David Camp Nancy Pelosi: Criminal and Civil Penalties for Not Buying PelosiCare

If you plan not to buy a PelosiCare health insurance policy, no matter the mandates, then a criminal and civil trial may be in your future. It is possible for you to be tried in both courts and your penalty can be a hefty fine of up to $250,000 and up to 5 years imprisonment.

Readers and Bloggers: please share this in any way you deem productive. Let’s get this information everywhere.

The following information is taken from a letter to Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), the ranking member of the Committee on Ways and Means Republicans. Camp asked for clarification of penalties to be imposed if a taxpayer chooses not to purchase at least a $15,000 policy – which Camp says is the “lowest cost family non-group plan under the Speaker’s bill” in 2016.

The date stamp is November 5, 2009 and is on the letterhead of Congress of the United States, Joint Committee on Taxation and is signed by Thomas A. Barthold. Read the entire pdf letter here, as well as Rep. Camp’s comments. The following are signifigant snippets:

“H.R. 3962 provides that an individual (or a husband and wife in the case of a joint return) who does not, at any time during the taxable year, maintain acceptable health insurance coverage for himself or herself and each of his or her qualifying children is subject to an additional tax.” [page 1]

Among possible Civil penalties for not obeying Nancy Pelosi:
* An “accuracy” penalty of 20% of the underpayment attributable to the health care tax, based on negligence…

* A fraud penalty of 75% of the underpayment…

* A $5,000 penalty for taking a frivolous position on a tax return…

* A delinquency penalty of .5% of the unperpayment, each month, up to a max of 25% of the underpayment…

Among possible Criminal penalties for evading PelosiCare:
* A misdemeanor willful failure to pay – fine of up to $25,000 and/or imprisonment of up to one year.

*A felony willful evasion – fine of up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment of up to 5 years.

Many thanks to reader, master sculptor and major news snoop, David Lemon at Clay to Bronze.

Also on Maggie’s Notebook

Government-Run Healthcare at your fingertips? There’s an app for that (how embarrassing!)

The NRCC pokes a little fun at the iPhone and the proponents of the so-called health-care “reform” legislation being proposed in Congress.

 

Hat-Tip Tech Republican, and Jennifer, via the Web 2.0 Reader

 

Halloween Special: Paranormal legislative activity?

In a spoof of the movie “Paranormal Activity” this video looks at the healthcare bill coming out of congress in the same light. Funny video.

 

Pence: Pelosi plan is “Freight Train of Big Government”

Mike Pence talked with Heidi Collins about the health-care system overhaul proposed by Nancy Pelosi on CNN today, calling it a “freight train of big government.” Republicans want to help reform the system to drive down costs, Pence says, but the Democrats are going in the wrong direction.

 

Baucus healthcare bill true cost: $2 trillion

The Congressional Budget Office published its preliminary estimate Wednesday of the health overhaul bill crafted in secret by Montana Senator Max Baucus’s Finance Committee. According to CBO, the Bill’s $829 billion ten year cost would be offset by $910 billion in “savings,” resulting in a net $81 billion reduction in the federal budget deficit by 2019.

Right. Take a deep breath.

Included in the “savings” estimates are about $507 billion, that is one-half a trillion dollars in new taxes and penalties and $404 billion in cost reductions. Most of the cost reductions would come on the backs of service providers, meaning service cuts to Medicare recipients, and a preliminary reading suggests a majority of the new taxes would come from higher income clients who pay for their service already. It includes a 40 percent excise tax on the more generous health-insurance plans, but due to inflation, over time this tax would cover lower cost plans as well.

It gets better.

The operating assumptions underlying cost estimates are usually heroically optimistic and peppered with backside-covering caveats. The assumptions used are also the place to spot future problems. Taken directly from the CBO report, the following should give any reasonable person pause:

These projections assume the proposals are enacted and remain unchanged throughout the next  two decades, which is often not the case for major legislation.” (Emphasis mine.)

That is an understatement. When legislation like this passes it is almost always bare bones, a camel’s nose under the tent. Once they have managed to sign the bill into law, legislators come out of the woodwork turning it into a Christmas tree for new proposals.

Every piece of similar legislation in the past, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, AFDC and any other entitlement you can name grew exponentially after it became law, not merely because the program attracted so many beneficiaries, but primarily because legislators added new provisions on an almost yearly basis.

