“For over four years conservatives like me have tried, unsuccessfully, to convince good liberals, you know those who actually love America but are misled by the liberal media, Progressives and socialist about what is in the nation’s best interest, that supporting Obama and most Democrats in Congress was ultimately not in the nation’s best interest.”

This article by David Catron is so well written and solidly founded it speaks for itself. His subject brings to bear the unspoken prospect of medical providers holding patients to similar consequences. That happens. I know. With the onset of Obamacare’s personal bank account access and new IRS agencies set up to enforce it, the prospect becomes even more perilous for American citizens.

Providers don’t typically take rescinded insurance payments laying down, even years later. Those can be passed on to unknowing patients years later. Having experienced that is why I (now) always add beneath my signature on medical financial responsibility forms, “I will not be responsible for provider or insurance errors and/or omissions.” So far it’s not been challenged. After all, that is the purpose of signing for financial liability, clarifying what you do or do not agree to pay.

As dreadful as they are to contend with, coverage glitches are better addressed before incurring unknown astronomical medical costs than being surprised by them years later. This was a not-so-long-ago surprise with my Medicare insurance provider, which I’m still contesting with great fervor and to no avail of my credit rating.

On a different note and determined not to leave my family in insurmountable debt when earlier cancer diagnosis threatened the very real prospect of dying, discussing those glitches brought resolve before it became a problem; and before I paid tremendously more than initially told I had to, to live. Sometimes we have to walk the straight and narrow. Praise God for the strength, it saved thousands of dollars I could’ve otherwise knowingly paid and I’m here to tell of it. That was when private insurance was its own man, how that’s changed since Obamacare is anyone’s guess. Where’s Nancy Pelosi when you really need her?

What’s right is right. What’s wrong is wrong. Despite socialist creeping, right and wrong haven’t changed. Regardless how intimidating big monopoly is, ‘big monopoly’ is all the more reason I will not financially burden our stipend income with consequences of someone else’s insidious negligence – someone whose job it is to know insurance; to whom I pay premiums for that very reason; and who is the most reluctant to relay that information when I ask.

As medically necessary as my recently contested care was I knew I couldn’t afford it; and I would not have agreed to the care without assurances of coverage. A friend used to say, “They can’t eat you.” So far they haven’t, though admittedly at times it feels like I can smell a seasoned pot coming to boil.

Something to consider in the context of Mr. Catron’s article. If you encountered a personal calamity of similar nature, please share it in comments.

A Pimp for Obamacare Feels the Pain

By David Catron (Excerpted*)

… conservatives like me have come to the realization that “good” liberals will only change and wake up to the threats posed by Obama once they have experienced the “sting” of his socialist policies. It appears that is exactly what is beginning to happen.

Next time, be more careful what you wish for.

This unshakable belief in his own infallibility regarding government-administered health care was partly due to his hopelessly naïve view of Medicare, which he called “the most successful government program ever.” Never mind that this “success” had produced a $38 trillion unfunded liability, it was somehow “more efficient than private insurance.” Imagine my surprise, then, when I looked at the byline for this scathing piece bemoaning the depredations of that very program. The outraged author of “Medicare made the rules and now punishes doctors for following them” is none other than the redoubtable Shadowfax.

… a lot of money disappears from the bank account of the hospital. And it gets worse. The recent “fiscal cliff” deal changed the rule so that Medicare can now demand refunds for “overpayments” made as far back as 5 years ago.

… The most ironic feature of this program is that it proves our Beltway masters intend to do what Shadowfax and other advocates of government-run health care claimed they would never do — tell doctors how to practice medicine:

“Medicare is … reviewing charts and claiming that the physicians are fraudulently upcoding because we are documenting complete Reviews of Systems when they were not … medically necessary.”

In other words, the ultimate arbiter of medical necessity is no longer your doctor. This program means that the medical need for an examination, test, or procedure is retroactively determined by the government.

(*) Read full story here.

Arm Yourselves by Jordan Page

TriHealth sent termination notices to 150 employees for not getting a flu shot. The shots were listed as mandatory to the 10,800 workers of the hospital and doctors group in Cincinnati and offered free to all. Employees had one month to get the shots before receiving the termination letters. They can get the vaccination and appeal to be reinstated. Read the full report here: WLWT.Com

These actions do bring up several questions: Do employers have the right to require the flu immunization? Is this move by an insurance provider a symbol of the upcoming Obamacare program? Will there be more requirements by employers like the pneumonia vaccine? There are people who refuse vaccinations on religious grounds. Will they be terminated too?

Should a person with autism be allowed a transplant? As mother to a son with autism I’d like to think the decision should be made by our family after consulting with our doctors. But I am able to wax philosophically because my son is healthy.

Karen Corb of Pennsylvania,  is not so fortunate. Her son Paul inherited the same condition that her husband died from at age 28. The only cure for this heart ailment is a transplant.

Unfortunately, transplant decision makers in Pennsylvania have told Mrs. Corby that her son is not eligible for a transplant. The key reason is that he is autistic. They are concerned that he will not be able to manage the medications necessary following a transplant.

To have a transplant is a difficult decision. Surely not one to be made lightly. Yet, should this young man be denied because of his autism? Should people with other “special needs” not be afforded the same consideration as those who are “normal”?

One of the reasons our family has followed the Obamacare debate is because we are concerned that our son would be able to receive the same quality care as his sister who does not come with a label next to her name. We are concerned that a bureaucrat would make decisions about our son’s health care based on their understanding of his contribution to society.

What do you think?

If you want to sign Mrs. Corby’s petition to the Senate to get her son placed on the transplant list click Petitions.

