Obamacare, Illegals, Joe Wilson, and the Public Option

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Just so you know ....

 

Here's what Obama said,

"...There are also those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false – the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally..."  (September 9, 2009)

 

This is current, but certainly is not new. Some of 'us' (Liberals, Progressives, Democrats etc) denied it would or could happen.

But, a lot of us knew this would happen, had to happen, was probably planned to happen in just this way; and we have been sharing the fact that it could happen since before the thing was signed into law, because...

Unless we are allowed to ask, or businesses and healthcare providers are directed by law to ask the immigration status of recipients, how can we be assured illegals won't be able to access healthcare services funded through Obamacare?  

We can't. 

As long as there are no "adequate verification standards for determining the legal status of applicants" of course illegals will be able to access healthcare services either subsidized or partially/wholly funded through Obamacare. 

That will happen and has already begun to happen, even if it is specifically stated within the law that there will be "No Federal payment for undocumented aliens," and even if the president sticks to his story that the reforms he proposed and signed into law "would not apply to those who are here illegally..."

There is no way for the president to be able to keep his word ... there is no way for his assumptions to be true until/unless there is the will and the way to be able to verify citizenship of the recipient before Obamacare is further implemented.

 

Here's what's in the news currently:

"Last week the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it was funneling Obamacare cash to 67 community health centers where the money would be used for [migrant and seasonal farm workers]. HHS also informed us that the immigration status of said farm workers would not be ascertained before free care was given meaning that illegal aliens would be given Obamacare funding..."

"...Andrews [(HRSA) Spokeswoman Judy Andrews] said that grant recipients will not check the immigration status of people seeking services.

“Health centers do not, as a matter of routine practice, ask about or collect data on citizenship or other matters not related to the treatment needs of the patients seeking health services at the center,” Andrews said.

Further, the grant recipients are required to serve “all residents” who walk through their doors.

Yep, just like Joe Wilson warned us..."

 

 

 

Here's what Obama said:

"Now, I have no interest in putting insurance companies out of business. They provide a legitimate service, and employ a lot of our friends and neighbors. I just want to hold them accountable. The insurance reforms that I've already mentioned would do just that. But an additional step we can take to keep insurance companies honest is by making a not-for-profit public option available in the insurance exchange. Let me be clear – it would only be an option for those who don't have insurance. No one would be forced to choose it, and it would not impact those of you who already have insurance."   (September 9, 2009)

 

Here's what Barney Frank said:

"The best way we're gonna get single payer, the only way, is to have a public option ..."

 

 

Here's some of what Jan Schakowsky [possibly the only honest one of the bunch] said:

"Next to me was a guy from the insurance company who then argued against the public health insurance option saying it wouldn't let private insurance compete... that a public option will put the private insurance industry out of business {and lead to single payer}... applause applause applause ... "My singlepayer friends, he was right! The man was right! ...   "The goal of healthcare reform is not to protect the private health insurance industry."  Those of us who are pushing for a public health insurance option don't disagree with the goal ... this is a fight about a strategy for getting there and I believe we will..."

 

 

 

In regard to dodgy bookkeeping and cost containment:

Here's a quote from a blog in April 2010:

"Reductions in Medicare reimbursements to providers may cause some to limit the Medicare patients they accept; future cuts to Medicare reimbursements called for in the bill may never happen due to political pressure; the long-term care insurance program created by the law may be unsustainable..."        Hmmm

 

This was not information that no one knew.

It was not (as the blogger himself says) information that was "kept under wraps during the health reform debate", lots of Conservative talk show hosts were making the facts public; the problem was no one believed them when they tried to warn the public about the Medicare Actuary Report that was released before the HCR vote.

And apparently, they weren't listening to anyone else back then either; including this particular blogger.

Neither are they listening to the HHS Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius who recently admitted using the same amount of money, at the same time, to achieve two different things (or something like that - her convoluted explanations are an inadequate political mish mash of obfuscation which was, in this particular case, obvious also to the Whitehouse's own actuary back in January 2010 and August of 2010).

January 2010:

"Among the astonishing things about the ObamaCare debate—or lack thereof—is that Washington is inundated with warnings about the destructiveness of this plan, and it doesn't matter. The agency that runs Medicare rung the latest alarm bell on Friday, and good luck finding any media mention. . ."