402, p. 1330)<br />
What’s a secretary of Health Information without an assistant?</p>
<p>60. Grant program to support the operation of school-based health clinics (Section 2511, p. 1352)<br />
Kids-with-Condoms program. When that fails you only have to miss third period to have that abortion.</p>
<p>61. Grant program for nurse-managed health centers (Section 2512, p. 1361)<br />
Who needs high priced doctors?</p>
<p>64. &#8220;No Child Left Unimmunized Against Influenza&#8221; demonstration grant program (Section 2524, p. 1391)<br />
It’s for the children!</p>
<p>65. Healthy Teen Initiative grant program regarding teen pregnancy (Section 2526, p. 1398)<br />
‘No Child Left In-uterus” program.</p>
<p>69. Grant program to promote positive health behaviors in underserved communities (Section 2530, p. 1422)<br />
To undo what years of welfare has created.</p>
<p>71. Grant program to develop infant mortality programs (Section 2532, p. 1433)<br />
For those who make it past the abortoriums.</p>
<p>74. Grant program for community-based overweight and obesity prevention (Section 2535, p. 1457)<br />
Because fat is not your program, the government should pay for it.</p>
<p>86. Health and Human Services Coordinating Committee on Women&#8217;s Health (Section 2588, p. 1610)<br />
87. National Women&#8217;s Health Information Center (Section 2588, p. 1611)<br />
88. Centers for Disease Control Office of Women&#8217;s Health (Section 2588, p. 1614)<br />
89. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Office of Women&#8217;s Health and Gender-Based Research (Section 2588, p. 1617)<br />
90. Health Resources and Services Administration Office of Women&#8217;s Health (Section 2588, p. 1618)<br />
91. Food and Drug Administration Office of Women&#8217;s Health (Section 2588, p. 1621)<br />
Because more women vote liberal.</p>
<p>94. Grant program to disseminate best practices on implementing health workforce investment programs (Section 2591, p. 1632)<br />
There is no better arbiter of best practices in medicine than a bureaucrat.</p>
<p>95. Demonstration program for chronic shortages of health professionals (Section 3101, p. 1717)<br />
This will be needed because of all the shortages this bill will create.</p>
<p>97. Program of Indian community education on mental illness (Section 3101, p. 1722)<br />
98. Intergovernmental Task Force on Indian environmental and nuclear hazards (Section 3101, p. 1754)<br />
99. Office of Indian Men&#8217;s Health (Section 3101, p. 1765)<br />
100. Indian Health facilities appropriation advisory board (Section 3101, p. 1774)<br />
101. Indian Health facilities needs assessment workgroup (Section 3101, p. 1775)<br />
102. Indian Health Service tribal facilities joint venture demonstration projects (Section 3101, p. 1809)<br />
104. Grants to Urban Indian Organizations for diabetes prevention (Section 3101, p. 1874)<br />
110. Native American Health and Wellness Foundation (Section 3103, p. 1966)<br />
111. Committee for the Establishment of the Native American Health and Wellness Foundation (Section 3103, p. 1968)<br />
These last few will be needed because of the poor performance of that little known government healthcare program: Indian Health Services.</p>
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		<title>Negotiation By Decree</title>
		<link>http://www.strictconstruction.org/negotiation-by-decree/</link>
		<comments>http://www.strictconstruction.org/negotiation-by-decree/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:05:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ken Cluck</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[American Medical System]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hip-Pocket Congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obamination]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Orwellian Newspeak]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[healthcare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[policies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[power-grab]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.strictconstruction.org/?p=597</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The latest evolution of the health care monstrosity slinking through the Capital is just as dangerous as earlier versions. The House is considering a version that would supposedly allow doctors to negotiate prices with the government instead of the earlier plans that included set prices that amounted to price controls.
