Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Creating Health 'Exchange' Entrenches Obamacare

Michigan Capitol Confidential has;


"By JACK MCHUGH | Sept. 24, 2011

Last week, Cato Institute health care policy expert Michael Cannon testified before the Missouri Senate’s Interim Committee on Health Insurance Exchanges on why that state should not create an Obamacare exchange. His arguments apply just as much to Michigan, including this excerpt describing how creating an exchange will help entrench Obamacare.

From testimony delivered on Sept. 15, 2011

Some opponents of the law nevertheless argue for creating an exchange so that states can be prepared in case the law is not overturned or repealed. Yet creating an exchange would entrench the law and make it less likely to be repealed or overturned.

• First, creating an exchange lends a veneer of legitimacy to the law. The Obama administration heralds the creation of each new exchange as proof that the law is gaining acceptance, and heralds states accepting the federal grants available under the law in the same manner.

• Second, declaring the law unconstitutional but then accepting the funding it offers and creating an exchange undermines the credibility of state officials seeking to overturn the law and also undermines the lawsuits themselves. One federal judge who overturned the law wrote that the fact that some of the plaintiff states are themselves implementing the law undercuts their own argument that he should order the federal government to halt implementation.

• Third, to create an exchange is to create a taxpayer-funded lobbying group dedicated to fighting repeal. An exchange's employees would owe their power and their paychecks to this law. Naturally, they would aid the fight to preserve the law.

• Fourth, both Congress and the courts are less likely to eliminate actual government bureaucracies that have assembled dedicated constituencies than they are to eliminate theoretical ones. The more disruptive repeal would be, the less likely it becomes.

• Fifth, many knowledgeable observers believe few exchanges, state or federal, will be operational by 2014. If states like Missouri create their own exchanges, they will begin handing out billions of taxpayer dollars sooner than if the federal government creates them. Creating a state-run exchange will hasten the day when the private insurance companies that receive those subsidies plow much of the money back into fighting repeal.

• Sixth, and perhaps most important, due to a recently discovered glitch in the statute, the new health care law only authorizes premium assistance in state-run exchanges — not federal exchanges. States thus have the collective power to deny the Obama administration the legal authority to dispense more than a half-trillion dollars in new entitlement spending, to expose the full cost of the law's mandates and government price controls, as well as to enforce the law's employer mandate — simply by not creating exchanges. If Missouri joins other states in refusing to create an exchange, it can essentially force Congress to reconsider the law. If Missouri instead creates an exchange, it will increase the federal deficit and debt, hide the full cost of the health care law, expose Missouri employers to penalties and reduce the likelihood of repeal.

The Obama administration is offering financial inducements to states to create exchanges because the administration knows that every new exchange helps them shield the law from Congress, the courts, and the American people. Creating an exchange is not a hedging-your-bets strategy but a sabotaging-your bets strategy.

Full text of eye-opening testimony here."


2 comments:

Panic Attacks said...

I agree - creating an exchange is not a hedging-your-bets strategy but a sabotaging-your bets strategy. Highly detail article. Thank you for placing these issues to light and the insights you have provided.

D Bunker said...

Thank You.

Ya know, in the three and a half years we've been investigating 'Mental Health' the Honest Psychs we've found online, we can count on the fingers of one hand. And we quote, from PanicAttack's link:

"But don’t just “take my word for it”,
see what these experts think…

"Dr Harry Barry is a medical doctor and mental health expert based in Ireland. He is a Director of AWARE, the depression support organization. He is also the author of three mental health books."

"I cannot recommend this program highly enough…
‘Panic Away’ is a superb program designed to help those countless sufferers from anxiety in all its forms. I found Barry Mc Donagh’s approach to the treatment of panic attacks and phobias in particular to be a refreshing one – simple, practical and easy to use. I cannot recommend this program highly enough to anyone trapped in the ‘fear of fears’ that panic attacks and phobias generate. His approach to embracing anxiety in all its form is one I completely agree with and I would be happy to recommend unequivocally this program to anyone with anxiety"


Dr Barry having tossed His two cents out there, we Highly recommend that before Anyone tosses even a half-pence in his direction, they check out his "drug-free" association with Lundbeck: courtesy of Leonifennell.wordpress.com

http://leoniefennell.wordpress.com/2011/08/05/harry-barry-the-new-lundbeck-puppet/

Which, we'll quote the opening of:

"Nice badge Harry!

AAH Harry, are you the new Lundbeck puppet/muppet? Exactly how many Doctors and Psychiatrists are on Lundbeck’s payroll?

I must say Harry, you really disappoint me, I thought you were a good guy! Have you moved over to the dark side or do you really believe the pharmaceutical tripe that Lundbeck are feeding you?

An article today in the Irish Examiner states…Virtually everyone who presents with depression gets a pill. As severe depression is diagnosed in only 5% of cases, this means that 95% of patients are being given anti-depressants contrary to guidelines.
Basil Miller,a collegue of Dr.Corry’s, and who incidently is not being paid by any pharmaceutical company, said it is clear from the data that anti-depressants are grossly over-prescribed. This is largely down to inappropriate prescribing."


Thanks Leoni.