FactCheck.org writes:

We’ve seldom seen a piece of legislation so widely misrepresented, and misunderstood, as the new health care law. We stopped counting the number of articles and items we turned out on the subject after the total reached 100.

Some of that is understandable. The debate went on for more than a year, while the different House and Senate bills changed their shape constantly.  The final law was the product of an awkward two-step legislative dance that first enacted the Senate’s version, then quickly amended it with a reconciliation “fix.” No wonder people are confused.

And even now the misrepresentations continue. The new law is no longer a moving target, but some opponents persist in making false or exaggerated claims about it. Our inboxes are filled with messages asking about assertions that the new law:

• Requires patients to be implanted with microchips. (No, it doesn’t.)
• Cuts benefits for military families and retirees. (No. The TRICARE program isn’t affected.)
• Exempts Muslims from the requirement to obtain coverage. (Not specifically. It does have a religious exemption, but that is intended for Old Order Amish.)
• Allows insurance companies to continue denying coverage to children with preexisting conditions. (Insurance companies have agreed not to exploit a loophole that might have allowed this.)
• Will require 16,500 armed IRS agents to enforce. (No. Criminal penalties are waived.)
• Gives President Obama a Nazi-like “private army.” (No. It provides a reserve corps of doctors and other health workers for emergencies.)
• “Exempts” House and Senate members. (No. Their coverage may not be as good as before, in fact.)
• Covers erectile-dysfunction drugs for sex offenders. (Just as it was before the new law, those no longer in jail can buy any insurance plan they choose.)
• Provides federal funding for abortions. (Not directly. But neither side in the abortion debate is happy with the law.)

You can go to the FactCheck site and read their analysis of the points given above.

On Friday, April 16, 2010 I received the following email with the subject being “urgent please!” ostensibly from Don Rust:

---

Hope you are doing well? I am writing to ask you to please loan me some money.I’m in UK right now for a program.Unfortunately someone made away  with my luggage at the hotel I checked in. I need you to assist me with $2,550 to settle my bills. Please kindly send it through Western Union with the details below. Receiver: Donald Rust Address: 46 Kempshott Road, London, SW16 5LQ Please remember to send me MTCN for easy pick-up. I will check my e-mail much later. Respectfully, Don

---

I was puzzled and perplexed when I read it. I looked at the sending email address which was Don’s correct email address. I attempted to phone Don at home to inquire about him, but the line was busy. I doubted it was authentic, besides I didn’t have $2,550 to send anyway. Further, I don’t know what MTCN means.

So I ignored it.

---

Then, today, April 18, 2010 I received the following email from Don:

On Friday afternoon our computer was hacked and our entire email contact list was exported and emails, which I’m sure you received, were sent to people  on the list as far away as Russia. I’m trying to work around this problem with AT&T plus Facebook.  My Facebook account is now blocked because of the email “money scam” problem and I’m waiting for Monday to attempt resolution of that issue.

Would you be kind enough to put information on your blog telling anyone who may have received these money scam emails the information I’ve provided regarding the email theft.

Your help will be greatly appreciated.

---

A few weeks ago I had received another fake email presumably from Oscar Reconco. That email stated Oscar was in Africa and needed money urgently. I doubted its authenticity and ignored it.

I have no idea as to who or how their email address lists were hacked. It is somewhat curious that both Oscar and Don reside here in Pahrump.

Be that as it may this blog post is in response to Don’s request. Sorry he is having to deal with such a problem and I hope he gets it ironed out.

Media Matters has a article out which says “publisher (Las Vegas Review-Journal) Sherman Frederick has written numerous blog posts and columns advancing conservative attacks on President Obama, Sen. Harry Reid, and other Democrats. These blog posts and columns are rife with smears, factual errors, and conspiracy theories.

House Democratic leader, Rep. Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, said that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) had determined that the package of legislation would produce “the largest deficit reduction of any bill we have adopted in Congress since 1993,” when it passed President Clinton’s budget proposal including substantial tax increases.

In the first ten years, the legislation would reduce deficits by $130 billion, Rep. James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, the House majority whip, said after a meeting of the party’s caucus. The effect on deficits over the following decade would be much greater, a total of $1.2 trillion, he said. The savings would come largely from reductions in the growth of Medicare spending, with new fees and tax increases also contributing.

[Source: New York Times]

While the Senate is almost certain to remove the controversial Nebraska deal known as the “Cornhusker Kickback” in a final health-care bill, President Obama’s efforts to cut out other state-specific arrangements are drawing resistance from lawmakers.

