Obama TV: Healthcare address should tackle AARP contradictions and the uninsured

by Kay B. Day

Tonight at 8 p.m. we’ll have another episode of Obama TV, with President Barack Obama addressing a joint session of Congress about healthcare. Hopefully the president will be honest with Americans about legislation that will affect a significant part of our economy and a very private aspect of our lives. AARP tried to clear confusion about various proposals in the organization’s Bulletin (Sept., ’09), print edition.Unfortunately even AARP managed to muddy some waters.

There’s a feature about the proposals Congress is considering. The feature aims at clearing up “myths.” Within that feature there’s the question, ‘Will Medicare be eliminated or gutted to pay for reform?” The answer: “No. It’s inconceivable...” Then the “facts” are presented. After stating “It’s true” the proposals “seek to save billions from Medicare costs,” the writer assures us the government aims to pay doctors “more fairly” and to “reward providers for quality of care instead of (as now) paying them a fee for each separate service; reducing waste and fraud; and reducing preventable hospital readmissions.”

There’s truth submerged in what follows: “All the proposals would cut the amount of subsidies now paid to Medicare Advantage private plans, which cost an average of 14 percent more per person than traditional Medicare does.” So we ditch the subsidies and that could make those private plans more efficient. But said AARP, cutting subsidies could also cause private plans to “raise premiums, reduce benefits or withdraw from Medicare.” AARP said the proposals will add more preventive services and might narrow the Part D “doughnut hole.” [pg.16]

Read between the lines and you’ll get an idea why all those retirees are beaming themselves over to the tea parties.

What borders on hilarity is a piece of information within the official statement co-written by the AARP CEO and the organization’s president. “Medicare enrollees have already seen their premiums more than double this decade, and they already spend a third of their income on out-of-pocket health costs.” [pg. 8]

That, by the way, is without the famous “doughnut hole” permitting prices for drugs to continue rising.

What’s obvious is that Medicare is in the same boat the private insurers are in. Premiums are rising. Also obvious is government’s refusal to plan for long term impacts of legislation. What’s also obvious is government’s hypocrisy. The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives’ Waxman-Markey bill (HR 2454) will cause prices for almost everything, including household energy, to rise.

Isn’t household energy a necessity? Why is it critical to reform healthcare on the political promise of saving Americans money when Waxman-Markey will usurp any potential savings and possibly, as the president’s famous remark suggests, cause electricity costs to “skyrocket?”

Meanwhile, not a single politician has touched on some vital figures. What about the 12 million people who are uninsured in America even though they’re eligible for public programs like Medicaid, SCHIP, or Medicare, but are not enrolled? What kind of penalty will those people incur and is the penalty even collectible? Think IRS, by the way, for enforcement on that.

What about the 10 million “foreign born noncitizens” who aren’t insured? American taxpayers have traditionally paid the cost of medical care for this group. Our president has assured us those in the country illegally will not receive government-funded healthcare. But HR 3200, the House Democratattempt at reform, contains Section 1203, ‘Eliminating Barriers to Enrollment.’ This section stipulates, for the low-income subsidy program, “an individual shall be permitted to apply on the basis of self-certification of income and resources; and`(II) matters attested to in the application shall be subject to appropriate methods of verification without the need of the individual to provide additional documentation, except in extraordinary situations as determined by the Commissioner.”

If you hear echoes of the credit meltdown in the term “self-verification,” your ears are working just fine.

So we’ve already noted 22 million people who either don’t obtain the benefits they’re eligible for or don’t obtain them as “foreign-born noncitizens.” That leaves roughly 23 million. But healthcare proposals will affect all of us.

Fox News and other media report the president wants the public option, despite the fact Medicare’s long term cost projections are outrageous. So are Medicaid’s.

So will Obama tell us he is instituting a new welfare program since that's exactly what all the proposals embody? Will he admit the Democratic Party would really like to have complete control of healthcare as governments in various European and communist countries already do?

Doubtful.

Rep. Charles Boustany (La.) will deliver the Republican response to President Obama's health care address Wednesday night before a joint session of Congress.

I’ve read thousands of pages of legislation, commentary and analysis about healthcare. So far nothing I’ve seen will bring relief to those senior protestors demonized by leftwing extremists and Dem members of Congress. It goes to show they’re smarter than the government realized because contradictions abound in bills like HR 3200 and in statements from Washington.

Obama should lay politics aside and tackle these contradictions. That, by the way, is doubtful.

CNN's Anderson Cooper interviewed radio talk show host Mark Williams about the Tea Party Express.