We are hearing and seeing that Americans are upset and venting at their elected officials in the news constantly…AND?!?!

I expect people to be mad and upset…that is life!

Here is what I am mad about:

• How can you be out supporting a bill that YOU HAVE NOT READ?
• And when questioned about what is in the bill the elected official says that it is right wing propaganda?

What?!?!

These men and women are our employees. We put them in office (even if we didn’t vote for them) and we can fire them.

Let the culling of the herd begin!!! 2010 is right around the corner!!!

Back in May of 2007 I wrote a small piece for this blog called Redefining Insurance, in the piece I used the most simplistic terms to lay out the different between the Health Care plans we all have and Health Insurance.

Well it seems like I’m no longer alone in using this example: CSM: Why can't health insurance be more like auto insurance?

When will people wake up and realize that the governments idea is to pull us all into one large plan that they will administer…think about it like the Post Office or the DMV…long lines…”entitled employees”…and a constant drain on the taxpayers and the consumer.

ScienceDaily: Universal Health Insurance Might Not Save Lives

Funny part about it is that Richard Kronick, a former health care adviser to President Clinton, admits that the previous numbers that stated about 18,000 lives would be saved is “too optimistic.”

“the evidence we have concerning the relationship between lack of insurance and mortality is not very good, and a reasonable reading of that evidence is that the number of deaths in the United States probably wouldn’t change a lot if everybody gets health insurance.” (emphasis mine.)

Do you think this will appear in any major news source?

JSOnline: Even deceased get stimulus money

The federal government just can’t seem to get things done right…how do you think they will do with your health care?

I just saw this cockamamie piece of legislation offered up by Rep. Kagen (HR 5449) and have a few things I’d like to say.

What the hell is this guy thinking!!!

You mean to tell me the best he can offer to the country in regards to health insurance legislation is this piece of crap that will make us all pay for those not smart enough to get insurance!!

This bill is very specific on what it intends to do:

A group health plan, and a health insurance issuer offering group health insurance coverage, with respect to a participant or beneficiary may not impose any pre-existing condition exclusion.

every health insurance issuer that offers health insurance coverage (as defined in section 2791(b)(1)) in the individual market to individuals residing in an area may not, with respect to an eligible individual (as defined in subsection (b)) residing in the area who desires to enroll in individual health insurance coverage decline to offer such coverage to, or deny enrollment of, such individual; or impose any preexisting condition exclusion (as defined in section 2701(b)(1)(A)) with respect to such coverage.

Each and every health insurance issuer that offers health insurance coverage in the group market in a State shall charge the same premium price for the same coverage.

Each and every health insurance issuer that offers health insurance coverage in the individual market in a State shall charge the same premium price for the same coverage; if the issuer offers such coverage in the group market in the State, shall charge the same premium for the same coverage offered in the group market.

I read this article today from Reuters: Life expectancy falls in poorer U.S. counties: study

In it they show that the average life expectancy in the US has climbed from 75.8 years in 1995 to 78 years in 2005. I personally think that this is good news but the liberal pundits do not.

They see this as a gap between the “rich and the poor” and blame the US healthcare system. While all the same time pointing to the fact that those in the lower segment of the life expectancy scale fall into the less educated, more likely to smoke, and mostly overweight group of people.

So the question is why in the world would they try to blame the healthcare system when it is obvious that the damage is being done by the individual?

Frank Lasee is Wisconsin’s 2nd Assembly District Representative

Lasee’s Notes
February 12, 2008

Government CarAid?

Last week I wrote about the health care cost shifting that goes on because the government pays a discounted rate for medical services. This increases the cost all of us pay for on our own healthcare purchases whether insured or uninsured. Some of the feedback I got on cost shifting was skeptical (many understood it, as well).

Let’s use an analogy of car purchasing. Say a dealer has ten cars that he expects to sell for $21,000 each. When the dealer sells the ten cars for $21,000 each, he will have $210,000. After costs of sale, financing and overhead, the dealer expects to average (for simplicity’s sake) $3,000 profit for each car. The dealer plans to have an income of $30,000 from the sale of these cars after covering his costs.

Suppose the government steps in and says that owning a car is a right. Dependable transportation to and from work is essential, which, of course is true. The government creates CarAid. Under CarAid any dealer must sell cars to program recipients for $5,000 for each car. Also for simplicity, each dealer will sell three cars for this $5,000 (30% of the cars sold, same percentage as government medical programs).

If the dealer wants to make the same profit and cover his costs he will have to charge more for the seven cars he sells to non-government buyers. To make the same income, the dealer has to sell each of the remaining cars for about $28,000. Since dealers have to subsidize CarAid, the cost of a car to you just went up to at least $28,000.

