DISGUSTING !!!

Insurance Industry Going GANGSTER !

Threatens To Jack-Up Rates if HCR Passes !

Mike Lux (HuffPo)

The insurance industry inadvertently gave health reformers the best argument we ever could have had to pass a public option and the strongest possible regulations on insurers. Declaring that rates will go up dramatically if reform passes, insurers launched a full-scale open assault on the idea of any reform at all yesterday, except I guess a reform plan especially tailored to them and their profitability. What they left out of their little study is that they are the ones who decide when rates go up because the biggest companies have very little competition in most of the markets they are in. There is no federal rate regulation, there is no anti-trust enforcement in insurance (they are specifically exempted from it in the McCarran-Ferguson Act), and unless there is a public option, there will be little competition. They will be the ones who decide if the rates go up, and they have just guaranteed they would raise those rates if we don't stop them from doing it.

It's sort of like the sheriff in Blazing Saddles holding the gun to his own head, and saying "back off or I'll shoot." The insurance industry is saying that if they don't like what's in the bill, they will just decide to arbitrarily raise the rates. But we can stop those rates from going up by checking the insurers' power. That's why a public option, real competition for an arrogant out-of-control, way-too-powerful industry, is so essential. Without it, we are left to their whims, and anytime, for my reason, they will just jack up their rates. If their stocks go down, if they just want more profits, if some regulation they don't like is passed, they will just raise their rates. With a strong, robust, nationwide public option, we can force insurers to the table, and give them real competition.

Personally, I think we ought to repeal McCarran-Ferguson and impose tough rate regulation as well. That would really open up competition and guarantee lower prices. But at the very minimum, we have to have a strong national public option. The insurance industry has just reminded us as to why that is. Thanks for the help in making our case, friends.

By the way, it's not just me who thinks this. Voters do not support being forced to buy health insurance unless there is a public option -- at that point, as the polling clearly documents, voters are fine with an insurance mandate. As long as there is real competition with a public option, voters are fine with being asked to buy insurance. Sometimes I think regular voters are smarter than the politicians they elect to govern them. (Thank You HuffPo)

Greg Jones'
B4B NOTE:

While over 47,000 Americans are dying each year due to lack of coverage this Sic threat by the insurance companies PROVES that we MUST have A STRONG PUBLIC OPTION.....The Insurance Companies are openly threatening that if The HCReform Plan does not benefit THEM then They Are Going To PUNISH All Americans By JACKING UP THEIR RATES !!!!!
We Will Be Like SITTING DUCKS...


This is TREASONOUS AGAINST AMERICANS !!!!

We MUST DEMAND...DEMAND...DEMAND...

A STRONG, VERY COMPETITIVE

PUBLIC OPTION !!!!

(The ONLY Safety Net)

Anything short (i.e. co-ops, opt-in/opt-out, triggers etc...which are all WEAK) would result in higher rates from the gangster insurance companies and NO true, competitive alternative for We The People, topped off with a MANDATE (law forcing everyone to buy high-priced, unaffordable coverage or be penalized) !

ANY...Yes ANY POLITICIAN who sides with these gangster insurance companies should be charged with TREASON !!!!

TIME TO FIGHT....NOW !!!!
Please encourage ALL to Help Fight
For Our RIGHT To Health Care !

B4B

MUST SEE VIDEO:
Bill Moyers Exposes Max Baucus' Advisers
And Corruption of our Senatorial System

Greg Jones' B4B NOTE: It is absolute TREASON the way our elected 'officials' both Dems and Republicans, cast aside the true needs of We The People....the people they were elected to serve, choosing instead to pass laws to financially benefit the corporations they were well bribed by. This is legalized, organized crime against Americans and it must be stopped ! NOW is the time to
Make Those Calls...Make Those Demands...
Shame Them into Doing The Right Thing !

I email Mr. Moyers occasionally and noticed he used my slogan here....I like that.

Don't JUST Get Mad...
GET BUSY !

CLICK HERE: If video did not appear through email server

B4B

Congratulations
President Barack Obama !
2009 Nobel Peace Prize Winner
(Watch Video of Announcement)

Greg Jones
(Blacks4Barack)

Today it has been announced that President Barack Obama has won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize which is an incredible declaration of the worldwide appeal for our new President. Since early in the presidential campaign, Barack Obama was criticized by some for his desire to use diplomacy and talks as an initial means of settling disputes with foreign powers, a far cry from the style of the previous administration.

Yahoo News reports, " Obama's election and foreign policy moves caused a dramatic improvement in the image of the U.S. around the world. A 25-nation poll of 27,000 people released in July by the Pew Global Attitudes Project found double-digit boosts to the percentage of people viewing the U.S. favorably in countries around the world. That indicator had plunged across the world under President George W. Bush."