Price controls are a problem because [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The latest evolution of the health care monstrosity slinking through the Capital is just as dangerous as earlier versions. The House is considering a version that would supposedly allow doctors to negotiate prices with the government instead of the earlier plans that included set prices that amounted to price controls.</p>
<p>Price controls are a problem because they are historically unrealistic and, over the long run, produce shortages. When a company is forced to sell an item at a price below the cost of production, distribution, and profit they stop producing—resulting in a shortage. Price controls also cause shortages through overconsumption. Thomas Sowell in Basic Economics (pg 29) tells of wealthy people who did not even live in the city holding on to apartments covered under New York’s rent control laws. This reduced the number of apartments available for the poor who were supposed to benefit from the laws.</p>
<p><img src="http://www.strictconstruction.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/hammer_striking_nail-300x300.jpg" alt="hammer_striking_nail" title="hammer_striking_nail" width="300" height="300" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-601" /></p>
<p>When one of the agents is the government, negotiated prices are price controls with a less offensive name. Control is negative and implies a use of force. Negotiation sounds warm and fuzzy, sitting down over coffee and biscotti, and seeking what is best for both parties. In order for a negotiation to be effective, and balanced, each must have something to offer and negotiate from an equal footing. When one agent is far more powerful than the other, negotiation quickly gives way to demand. How is anyone, other than a separate sovereign nation, to negotiate with the US government? This is not possible because the government will set the terms of the negotiation. This will quickly degenerate to hidden price controls along with the resulting shortages.</p>
<p>What our healthcare system needs is a healthy dose of free market economics. Our system has been under the boot of big government for too long; Mr. Obama and his cronies in the Congress want us to believe the solution is adding the other boot.</p>
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		<title>Civil Hypocrite</title>
		<link>http://www.strictconstruction.org/civil-hypocrite/</link>
		<comments>http://www.strictconstruction.org/civil-hypocrite/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 12 Aug 2009 12:15:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ken Cluck</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[American Medical System]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Constitution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hip-Pocket Congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News and Current Events]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obamination]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Political Action]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Democrats]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[elections]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[healthcare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.strictconstruction.org/?p=512</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Calls from the left ring throughout the land, “We must be civil in discussing healthcare.” People are going to town halls to protest and harangue condescending officials defending this takeover of the American healthcare system. Constituents shout, plead and debate the candidate in a way that can be very uncomfortable, but does this lack proper [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Calls from the left ring throughout the land, “We must be civil in discussing healthcare.” People are going to town halls to protest and harangue condescending officials defending this takeover of the American healthcare system. Constituents shout, plead and debate the candidate in a way that can be very uncomfortable, but does this lack proper civility?</p>
<p><img src="http://www.strictconstruction.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/unamerican_pelosi-300x225.jpg" alt="unamerican_pelosi" title="unamerican_pelosi" width="300" height="225" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-515" /></p>
<p>Efforts of this administration and the Hip-pocket Congress prove that the current elected assemblies in Washington are representing a failed ideology at the expense of the American people. Many of us fear having an imperfect system that works replaced by a system destined for failure. The Democrats in Congress (with the help of their moderate to liberal Republican sycophants) are so set on building their leftist Utopia that they are ignoring the voices of the people.</p>
<p>This congress and administration has done far more to undermine the confidence of the American people in their own government than all previous ones combined. Over the last few months we have become aware that those elected to represent us are voting on bills they have never read, and that many times are not even off the presses. This happened before, but pair it with record spending and you have a government run amuck. Add to this their hatred for dissent with efforts to reinstate the failed “Fairness Doctrine,” special email addresses to report those who would dare to speak out against healthcare, labeling those who served their country with honor as potential terrorists and accusations by Speaker Pelosi that those who are now speaking out are un-American.&#8221;</p>
<p>Then there’s the blatant hypocrisy of a Congress that rails against corporate executives flying in private jets, only to turn around and request new business jets from the Pentagon to ferry Congressmen around. According to <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/pentagon-fumes-as-house-seeks-more-business-jets-2009-08-10">a story in Market Watch </a>this money will have to be cut out of other areas of the defense budget. Congress is willing to cut the amount of money being spent to support our troops in war so they can get a cushy flight. Of course this ignores the old news request of Speaker Pelosi for a larger jet for her private coast to coast flights. Their hypocrisy doesn’t stop there though. What about Card Check? This plan, also known as the Employee “Free Choice” Act, claimed to be for the support of workers. This claim was possible because leftists still long for the days of the great Revolution and calls of “Workers of the World, Unite!” They overlook the facts about unions—driving up costs, making American manufacturing uncompetitive, and unwillingness to see companies as anything other than cash-cows to be milked at every opportunity. Do you want to know why manufacturing jobs are fleeing the United States? “Look for Union Label.” This nice little bill would have stripped away a worker’s right to a secret ballot in a union vote.</p>