That is what will happen with this bill. Although it will likely happen much faster, because complete socialization of medicine is the ultimate goal, and they have been working to achieve this for almost a century. Read on:

The projected savings for the proposal reflect the cumulative impact of a number of specifications that would constrain payment rates for providers of Medicare services. (Emphasis mine)

This will cause service cuts to Medicare. Expect to see doctors abandon ship en masse. Here are some more gems:

Payments to physicians would be lowered by constraining Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) increases.

While this amounts to price controls – a bad thing – it is a big part of the cost savings in this bill. Cato Institute claims that Congress routinely blocks such restraints and will do so again. If that happens, there goes $200 billion in “savings.” Cato has found an additional $108 billion in federal spending it says CBO overlooked.

Payment rates for many other service providers would be held below the level of inflation. (Emphasis mine.)

In real terms, this amounts to a pay cut (read more shortages.)

Now here is the kicker:

The projected longer-term savings for the proposal also assume that the Medicare Commission is relatively effective at reducing costs-beyond the reductions that would be achieved by other aspects of the proposal…

Medicare Commission? What is that? Could it possibly be the dreaded Death Panel?

The proposal would also establish a Medicare Commission, which would be required, under certain circumstances, to recommend changes to the Medicare program to limit the rate of growth in that program’s spending.

Death Panel? C’mon! Don’t be ridiculous! That was only what that silly Palin girl called it. This is simply a reasonable effort to control costs as some lawyer at Oxford University Press Blog described.

Granny, grandpa, ruuuun!

This Commission is severely restricted in the current proposal as indicated by the relatively paltry savings CBO projected due to its activities: $22 billion. Yet the statement above clearly suggests that a much bigger role for the Commission is envisioned in later years.

And finally:

The long-term budgetary impact could be quite different if those provisions were ultimately changed or not fully implemented.

So in order to make this thing work there will be $500 billion in new taxes and service cuts totalling another $400 billion, and most of those cuts will be achieved by this new ”Medicare Commission.” Great!

But they didn’t tell you everything. The CBO made vague references to “national health expenditures”:

Members have also requested information about the effect of proposals on national health expenditures (NHE). CBO does not analyze NHE as closely as it does the federal budget, however, and at this point the agency has not assessed the net effect of the current proposal on NHE…

Whoa! What do we call this, an er…ah… oversight?

They are talking about an additional one trillion dollars!

Over half the bill’s mandates are unfunded and fall on businesses and individuals, and so are not counted in the “cost to government!”

This information is what killed Hillary’s proposal in 1994 and is the reason they kept it out of this one!

And here is the last shocker of this CBO estimate: they did it without even seeing the legislation! None was provided to them to make these estimates, so we still don’t even know what’s really in the bill!

There are a host of other frauds being perpetrated on us right now by our government regarding health care. So let’s get something straight about the high percentage of GDP (16-17 percent) devoted to healthcare in this country, because it is widely misunderstood.

First, most of the excessive costs of American medical care are the result of government intervention. In fact proponents of socialized medicine anticipated that the costs of Medicare and Medicaid would create a crisis in health care, generating calls for reform. Their ready answer was just more of the same.

We would all like to see costs of medical care come down. This country should move to reduce costs by removing the causes: excessive government intervention that distorts the market. The many ways government intervenes and the many solutions are beyond the scope of this essay, but that is the answer.

But more importantly, even were this not true, it is irrelevant. It is not a zero sum game! This is the mistake all socialists make. You have heard the argument: “If we spend less on health care, we can spend more on other things.”

When government confiscates the income generated by productive activity in one sector of the economy (it doesn’t matter which sector), and transfers it to a sector of the economy that produces nothing (the government) the entire economy suffers.

Conversely, the healthcare sector of the economy is largely self-supporting - or would be, if the government got out of the way. That is, it thrives, without government help, on the productive activity of its professionals with the dollars voluntarily contributed by its clients (you and I.)

You and I are not constrained by what we voluntarily pay in order to stay healthy. We are constrained by parasitic government activity that confiscates today at least one third of our annual earnings without providing commensurate benefit.

This country chooses a high level of care. We prefer it that way, and so far, we have been able to afford it. Government’s growing intrusion into the healthcare market may put costs out of reach, but be clear on the cause!

However, with ever higher taxes and ever more regulation over everything we do, our government is gradually strangling us. Now they are spending not only our hard-earned dollars, but a good portion of the dollars future generations are expected to earn before they are even able to earn it. Will they be able to?

And now House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has been caught on tape calling for a Value-Added-Tax (VAT) to pay for the healthcare bill and other goodies. Does this mean even the Democrats recognize CBO’s cost estimates are a fraud? They should, because it is.