Following the Nobel announcement, the right-wing instantly began ginning up negative responses further displaying what a pitiful and pathetic group of anti-Americans they truly are. Also, the media has initiated it's standard negative spin on this obviously incredible honor. Despite the ignorance, once again, chalk up another one for our President !

WATCH ANNOUNCEMENT



America is Proud of
President Barack Obama !

B4B COMMENTER SPOTLIGHT:
Philip Calderone, Filmmakers for Obama

It was amazing to wake up to this news today. The "too early" argument actually highlights the fact that this president has accomplished in months what many presidents have failed to accomplish in years--breaking the me-first cynicism and helping people realize that we are one human race now facing problems too large for any one government, superpower, alliance, or country to handle.

And yet again, the argument that his popularity comes from merely Kool-Aid drinking celebrity status is incorrect, ignoring the egg for the chicken. Obama is hugely popular because he promotes opinions and policies that most of the world supports. His popularity demonstrates that there are more kind, decent people in the world than those who are not. Finally now we have a spokesman with extraordinary eloquence, intellect and respect for others to help us see this.

Congratulations President Obama. It is a great accomplishment for him, our country, and the billions who applaud him around the world. May your accomplishment be an inspiration to the rest of us as we strive to make this world a better place for us all. Time to get in line and give this man the tools to turn his great words into great actions.
( Philip Calderone, B4B Commenter SPOTLIGHT )

B4B

Strong Public Option
" Very Close " says Pelosi

By Jeff Muskus/HuffPo

House leadership is still hedging its bets on what version of the public option will make it into the unified House health reform bill, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters Thursday that Democrats are nearing the 218 votes needed to pass a strong public option tied to Medicare reimbursement rates.

"It's very close, it's very close," Pelosi said of majority support for the so-called "robust" public option, which she personally supports. She did not commit to getting the strong option into the bill, however. "We're in a good place, because we have many good options," she said.

On both counts, the Speaker's assessment seemed more optimistic than that of Progressive Caucus Co-Chair Raul Grijalva, who suggested to the Huffington Post that progressives might scuttle a bill that forces the public health exchange to negotiate its own reimbursement rates with insurers -- the policy favored by conservative Blue Dog Democrats. Grijalva estimated Wednesday that the strong public option had the support of 160 to 170 Democrats, a number significantly lower than the whip count his co-chair Lynn Woolsey has reportedly bandied about.

Though she declined to cite a precise number of supporters for the robust plan, Pelosi was confident enough to say that while the strong public option was only one of three public insurance exchanges the House has sent to the Congressional Budget Office for cost analysis, scores on the two weaker options -- both of which would require the new exchange to negotiate its own reimbursement rates -- were requested simply to give conservative Blue Dog Democrats another chance to make their case.

"In all fairness to those who believe that the negotiated rates work better for them in their district, we're trying to get from the Congressional Budget Office how we could have more savings out of negotiated rates," Pelosi said. The strong public option would save $110 billion over 10 years, she said, compared to $25 billion for an option with negotiated rates according to preliminary estimates. "That's a big difference."

For the first time since their 1995 inception, the Blue Dogs have found themselves out-organized by their liberal counterparts, and their commitment to decoupling the public option from Medicare has been slipping. While progressives have united behind a strong public option, conservative Democrats are concerned variously with addressing regional disparities in Medicare reimbursement, keeping the bill's final cost below $900 billion and waiting to see what the Senate does.

Bridging the gap in savings between the weaker and stronger public options won't be easy for Blue Dogs, and they won't like one possibility that Pelosi confirmed has been floated in a "very preliminary" form: a windfall profits tax on income for health insurers. "I have asked Chairman [Charlie] Rangel [D-N.Y.] to ask his staff to see what is in it for us," Pelosi said. "Let me say that I believe that all of the participants, whether it's insurance companies or the pharmaceutical industry, have much more they can put on the table to help reduce costs." (HuffPost)

NOTE from B4B's Greg Jones:

More News You DON'T Hear in our 'Great Media'.

This past Tuesday, Congress approved a $680 BILLION DOLLAR DEFENSE BUDGET. Yes...$680 BILLION !!! In the midst of our 'great' politicians making a major ruckus over spending $90B per year for 10 years (total $900B) for Health Care Reform to SAVE AMERICAN LIVES...they (quietly) pass this gigantus defense budget with such ease you would almost think they were paid (lobbied/bribed) to pass it. The Time Is NOW for our politicians to get America's priorities in the right order. We MUST have a strong, competitive Public Option (which simply means another Choice or alternative to the gauging of current private insurers). ANY politician who would deny Americans the right to CHOOSE an OPTION to stay alive should be removed from serving the people !