<p>So what are good hard-working Americans to do when faced with these issues? Are we to wait for the media to get the word out? Considering they have still not dropped their love affair with Barack Obama, I don’t think this will happen anytime soon.</p>
<p>Of course we should not be surprised they still fawn over Barack. They should have known that once they sold their souls in the election they would have to keep up the charade for the rest of his presidency. Liberals do not care what you did for them yesterday. Any anchor in the MSM that comes out with any negative press about Barack Obama will find himself labeled a bigot and tarred and feathered by the left. We can hope the media will wake up and resume their post as defenders of liberty and clarions of the truth, but that kind of media is rare. </p>
<blockquote><p>“If you do not read the newspaper you are uninformed; if you read the newspaper you are misinformed.” &#8212;-Mark Twain.</p></blockquote>
<p>The answer is what we see happening today. Protests and demonstrations are one of the few ways left to get the word to congressmen. The first amendment was not meant to protect only the news industry but all Americans who want to express themselves. Solutions will not be found in quiet discourse and polite debate, but in high volume vitriol. Politician’s calls for niceness and quiet are a veiled attempt to silence and to muzzle. The left has used this tactic for decades. There is a huge difference between what the left did before and what is going on now. When the left would demonstrate, the ranks were filled with the unemployed, the professional protestors and people unlikely to pay for what they demanded. Those protesting now are the very people who write the check and mail it to the IRS to pay the bills of this country. They are the productive in our society. When those who create the wealth in this land feel the need to take time away from work and family to come to a townhall meeting and make their opinions known it is the Congressmen or other official that should sit down and be quiet because those who pay them are speaking.</p>
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		<title>Change We Can&#8217;t Afford</title>
		<link>http://www.strictconstruction.org/change-we-cant-afford/</link>
		<comments>http://www.strictconstruction.org/change-we-cant-afford/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 11 Aug 2009 06:30:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ken Cluck</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[American Medical System]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hip-Pocket Congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Liberty]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News and Current Events]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obamination]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Orwellian Newspeak]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[healthcare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[legislation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[liberal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[presidency]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.strictconstruction.org/?p=507</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In the debate on healthcare one of the chief arguments being given by the Obama administration is that the government option will be voluntary and those who currently have coverage will be able to keep it. It is also claimed that this is not an effort to do away with private coverage, but to care [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In the debate on healthcare one of the chief arguments being given by the Obama administration is that the government option will be voluntary and those who currently have coverage will be able to keep it. It is also claimed that this is not an effort to do away with private coverage, but to care for those who cannot currently afford coverage. A few days ago I downloaded a copy of the bill (all 1000+ pages). I did this because whenever someone tells me that the bill says this or that, in this section or that, I like to go directly to the source and find out what it says or does not say.<br />
<img src="http://www.strictconstruction.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/obamacare-cough-300x300.jpg" alt="obamacare-cough" title="obamacare-cough" width="300" height="300" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-508" /><br />
In perusing the bill I found section 102: Protecting the Choice to Keep Current Coverage. This section must not be missed by anyone who considers this issue.  In this bill those who have current coverage will be allowed to keep it. However, 102(a)(1)(A) forbids those offering coverage from enrolling any new clients on or after the first day the law goes into effect. This means that you can keep your coverage, but anyone who does not have coverage will be put into the government system with no option for private insurance.</p>
<p>When this happens the insurance companies will find that they have all the customers they will ever have. They cannot expand their businesses and according to 102(a)(3) they can never raise rates on those who are covered or according to 102(a)(2) can never change what they do or do not cover. This last one also prevents them from entering into any new cost-sharing arrangements to reduce costs. The companies can never expand, or raise rates to offset inflation or higher expenses. The only time a new policy could be written is when someone with private insurance, before hand, changes policies.</p>