Then the dealer ups the list price of all the remaining cars to $28,000 each. Now a car aggregator (like a big insurance company) comes to him and says “I have a pool of car purchasers who will buy four cars from you and we want a 25% discount or we will buy those four cars from another dealer (because he will give us a discount).” So the dealer sells them at a 25% discount or $21,000 to that pool of people. (Note that the 25% discount brings the cost back to the original sale price of $21,000.)

To continue the analogy…

In case you missed it last night, Glenn Beck had State Senator Erpenbach on to defend the HUGE tax increase to those in Wisconsin. You can find the entire transcript here but these are some of my favorite parts:

GLENN BECK: I apologize to the people in Wisconsin, but believe it or not, I actually hope this passes, because, by bankrupting your state, it may be the best chance we have to prevent the other 49 states from making the same ludicrous and disastrous decision.

Jon Erpenbach is a Wisconsin state senator who supports the proposal. Hello, Senator, how are you, sir?

JON ERPENBACH, WISCONSIN STATE SENATOR: Hi, Glenn.

BECK: You`re going to convince me this is a state tax cut?

ERPENBACH: Well, it is. It actually is a tax cut. Glenn, listen to me.

BECK: Your taxes for a family will be about 20 percent of your family income, 20 percent, and that`s for the state. That`s higher than the federal in most cases.

ERPENBACH: Glenn, you can`t take the entire state budget and everything else, with the tobacco tax, and lump it all together with Healthy Wisconsin.

BECK: Oh, of course not.

ERPENBACH: You have to look at it separately.

BECK: Of course you do. That way you don`t realize that you`re paying 20 percent to the state.

…

BECK: I have 30 seconds. Let me just ask you this. Illegal aliens are going to get health care. If you have a company that is paying these people off of the books and they get health care, will you prosecute the companies for paying people off the books?

ERPENBACH: Well, I would hope that a company isn`t doing anything illegal in the state of Wisconsin...

BECK: Hope...

(CROSSTALK)

ERPENBACH: At the very least, if you`re an illegal alien and you have a job, you`re going to be paying for your own health care, just like I am.

BECK: I guess that`s a no. Thank you very much. That`s the "Real Story" tonight.

Today I open the paper and see the following “Lehman Says New State Budget Favors Middle Class” and I laughed.

No, really, I laughed out loud at this. The Democrats in the State Senate just gave us the largest tax increase in Wisconsin history and Lehman actually thinks this is good for the middle class?

Lehman proposed to include the KRM tax and merchandise product hike into this bloated budget. He is also a big fan of socialistic healthcare for Wisconsin…I knew he was a left winger but didn’t realize that he was a Socialist!

In total we will see a minimum of a 15% tax hike in Wisconsin…but all is not lost, maybe we can bring that down to 5-10% since the Republican controlled Assembly still has to vote on their budget and then the negotiations begin.

Politicians like Obama and Hilary are bantering about the “45 million uninsured” in America and they are misleading the American people down a road that will mean more government intervention.

Do you have a health plan or health insurance?

Do you know the difference?

Do you pay for your annual checkups or do you just pay the co-pay and “insurance” takes care of the rest?

Do you have auto insurance?

Does it pay for your oil change, fix your flat tire, or fill up your empty gas tank?


Health insurance is no longer what most Americans have we have health plans and that is why rates are going through the roof.

If you had the ability to purchase an auto plan which had an annual co-pay but paid for all of your maintenance and upkeep like oil changes, washer fluid, new tires, etc and included major issues such as accidents what would that be worth to you?

In an auto plan people would start to have their oil changed regularly. People would be sure to have their brakes and tires checked. All of this maintenance would begin to add up. The “insurer” would have to start charging more for two reasons: 1. just to cover the costs of all the maintenance and to have enough in case of a catastrophic accident. 2. so that the business could continue to make a profit.

Do we really want the government to take over our heath plans? Do you really think that they know how to run a business better than business owners? Will health care be simpler or will you have more red tape to deal with? For those black helicopter types out there…do you really want the government to have complete access to your medical records?

The Green Party of Wisconsin today put out the following press release that I found on The Wheeler Report: Wisconsin Green Party Endorses SB51.

Here is what I find striking, this same organization only a few short years ago submitted a press release and resolution condemning the USA Patriot act that said the following:

“The Wisconsin Greens oppose any attempt by the government to restrict individual freedom, unless a person's actions threaten the safety or welfare of others”

The USA Patriot Act “decreases the authority of the Privacy Act of 1974, thereby leaving the government free to search and seize private records without an explanation as to why they're being searched”

“The USA Patriot Act puts Wisconsin citizens at risk of having their records (school, medical, phone, library and Internet) seized by the government unnecessarily”

“a single publicly financed plan, it would eliminate waste, runaway costs, and red tape.”

Think about this the next time someone tells you that we should have Nationalize Healthcare!!!!