The healthcare overhaul bill currently hiding in the Senate Finance Committee of Max Baucus is a walking disaster. Proponents of this monstrosity claim we have to do something or things will get worse. Newsflash: things can always get worse, and under this bill they certainly will.

Original Article on The Examiner

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Businessman and Examiner.com columnist James Simpson is a former White House staff economist and budget analyst. His writings have been published in American Thinker, Washington Times, WorldnetDaily, FrontPage Magazine, DefenseWatch, Soldier of Fortune and others. You may read more of his articles on his blog, Truth and Consequences.

 

Big Government Health Care: A Parody

This is a well done parody public service announcement about Big Government and its plans to take over health care.

 

Capitol Hill Switchboard: Urge your Senators and Representatives to Vote “Yes,” on Health Insurance Reform

Your taxpayer dollars at work: Call (800) 828-0498 and listen to the greeting message. If you don’t happen to support Obamacare, you might not appreciate this:

Thank you for calling your Representatives and your Senators. Please urge them to vote “yes,” on health insurance reform, because the American people can no longer wait for more choices, lower costs, and coverage we can count on.

 

Hat-Tip: Lake County Tea Party

 

Charles Krauthammer: Obama is selling snake oil

Charles Krauthammer suggests that when Obama says he will not sign a bill that will add to the deficit, that Obama is selling snake oil.

 

Show Us The Money

The following is a statement from Wendy Wright, President of Concerned Women for America on President Obama’s speech on health care to a joint session of Congress:

 

President Obama made many promises about the health care bill he will sign, paid for by savings from cutting out waste and fraud from existing government programs. But Americans won’t be fooled by rhetoric.

If it won’t use taxpayer funds for abortion – put it in writing in the bill.

If it will protect doctors from violating their conscience by forcing them to commit abortions, put it in clear, no- nonsense language in the bill.

If it will cut waste and fraud – prove that government can and will do it before creating new government programs.

If it allows people to keep the plan they have, then let it allow people to choose the plan they want.

If it requires every person to pay for government- approved insurance, be honest with Americans that they will be punished if they choose a different plan for themselves and their families.

 

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Concerned Women for America is the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization.

 

Diversity Lane: Lion of the Cemetery

Leave it to Teddy…

For more fun, visit www.DiversityLane.com

 

In God Government We Trust…

 

First I must make a few things perfectly clear. I love America. I have traveled to over 25 countries and I have resided in five as part of my employment with the Government.

Second, I am a veteran. I took an oath to defend this Country from all enemies, foreign and domestic. I also took an oath to protect and serve.

I never took any oath that said My Government, right or wrong. I never took an oath that required me to follow blindly. Why has been and always be a part of my vocabulary!

Thirdly, I am not affiliated with any party. I used to be a Democrat and served that party in a State office. I broke with the Democrats a long time ago. The nature of my work prevented me from being politically active and I ignored politics except when it came time for me to vote. I believe in the Constitution and small government and a Higher Power.

That being said, I make the following declaration:

I do NOT trust our Government. I didn’t trust it under LBJ, Nixon, Ford,  Carter, Reagan, Bush 41, Clinton, Bush 43, and I sure don’t trust it under Barack Hussein Obama.

Reagan and Bush 41 were probably the most trustworthy but I was and am always leery.  Bush 43 I respected his views and his loyalty but I distrusted a lot of his advisors. I rarely agree with every thing that our Government does. I distrust all politicians, most lawyers, doctors, and preachers. People have to earn my trust.

It saddens me to see the people of America becoming lemmings. My parents and grandparents instilled within me a sense of self-reliance and independence. They also instilled a strong sense of patriotism and service.

I am disturbed by my visions of trusting, smiling Americans lining up with US Flag patches (instead of the Star of David) sewn to their shirts, marching headlong into concrete brick buildings with “green” chimneys and not coming out. Multitudes who have turned total control of their lives over to the Government… because they trust blindly and are enthralled with a cult of personality.

White House control of interrogations

On Facebook, MySpace? Obama’s got your e-mail

Health care reform means more power for the IRS

Be afraid, Be very afraid.

Stay Informed and Stay Free.

Obamacare Opponent: “He Ate My Finger In The Process”

Bill Rice had words with a supporter of ObamaCare and gets his finger bitten off.

 

Seeing Through the Wool of ObamaCare

The primary reason given by the White House and the socialist members of Congress for needed healthcare reform is skyrocketing costs and un-affordability of insurance. They are correct about the costs but then they have added things to the current proposal (HR 3200) which will only increase costs, increase government control of our day to day lives, decrease our life expectancy, decrease our individual privacy and bankrupt this Nation.