<p>Understand what this means, if this bill passes those who are not covered by private insurance will have no choice but the government system—none other can be sold. Those who have coverage can keep it until the company goes out of business or they lose or drop the coverage another way—job change or economic downturn. Once this happens they too will be on the government system, for life, and the government that has proved its inefficiency and incompetence in so many areas will be able to let us down where it matters most. Higher prices, rationing, lower quality and early death for millions will be the legacy of this president. How’s that for Change!</p>
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		<title>Miss Manners Takes a Holiday</title>
		<link>http://www.strictconstruction.org/miss-manners-takes-a-holiday/</link>
		<comments>http://www.strictconstruction.org/miss-manners-takes-a-holiday/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 04 Aug 2009 10:28:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ken Cluck</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[American Medical System]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Political Action]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[grassroots]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.strictconstruction.org/?p=496</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Americans for the most part are polite, at least conservatives are. For years we’ve seen conservative speakers shouted down by unwashed and unproductive liberal professional protesters. On college campuses you can usually tell the speakers political views by the volume of the audience. It is good to finally see conservatives getting in their verbal shots [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Americans for the most part are polite, at least conservatives are. For years we’ve seen conservative speakers shouted down by unwashed and unproductive liberal professional protesters. On college campuses you can usually tell the speakers political views by the volume of the audience. It is good to finally see conservatives getting in their verbal shots at liberals. During a town hall meeting in Philadelphia with HHS Secretary Sebelius and Senator Arlen Specter, brotherly love quickly fled the room. The issue at hand was healthcare and the people of this country are finally recognizing the liberal agenda for what it is—an effort to seize as much of the economy as possible and control the lives of the American.</p>
<p><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/03/audience-shouts-sebelius-specter-health-care-town-hall-philadelphia/"><img src="http://www.strictconstruction.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/sebelius_specter-300x225.jpg" alt="sebelius_specter" title="sebelius_specter" width="300" height="225" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-497" /></a></p>
<p><span id="more-496"></span>For too long we have been quiet and polite. While the left has shouted us down with vitriol and hatred we have politely stood by—too busy punching the clock and feeding for our families. Now the federal government is coming after those we love—the elderly and infirm—with a program that worsens their care while muddling ours and saddles our employers with much of the cost. It is time those who love this country and believe as the founders did that the worst enemy of freedom is a large intrusive government to act as the founders would have. Politics in the founding generation were far from gentle or genteel. In the days of Jefferson and Adams politics was a contact sport.</p>
<p>For the last few years there have been calls for bipartisanship and getting along from many of the more lily livered segments of our society. I have always responded to these calls by pointing out that the founders intended that our political system involve a verbal blood bath every two years or so to prevent a literal one every twenty years. We are the only nation with over 230 years of self-rule with only one instance of turning to guns and bombs to settle an issue. This alone should be proof that such a divisive, mean and abusive system works. Some out there will point out that the founders were opposed to political parties and will quote from Washington’s Farewell Address his views on the “baneful effects of the spirit of party.” I get sick of hearing these arguments because those making them overlook history. The same founders who spoke against political parties quickly found parties essential. Even Washington, who tried to appear above such, was more aligned with Hamilton’s Federalists than Jefferson’s Democratic Republicans.</p>
<p>People, it is time to take off the gloves and bloody our knuckles. It’s time to take to the streets and shout about what is being done to our nation. Leave Miss Manners behind and go after those who would reduce our nation to despotism. Of course we don’t want blood or physical violence and rather than running the left down with pitchforks and torches we will run them out with the ballot box. However, if we do not make our voices heard this great experiment in peaceful self-government will end in a blood bath as those who love freedom are forced to fend for themselves against a government who in an attempt to provide all physical needs find it necessary to rob its people of property and liberty. A peaceful future requires us to act and do so now.</p>
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		<title>Tax the Healthy</title>
		<link>http://www.strictconstruction.org/tax-the-healthy/</link>
		<comments>http://www.strictconstruction.org/tax-the-healthy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:32:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ken Cluck</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[American Medical System]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News and Current Events]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Constitution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[federalism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[healthcare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[taxes]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.strictconstruction.org/?p=486</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Efforts to provide insurance coverage to all Americans sounds admirable. Speaking against the latest liberal efforts to extend such coverage is seen as hateful and uncaring. While no sane person wants another to suffer or die because of the cost of healthcare, we must ask what part of the Constitution gives Congress power to manage, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Efforts to provide insurance coverage to all Americans sounds admirable. Speaking against the latest liberal efforts to extend such coverage is seen as hateful and uncaring. While no sane person wants another to suffer or die because of the cost of healthcare, we must ask what part of the Constitution gives Congress power to manage, or provide medical care for any Americans outside of the military. This element is being ignored by those who have taken oaths to support the Constitution.</p>