Such deals include a provision exempting Florida from some Medicare cuts, an issue Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) raised at the bipartisan health summit, as well as extra Medicaid cash for Massachusetts and Vermont.

“We’ve made it clear to the Senate that the president’s position in the final legislation should not contain provisions that favor a single state or a single district differently than others,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said this week.

But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s spokesperson responded: “We’re going to do what we have to do to get a bill out of the House and Senate.” He said of the White House’s wish: “We’ll certainly keep it in mind as we pull together a final bill.”

Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT) also defended the extra money for his state on the basis that Vermont already provides generous benefits to its residents before reform and shouldn’t be “penalized for doing the right thing.”

And Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) is pushing back against efforts to cut out a provision granting Medicare benefits to residents of a single town in his state that’s suffered from mining-related health problems. But first, health-care must pass the House.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich talks to Benjamin Sarlin about being the lone liberal “no” vote and Obama’s 11th-hour campaign to win him over.

[Source: The Daily Beast]

I watched President Obama’s speech in St. Louis yesterday. It was quite noticeable that he has seemingly dropped his previous effort of trying to cajole the Republican leadership into governing in a bipartisan way. The Republican leadership were clear in showing they’d have none of that and proceeded to earn its deserved moniker of the Party of No.

Obama talked about that during his speech. He reminded us of the Republican leaders participation (or lack thereof) during the seven-hour televised health care summit between himself, the Democrats and Republicans.

For seven hours we only heard the Republicans say, no, start over. Nothing of any constructive nature from the Republican side.

Looks like Obama has given up on trying to enlist any Republican support in working together.

He is getting equally hard on the health insurance industry, who are only interested in corporate profits.

Republicans seem to be only interested in politics and the election this fall. Not much, if any, interest in the condition of the American people.

Be that as it may, it is good to hear President Obama back on track, for us little people.

[Post inspired by The Daily Beast]

Yes, he did. You can read his letter to President Obama on Huffington Post. Moore wants to “help the Dems on Capitol Hill find their spines and I will teach them how to nonviolently beat the Republicans to a pulp.”

Moore reminds President Obama about the 2008 election, with Emanuel’s help, and the size of it, being frittered away:

It worked. The Darkness ended. The vast majority of the nation wept with joy on the night of the election (those who weren’t weeping went out and bought a record number of guns and ammo). Unlike the last president, you didn’t “win” by 537 votes in Florida (although Gore won the popular vote by a half-million), you beat McCain nationally by 9,522,083 votes! The House Democrats got a walloping 79-vote margin. The Senate Dems would caucus with a supermajority of 60 votes unheard of in over 30 years. The wars would now end. America would have universal health care. Wall Street and the banks would, at the very least, be reined in. Hardworking citizens would not be thrown out of their homes. It was supposed to be the dawning of a new age.

One thing about Michael Moore, he is no shrinking violet. But he offers to work cheap, $1 a year. That should make the Tea Party happy.

[Source: Huffington Post]

Here is a summary of FactCheck’s assessment of yesterday’s White House Healthcare Summit:

Senator Lamar Alexander said premiums will go up for “millions” under the Senate bill and president’s plan, while President Barack Obama said families buying the same coverage they have now would pay much less. Both were misleading. The Congressional Budget Office said premiums for those in the group market wouldn’t change significantly, while the average premium for those who buy their own coverage would go up.

Alexander also said “50 percent of doctors won’t see new [Medicaid] patients.” But a 2008 survey says only 28 percent refuse to take any new Medicaid patients.

Senator Harry Reid cited a poll that said 58 percent would be “angry or disappointed” if health care overhaul doesn’t pass. True, but respondents in the poll were also split 43-43 on whether they supported the legislation that is currently being proposed. [Read more →]

One way health insurance companies can afford million dollar salaries for their executives is to get rid of their sickest insurance holders.

trying to maximize profits by purging its sickest customers while spending millions on exorbitant salaries and retreats for its executives, congressional Democrats said Wednesday.

Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said at a hearing on WellPoint Inc. that his panel’s investigators had received internal company documents showing that in 2008, 39 company executives received salaries of $1 million or more. And in 2007 and 2008, it spent $27 million for 103 executive retreats.

Waxman says “Corporate executives at WellPoint are thriving, but its policy holders are pay the price.”

WellPoint owns Anthem Blue Cross which wants to raise its rates by 39% in some instances.

[Read more →]

That is the headline of President Barack Obama’s health care plan. It was posted online sometime today and you can read it all here.

I haven’t read it all just yet. But wanted to get it up so everyone has access to it.

Keep your fingers crossed that it gets through congress.