Bleak Days: House Narrowly Passes PelosiCare, 220-215: Bill Wins. Democrats Rejoice. America Loses.
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on November 8, 2009
Joining the failures, bloated costs, inadequacies, and additional bureaucracies of government-run Medicare/Medicaid, government-run health care of our military, and government-run health care on Indian reservations is the unconstitutional government-run health care of more than 300 million Americans. Mandatory under myriad, tyrannical penalties for non-compliance. PelosiCare/ObamaCare for the entire nation, thanks to 219 Democrats and 1 turncoat Republican who ignored and mocked the growing, thunderous voices of alarmed and angry Americans from all 50 states who don’t want socialized health care.
Democrats rejoice. America loses.
And mourns the unprecedented loss of inherent, constitutional liberties.
But we who cherish America and freedom have not given up this fight… this was a bloody battle, to be sure, but the war is still at hand, the outcome is still not set. It ain’t over ’til it’s over.
Just a glimpse of what US government-run health care already looks like… it isn’t pretty, America: Broken, Disastrous: Native American Government-Run Health Care: “Don’t Get Sick After June” (video)
From Politics Daily: House Narrowly Passes Historic Health Care Bill:
The U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed a massive overhaul of the American health care system Saturday night by a vote of 220 to 215. One Republican, Rep. Joseph Cao of Louisiana, crossed the aisle, while 39 Democrats joined the Republicans in opposing the measure.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called passage of the bill “an historic moment for our nation and for America’s families,” while Republicans warned that the bill will raise taxes, increase insurance premiums and make cuts to Medicare. An enormous round of applause broke out throughout the House chamber when the crucial 218th vote was cast to ensure the bill’s passage.
The $1.3 trillion-dollar bill would require individuals to buy health insurance, and would also require medium and large businesses to provide it to their employees. Consumers would be able to buy their insurance on an exchange, which would include a public insurance option for people who do not have access to insurance through their jobs. Low- and middle-income families would receive government subsidies to purchase insurance, which would be be paid for through tax increases on individuals making more than $500,000 per year, as well as fees on medical providers. Finally, the bill would prohibit insurance companies from dropping or denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions or cost of care.
The day of the vote was punctuated by high drama, as the House gaveled into a rare weekend session with no indication of whether the Speaker had all 218 votes necessary to pass the bill. But a last- minute addition to the bill to appease pro-life Democrats, as well as a high-profile visit from President Obama to press Democratic members to vote for the measure, provided just enough momentum to pass it through the House with two votes to spare.
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Pelosi added that the bill would also reduce drug costs for seniors, prevent insurance companies from charging women more than men for the same coverage, and would allow young adults to stay on their parents’ insurance until their 27th birthdays. She also promised that the bill would add “not one dime to the deficit.”
Republicans countered that the bill will in fact explode the deficit and give the federal government an out-sized and improper role in Americans’ health care decisions. Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tx.) said, “I just don’t think it’s right that in the guise of helping Americans, we’re telling Americans what they have to do.”
Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said that the federal government is not capable of running many of the programs it is already responsible for, and should not be trusted with more responsibilities for Americans’ health care: “We have talked to mothers who say, ‘You can’t even get the H1-N1 vaccine out there and you think you’re going to handle the health care for my children?’ ” Manufacturers have not been able to supply enough of the vaccine because of the difficulty of producing it.
Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) warned, “I have no doubt that although the American people may forget what was said here, they will never forget what was done here and who did it to them.”
A crucial barrier to the bill was eliminated when the House passed an amendment by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), a pro-life Democrat, by a vote of 240 to 192. Stupak’s measure would prevent insurance companies from participating in the new government exchange if they also cover abortion. It would also require women enrolled in the exchange to purchase supplemental abortion insurance with private funds if they want to be covered for the service in the future.
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Although Pelosi initially resisted the Stupak amendment, the congressman had garnered commitments from more than 40 fellow pro-life Democrats to derail the entire health reform effort without stricter apportion language in the bill. Despite Stupak’s victory Saturday, opponents of his measure vowed to strip it from the final bill in the conference committee.
Before voting on final passage, the House defeated the Republicans’ significantly smaller alternative health care reform proposal by a vote of 176 to 258, with one Republican, Rep. Tim Johnson, voting against it…
Now that the House has passed its version of health care reform, all eyes will be on the Senate, where moderate Democrats have already balked at the Senate bill’s cost and scope.