<p>This plan is blatant redistribution of wealth. As evidence of it, look at the various ways being considered to pay for this care. One of the latest is a tax on health policies costing $25,000 per year. This means that those who work hard and pay high premiums to get the best coverage would see their own health care costs to provide for others. “Soak the rich,” is a popular mantra of the left, but this promise must be viewed in light of history. Every government welfare program has started with taxes on the rich, but taxes always grow and the tax base always spreads.</p>
<p>Government provided healthcare, regardless of the method or the plan is an unconstitutional siezure and redistribution of wealth. Such programs subsidize bad decisions and punish productivity, while continuing to divide the nation along class lines. </p>
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		<title>Mission Accomplished</title>
		<link>http://www.strictconstruction.org/mission-accomplished/</link>
		<comments>http://www.strictconstruction.org/mission-accomplished/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 28 Jul 2009 11:45:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ken Cluck</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[American Medical System]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Domestic Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obamination]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[healthcare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.strictconstruction.org/?p=477</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When the USS Abraham Lincoln returned from war in May 2003, President Bush stood before a giant sign that shouted, “Mission Accomplished.” The media and their liberal overlords twisted this sign’s meaning in attack after attack. I recommend the current President and Messiah of the Liberal World proclaim the accomplishment of one of his chief [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>When the USS Abraham Lincoln returned from war in May 2003, President Bush stood before a giant sign that shouted, “Mission Accomplished.” The media and their liberal overlords twisted this sign’s meaning in attack after attack. I recommend the current President and Messiah of the Liberal World proclaim the accomplishment of one of his chief goals.</p>
<p><img src="http://www.strictconstruction.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/obama-mission-accomplished-300x163.jpg" alt="obama-mission-accomplished" title="obama-mission-accomplished" width="300" height="163" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-478" /></p>
<p><span id="more-477"></span>This last week the Federal Reserve predicted unemployment above 10% and no net growth in jobs over the next five years. Congratulations Barry. You wanted the United Stated to be more like Europe and you have succeeded. In seeking to model the US on Europe, the Liberal Mecca, Barry has thus far succeeded. That land of government high unemployment, gargantuan taxes, Utilitarian regulation, and Keynesian debt has been the dream of the left for so long they could not fathom what a nightmare it would be.</p>
<p>The only European abomination Barry has been unable to impose is nationalized healthcare, but he is hard at work on this. So on top of higher taxes, lower employment and fewer jobs, we could soon look to the same government that has screwed up everything it has ever touched to take care of us when we are sick. If Obama succeeds where will the Europeans go, who come here to escape their national healthcare systems? Where will we be able to go to find the same healthcare choices and quality we enjoyed under a market driven system?</p>
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		<title>Doctor Obama</title>
		<link>http://www.strictconstruction.org/doctor-obama/</link>
		<comments>http://www.strictconstruction.org/doctor-obama/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:44:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ken Cluck</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[American Medical System]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News and Current Events]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obamination]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[healthcare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[liberal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[taxes]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.strictconstruction.org/?p=471</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We are hearing more details about Obama&#8217;s push to create the liberal Utopia where all needs are met by big brother and no one goes without. This week he is making a huge push for his healthcare plan. Like most things spawned from the Democratic side of the aisle it involves meddling in business, reducing [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>We are hearing more details about Obama&#8217;s push to create the liberal Utopia where all needs are met by big brother and no one goes without. This week he is making a huge push for his healthcare plan. Like most things spawned from the Democratic side of the aisle it involves meddling in business, reducing freedoms and increasing dependence on Uncle Sam.</p>
<p><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.mymanmitt.com/mitt-romney/2008/06/obama-has-truly-come-to-save.asp"><img src="http://www.strictconstruction.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/obamadoctor-267x300.jpg" alt="obamadoctor" title="obamadoctor" width="267" height="300" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-472" /></a></p>
