It comes as no surprise that Harry Reid will stop at nothing to retain his power and his position as the champion of the Obama agenda. Harry’s most recent lies surface in his newest campaign ads accusing Sharron Angle of wanting to take away Social Security and Medicare benefits from seniors.  Reid knows this is a lie, but for Harry Reid, power is far more important than honesty.

While Harry Reid tries to frighten seniors about Sharron Angle, he leaves out the truth that the health care bill that he forced down the throats of all Americans cuts nearly $500 billion dollars from Medicare. Cuts that will make it difficult for seniors to find quality health care. Harry Reid is the real danger to our seniors, not Sharron Angle. His position as Senate Majority Leader and a complicit media will allow Harry Reid to spread his lies if we do not counter with ads showing the truth.

Angle’s plan to fix Social Security is similar to others that would allow young workers more control over their retirement investments while keeping corrupt politicians like Harry Reid from raiding the Social Security trust fund every year to pay for programs that only benefit their political allies.  Angle’s plan does not cut benefits or end a program that American workers paid into their entire working lives.

Pepper sent this in:

(West Columbia, SC) – Congressman Joe Wilson (SC-02) today released the following statement after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a report highlighting the fact that the government health care takeover will increase health care costs, hurt seniors, and put employers in a position to drop employee coverage:

“This report confirms what the American people warned us about for over a year:  A government takeover of health care will hurt seniors, skyrocket costs, and force employers to drop coverage.   Anxious citizens brought these principle concerns to their lawmakers in Washington – only to be ignored by the liberal majority,” said Congressman Joe Wilson.  

According to the report, national health care costs will increase by $311 billion over the next ten years and will force millions of seniors off of their current Medicare coverage. The Hill newspaper also reports today on how the report suggests that some employers will stop offering health care benefits to their employees.

“Dropped coverage and increased costs is not what the American people had in mind when it came to health care reform.  It is time to SWAP this government health care takeover for a patient-centered and affordable solution that expands access and continues to cover pre-existing conditions.”

Congressman Wilson continues to encourage Speaker Pelosi and other liberal leaders to listen to the will of the people and repeal the government health care takeover and work to bring forward bipartisan health insurance reform to lower costs and expand access. 

One such proposal is Congressman Wilson’s Siding With America’s Patients (SWAP) Act that repeals the government health care takeover and replaces it with an alternative that welcomes portability, shopping across state lines, and protection of current health plans.

Jim sent this in:

On Sunday night, the popular news show 60 Minutes aired a disturbing segment on corruption within government health care programs that already exist — Medicare and Medicaid. The importance of this newsworthy event is that finally a major news organization was asking the right questions regarding the current epidemic of fraud and abuse within the government health care bureaucracy which is a preview of what can be expected once the federal government takes control of Americans’ overall health care.

With the Obama Administration and Democrat leaders in both houses of the US Congress desperately pushing a major overhaul — many say government takeover — of US health care, a report obtained by the National Association of Chiefs of Police’s Fraud & White Collar Crime Committee sheds light on the fraud and corruption already existing in government medical programs. And one can only imagine the amount of corruption that will occur with total government control of the medicine,

On April 22, 2009, Government Accountability Office officials testified before an ad-hoc Congressional subcommittee at a hearing entitled, “Eliminating Waste and Fraud in Medicare and Medicaid.”

In a subsequent letter responding to a May 29, 2009 request for responses to questions for the record related to the April 22, 2009, testimony, the GAO responded to the following questions:  What do you see as the biggest challenge for Centers for Medicare/Medicaid Services (CMS) to provide an estimate for improper payments under Medicare Part D? Has GAO identified any problems with the current process for reviewing and paying Medicare claims that would make the program more vulnerable to fraudulent claims?  Is there any reason the US federal agency which administers Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program cannot include penalties in its Medicare Administrative Contractor contracts for paying improper or fraudulent claims that they are aware of?

With total outlays of about $46 billion in fiscal year 2008, Medicare Part D is the last significant part of Medicare for which the department has yet to develop an estimate of improper payments. In developing its estimate, it will be important for CMS to determine where the vulnerabilities and risks exist in the Medicare Part D structure and operations that could impact CMS’s ability to effectively detect, measure, and ultimately reduce improper payments.

In HHS’s fiscal year 2008 AFR, the department reported that it had calculated payment error rates for two components of Medicare Part D but also that its measurement was not fully implemented. Also, it will be important to consider Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General identified concerns about CMS’s implementation of internal controls to ensure payment accuracy as well as inadequate analysis of claims data.  