From Hot Air:
Critics will howl over the “death panel” reference, but Pelosi still has the Comparative Effectiveness Panel in the bill. The language establishing it takes up 22 pages of the bill (pages 739-760), and it does include experts on “health economics”. It doesn’t explicitly give government the power to dictate treatments — in fact, it does explicitly say that federal officers cannot dictate them — but findings by this panel will be used as baselines for payment by insurers, including the federal government, when it comes to deciding what options for treatment are available to whom. After all, comparative effectiveness is explicitly a rationing process. If it’s in the bill, it means that Pelosi plans on cost savings through rationing, which is really no surprise at all.
From GayPatriot, House Democrats vote to increase Republican gains in 2010:
Just scanning the list of Democrats who voted for increased government control over our health care, I see Republican pickups elsewhere in Ohio as well as in New Hampshire, New York, Virginia, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Florida and Tennessee. And even though yesterday’s vote does not guarantee enactment of this multi-hundred billion dollar bureaucratic boondoggle, it does guarantee Republican pickups in next fall’s elections. And some of those Democrats who voted “Nay” may be swept up in the rising tide against their party.
I wonder how many of the 220 representatives who voted for the bill actually read the whole (or even significant parts of the) bill. The backlash against those who voted in favor is surely already beginning, but will increase as citizens find particularly offensive or onerous provisions in the legislation which many Congressman did not know they had voted for. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may not have posted the bill online in time for all those voting on it to read it, but it is online now.
From Thomas Sowell, Real Clear Politics: Making Health Care Worse:
Will a government-run medical system make these things better or worse? This very basic question seldom seems to get asked, much less answered.
If the government has some magic way of reducing costs– rather than shifting them around, including shifting them to the next generation– they have certainly not revealed that secret. The actual track record of government when it comes to costs– of anything– is more alarming than reassuring.
What about insurance companies denying reimbursements for treatments? Does anyone imagine that a government bureaucracy will not do that?
Moreover, the worst that an insurance company can do is refuse to pay for medication or treatment. In some countries with government-run medical systems, the government can prevent you from spending your own money to get the medication or treatment that their bureaucracy has denied you. Your choice is to leave the country or smuggle in what you need.
However appalling such a situation may be, it is perfectly consistent with elites wanting to control your life. As far as those elites are concerned, it would not be “social justice” to allow some people to get medical care that others are denied, just because some people “happen to have money.”
But very few people just “happen to have money.” Most people have earned money by producing something that other people wanted. But getting what you want by what you have earned, rather than by what elites will deign to allow you to have, is completely incompatible with the vision of an elite-controlled world, which they call “social justice” or other politically attractive phrases…
Ironically, it is politicians who have already made medical insurance so expensive that many people refuse to buy it. Insurance is designed to cover risk. But politicians have mandated that insurance cover things that are not risks and that neither the buyers nor the sellers of insurance want covered.
Additional reading on ObamaCare/PelosiCare:
Gateway Pundit: Liberty Dies… To Thunderous Applause and Dems PASS Nationalized Health Care Bill (Video) and Dems Announce They Have the 218 Votes to Ram Through Nationalized Health Care and Flashback: Pelosi Says Not Giving House Members 3 Days to Read Bill Is an “Absolute Outrage” (Video) and Pelosi Breaks Pledge– Will Not Post Bill Online for 72 Hours Before Voting to Nationalize Health Care (Video) and Michelle Bachman on Pelosi Health Care Bill: “This Is the Crown Jewel of Socialism” (Video) and Rush On FOX News Sunday: This Is the Biggest Snatch Yet of Freedom & Liberty in this Country
Smart Girl Politics: Cao – Bought and paid for with OUR money!!!
Finding Myself In Alaska: People, Let Your Voices Be Heard!
Michelle Malkin: Health care takeover roll call vote — and what GOP Rep. Joseph Cao got from Obama; Plus: Organizing for America hustles more money and Liveblogging, Pt. 2: The hurry-up House debate on health care; Update: Bill Passes
Publius, Big Government: Pelosi’s Gift to Insurance Companies: Immunity from Lawsuits and Let Your Voice Be Heard on Health Care: A Message From Rep. Mike Pence and Pelosi Health Care Bill: The Worst Bill Ever
RedState: Not in Public. Please.
Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion: First Take On House Passage
Sister Toldjah: Health care “reform” goes to vote in the House (UPDATE 2: BILL SQUEAKS BY HOUSE 220-215) and Rove: Democrats are in trouble in the suburbs
Frugal Café Blog Zone: Texas, Are You Listening? Democrat Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee Admits Signing Letter to Give Free ObamaCare Insurance Coverage to Illegal Aliens (video) and They’re Heeeeere…. Nancy, Look Out the Window But Take Cover, Angry Americans Are Arriving at Your House – UPDATE: More Arriving to Protest ObamaCare in DC, 27 Busloads from Just NJ! – Mark Levin Video Added and “Kill the Bill!” — Bachmann’s Protest Against Government-Run Health Care at Capitol Expected to Draw Thousands, “PelosiCare” 12-Hour ONLINE Marathon Air (video) and “Super Bowl of Freedom” Tea Party Healthcare Protest Tomorrow at Nation’s Capitol, Protests Across Nation Still Going Strong: San Francisco, Houston (video) and 2,000-Page Nightmare: Newest Version of ObamaCare Is Shocking, “Crown Jewel of Socialism” Will Ravage America (video)
ThePalination.com: Governor Palin: The Pelosi Bill Was Rammed Through on Saturday, But Sunday’s Coming
GayPatriot: Considering Why Democrats Are Holding Health Care Vote on Saturday
The Powers That Be: BOHICA Alert: Health Care Scam Moving Towards a Weekend Vote; Capitol Hill Switchboard Recording Still Pitching Obamacare and The Constitutionality of Obamacare: ‘Who Cares?’ Part III and Obamacare: The More You’re Fined, the Cheaper It’ll Be
Lisa Graas: Today’s Reading Instructive on Healthcare Debate
Unaffordable Lollipops for the Electorate: Hell hath no fury like Americans SCORNED
Hot Air: Open thread: PelosiCare vote coming tonight; Update: 35 Dems oppose? Update: Stupak amendment passes; Update: Bill passes, 220-215, one GOPer votes yes and It’s on: Palin vs Pelosi and Pelosi to House caucus: You can’t go home again
VotingFemale Speaks!: Rep Ahn Cao? Get out of my sight, traitor and Countdown to the Death of the US Economy; DEM Reps Cram-Down; Comrade Slaughter Smears US Citizens as they protest today
Nice Deb: Video: Judge Napolitano Warns Michele Bachmann That Nancy Pelosi May “Make Things Difficult” For Folks Coming To DC Rally and Video: Don’t Shut Us Out
Patterico’s Pontifications: Criminal Penalties in House Health Care Bill
Dr. David Janda, Big Government: Debate on PelosiCare: Crunch Time Tonight in DC
Protein Wisdom: No Shame [Darleen Click]
Wall Street Journal: The Worst Bill Ever
Deadenders: Nancy Pelosi Destroys A Forest
American Power: Democrats Unveil Crypto-Marxist ObamaCare Monstrosity!
The Snooper Report: Obama And Reid Continue Secret Health Care Negotiations
The Patriot Room: $1,000 fine for not getting health insurance
Diary of a Mad Conservative: Government health care should scare everyone
Michelle Malkin: Is your teacher lobbying for Obamacare at school today? and The “vapor bill” materializes, but don’t spend too much reading it
Scott Rasmussen, Wall Street Journal: Health Reform and the Polls
Frugal Café Blog Zone: “War on Senior Citizens”: Mark Levin Interviews Dr. Betsy McCaughey on ObamaCare Details and Dems’ Sheep-herding Health Welfare Program Like Eastern Bloc: Reckless Disregard for Economic & Fiscal Reality
FrankHagan.com: Health Care Cost Comparisons
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[...] Bleak Days: House Narrowly Passes PelosiCare, 220-215: Bill Wins. Democrats Rejoice. America Loses |… [...]
Pelosi’s “victory” will be short-lived.
Every representative that voted for this abortion should be inundated with messages that state they are fired !
When these “representatives” begin campaigning next year they should be booed.
WE HAVE TO MAKE THIS STICK.
I feel that the efforts of thousands of people over the last months are not wasted.
The corruptness that exists in our government is appalling.
Worry them to the point of distraction, never say die and teach them a lesson once and for all.
Cao should be taught a lesson.
The dismissive attitude of these people is detestable.
Prescription Drug Benefit.
The final version (conference report) of H.R. 1 would create a prescription drug benefit for Medicare recipients. Beginning in 2006, prescription coverage would be available to seniors through private insurers for a monthly premium estimated at $35. There would be a $250 annual deductible, then 75 percent of drug costs up to $2,250 would be reimbursed. Drug costs greater than $2,250 would not be covered until out-ofpocket expenses exceeded $3,600, after which 95 percent of drug costs would be reimbursed. Low-income recipients would receive more subsidies than other seniors by paying lower premiums, having smaller deductibles, and making lower co-payments for each prescription. The total cost of the new prescription drug benefit would be limited to the $400 billion that Congress had budgeted earlier this year for the first 10 years of this new entitlement program. The House adopted the conference report on H.R. 1 on November 22, 2003 by a vote of 220 to 215 (Roll Call 669).
Marsha Blackburn Voted FOR this bill.
Marsha Blackburn is my Congressman.
See her unconstitutional votes at :
http://tinyurl.com/qhayna
Mickey