Let’s do a quick examination of healthcare. Pharmaceutical companies who are pushing for the proposal are still making profit with markups on drugs that often are ridiculous. One reporter in Detroit found that generic drugs had a markup of over 3000%. That is for normal retailers NOT hospitals where the markup is even higher.

While on the subject of hospitals, have you ever wondered why costs are so high? Most people think it is the Doctors but they would be wrong. According to the Department of Labor statistics and Payscale.com the mean salary for Physicians ranges from $121K to $212K depending on specialty. Remember that figure. Also remember that most doctors work long, irregular hours. Often doctors work in excess of 60 hour weeks and they are required to pay for their own malpractice insurance and expensive equipment. Nurses average $45.5K. Were you aware that many medical professionals are self-employed? Even those whom you come into contact with in the hospital. ER physicians are often contract workers billing separately for their time. Doctors are only associated with hospitals few are employees. Nurses often work from a registry and are not employees of the hospital.

You should ask them why. I have. Nurses employed by a hospital lose many rights. Their jobs are in jeopardy if they object to JCAHO violations or Doctor’s errors. They are often mandated to work double shifts endangering patients. Just who is a hospital employee? The dietitian, perhaps the pharmacist, maybe the janitorial staff, sometimes the security, but always the Administration.

Just what does an administration make? Well in the case of Michelle Obama from $121,910 to $316,962 per annum. She was one of 16 Vice Presidents at her hospital all with equivalent salaries. Her qualifications for the job? Community organizer. Her major accomplishment? A plan to divert non-paying patients to other medical facilities. After she left to “support” her husband her job that was so crucial to the hospital that it was folded into another office and disappeared.

Her position at the University of Chicago Medical Center was the Office of Community Affairs (External Affairs) and had never existed prior to her hiring. The job started out with just her and an aide but when she was done the office staff had bulged to 23. This is typical of most hospitals. The administrative staff exceeds the employees. During a recent stay in the hospital I inquired of the nurse (registry) what his current patient load was. I was in a Critical Cardiac Care unit where patient load should be from one to five patients per nurse. His reply was telling, he had 26 patients on the midnight shift. How could this happen?

Easy, the hospital counted up every nurse on duty in the hospital for a 24 hour period including those that were not assigned nursing duties and divided that by all the patients; ambulatory and non-critical were grouped with the critical and intensive care. During my stay, there were two critical mistakes made with my meds either of which could have caused me severe harm or death and a phlebotomist drew my blood while I was in a drug induced sleep but left the tourniquet on my arm, thankfully my nurse found it before any real damage was done.

The cost of a hospital room? It varies depending on care but a 2005 study said it averaged $1237 per day and remember that does NOT include the cost of the doctors, medications, tests or equipment. The cost of a stay in ICU or CCU for that same study; $2401.

Hospitals justify their administrative costs by saying they need the personnel to meet government reporting requirements. So in effect they are claiming that the majority of hospital costs are caused by Big Brother and now Obama wants to add additional layers of administration, additional reporting requirements and government employees to “monitor” and enforce his reforms? Give me a break.

And the SEIU, the largest healthcare union wants to promote this so called reform. Personally, I smell a rat. When has any union actually improved quality control or lowered the cost of anything?  A Science Advisor who promotes eugenics, population control and euthanasia, and a wife who sucked at the tit of corporate shills enriching herself and hubby raising health care costs and an Administration full of socialist leaning non-tax paying Chicago thugs does not bode well for America.

I owe my life to dedicated nurses and they deserve all the credit I can give them, but they are caught up in the untenable position of doing their job correctly and being fired or caving to the wishes of greedy administrators. This is much the same position the average American voter is being placed in.

Do we need health care reform? Yes, but not ObamaCare, we need real reform; tort reform, honest nurse to patient ratios, realistic reporting requirements, smaller hospital administrations, and enforcement of patient rights.

It is time for you to choose sides and speak up!

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If you prefer some lighter reading why not try…

Ghost Ranger, Tex’s first novel, is now available on Lulu and Amazon.

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Hidden Love for the UAW in Obama Health Care Bill

If the current House Health Bill passes, the rest of us will be sending billions to the UAW to support union retirees. It is unbelievable that these politicians are so comfortable with taking our money and giving it to their supporters. Since when did these union retires rate more than other hardworking Americans that have lost huge in this down turn? I just hope we wake up soon.

Hat Tip: John Stossel

Updated: Title corrected.