Make Those Calls...

Make Those DEMANDS...

We Must SHAME Them Into Doing the RIGHT THING !!!

B4B

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/08/strong-public-option-very_n_313947.html

( A Positive Step...Now Time To PUSH For Strong Public Option )

CBO: Determines Senate Finance Committee
Health Care Plan Would SAVE $81 Billion

Congressional budget experts said Wednesday that the sweeping health care overhaul bill awaiting a vote in the Senate Finance Committee will cost $829 billion over the next 10 years.

The preliminary report, released Wednesday by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, said the committee's health care reform package will not add to the national deficit -- and will save $81 billion over the next 10 years.

"Our balanced approach to health reform has paid off yet again with the news today that the America's Healthy Future Act remains fully paid for, begins to reduce the federal deficit within ten years and makes significant reductions in federal debt over the next several decades," Sen. Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement Wednesday.

The CBO said that the bill would reduce rolls of uninsured by 29 million over the next 10 years -- ensuring that 94 percent of Americans will be covered.

The report paves the way for the Senate Finance Committee to vote as early as Friday on the legislation, which is largely in line with President Obama's call for the most sweeping overhaul of the nation's health care system in a half-century.

Congressional tax experts say the proposed legislation would require health care industries to pay $121 billion in taxes over 10 years -- about $29 billion more than originally thought.

Finance Committee Republicans have been arguing the measure contains too many new taxes.

The committee's proposal, which calls for co-ops instead of a so-called "public option," has to be blended with the version approved by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, which does include the public option. Only then can it be considered by the full Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will face a difficult task in merging the two bills into one -- and presumably one that includes the government-run insurance plan that he and other liberal Democrats have steadfastly backed.

The Finance committee voted last week to strike two amendments that would establish a government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurance coverage. But the bill created in July by the Health Committee includes a public option and requires employers to offer insurance to their employees.

The question over whether Reid will push for a government-run insurance plan in the final legislation remains to be answered. Reid has said a public option is essential to reform, and other leading Democrats like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have stressed its importance in expanding coverage to the millions of uninsured.
FOX News' Trish Turner and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

NOW...Time To FIGHT for Public Option !

B4B

WATCH:
President Obama Weekly Address
Health Reform Urgent for Economy

An Open Note from B4B's
Greg Jones to The President:

Dear President Obama;

Greg again,

I sincerely hope that you are not desiring to make health insurance a mandate for the uninsured working poor through the so-called 'affordable' plan by way of tax credits. The working poor do not have excess monthly funds to be able to pay any sizable bill out of pocket they are forced to buy...if they had the cash...they would already have bought insurance (and not be standing by the thousands, in long embarrassing RAM lines for much needed free health care). They just won't have the cash and will still be forced to be uninsured. Therefore this plan would simply create uninsured 'lawbreakers' (possibly 46.5 million) who would then be afraid to go to emergency, even when vitally necessary in fear of getting 'caught' without coverage....and to think that the working poor can wait until tax time to receive the 'benefits' of this 'affordable' plan is respectfully, just plain wrong.

I, along with literally millions of others sincerely hope that you will make certain that this 'affordable' plan for the working poor is NOT based on tax credits. And don't forget Sir, we used this mandate effectively against the opposition during the campaign so if you choose to go that route it must be very conducive to the realities of the working poor....or it will end up making things much WORSE !

Once again,
Thank You Mr. President,

Much Love to our 1st Family,

Greg Jones
Blacks4Barack
National Director

CLICK HERE
If video does not appear through B4B email subscription server

B4B

WATCH:

Fla. Congressman Alan Grayson
Dems New Health Care Reform Fighter
Tells it Like It Is ! A Dem With GUTS !

CLIP #1: First, Grayson explained the Republican Health Care Reform Plan
" If you get sick...DIE QUICK "

CLIP #2: Then, the GOP requested a Grayson apology.
This is my kind of apology !

CLIP #3: YES ! Then Rep. Grayson went on CNN
and spanked the Repubs with TRUTH !

Time To Get FIGHTING MAD !

B4B NOTE: To think that our politicians can end the thousands of senseless deaths per month due to our failed, corrupt health care system with SIMPLY A VOTE...but WON'T DO SO...makes me feel that EVERY politician who votes AGAINST a strong Public Option AND accessible health care for ALL...
should be CHARGED with aiding and abetting !

CLICK HERE if videos (3) did not appear through email server

B4B

Lobbyists Donating Twice As Much

To Democrats As Republicans !

NOTE: After today's Senate Finance Committee, disappointing double NO vote

AGAINST Public Option this bit of info is VERY enlightening.

By: Jenna Staul (HuffPo)

The Wall Street Journal reports that lobbyists have donated twice as much to Democrats as Republicans this year -- a direct result of Democratic control over both Congress and the White House.

