Obamacare, in its original form, included so-called end-of-life counseling. That is, doctors would get paid for discussing how to limit or even eliminate the possibility of applying aggressive forms of medical treatment if case the elderly patient becomes incapacitated. These discussions could be held once every five years.

Controversy ensued and the “death panels” were removed from the legislation.

Now Obama has reintroduced the policy, subsidizing annual discussions that will encourage hundreds of thousands of elderly citizens to remove the ability for families to make decisions about care of their loved ones:

While the new law does not mention advance care planning, the Obama administration has been able to achieve its policy goal through the regulation-writing process, a strategy that could become more prevalent in the next two years as the president deals with a strengthened Republican opposition in Congress.

Once again, Obama is setting aside the will of the people in order to advance his own agenda. When will it stop?

Politics Daily gathered up the latest polls (Rasmussen Reports, whenever possible) and listed them by state. I reviewed the list and put together the chart below. Note that Alaska, Mississippi and Montana are missing — all “red states” in the 2008 election so the trends noted below in the blue states can be logically extrapolated to be similar in nature.

There are some interesting trends to be noted:

1. Of the 28 blue states from 2008, only 14 (half!) have a positive approval rating for Obama’s performance as president.
2. No 2008 red states have a positive approval rating for Obama, although he did appear to gain some ground in Alabama.
3. In the Democrat stronghold of Rhode Island (Obama by 28 points in 2008), Obama’s performance approve/disapprove ratio is deadlocked at 50/50.
4. Of the 34 states polled, only two favor keeping Obamacare — Vermont and Hawaii. The rest, including 17 “blue” states, disapprove of it or want to repeal it.
5. Of the 26 states polled, only one is opposed to Arizona-like immigration laws.
6. The only state in opposed to Arizona-like immigration laws is Hawaii, which does not exactly have illegal aliens and terrorists streaming across the state line.

The chart below has the following columns:

1. Name of the state
2. Percentage of votes for Obama and McCain respectively in 2008.
3. Percentage that disapprove and approve of Obama’s performance.
4. Percentage that favor and oppose Arizona-like immigration laws for their state.
5. Percentage that favor repealing Health Care “Reform” vs. those that oppose repeal. Note, in some cases the question was worded differently to ask if the person just opposed or supported Obamacare. This was rare and I took it to mean the same.

Technorati Tags: Political Polls, Obamacare and Other Unpopular Big Government Initiatives, Illegal Immigration, Arizona Immigration Laws and Other Popular Initiatives, Barack Hussein Obama the Dangerous Choice

Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas and Representative Kevin Brady of Texas joined forces to lead the creation of a detailed chart that graphically lays out the “bewildering array of new government agencies, regulations and mandates” that make up Obamacare. Unfortunately, only about one-third of the actual complexity of the bill would fit on the chart – yet that is frightening enough. [Click on picture for full sized PDF]

Writing for Bloomberg, Kevin Hassett observes that the resulting chart is “a terrifying road map that shows Democrats have launched America on the most reckless policy experiment in its history, the economic equivalent of the Bay of Pigs invasion.”

The new law creates 68 grant programs, 47 bureaucratic entities, 29 demonstration or pilot programs, six regulatory systems, six compliance standards and two entitlements. …

Based on the administration’s own numbers, as many as 117 million people might have to change their health plans by 2013 as their employer-provided coverage loses its grandfathered status and becomes subject to the new Obamacare mandates.

Those mandates also might make your health care more expensive. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that premiums for a small number of families who buy their insurance privately will rise by as much as $2,100.

The central Obamacare mechanism for increasing insurance coverage is an expansion of the Medicaid program. Of the 30 million new people covered, 16 million will be enrolled in Medicaid. And you could end up in the program whether you want it or not. The bill states that people who apply for coverage through the new exchanges or who apply for premium-subsidy credits will automatically be enrolled in Medicaid if they qualify.

There’s more. Read it all to understand the true impact – or at least as much of the impact that we understand at the moment. Never underestimate the effect of the Law of Unintended Consequences.

Technorati Tags: Socialized Medicine, Obamacare, Declining Freedom in America, Barack Hussein Obama the Dangerous Choice

The Federal Budget in Pictures. A great set of charts (some interactive) that presents information clearly and concisely, like this one:

Someone send this link to Obama. Or can he understand statistics?

Put another way, according to this chart and the 2010 budget for our federal agencies, we spend as much on interest payments on our deficit as we spend on the departments of Interior, Labor, Commerce, Agriculture, Energy, Justice, Education, Housing and Urban Development, State, Veterans Affairs, plus NASA and Homeland Security combined.

Now that’s food for thought. If you can keep it down.

