New Stock Market Alert : Unprecedented Times Create Unprecedented Events

Healthcare reform is a hotly debated topic and one that could change everything in America if passed in its current form. Yesterday on the Prudent Money Show I interviewed Grace Marie Turner, President and founder of the Galen Institute, on her thoughts on the President’s latest speech and what lies ahead. This is an important topic for more reasons than just the state of healthcare and the cost to the taxpayer. There is a lot at stake. Grace Marie regularly testifies before Congress and advises senior government officials, governors, and state legislators on health policy.

As always, it was very interesting talking with Grace Marie and getting an insider’s look on healthcare reform. We started out the interview with her description of the March on Washington which occurred Saturday. The media has grossly underreported this event. It was intended to send politicians a message that we don’t want their kind of healthcare reform.

If you listened to the media, you would have thought that 15,000 to 20,000 people attended. Grace Marie said that over 1.5 million people showed up to voice their concerns. Her opinion in a nutshell was that healthcare reform passed by this administration with or without a public option would be horrible for this country. Further, her biggest concern is that President Obama will shove this through and force his agenda on a country that doesn’t want it. The aftermath of such action could spark a revolt in this country.

It is important that everyone gets a good understanding on what this could do, not only to your health, your money, but also to your country. If you believe that Government needs to stay out of the way when it comes to healthcare decisions, then go to www.donoharmpetition.org, sign the petition and send a message to Washington you want American families, not politicians, to control our health care decisions.

To listen to the audio of yesterday’s audio, click here.

Make sure and tune in to 91.3 KDKR at 3:30 for Thursday’s edition of the Prudent Money Show.

Tags: Bob Brooks, Government, Grace Marie, health policy, Healthcare Reform, March on Washington, politicians, President Obama, Prudent Money, Prudent Money Show, state legislators

The President Obama fundraising machine is quite an amazing operation. Below is an e-mail that I received from the Obama camp. I signed up in their e-mail list just to get a glimpse of what they are doing. This e-mail makes it look as if they are fighting for those who want to keep power when it is the Government that wants to assume power with this socialistic healthcare bill. One line reads “Don’t think for a moment that power will concede without a fight.” This was a quote by Obama prior to getting elected. Well, that is exactly what the American people are doing right now. Americans are definitely fighting back to prevent the Government from assuming more power.

Better yet, the e-mail asks for donations to pay for the fight for healthcare? Since when does the federal government need any money for advertizing campaigns? Perhaps that money is going into the campaign coffers for re-election. The best part is the URL for the donation – https://donate.barackobama.com/power. That doesn’t say donate for healthcare reform; it reads donate to give Obama power. Oh, and every e-mail is made out to me personally. This is a scary, well-oiled machine.

Bob –

Mitch Stewart
Director
Organizing for America

Tags: Bob Brooks, Deceptive Money, donations, Government, health insurance reform, healthcare bill, power, President Obama, Prudent Money

The politicians can bail out banks, big business, and make sure that their campaign contributors are all taken care of. They can provide 3 billion dollars for the Cash for Clunkers Program and help bail out the automakers. They can send out checks to American families through the form of tax rebates. They can debate the irresponsibility of a second stimulus package. However, they are failing miserably by not taking care of our senior citizens who depend on Social Security benefit checks.

According to Social Security, seniors will not get a cost of living allowance increase for this year and likely not for the following year. Annual cost of living increases started in 1975 and for the past 33 years, Social Security recipients have always received a benefit increase. This will be the first year since the program started that the benefit increase will not happen.

To add insult to injury, the premium for the Medicare prescription drug program will increase. By law, Social Security benefits are never supposed to decrease. Since those prescription drug premiums come out of Social Security payments, we will see a decrease, which the law never intended to happen.

Is it ironic that the new healthcare proposals seem to devalue life during the later stages of life and Congress sits still as our seniors struggle with Social Security? They can print money for all of their earmarks and irresponsibility that makes up the stimulus package. However, they cannot do the right thing and take care of our seniors. Just more of the same out of Washington.

Tags: automakers, Bob Brooks, cash for clunkers, Congress, Deceptive Money, healthcare, Medicare, politicians, Prudent Money, Social Security, Stimulus package, tax rebates

A close friend sent this to me and I wanted to share it. It really does sum up the problem.

“Yesterday, on the radio they had a lady from Oregon, a state which has a form of state run healthcare. She has cancer and had a letter from the state bureaucrats that denied coverage on a very common drug for chemotherapy and the letter highlighted that the assisted suicide option was covered. The local TV station had the bureaucrat on air trying to explain but he was not doing a good job of it.

For years Medicaid and Medicare, government run programs, have cost shifted. This means they underpaid physicians and the costs were shifted to private pay (us). It’s one reason healthcare costs have been rising so much. The other reasons are massive fraud and malpractice lawyers. Great, government creates the problem, then says costs are rising too fast, and then offers to fix the problem they created (sounds like the housing bubble?).

There is also not a word about tort reform in the legislation. It just goes to show that the lobbying pays off in Washington. Government has done a fine job bankrupting Medicare and Medicaid and now they intend to create this new “public option” where are they going to go to cost shift? There won’t be another deep pocket…oh yeah, taxes are going way up.

Guess who is exempted from this new health plan? Congress! I was in a hospital board meeting just yesterday and one of the members said they did a tour of Washington and they have a full pharmacy and an MRI machine under the Capital building. One of the participants (wasn’t sure if it was a congressman or a member of the board) of this tour had chest pains and in minutes was getting an MRI. Sweet deal, for them.”