Corporate political action committees spent 60 percent of their contribution money on Democrats, who have in turn raised $153.5 million in the first six months of the 2009-2010 election cycle. The Center for Responsive Politics reports that in that time Democrats have raised a staggering 62 percent more than Republican candidates.

Meanwhile, lobbyists have made 70 percent of their donations to Democrats, up from 37 percent in 2006.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Spokesmen for the companies say they donate to politicians who support their priorities. Ron Rogers, a spokesman for Merck, said that the company donates more to Democrats now because "there are more Democrats that there used to be."

Republicans, however, may have some reason to hold out hope for the 2010 midterm elections: The Republican National Committee raised more than the Democratic National Committee last month.

****

B4B NOTE: Unfortunately, it is obvious that the well bribed Dems and the Just Say No (also paid) Repubs are working in concert AGAINST the needs of We The People. The ONLY way we will achieve a strong Public Option with truly accessible quality health care for all will be through the Power of each one of us...bombarding the politicians with phone calls/letters and emails letting them know...

We DEMAND Public Option AND Quality Health Coverage

FOR ALL !

B4B

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/29/lobbyists-donating-twice_n_303246.html

Con. John Conyers-Barney Frank
Call For Congressional Investigation of
ACORN Defunding


Question Un-Constitutionality of Defunding

CLICK HERE To Read Complete Filing

*******

This Illegal WITCHHUNT Must Be Stopped !

B4B

THIS IS MAJOR !

CBO Determines:
Liberal Public Option Plan to
SAVE $85 Billion MORE
Than Conservative Plan !

By: Ezra Klein

According to Congress Daily, the CBO says attaching the public plan to Medicare rates will save even more money than originally thought:

In a bid to wrangle concessions from the Blue Dog Coalition on healthcare reform, House leaders Thursday released CBO estimates for liberals' preferred version of the public option that show $85 billion more in savings than for the version the Blue Dogs prefer.

Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-S.D., a Blue Dog co-chair, said any possible new momentum toward a public option tethered to Medicare rates is, in part, "because of the cost issue" and the updated CBO score.

The original House bill required the public plan to pay providers 5 percent more than Medicare reimbursement rates. But as part of a package of concessions to Blue Dogs, the House Energy and Commerce Committee accepted an amendment that requires the HHS Secretary to negotiate rates with providers. That version of the plan will save only $25 billion.

In total, a public plan based on Medicare rates would save $110 billion over 10 years. That is $20 billion more than earlier estimates, a spokesman for House Speaker Pelosi said.

In other words, the conservatives want to spend $85 billion more than the liberals do. Moreover, the CBO is estimating savings to the government. That is to say, the $85 billion reflects reduced federal spending on subsidies because premiums in the public plan will be lower. Savings to individuals and businesses paying lower premiums will be much larger than $85 billion, and politically, much more important.

Meanwhile, a new New York Times poll shows that the public option is still a good 20 percent more popular than health-care reform in general.

The Time Is NOW !

We Must FIGHT For The Right To
Quality Health Care
FOR ALL !

B4B

WATCH:
President Of THE WORLD ?
President Obama Addresses
World Leaders At U.N. Assembly

President Obama Addresses the UN General Assembly from White House on Vimeo.

It's A NEW DAY !

CLICK HERE if video did not appear through email server

B4B

WATCH:
The Obama Health Plan in 4 Minutes

Learn/Share

Together, We WILL Make A Difference !

CLICK HERE if video did not appear through email server

B4B

WATCH:
1st Lady Michelle Obama Speaks
Powerfully For Health Care Reform

" Very Much A Women's Issue...
It's Unacceptable For Women To Go Without Insurance "
Stresses the suffering of uninsured Americans.

WATCH: Part 1



WATCH: Part 2

Together, Yes We WILL !

CLICK HERE if videos did not appear through email server

B4B

Michelle Obama To Get Busy(er)
on Health Care Reform

From: POLITICO

Pushing for health care reform didn’t turn out so well for the last first lady in a Democratic White House.

But with a retooled staff and an under-the-radar summer behind her, Michelle Obama plans a packed autumn that aides say will include a “dedicated focus” on health insurance reform — the same issue that brought such headaches to Hillary Clinton.

“She will do things that fit in with what she cares about, like health care reform and the implications it has for family and kids,” said Camille Johnston, Obama’s director of communications. “She will spend her time focusing on where policy and people intersect.”

For the health care reform push, which got something of a reboot last week with President Barack Obama’s address to Congress, the aim is for the first lady’s imprimatur to put a friendly face and a noncontroversial spin on a complex, highly partisan issue.