Technorati Tags: Economy Busting Deficit, Paying the Deficit, Cost of Big Government, Cost of Socialism, Rise of Socialism in America, Destruction of the American Dream, Destruction of the American Economy, Socialized Medicine, Unemployment, Rise of the Welfare State, Obamacare and Other Atrocities, Rising Unemployment in America, Declining Jobs in America, Bankrupting America, Epic Fail of Stimulus, Death of Hope in America, No Change for America, Barack Hussein Obama the Dangerous Choice

The size and cost of government exploded under Bush and we haven’t even begun to see the real cost of the Obama administration, which makes the following numbers even more shocking (emphasis added):

A new Fox News report shows that even after adjusting for differences in the cost of living and the number of citizens in each country, total U.S. government spending per capita in 2009 exceeded that of all but eight nations in the world. More than 95 percent of countries have smaller relative governments than we do. In total, U.S. government spending came to $17,400 per capita, or about $70,000 for a family of four. The per capita cost of our government is much more than the per capita income of most of the world.

Some hard numbers:

Even though most people think that the U.S. spends a disproportionate amount on national defense, the Washington Times notes that removing defense spending has almost no effect on the comparisons, as non-defense U.S. government per capita expenditures is greater than that of 93 percent of other countries.

Once Obamacare hits, followed by increased benefits for illegal aliens (medical, Social Security, and so on), followed by “value-added” taxes, followed by Global Warming Climate Change legislation, followed by the host of regulations and limitations that Obama and friends have waiting in the wings, followed by who-knows-what . . . well, let’s just say the GDP growth may never recover to the levels it once enjoyed.

One last observation from the Washington Times:

We can’t afford to throw away $70,000 on government for a family of four. If that fortune weren’t funding the bureaucratic leviathan, it would be invested, saved or spent on consumer products people want. It could be used for productive purposes to get the economy moving again. Instead, the money goes down a rathole, dragging America’s competitive edge with it.

Exactly.

Where is spending headed? It’s really anyone’s guess but you can have fun playing with the numbers over at US Government Spending.com and create pretty charts like this one. Pretty depressing, that is.

Technorati Tags: Rise of Socialism in America, Destruction of the American Dream, Destruction of the American Economy, Socialized Medicine, Cost of Socialism, Unemployment, Rise of the Welfare State, Obamacare and Other Atrocities, Barack Hussein Obama the Dangerous Choice

David Freddoso from the Washington Examiner lists just 5 of the things we’ve learned about Obamacare since it passed:

One: … Obamacare as passed by Congress does not require insurers to cover children with expensive pre-existing medical conditions. …

Two: … Obamacare changes Medicaid law so that now states must also guarantee treatment to the poor. …

Three: … Thanks to the “Cornhusker Kickback” — the special Nebraska provision that was extended to every state in the final version of the bill — the federal taxpayer is on the hook for 90 percent of the new patients’ expenses. …

Four: … the IRS will collect penalties from those who fail to purchase “qualified” insurance by confiscating the interest-free loans that taxpayers make to the government throughout the year through employment withholding.

Five: … Ski resorts must now provide health care or else pay a fine for each employee who works more than 120 days out of the year — and many of their employees do.

There were a whole lot of words on a whole lot of pieces of paper and not much time to review it. So as we proceed towards November (and the subsequent possibility of total repeal), many more business killing, budget busting issues will come out.

Technorati Tags: Obamacare, Socialized Medicine, Bankrupting America, Barack Hussein Obama the Dangerous Choice

Straight from the Social Democrat’s mouth:

It couldn’t be clearer.
Technorati Tags: Obamacare, Socialized Medicine, Declining Freedom in American, Congress’ Unconstitutional Actions, Barack Hussein Obama the Dangerous Choice

You read the headline right: the left-wing mouthpiece USA Today and left-as-possible Gallup released a new poll:

Nearly two-thirds of Americans say the health care overhaul signed into law last week costs too much and expands the government’s role in health care too far, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, underscoring an uphill selling job ahead for President Obama and congressional Democrats.

No. It underscores the fact that Social Democrats shoved unpopular legislation down the throats of an unwilling public in the hopes that all will be forgiven by November.

Those surveyed are inclined to fear that the massive legislation will increase their costs and hurt the quality of health care their families receive, although they are more positive about its impact on the nation’s health care system overall.

Ruling through fear. Let’s see how that works out.

Gallup numbers are available here.

Technorati Tags: True Cost of Obamacare, Health Care Reform, Socialized Medicine in America, Bankrupting America, Barack Hussein Obama the Dangerous Choice

An association representing 300 large corporations urged President Obama and Congress on Monday to repeal a provision of the health care overhaul that prompted AT&T, Caterpillar and other companies to announce substantial charges for the current quarter.

The association, the American Benefits Council, said the provision — which reduces the tax deductions for companies with drug coverage for their retired employees — would deal a significant blow to corporate profits and would discourage companies from hiring more workers.

Read it all, from the NY Times.

Technorati Tags: Obamacare, Health Care Reform, Socialized Medicine in America, Bankrupting America, Barack Hussein Obama the Dangerous Choice

Technorati Tags: Obamacare, Health Care Reform, Socialized Medicine in America, Bankrupting America, Barack Hussein Obama the Dangerous Choice