Yes, it always comes down to the politicians. They are the problem. I must confess it is entertaining to see them react at these Townhall meetings. They don’t know how to respond when they have to actually face the voters.

Tags: assisted suicide, Bob Brooks, coverage, Deceptive Money, Government, healthcare, healthcare costs, legislation, malpractice, massive fraud, Medicade, Medicare, Prudent Money, taxes, tort reform

This is what the politicians want to do in this country. I am not sure who compiled this cliffs notes version of the health bill. Is it eye opening?

• Page 22: Mandates audits of all employers that self-insure!
• Page 29: Admission: your health care will be rationed!
• Page 30: A government committee will decide what treatments and benefits
you get (and, unlike an insurer, there will be no appeals process)
• Page 42: The “Health Choices Commissioner” will decide health benefits
for you. You will have no choice. None.
• Page 50: All non-US citizens, illegal or not, will be provided with free
healthcare services.
• Page 58: Every person will be issued a National ID Healthcard.
• Page 59: The federal government will have direct, real-time access to
all individual bank accounts for electronic funds transfer.
• Page 65: Taxpayers will subsidize all union retiree and community
organizer health plans (read: SEIU, UAW and ACORN)
• Page 72: All private healthcare plans must conform to government rules
to participate in a Healthcare Exchange.
• Page 84: All private healthcare plans must participate in the Healthcare
Exchange (i.e., total government control of private plans)
• Page 91: Government mandates linguistic infrastructure for services;
translation: illegal aliens
• Page 95: The Government will pay ACORN and Americorps to sign up
individuals for Government-run Health Care plan.
• Page 102: Those eligible for Medicaid will be automatically enrolled:
you have no choice in the matter.
• Page 124: No company can sue the government for price-fixing. No
“judicial review” is permitted against the government monopoly. Put simply, private insurers will be crushed.
• Page 127: The AMA sold doctors out: the government will set wages.
• Page 145: An employer MUST auto-enroll employees into the government-run
public plan. No alternatives.
• Page 126: Employers MUST pay healthcare bills for part-time employees
AND their families.
• Page 149: Any employer with a payroll of $400K or more, who does not
offer the public option, pays an 8% tax on payroll
• Page 150: Any employer with a payroll of $250K-400K or more, who does
not offer the public option, pays a 2 to 6% tax on payroll
• Page 167: Any individual who doesn’t have acceptable healthcare
(according to the government) will be taxed 2.5% of income.
• Page 170: Any NON-RESIDENT alien is exempt from individual taxes
(Americans will pay for them).
• Page 195: Officers and employees of Government Healthcare Bureaucracy
will have access to ALL American financial and personal records.
• Page 203: “The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as
tax.” Yes, it really says that.
• Page 239: Bill will reduce physician services for Medicaid. Seniors and
the poor most affected.
• Page 241: Doctors: no matter what specialty you have, you’ll all be paid
the same (thanks, AMA!)
• Page 253: Government sets value of doctors’ time, their professional
judgment, etc.
• Page 265: Government mandates and controls productivity for private
healthcare industries.
• Page 268: Government regulates rental and purchase of power-driven
wheelchairs.
• Page 272: Cancer patients: welcome to the wonderful world of rationing!
• Page 280: Hospitals will be penalized for what the government deems
preventable re-admissions.
• Page 298: Doctors: if you treat a patient during an initial admission
that results in a readmission, you will be penalized by the government.
• Page 317: Doctors: you are now prohibited from owning and investing in
healthcare companies!
• Page 318: Prohibition on hospital expansion. Hospitals cannot expand
without government approval.
• Page 321: Hospital expansion hinges on “community” input: in other
words, yet another payoff for ACORN.
• Page 335: Government mandates establishment of outcome-based measures:
i.e., rationing.
• P age 341: Government has authority to disqualify Medicare Advantage
Plans, HMOs, etc.
• Page 354: Government will restrict enrollment of SPECIAL NEEDS
individuals.
• Page 379: More bureaucracy: Telehealth Advisory Committee (healthcare by
phone).
• Page 425: More bureaucracy: Advance Care Planning Consult: senior
citizens, assisted suicide, euthanasia?
• Page 425: Government will instruct and consult regarding living wills,
durable powers of attorney, etc. mandatory. Appears to lock in estate
taxes ahead of time.
• Page 425: Government provides approved list of end-of-life resources,
guiding you in death.
• Page 427: Government mandates program that orders end-of-life treatment;
government dictates how your life ends.
• Page 429: Advance Care Planning Consult will be used to dictate
treatment as patient’s health deteriorates. This can include an ORDER for
end-of-life plans. An ORDER from the GOVERNMENT.
• Page 430: Government will decide what level of treatments you may have
at end-of-life.
• Page 469: Community-based Home Medical Services: more payoffs for ACORN.
• Page 472: Payments to Community-based organizations: more payoffs for
ACORN.
• Page 489: Government will cover marriage and family therapy. Government
intervenes in your marriage.
• Page 494: Government will cover mental health services: defining,
creating and rationing those services.

Tags: Advance Care Planning Consult, Bob Brooks, Deceptive Money, Financial records, Government, Health Bill, Health Care Bill, Medicare, payroll, penalized, personal records, physician, politicians, Prudent Money, rationed