She won’t get into the weeds on health care, pushing specific details or plans as Clinton did. Instead, she’ll make the soft, soccer-mom sell, highlighting the need to eat healthy, exercise and get preventive care. On Friday, Michelle Obama will appear at an event where women and families will talk about the health care system, and she will deliver remarks that will “amplify the president’s message on the need for health insurance reform,” according to the White House.

And she’ll most likely have a receptive audience.

Over the past eight months, Obama has been quick and strategic in introducing and branding herself — she’s graced magazine covers from Iowa to Italy and dazzled Europe, and even Prince Charles asked about her garden.

She’s also amassed a great deal of goodwill — something her husband and his administration can certainly use in the fractious, rancorous health care struggle.

Recent surveys had her favorability ratings in the mid-70s, reflecting the general likability that most first ladies enjoy. Carroll Doherty, of the Pew Research Center, said Obama’s ratings could have declined given her husband’s sliding poll numbers, but likely only near the margins.

So far, she’s largely steered clear of policy, most likely contributing to the high marks.

“I think she has been a very good representative. She is very popular, very well-liked; she’s planted the garden, done a lot of traveling — but it’s a much more ceremonial activity. It’s more of a traditional role,” said Myra Gutin, a first lady historian at Rider University. “Now, we are eight months in, the kids are settled; it would seem to me that if she was going to undertake a project, then it’s time. But she is still clearly growing into the office.”

The fall could offer the biggest growth spurt for Obama, who has in some ways been slower out of the gate than her predecessors in settling on a signature issue — her bio on the White House website still lists three key issues: work-life balance, military issues and community service.

On the health care front, she has in her first months in some ways been an accidental ambassador for better self-care — a self-identified fitness freak with buff arms that launched a thousand workout routines.

Yet health care, with the specter of Hillarycare, could present something of a stumbling block for the first lady, who has so far soared above partisanship, garnering Oprah-like appeal.

Some past White House veterans agree and say there is no comparison.

Dee Dee Myers, press secretary for former President Bill Clinton, said the decision to put Hillary Clinton in charge of selling health care and the controversy that ensued is “very, very different than the circumstances that Michelle Obama finds herself in.”

Read rest of article:

B4B

Thank You President Jimmy Carter
Speaks-Out Regarding Racism in America

WATCH VIDEO:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

CLICK HERE If Video Did Not Appear Through Email Server

Thousands attend RAM 3-day free health care clinic in Los Angeles

WATCH:
President Obama's Weekly Address

Losing Insurance Can Happen To Anyone

WASHINGTON – In this week’s address, President Barack Obama highlighted a new report from the Treasury Department that found that about half of all Americans under 65 will lose their health coverage at some point over the next ten years. The report also found that Americans under 21 have more than a 50-percent chance of going uninsured at some point in that time. And more than one-third of Americans will go without coverage for longer than one year.

The full Treasury report can be viewed HERE.

Watch Address:

Time to FIGHT !

You're Family is One Layoff Away From
NO COVERAGE !

click here IF VIDEO DOES NOT APPEAR THROUGH EMAIL SERVER

B4B

VIDEO:
A Quick...To The Point...Explanation of:
What EXACTLY Is Public Option ?

Learn/Share/Teach and FIGHT !!!

Special Thanks To Brave New Worlds' Robert Greenwald

CLICK HERE If video did not appear through e-mail server

B4B

SHOCKER:

Bush Regime, U.S. Gov't

Drafted Iraq's Constitution

Granting 'Right' to Health Care To ALL IRAQIS !

" Our troops fighting to give the Iraqi people

rights that the troops themselves don't have. " ( Jubal Harshaw)

By: Mark Dorlester (HuffPo)

You'd better sit down, folks.

Article 31 of the Iraqi Constitution, drafted by your right-wing Bushies in 2005 and ratified by the Iraqi people, includes state-guaranteed (single payer) healthcare for life for every Iraqi citizen.

Article 31 reads:

"First: Every citizen has the right to health care. The State shall maintain public health and provide the means of prevention and treatment by building different types of hospitals and health institutions.

Second: Individuals and entities have the right to build hospitals, clinics,or private health care centers under the supervision of the State, and this shall be regulated by law."

There are other health care guarantees, including special provisions for children, the elderly, and the handicapped elsewhere in the 43-page document.

Under force of arms, President Bush imposed his particular idea of democracy on a people not asking for it - perhaps a noble undertaking in one context and a criminal violation of international law in another. Bush's followers are proud of the Iraqi Constitution, a model for the world, they told us.

So, according to the American political right-wing, government-guaranteed health care is good for Iraqis, but not good for us. Not good for you. They decry even a limited public option for you, but gleefully imposed upon the Iraqis what they label here as "socialism," with much Democratic Party member support.

