Category healthcare

Apr 15 2015

“Doc Fix” Heading to the President

 

 

Last night, the United States Senate passed the legislation to amend the “doc fix.”

This bipartisan, bicameral legislation is now heading to the White House and is expected to be signed by the President.

 

From: Poliquin, Press

Sent: Thursday, March 26, 2015 12:43 PM
To: Poliquin, Press
Subject: Preserving and Protecting Medicare

 

 

Preserving and Protecting Medicare

 

WASHINGTON – Today, the House of Representatives passed legislation, with strong bipartisan support, to help strengthen Medicare. This legislation will stop a 21% cut to reimbursement rates for doctors who see Medicare patients that would have occurred on March 31. These cuts would have negatively impacted Mainers who rely on these Medicare services. Congressman Bruce Poliquin released the following statement:

 

“For the last decade, Washington has kicked this can down the road and left Maine seniors who rely on Medicare services uncertain of whether or not they will receive care each year. That’s an irresponsible way to govern and it’s unfairly burdening our Second District seniors and medical practitioners.

 

“It’s imperative for Congress to protect and preserve Medicare and make it more accessible for our seniors. The Medicare Access and Chip Reauthorization Act provides the first-step in preserving and protecting Medicare for our seniors. This bill will repeal the flawed Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula and provide better access to health care for our seniors while helping our taxpayers save money.

 

“While this bill is not perfect, it’s an important pathway to allow seniors to continue to see their trusted doctors by making Medicare more accessible and strengthen Medicare for future generations.”
Apr 3 2015

Governor LePage Introduces Welfare Reform

The LePage Administration has sent out a media advisory announcing that the Governor, along with Commissioner Mayhew, Senate President Thibodeau, and House Republican Leader Fredette, will hold a news conference Monday April 6th at 1 pm where they will announce the Governor’s plan to reform welfare.  The highlights of the plan will include preventing the use of TANF benefits for alcohol, tobacco, lottery tickets, and bail.  The reforms will also prevent TANF recipiants from using their EBT cards out of State, require “job-ready” TANF applicants to look for three jobs before receiving benefits, and strengthen penalties for abuse of the system.  All said, it would seem that they have another red flag to wave in front of the liberal bull.  And bull we shall hear forthcoming from the liberals in a steady stream after the Governor makes his announcement.

Mar 28 2015

Clumsy, Emily, Clumsy

In another clumsy move from Emily Ican’tfunctionintherealworldsoI’lljustrunforCongressagain Cain, the erstwhile Democrat immediately falsely accused the Republican balanced budget proposal, passed by the House, of hurting seniors. What a novel scare tactic?  We haven’t heard that before, have we? Yes, that’s sarcasm.  Ironically, the professional student turned professional politician has made no effort to retract her claim even in light of the bi-partisan bill to protect Medicare for seniors, supported by Bruce Poliquin, that has passed the house. Its still more than ironic that no Democrats have even made mention of the ongoing investigation into Operation Choke Point, which was used by the FDIC to target businesses.  Bruce Poliquin has been very vocal in his disapproval of these unconstitutional acts, but the perpetually campaigning Emily Cain seems to have developed an aversion for facts and protecting Maine businesses from government overreach.

There is no word yet from Cain’s running mate, Blaine Richardson, on his opinion on her opinion or if he has an opinion other than “I just hate everything Bruce Poliquin does”.

Mar 20 2015

One Health To Rule Them All

 

In the last post, I likened the Independent Payment Advisory Board to the Ringwraiths in Tolkien’s epic fantasy trilogy. The reader may find this humorous but consider a secret order of rule makers given autonomy by one individual, the President, with the sole purpose of implementing his agenda shielded from any question or interference and the analogy takes on a more serious nature. The fact that IPAB wields so much power with no oversight, checks or balances should strike dread into the very core of every American.

As one delves deeper into the language of the ACA, the sinister design of IPAB begins to emerge from the shadows like the black wraiths on Weathertop surrounding the poor hobbits. The writers of the ACA were not just content to make IPAB a law unto itself. They crafted the language in such a way as to allow for this regulatory board, with all its autonomy and unrestrained power, to have the potential to move from a 15-member panel to one unelected controller and finally even transferring its power over to the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

As stated in our last post, the ACA calls for 15 healthcare and financial professionals to sit on the Independent Payment Advisory Board. The President appoints them. This is where the details of the membership start to take some strange twists.

The term for a board member is two years. At the end of the term, the President may or may not choose to reappoint the member. The President is not required to fill the vacancy.

All that is required for IPAB to pass a ruling is a simple majority of the sitting members. One should pay close attention to the phrase “sitting members”. ACA does not require IPAB to maintain 15 members in order to function; in fact, the language in the ACA allows for IPAB to operate with only one member on the panel. The ACA even goes so far as to say that in the event that there are no members of IPAB capable of performing their duties the power of the panel is transferred to the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Now couple this with what we learned in our earlier post that if IPAB is not repealed before 2017 it could never be repealed. Not only can it not be repealed but also the edicts and rulings IPAB decrees cannot be altered or challenged from any branch of the government or the people of the citizenry. Marry that with the troubling potential that this inordinate amount of power has the potential to be vested in one unelected individual. IPAB has the power, if not repealed, to rewrite the Constitution through statute, warns the Cato Institute.

But you might argue that these are simply precautionary measures.   Really? When has the government shied away from declaring an emergency or special situation? The markers have been laid and the roadway paved to a destruction of what the framers of the Affordable Care Act called “too much democracy”.

One always knew when reading Tolkien’s classic that the powers the Black Riders wielded was given to them for as long as they served the purpose of their master, which was always to bring all under his control. One has to wonder if the goal of the writers of the ACA was from the beginning to centralize all power under one authority with no avenue of challenge. Have we really gotten to this? “One health to rule them all, One health to find them. One health to bring them all and with our care we bind them.”