The GAO investigation identified several weaknesses with the current process for reviewing Medicare claims. Limitations in the number of medical reviews conducted leave the home health benefit — within the Medicare program — vulnerable to improper payments, including payments resulting from fraud and abuse.

In previous studies, the GAO reported in February 2009 that in fiscal year 2007, only 0.5 percent of the more than 8.7 million home health agency (HHA) claims processed were subjected to prepayment review by Medicare’s contractors.

The contractors focused primarily on claims submitted by HHAs whose billing patterns differed from their peers on measures such as cost per episode. Of those claims that were reviewed, over 40 percent were denied in whole or in part. There are also weaknesses with respect to selecting claims to review in Medicare Fee-for-Service.

In addition to the weaknesses with the current Medicare claims review process, analysts found that failure to effectively screen health providers before granting them billing privileges also increases the program’s vulnerability to fraudulent claims.

Consistent with the Social Security Act and applicable federal procurement regulations, CMS may include provisions in Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) contracts to:  prescribe the costs incurred by MACs in processing and paying Medicare claims that CMS may reimburse;  provide incentives or disincentives related to payment accuracy; and hold MACs and their employees liable for improper or fraudulent claims payments under limited circumstances.

Otherwise, neither the Social Security Act nor applicable federal procurement regulations expressly provides for CMS to reduce amounts owed to MACs under their contracts or to assess charges against MACs for improper or fraudulent claims payments.

Opponents of the plan currently considered by the US Congress — commonly known as ObamaCare — believe that if the US government succeeds in taking control of the health care industry, losses due to fraud and abuse will drastically increase.

Jim sent this in:

Last week, millions of Americans watched President Barack Obama continue to sell his national health care plan on news shows, talk shows and even the David Letterman Show.  Reporters during televised question and answer portions of Obama’s performances attempted to appear unbiased, but their tone and demeanor is a marked difference from the attack approach they use on conservative politicians. And not one reporter asked about the potential for fraud and corruption in such a huge financial endeavor as providing health care for Americans.

When President Obama stated that cutting Medicare and Medicaid fraud and waste would help to fund what’s become known as ObamaCare, that statement begged the questions: “Mr. President, why hasn’t the US government already cracked down on fraud and abuse in programs that are being looted by thieves and liars? Why wait, Mr. President?”

With the Obama Administration and Democrat leaders in both houses of the US Congress desperately pushing a major overhaul — many say government takeover — of US health care, a report obtained by the National Association of Chiefs of Police’s Fraud & White Collar Crime Committee sheds light on the fraud and corruption already existing in government medical programs. And one can only imagine the amount of corruption that will occur with total government control of the medicine,

On April 22, 2009, Government Accountability Office officials testified before an ad-hoc Congressional subcommittee at a hearing entitled, “Eliminating Waste and Fraud in Medicare and Medicaid.”

In a subsequent letter responding to a May 29, 2009 request for responses to questions for the record related to the April 22, 2009, testimony, the GAO responded to the following questions:  What do you see as the biggest challenge for Centers for Medicare/Medicaid Services (CMS) to provide an estimate for improper payments under Medicare Part D? Has GAO identified any problems with the current process for reviewing and paying Medicare claims that would make the program more vulnerable to fraudulent claims?  Is there any reason the US federal agency which administers Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program cannot include penalties in its Medicare Administrative Contractor contracts for paying improper or fraudulent claims that they are aware of?

With total outlays of about $46 billion in fiscal year 2008, Medicare Part D is the last significant part of Medicare for which the department has yet to develop an estimate of improper payments. In developing its estimate, it will be important for CMS to determine where the vulnerabilities and risks exist in the Medicare Part D structure and operations that could impact CMS’s ability to effectively detect, measure, and ultimately reduce improper payments.

In HHS’s fiscal year 2008 AFR, the department reported that it had calculated payment error rates for two components of Medicare Part D but also that its measurement was not fully implemented. Also, it will be important to consider Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General identified concerns about CMS’s implementation of internal controls to ensure payment accuracy as well as inadequate analysis of claims data.  

The GAO investigation identified several weaknesses with the current process for reviewing Medicare claims. Limitations in the number of medical reviews conducted leave the home health benefit — within the Medicare program — vulnerable to improper payments, including payments resulting from fraud and abuse.

In previous studies, the GAO reported in February 2009 that in fiscal year 2007, only 0.5 percent of the more than 8.7 million home health agency (HHA) claims processed were subjected to prepayment review by Medicare’s contractors.