Indeed, reading the Iraqi Constitution so near to the 8th anniversary of September 11, 2001 is instructive. It is the very definition of American right-wing hypocrisy.

We have (thus far) sacrificed more blood to wrest Iraq from tyranny than we lost on 9/11. In addition, according to the Congressional Research Service, as of May 15, 2009 (Report 7-5700/RL33110) we have spent and/or authorized $864 Billion in military operations on Operation Enduring Freedom, which includes Iraq and Afghanistan. The overwhelming majority of those funds have been for the war in Iraq. Additional secret funding has been authorized for intelligence and special operations.

The total is more than (or, in the worst case, equal to) the funding required to guarantee minimally decent health care here.

In other words, the most senior members of the Republican establishment - and some Democrats like Max Baucus (D-MT) - have gladly spent more taxpayer funds to ensure health care as a Constitutional right in Iraq than they are willing to spend to give you any level of guaranteed coverage.

The source document I used is from the official United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq. If you'd like to download and review the full Iraqi Constitution, click HERE

This news is an example of the benefit of our online viral information age. The situation was first called to my attention late yesterday (September 8) by a long-term blogger, Korkie Moore-Bruno, on a think tank list of Obama supporters. Korkie posted an alert from her Facebook friend Jubal Harshaw. Give them credit for the heads-up; all I've done was verify the rumor with the United Nations.

It would seem that U. S. citizens might find out if their Representative and/or Senators have supported or voted to fund the war in Iraq. If so, do they support health care as a civil right for you?

If the answers to those questions are "yes" and "no," respectively, you might consider less hypocritical representation. (Thank You HuffPo)

# # # #

B4B NOTE:
This needs to go absolutely viral.

B4B

A Picture's Worth A Thousand Words !

They Ain't Playin' !!

B4B

WATCH: Entire Speech Below

YES ! It's OFFICIAL:

President Releases " The Obama Plan "

Stability & Security for ALL Americans

"It will provide more security and stability to those who have health insurance. It will provide insurance to those who don’t. And it will lower the cost of health care for our families, our businesses, and our government."

– President Barack Obama

If You Have Health Insurance

More Stability and Security

• Ends discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions. Over the last three years, 12 million people were denied coverage directly or indirectly through high premiums due to a pre-existing condition. Under the President’s plan, it will be against the law for insurance companies to deny coverage for health reasons or risks.
• Limits premium discrimination based on gender and age. The President’s plan will end insurers’ practice of charging different premiums or denying coverage based on gender, and will limit premium variation based on age.
• Prevents insurance companies from dropping coverage when people are sick and need it most. The President’s plan prohibits insurance companies from rescinding coverage that has already been purchased except in cases of fraud. In most states, insurance companies can cancel a policy if any medical condition was not listed on the application – even one not related to a current illness or one the patient didn’t even know about. A recent Congressional investigation found that over five years, three large insurance companies cancelled coverage for 20,000 people, saving them from paying $300 million in medical claims - $300 million that became either an obligation for the patient’s family or bad debt for doctors and hospitals.
• Caps out-of pocket expenses so people don’t go broke when they get sick. The President’s plan will cap out-of-pocket expenses and will prohibit insurance companies from imposing annual or lifetime caps on benefit payments. A middle-class family purchasing health insurance directly from the individual insurance market today could spend up to 50 percent of household income on health care costs because there is no limit on out-of-pocket expenses.
• Eliminates extra charges for preventive care like mammograms, flu shots and diabetes tests to improve health and save money. The President’s plan ensures that all Americans have access to free preventive services under their health insurance plans. Too many Americans forgo needed preventive care, in part because of the cost of check-ups and screenings that can identify health problems early when they can be most effectively treated. For example, 24 percent of women age 40 and over have not received a mammogram in the past two years, and 38 percent of adults age 50 and over have never had a colon cancer screening.
• Protects Medicare for seniors. The President’s plan will extend new protections for Medicare beneficiaries that improve quality, coordinate care and reduce beneficiary and program costs. These protections will extend the life of the Medicare Trust Fund to pay for care for future generations.
• Eliminates the "donut-hole" gap in coverage for prescription drugs. The President’s plan begins immediately to close the Medicare "donut hole" - a current gap in its drug benefit - by providing a 50 percent discount on brand-name prescription drugs for seniors who fall into it. In 2007, over 8 million seniors hit this coverage gap in the standard Medicare drug benefit. By 2019, the President’s plan will completely close the "donut hole". The average out-of-pocket spending for such beneficiaries who lack another source of insurance is $4,080.