<p><span id="more-471"></span>The Obama plan would require all Americans to purchase health insurance, with government help for those who can not afford it. The problem with requiring health insurance is the same problem with state laws requiring liability insurance, the difficulty of enforcement. How do you know each family has purchased the required level of insurance? The only way to enforce this would be at the point of care, forcing Doctors and hospital staffs to act as health police.  Once a person goes to get care and is discovered to not have the required coverage how are they to be handled? Are they placed on the government plan that both versions of this bill would create? This is a blatant effort to force people onto the government plan. What about costs? Once you require the purchase of anything you raise the cost. Every aspiring entrepreneur dreams of selling a product that everyone must have, because this offers the best profits through higher possible prices. Since the government plan has no need to turn a profit it could undercut prices, making up short falls through the power of taxation. In an effort to economize, people would be pressured onto the government plan. Obama&#8217;s plan would make coverage more expensive and push far more people onto the government plan, </p>
<p>What about illegal immigrants? Are they to be placed on the government healthcare plan? This plan will not stop them from showing up at emergency rooms around the country so something will have to be done. Health needs of illegals is one factor in the high cost of healthcare today and fixing the system will not be possible without securing our borders. If they are not to be covered on the government plan, how do we force them to pay for their own coverage? American taxpayer would be forced to subsidize those here illegally and the administration will have created one more incentive to flout our immigration laws. Illegals have been completely forgotten in this debate.</p>
<p>The next problem of Obamacare is the requirement that employers provide coverage to employees or pay a fee (spell that T-A-X). Like most liberals Obama, having never run a business, has no understanding of business. People create companies and hire people to turn a profit. Self-interest fuels their activities and causes them to invest their time and money. When you add requirements to this you increase the cost of doing business. A business owner will have more to consider when hiring. Many assume the choices are to pay for coverage or pay the special tax, but there are actually other options. One such option is whether to hire anyone or not. Perhaps the company will find another way to do the work without the hiring more people. Will this only apply to full-time workers? If so another option is to hire two part-time to do the old work of one full-time. Another question that must be answered, would employers still have to pay up for those who have elected the government plan. Most likely not, so employees will quickly find that they are more attractive to employers if they “opt” for the government plan.</p>
<p>Obama&#8217;s healthcare plan that makes coverage more expensive, forces doctors to play healthcare police, does nothing about illegals and negatively impacts business and employment. No other proof is needed that this was birthed in the delusional liberal mind.</p>
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		<title>Obama Care</title>
		<link>http://www.strictconstruction.org/obama-care/</link>
		<comments>http://www.strictconstruction.org/obama-care/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:41:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ken Cluck</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[American Medical System]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Domestic Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News and Current Events]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obamination]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[healthcare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[legislation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[power-grab]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tyranny]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.strictconstruction.org/?p=460</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The latest news buzz has been on Barack Obama&#8217;s plans for universal healthcare. It is easy to bring out sad stories of people who seem to fall through the cracks in the system and go without care, but before we scrap the greatest healthcare system in the world we must make sure we have the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The latest news buzz has been on Barack Obama&#8217;s plans for universal healthcare. It is easy to bring out sad stories of people who seem to fall through the cracks in the system and go without care, but before we scrap the greatest healthcare system in the world we must make sure we have the facts straight. It is seldom helpful to base laws on emotional appeals.</p>
<p><img src="http://www.strictconstruction.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/obamacare-300x272.jpg" alt="obamacare" title="obamacare" width="300" height="272" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-461" /></p>
<p><span id="more-460"></span>We often hear about those without insurance and that they are unable to get basic health care. It is actually illegal for a hospital emergency room to not render aid and care for life and limb. These patients will sometimes find their costs covered by government programs, but often the hospital is forced to pass these costs on to other patients. Most of these people are honest people who simply have not been able to afford coverage, but those who defraud the system are a huge problem—giving false identification to prevent collection. My family and I went for many years without health coverage. We still managed to get very good care for an assortment of problems. Sometime we made payments and other times there was help from private charities. </p>
