Heartland Blog: A Short Guide to Obamacare

By Matt Faharty - It’s not a national healthcare system. It’s not the free market. It isn’t what we’ve had for the last forty years. So what is Obamacare?

Maybe I am too late to write about this topic since the Affordable Care Act has already been passed and is in the process of implementation. Then again, the bill is infamously opaque, and I believe very few people, either in Washington, the media, or the general public understand what Obamacare is, or how it will make healthcare more affordable. A study in the Journal of Health Economics published this month claims that only 14% of Americans between ages 25 and 64 have a basic understanding of how insurance works, let alone how Obamacare will effect it. Nobody even seems to know how long the bill is with estimates ranging from 10,000 to 33,000 pages of mind-numbing bureaucratic documents.

According to Nancy Pelosi we should start to know what is in the bill at this point, so I will take a crack at it. Read more at Somewhat Reasonable, a Heartland.org blog ... Read More......

Uninsured in America

By Stuart Browning - Visit FreeMarketCure.com
(Figures presented in this video are shown below the fold)

Data presented in this video:
Claim: 45 million Americans are uninsured

• 17 million live in households with yearly average incomes of $50,000 (38%)
  
• 9 million live in households with yearly average incomes of $75,000
  
• 18 million are the "Young Invincibles," age 18-34 who spend 4 times as much on alcohol, tobacco, entertainment and dining out as they would spend on health insurance (40%)
  
• 14 million of the uninsured are eligible for Medicade or SCHIP but choose to opt out (31%)
  
• 12 million illegal immigrants have no health care insurance but cannot be turned away from health care
  
• With "Compassionate Entry," Mexican citizens living in Mexico can receive free health care in border states

This leaves 8 million people of the claimed 45 million who are actually uninsured in America and either fall through the cracks and don't get health care or refuse treatment.

Claim: The numbers of "Uninsured in America" are exaggerated by advocates of universal (or nationalized) health care. Read More......

A Special Urgent Request: Prayers for 4-year-old Dylan on Tuesday, May 26th

4-year-old Dylan Cain of Corvallis Oregon prepares for life-changing medical treatment and he needs your prayers on May 26th. Dylan was oxygen-deprived at birth and later was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Although he has made amazing progress due to intensive daily therapy, he remains legally blind, cannot walk on his own and has a vocabulary of fewer than a dozen words[1]. But now, Dylan has been accepted at Duke University School of Medicine for a 2-hour treatment that could change his life.

On May 26th Dylan will be infused with his own stem cells from cord blood banked at birth. The possibility exists that Dylan's brain injury could be reversed. Dylan's parents, Mark and Jinger Cain, are asking for 'prayers around the world' for Dylan so please pray for a miracle on this special day, with the vision of a keen-sighted Dylan, talking easily and walking tall.

Please visit Dylan's Journey: A little boy's quest for sight and mobility to learn more and follow Dylan's progress. Credit to Alex Paul (articles) and Casey Campbell (photos) of the Corvallis Gazette-Times for their recent excellent reporting on Dylan's story. Read More......

Obama to make Vets pay for their own medical treatment

YAHOO NEWS, 3/16/2009 - The President says he will save $540 million by forcing wounded vets' private insurance to reimburse the government. Vets call this move “unconscionable”

WASHINGTON, 3/16,2009 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The leader of the nation’s largest veterans organization says he is “deeply disappointed and concerned” after a meeting with President Obama today to discuss a proposal to force private insurance companies to pay for the treatment of military veterans who have suffered service-connected disabilities and injuries. The Obama administration recently revealed a plan to require private insurance carriers to reimburse the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in such cases. Read more at Yahoo News... Read More......