If You Don't Have Insurance

Quality, Affordable Choices for All Americans

• Creates a new insurance marketplace – the Exchange – that allows people without insurance and small businesses to compare plans and buy insurance at competitive prices. The President’s plan allows Americans who have health insurance and like it to keep it. But for those who lose their jobs, change jobs or move, new high quality, affordable options will be available in the exchange. Beginning in 2013, the Exchange will give Americans without access to affordable insurance on the job, and small businesses one-stop shopping for insurance where they can easily compare options based on price, benefits, and quality.
• Provides new tax credits to help people buy insurance. The President’s plan will provide new tax credits on a sliding scale to individuals and families that will limit how much of their income can be spent on premiums. There will also be greater protection for cost-sharing for out-of-pocket expenses.
• Provides small businesses tax credits and affordable options for covering employees. The President’s plan will also provide small businesses with tax credits to offset costs of providing coverage for their workers. Small businesses who for too long have faced higher prices than larger businesses, will now be eligible to enter the exchange so that they have lower costs and more choices for covering their workers.
• Offers a public health insurance option to provide the uninsured and those who can’t find affordable coverage with a real choice. The President believes this option will promote competition, hold insurance companies accountable and assure affordable choices. It is completely voluntary. The President believes the public option must operate like any private insurance company – it must be self-sufficient and rely on the premiums it collects.
• Immediately offers new, low-cost coverage through a national "high risk" pool to protect people with preexisting conditions from financial ruin until the new Exchange is created. For those Americans who cannot get insurance coverage today because of a pre-existing condition, the President’s plan will immediately make available coverage without a mark-up due to their health condition. This policy will offer protection against financial ruin until a wider array of choices become available in the new exchange in 2013.

For All Americans

Reins In the Cost of Health Care for Our Families, Our Businesses, and Our Government

• Won’t add a dime to the deficit and is paid for upfront. The President’s plan will not add one dime to the deficit today or in the future and is paid for in a fiscally responsible way. It begins the process of reforming the health care system so that we can further curb health care cost growth over the long term, and invests in quality improvements, consumer protections, prevention, and premium assistance. The plan fully pays for this investment through health system savings and new revenue including a fee on insurance companies that sell very expensive plans.
• Requires additional cuts if savings are not realized. Under the plan, if the savings promised at the time of enactment don’t materialize, the President will be required to put forth additional savings to ensure that the plan does not add to the deficit.
• Implements a number of delivery system reforms that begin to rein in health care costs and align incentives for hospitals, physicians, and others to improve quality. The President’s plan includes proposals that will improve the way care is delivered to emphasize quality over quantity, including: incentives for hospitals to prevent avoidable readmissions, pilots for new "bundled" payments in Medicare, and support for new models of delivering care through medical homes and accountable care organizations that focus on a coordinated approach to care and outcomes.
• Creates an independent commission of doctors and medical experts to identify waste, fraud and abuse in the health care system. The President’s plan will create an independent Commission, made up of doctors and medical experts, to make recommendations to Congress each year on how to promote greater efficiency and higher quality in Medicare. The Commission will not be authorized to propose or implement Medicare changes that ration care or affect benefits, eligibility or beneficiary access to care. It will ensure that your tax dollars go directly to caring for seniors.
• Orders immediate medical malpractice reform projects that could help doctors focus on putting their patients first, not on practicing defensive medicine. The President’s plan instructs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to move forward on awarding medical malpractice demonstration grants to states funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality as soon as possible.
• Requires large employers to cover their employees and individuals who can afford it to buy insurance so everyone shares in the responsibility of reform. Under the President’s plan, large businesses – those with more than 50 workers – will be required to offer their workers coverage or pay a fee to help cover the cost of making coverage affordable in the exchange. This will ensure that workers in firms not offering coverage will have affordable coverage options for themselves and their families. Individuals who can afford it will have a responsibility to purchase coverage – but there will be a "hardship exemption" for those who cannot.

" I Will Call You Out ! "

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P.S. Our 1st Lady Looked Wonderful !

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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

_______________________________________________________________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 9, 2009

EXCERPTS OF THE PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS

TO A JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS TONIGHT:

I am not the first President to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last. It has now been nearly a century since Theodore Roosevelt first called for health care reform. And ever since, nearly every President and Congress, whether Democrat or Republican, has attempted to meet this challenge in some way. A bill for comprehensive health reform was first introduced by John Dingell Sr. in 1943. Sixty-five years later, his son continues to introduce that same bill at the beginning of each session.



Our collective failure to meet this challenge – year after year, decade after decade – has led us to a breaking point. Everyone understands the extraordinary hardships that are placed on the uninsured, who live every day just one accident or illness away from bankruptcy. These are not primarily people on welfare. These are middle-class Americans. Some can’t get insurance on the job. Others are self-employed, and can’t afford it, since buying insurance on your own costs you three times as much as the coverage you get from your employer. Many other Americans who are willing and able to pay are still denied insurance due to previous illnesses or conditions that insurance companies decide are too risky or expensive to cover.