The contractors focused primarily on claims submitted by HHAs whose billing patterns differed from their peers on measures such as cost per episode. Of those claims that were reviewed, over 40 percent were denied in whole or in part. There are also weaknesses with respect to selecting claims to review in Medicare Fee-for-Service.

In addition to the weaknesses with the current Medicare claims review process, analysts found that failure to effectively screen health providers before granting them billing privileges also increases the program’s vulnerability to fraudulent claims.

Consistent with the Social Security Act and applicable federal procurement regulations, CMS may include provisions in Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) contracts to:  prescribe the costs incurred by MACs in processing and paying Medicare claims that CMS may reimburse;  provide incentives or disincentives related to payment accuracy; and hold MACs and their employees liable for improper or fraudulent claims payments under limited circumstances.

Otherwise, neither the Social Security Act nor applicable federal procurement regulations expressly provides for CMS to reduce amounts owed to MACs under their contracts or to assess charges against MACs for improper or fraudulent claims payments.

Opponents of the plan currently considered by the US Congress — commonly known as ObamaCare — believe that if the US government succeeds in taking control of the health care industry, losses due to fraud and abuse will drastically increase.

In this edition of “The Senate Doctors Show,” Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyoming) talked about Sen. Max Baucus’ health care reform plan. He also answered questions from citizens about fraud in our health care system, Medicare cuts, health care for illegal immigrants, and other health care reform issues.

Just when you thought that the deficit was bad enough – and I hope that you’re sitting down when reading this – I’m finding out that our national debt obligations just got deeper.  How so, you’re wondering?  Short answer is that the national debt as it applies to a per-household has grown.  The amount will astound you and possibly piss you off.

We taxpayers, according to a USA TODAY analysis, get the privilege of assuming an additional $55,000 per household to cover rising national commitments including retirement benefits, the national debt and other government promises.  That’s a 12% increase over just last year, folks.  And get this – the increase raises federal obligations to a whopping $546,668 per household.  That, people, can be accurately be coined as “generational theft.”

In the analysis, federal data was used to compute all government liabilities, from Treasury bonds to Medicare to military pensions.  Some of the key obligations that make this red ink redder?

• Social Security.  It is expected to grow by between 1 and 2 million beneficiaries between 2008 and 2032, according to government actuaries.  The average annual SS benefit?  $12,089 in 2008.
• Medicare.  Around 2011, more than one million a year will enroll when the first Baby Boomers turn 65.  The average Medicare benefit in 2008?  $11,018.
• Retirement programs.  Currently, Congress has not set aside any money to pay for military and civil servant pensions or health care for retirees.  The aforementioned unfunded programs have increased an average of $300 billion since 2003 and now stand at $5.3 billion.

Imagine, if you will, folks, what this deficit – debt, if you will – would be if Obama was not elected President.  Granted, we would probably have a deficit.  But you know what?  I am not an economist nor do I claim to be; however, you do not have to be a math genius to know that the current debt load, compared to about this time last year are as different as night and day.  And President Obama is spending our money – yes our money!! – like a drunken sailor in Tijuana on shore leave.

But this – at least in my humble opinion, anyways – is part of Obama’s grand scheme to pare down free enterprise and to have as many people dependent on government “entitlements” as possible in the shortest timeframe possible.  and folks, if we do not stand up and rebel against this obvious Socialist scheme of Obama’s, we not only will not have states, but there’s the possibility that we will be a red nation.  And I don’t mean red as in Republican.

And by that, I mean that we won’t be the United States of America.  Try this on for size: The United Socialist States of America.  And your Commissar?  Barack Hussein Obama.  That’s a scenario I will not live with and neither should you.

The lobbyists up in Washington continue to do what they do best – buying influence in a myriad of ways – donations to politicians’ campaigns, secret meetings and in the rare instance – bribes.  Nonetheless, their presence is felt, yet they may possibly have a challenge on their hands as President Obama marches ahead in his quest to craft health care into his vision. 

What Obama has in mind is to squeeze Medicare and Medicaid spending in order to help create a 10-year, $634 billion – that’s billion with a B – fund best described as a down payment on his quest of providing health insurance to everyone.  He intends to use $316 billion in savings from these entitlement programs; some of the savings would come in the form of scaling back payments to private insurance plans that serve older Americans.

The Republicans are opposed to the plan, as they very well should be.  Folks, what Obama has in mind is very simple – this so-called “health care reform” is just another fancy name for health coverage that is all the rage in Canada and most of Europe.  And it is called “universal health care”.  And I, for one, do not want to pay for it.  Do you?