As Jim Geraghty of NRO reported today, it’s “shocking” the health care costs have gone up under Obama:

Health insurance costs for families are up considerably: “Kaiser’s survey found that annual insurance premiums to cover people through their employers average $5,429 for single people and $15,073 for a family of four in 2011. Those rates rose 8 percent for single people and 9 percent for families. In 2010, premiums rose just 3 percent for families from the previous year.”

Then there’s the price hikes in the current year: “The cost to cover the typical family of four under an employer plan is expected to top $20,000 on health care this year, up more than 7 percent from last year, according to early projections by independent actuarial and health care consulting firm Milliman Inc.”

PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Health Research Institute projects medical costs will increase 7.5 percent for 2013, a rate they characterize as “relatively flat growth.” The National Business Group on Health projects a similar figure: “With the cost of employer-provided health care benefits at large U.S. employers expected to rise another 7 percent next year, employers are eyeing a variety of cost-control measures including asking workers to pay a greater portion of premiums but also sharply boosting financial rewards to engage workers in healthy lifestyles, according to a new survey by the National Business Group on Health, a non-profit association of 342 large employers.”

How could this have happened?  Didn’t we spend nearly a trillion dollars to make sure these hikes in costs didn’t occur? Oh wait–now I remember.  The Obama administration ignored the demands of the people to control costs and decided to increase coverage instead and mandated that those who don’t buy insurance will be taxed.  I guess Obama’s policy wonks, a term I use loosely, missed the Cato study showing that all states have created nearly 1900 mandates on benefits coverages.  The result was an incremental increase in health care costs. It didn’t work at the state level.  It won’t work with a federal mandate steroids.

Medicare and other costs in health care are certainly the focal point when it comes to getting our fiscal house in order. We must also understand that when these programs were instituted competent medicine was never factored into the equation.  The average length of time between retirement and death was two years.  That has now increased by two decades. For the next two decades–10,000 baby boomers will become eligible receive Medicare and Social Security benefits in their respective states.  In addition, the very elderly, people who are 85 or older, as a percentage, is the fastest growing demographic in the United States.  A lot of these people are living with chronic illnesses that would have wiped them out ten to fifteen years ago.  With the dismal statistics eventually showing a paltry 2.1 workers supporting each retiree, it’s time for liberals to recognize that reform is needed.

Instead, they demonize Republicans for trying to get Medicare and health care costs under control via free market reforms.  I think the depraved reality is that liberals would rather see grandma go off the cliff than sacrifice the last bastion of liberal social achievement. An achievement that was temporary– which is the case with most socialist initiatives.  However, in light of the data showing the ‘graying’ of America, the left has resorted to misinforming the public.  Otherwise known as MediSCARING– which was demonstrated by the president when he addressed a crowd in Iowa this week.

As Carol E. Lee of the Wall Street Journal reported today, the president reiterated his Davy Crockett stance on the issue.  ”I have strengthened Medicare, Mr. Obama told a crowd of 3,000 people on the last of his three days in Iowa on a campaign swing. He said Mr. Romney and his running mate, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, would turn Medicare into a voucher program that could cost seniors $6,400 more a year…their plan ends Medicare as we know it, Mr. Obama said.”

However, Phil Kerpin wrote today that:

Obama has already cut $716 billion from Medicare to fund his new health care entitlement, and would cap Medicare growth going forward at the rate of GDP growth plus 0.5 percent. Those cuts will run into the trillions of dollars in the second decade under Obama’s program, and will be implemented principally by turning over control of health care decisions to bureaucrats who will be empowered to deny people the care they need.

The Ryan plan implements the same cap on overall Medicare spending, but achieves it by injecting individual choice and competition into the program, allowing patients to choose between traditional fee-for-service Medicare and competing private plans.

However, according to Andres Ramirez, Vice-Chair of the DNC Hispanic Caucus, those cuts are “not necessary or essential in the Medicare budget.”

Whatever happened to the president’s call for a serious conversation about this subject? Well, when you re-election bid is marred by a failed health care reform , increased debt, and unemployment remaining above 8% for over 40 straight months, you have to misinform  your way back into office–even if it means your policies push grandma off the cliff.  It’s all relative.  That’s liberal thinking 101.  In all, I find it sickening that liberals would sacrifice an entire demographic for political points and plunge this nation into fiscal ruin.  Some say the Tea Party did that with the debt ceiling crisis last summer, but that’s a frivolous assessment.  We never would have reached that point if liberal Democrats and squishy Republicans didn’t engage in their orgy of spending.  The Tea Party was trying to save the nation, which Obama is certainly not interested in doing in the slightest.

P.S. Democrats should note that seniors were Romney’s biggest supporters in Florida.  However, we’ll have to see how they respond to Paul Ryan. Nevertheless, it points to the fact that even seniors understand the perils our entitlement system is facing.

A. Quinnipiac (July) ALL VOTERS: Obama 51% Romney 45%

Seniors: Romney 56% Obama 41%

B. Survey USA (July) ALL VOTERS: Obama 48% Romney 43%

Seniors: Romney 53% Obama 43%

C. Mason-Dixon (July) ALL VOTERS: Obama 46% Romney 45%

Seniors: Romney 47% Obama 42%

D. Quinnipiac (May) ALL VOTERS: Romney 44% Obama 43%

Seniors: Romney 49% Obama 37%

E. Fox News (April) ALL VOTERS: Obama 45% Romney 43%

Seniors: Romney 52% Obama 40%

Cross-posted at RightWingNews

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul talks with Shepard Smith about his dad’s presidential bid.