During that time, we have seen Washington at its best and its worst.


We have seen many in this chamber work tirelessly for the better part of this year to offer thoughtful ideas about how to achieve reform. Of the five committees asked to develop bills, four have completed their work, and the Senate Finance Committee announced today that it will move forward next week. That has never happened before. Our overall efforts have been supported by an unprecedented coalition of doctors and nurses; hospitals, seniors’ groups and even drug companies – many of whom opposed reform in the past. And there is agreement in this chamber on about eighty percent of what needs to be done, putting us closer to the goal of reform than we have ever been.



But what we have also seen in these last months is the same partisan spectacle that only hardens the disdain many Americans have toward their own government. Instead of honest debate, we have seen scare tactics. Some have dug into unyielding ideological camps that offer no hope of compromise. Too many have used this as an opportunity to score short-term political points, even if it robs the country of our opportunity to solve a long-term challenge. And out of this blizzard of charges and counter-charges, confusion has reigned.



Well the time for bickering is over. The time for games has passed. Now is the season for action. Now is when we must bring the best ideas of both parties together, and show the American people that we can still do what we were sent here to do. Now is the time to deliver on health care.



The plan I’m announcing tonight would meet three basic goals:



It will provide more security and stability to those who have health insurance. It will provide insurance to those who don’t. And it will slow the growth of health care costs for our families, our businesses, and our government. It’s a plan that asks everyone to take responsibility for meeting this challenge – not just government and insurance companies, but employers and individuals. And it’s a plan that incorporates ideas from Senators and Congressmen; from Democrats and Republicans – and yes, from some of my opponents in both the primary and general election.



***

Here are the details that every American needs to know about this plan:

First, if you are among the hundreds of millions of Americans who already have health insurance through your job, Medicare, Medicaid, or the VA, nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have. Let me repeat this: nothing in our plan requires you to change what you have.

What this plan will do is to make the insurance you have work better for you. Under this plan, it will be against the law for insurance companies to deny you coverage because of a pre-existing condition. As soon as I sign this bill, it will be against the law for insurance companies to drop your coverage when you get sick or water it down when you need it most. They will no longer be able to place some arbitrary cap on the amount of coverage you can receive in a given year or a lifetime. We will place a limit on how much you can be charged for out-of-pocket expenses, because in the United States of America, no one should go broke because they get sick. And insurance companies will be required to cover, with no extra charge, routine checkups and preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies – because there’s no reason we shouldn’t be catching diseases like breast cancer and colon cancer before they get worse. That makes sense, it saves money, and it saves lives.

That’s what Americans who have health insurance can expect from this plan – more security and stability.

Now, if you’re one of the tens of millions of Americans who don’t currently have health insurance, the second part of this plan will finally offer you quality, affordable choices. If you lose your job or change your job, you will be able to get coverage. If you strike out on your own and start a small business, you will be able to get coverage. We will do this by creating a new insurance exchange – a marketplace where individuals and small businesses will be able to shop for health insurance at competitive prices. Insurance companies will have an incentive to participate in this exchange because it lets them compete for millions of new customers. As one big group, these customers will have greater leverage to bargain with the insurance companies for better prices and quality coverage. This is how large companies and government employees get affordable insurance. It’s how everyone in this Congress gets affordable insurance. And it’s time to give every American the same opportunity that we’ve given ourselves.

***
This is the plan I’m proposing. It’s a plan that incorporates ideas from many of the people in this room tonight – Democrats and Republicans. And I will continue to seek common ground in the weeks ahead. If you come to me with a serious set of proposals, I will be there to listen. My door is always open.

But know this: I will not waste time with those who have made the calculation that it’s better politics to kill this plan than improve it. I will not stand by while the special interests use the same old tactics to keep things exactly the way they are. If you misrepresent what’s in the plan, we will call you out. And I will not accept the status quo as a solution. Not this time. Not now.

Everyone in this room knows what will happen if we do nothing. Our deficit will grow. More families will go bankrupt. More businesses will close. More Americans will lose their coverage when they are sick and need it most. And more will die as a result. We know these things to be true.

That is why we cannot fail. Because there are too many Americans counting on us to succeed – the ones who suffer silently, and the ones who shared their stories with us at town hall meetings, in emails, and in letters.

B4B

WATCH: President Obama's
Message For America's Students

The President gives a speech directly to Americas students welcoming them back to school. He emphasizes their hope and potential but makes clear they will need to take responsibility for themselves.

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With Much Love To My Dear Sister

KAREN JONES
April 3, 1958-August 29, 2009

God Bless

Update Coming Soon.