HAHAHAHAHA!!!

Found this gem in a Photoshop Contest at Fark titled "It seemed like a good idea at the time"





















Classic

*Side note* This entry won with 133 votes

This one got 24 votes

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Prayers to Lefty

Phil Mickelson got hit with the bombshell of finding out his wife has breast cancer. From the sounds of it it isn't terminal, but with cancer, there are no definites.

After taking time to spend with his family, Phil is playing in the St. Jude Classic, and the U.S. Open.

His wife Amy will undergo surgery to remove the cancerous tissue over the 4th of July week, followed by a year of treatment.

God speed to Phil, Amy and their family.

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My New Favorite Site

After seeing these two videos, Political Math is now my favorite new site. It is AMAZING! The visuals are just AWESOME!

Check them out...

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Government Idea of "Equal Health Care"

The Kennedy Bill was released to the public over the weekend in a non-searchable version, but through the diligence of bloggers, a searchable text and PDF file is available for the public. Here are some of the things that were found in the bill (H/T to Keith Hennessey, emphasis mine)

Here are 15 things to know about the draft Kennedy-Dodd health bill.


1) The Kennedy-Dodd bill would create an individual mandate requiring you to buy a “qualified” health insurance plan, as defined by the government. If you don’t have “qualified” health insurance for a given month, you will pay a new Federal tax. Incredibly, the amount and structure of this new tax is left to the discretion of the Secretaries of Treasury and Health and Human Services (HHS), whose only guidance is “to establish the minimum practicable amount that can accomplish the goal of enhancing participation in qualifying coverage (as so defined).” The new Medical Advisory Council (see #3D) could exempt classes of people from this new tax. To avoid this tax, you would have to report your health insurance information for each month of the prior year to the Secretary of HHS, along with “any such other information as the Secretary may prescribe.”

2) The bill would also create an employer mandate. Employers would have to offer insurance to their employees. Employers would have to pay at least a certain percentage (TBD) of the premium, and at least a certain dollar amount (TBD). Any employer that did not would pay a new tax. Again, the amount and structure of the tax is left to the discretion of the Secretaries of Treasury and HHS. Small employers (TBD) would be exempt.

3) In the Kennedy-Dodd bill, the government would define a qualified plan:

A) All health insurance would be required to have guaranteed issue and renewal, modified community rating, no exclusions for pre-existing conditions, no lifetime or annual limits on benefits, and family policies would have to cover “children” up to age 26.

B) A qualified plan would have to meet one of three levels of standardized cost-sharing defined by the government, “gold, silver, and bronze.” Details TBD.

C) Plans would be required to cover a list of preventive services approved by the Federal government.

D) A qualified plan would have to cover “essential health benefits,” as defined by a new Medical Advisory Council (MAC), appointed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. The MAC would determine what items and services are “essential benefits.” The MAC would have to include items and services in at least the following categories: ambulatory patient services, emergency services, hospitalization, maternity and new born care, medical and surgical, mental health, prescription drugs, rehab and lab services, preventive/wellness services, pediatric services, and anything else the MAC thought appropriate.

E) The MAC would also define what “affordable and available coverage” is for different income levels, affecting who has to pay the tax if they don’t buy health insurance. The MAC’s rules would go into effect unless Congress passed a joint resolution (under a fast-track process) to turn them off.

4) Health insurance plans could not charge higher premiums for risky behaviors: “Such rate shall not vary by health status-related factors, … or any other factor not described in paragraph (1).” Smokers, drinkers, drug users, and those in terrible physical shape would all have their premiums subsidized by the healthy.

5) Guaranteed issue and renewal combined with modified community rating would dramatically increase premiums for the overwhelming majority of those Americans who now have private health insurance. New Jersey is the best example of health insurance mandates gone wild. In the name of protecting their citizens, premiums are extremely high to cover the cross-subsidization of those who are uninsurable.

6)The bill would expand Medicaid to cover everyone up to 150% of poverty, with the Federal government paying all incremental costs (no State share). This means adding childless adults with income below 150% of the poverty line.

7) People from 150% of poverty up to 500% (!!) would get their health insurance subsidized (on a sliding scale). If this were in effect in 2009, a family of four with income of $110,000 would get a small subsidy. The bill does not indicate the source of funds to finance these subsidies.

8) People in high cost areas (e.g., New York City, Boston, South Florida, Chicago, Los Angeles) would get much bigger subsidies than those in low cost areas (e.g., much of the rest of the country, especially in rural areas). The subsidies are calculated as a percentage of the “reference premium,” which is determined based on the cost of plans sold in that particular geographic area

9) There would be a “public plan option” of health insurance offered by the federal government. In this new government health plan, the federal government would pay health care providers Medicare rates + 10%. The +10% is clearly intended to attract short-term legislative support from medical providers. I hope they are not so naive that they think that differential would last.

10) Group health plans with 250 or fewer members would be prohibited from self-insuring. ERISA would only be for big businesses.

11) States would have to set up “gateways” (health insurance exchanges) to market only qualified health insurance plans. If they don’t, the Feds will set up a gateway for them.

12) Health insurance plans in existence before the law would not have to meet the new insurance standards. This creates a weird bifurcated system and means you would (probably) be subject to a different set of rules when you change jobs.

13) The bill does not specify what spending will be cut or what taxes will be raised to pay for the increased spending. That is presumably for the Finance Committee to determine, since it’s their jurisdiction.

14) The bill defines an “eligible individual” as “a citizen or national of the United States or an alien lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence or an alien lawfully present in the United States.”

15) The bill would create a new pot of money for state gateways to pay “navigators” to educate people about the new bill, distribute information about health plans, and help people enroll. Navigators receiving federal funds “may include … unions, …”

So As Keith Sums it up;
* The government would mandate not only that you must buy health insurance, but what health insurance counts as “qualifying.”
Health insurance premiums would rise as a result of the law, meaning lower wages.
* The government determines what items and services must be covered.
* Healthy people would pay the same premiums as high risk people such as smokers/drinkers.
* Well over half of all Americans would be eligible for subsidies, and likely less than 5% will foot the bill.
* The government has unlimited ability to levy taxes if you do not buy "qualifying" insurance"
The government can require you provide him or her with “any such other information as [he/she] may prescribe.”


I too strongly oppose this bill.
Image Courtesy of Malkin

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Creating More Government Has Opposite of Desired Affect

From AP;

"NEW YORK (AP) - The Federal Reserve announced a $1.2 trillion plan three months ago designed to push down mortgage rates and breathe life into the housing market.

But this and other big government spending programs are turning out to have the opposite effect. Rates for mortgages and U.S. Treasury debt are now marching higher as nervous bond investors fret about a resurgence of inflation."

Really? The government creates a false influx of cash equal to 15% of the United States total GDP and expects interest rates to go down?

Here's a question of Economics 101...If you have a sudden demand of loans without an increase in savings, what are the banks going to do? They are going to raise interest rates of both the loans and savings. They increase the loan rate to decrease the demand of lending, and then increase the savings interest rate to attract savers since most banks are required to have $1 in the vault for every $10 they loan out. The opposite occurs when people save more than they borrow, interest rates go down on both loans and savings accounts to attract loans and discourage saving.

So the government pumps in trillions of dollars that were intended to create more credit/borrowing, and they are surprised that the interest rates suddenly increase?

You know, something seems oddly familiar about this...Inflation is caused by "an increasing amount of money chasing a fixed amount of goods,”

*Begin slow clap...*

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