<p>Another claim is the number of people unable to afford healthcare. What about the people in that statistic who can afford it but choose instead to spend their money elsewhere? I purchase health insurance because it is important to safeguard my family. To do this I give up other things I could spend the money on. Many who claimed to be unable to afford insurance have cell phones, good sized homes, new cars and cable TV. Some of these people actually have insurance offered by their employer but they elect to do without preferring to risk a high cost and hoping the government will do it for them. People electing to do without insurance should be excluded from these studies and be left to their own devices when there is a medical emergency. You have a right to be stupid and if you are stupid enough to elect to be uncovered then you should deal with the consequences—rather than casting them upon the fed, the state, the doctor or your fellow citizens.</p>
<p>Barack Obama has claimed that under his system there would be no mandatory switch from private to public insurance. He proposes a government system that would compete with private coverage. It is claimed that this would keep market forces at work in healthcare to drive down costs. Imagine running a business with a competitor across the street. Competition is good for both businesses and for the customer so long as it is honest competition. However, if one company has unlimited resources and no need to turn a profit then there is no true competition (consider the Post Office). Add to this the power that the government has to regulate the industry and you now find a a private individual competing against a monstrosity that easily absorbs the highest of costs while driving other&#8217;s costs up through regulation.</p>
<p>Private insurance companies and their clients will find themselves, through taxation, underwriting the public system that they compete against. The private companies will have higher costs from regulation and higher taxes to subsidize the wasteful government system they compete against. Families who choose to pay for their own coverage will discover that in addition to the cost of their own insurance they are expected to pay (taxation again) for those who choose to join the government system.</p>
<p>The losers in this system will be the American people as they see coverage choices dry up. Companies that now offer insurance will find themselves forced out. Employers who offer coverage will find it cheaper to pass that cost along to the government and stop offering health benefits. Workers who receive medical coverage as part of their retirement package will see those go away in favor of pushing them onto the government system.</p>
<p>While discussing back and forth the pros and cons of a government healthcare system, few are pointing out that the federal government has no power to interfere with the healthcare system. This is an affront to the limited government intended by the founders. The federal government was limited to certain powers and responsibilities. Anything outside of these is an issue for the people themselves or the states. We are never going to see a return to constitutional government and the freedoms it guarantees unless we begin telling our elected officials to stay within the scope of their duties. So join me in telling Mr. Obama and the Hip-pocket Congress: “Hands off my health care!”</p>
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		<title>Obamacare</title>
		<link>http://www.strictconstruction.org/obamacare/</link>
		<comments>http://www.strictconstruction.org/obamacare/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:41:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ken Cluck</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[American Medical System]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Domestic Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obamination]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Orwellian Newspeak]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[healthcare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[taxes]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.strictconstruction.org/?p=447</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[While Congress is away from Washington for the Fourth of July, President Obama replied to charges that his plans for healthcare reform were rushed and too costly. Of course, his reply was quintessential political boilerplate. He says &#8220;doing nothing would cost far more than changing the system.&#8221; He made no appeal to the need for [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>While Congress is away from Washington for the Fourth of July, President Obama replied to charges that his plans for healthcare reform were rushed and too costly. Of course, his reply was quintessential political boilerplate. He says &#8220;doing nothing would cost far more than changing the system.&#8221; He made no appeal to the need for change and no details of the changes or what we will get for our money&#8211;just an unprovable claim that doing nothing would be worse.</p>
<p><img src="http://www.strictconstruction.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/generic-doctor-photo1.jpg" alt="generic-doctor-photo1" title="generic-doctor-photo1" width="300" height="263" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-448" /></p>
<p>Take notice whenever a politician says that the expensive program he is touting is less costly than doing nothing. This is not an attempt to convince but to obfuscate. It is easy to point to statistics and stories of failings of our current system, because his own system has not been implemented and therefore is difficult to examine. Liberal programs are never measured by what they do or do not accomplish but by what they meant to accomplish. Welfare is a good thing because it meant to cure poverty. Never mind the destruction of minority families and the harm done by these programs.</p>
<p>The healthcare status-quo could never be more expensive than surrendering control of one-fifth of our economy to the government and control of our healthcare decisions to bureacrats. The cheapest healthcare system is one that allows market forces to determine costs, and that rewards creativity and innovation. Government healthcare will choke off innovation, will cost everyone in higher taxes and will drive market forces from the equation. Costs, procedures, and standards will be set by government fiat. Anyone who has experienced healthcare systems run by the US government (welfare systems, BIA Indian Health Services, Veterans Administration, etc.) wouldn&#8217;t wish that care on the rest of the country.</p>
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