“A troubled and afflicted mankind looks to us, pleading for us to keep our rendezvous with destiny; that we will uphold the principles of self-reliance, self-discipline, morality, and, above all, responsible liberty for every individual that we will become that shining city on a hill.”
“The future doesn’t belong to the faint of heart. It belongs to the brave.”
IN THIS ISSUE
The New MI Democrat Party, the Reinvention of the MIGOP
Medicaid Expansion Battle Part 2 How You Can Help!
Just one day after the GOP controlled House voted to pass a massive expansion of government on the backs of Michigan taxpayers, the ObamaCare Medicaid Expansion (HB 4714 passed bill version) House majority leader Rep. Jase Bolger announced on the “Off the Record” show (Fridays at 8:30pm Sundays at 1:00pm and 11:30pm) as reported in Detroit News article formerly that he is “very open” to amending Michigan’s Elliot-Larson Civil Rights Act to include “sexual orientation” including homosexuals, lesbian, transgendered (and “whatever”)
Apparently the “statergery” is to become the new Democrat Party basing your platform on pandering “situational principals” formerly/http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/karl-rove-gay-marriage-181516726–election.html in order to close something coined “Modernity” gap. An idea that after losing TWICE to Barack Obama the GOP, has attempted to employ. Never mind that moderates McCain and Romney were a terrible candidates that most of us grassroots knew could not win, but what do us little people know? The big wigs in the Party have all those oh so smart and highly paid consultants guiding them.
However, when reading the entire results of the Gallup poll cited in the article…“Pure” conservatives — individuals who say they are conservative in both policy spheres (economic and social issues) — make up a substantial portion of self-identified or leaning Republicans, 63%. Pure liberals, by far less common than their ideological polar opposites, are a less sizable contingent of the Democratic Party, constituting 28% of its overall base.”
In other words, 63% of the Party, the base, the donors and worker bees are STILL conservative on social issues. Rasmussen has a similar poll that reaches a different conclusion in the area of fiscal issues. “44% of Likely U.S. Voters identify themselves as conservative on fiscal issues such as taxes, government spending and business regulation.”
And in other poll, published June 2nd of this year..“Voters continue to trust Republicans more than Democrats when it comes to handling the economy, the issue they consider most important to their vote. But for the first time since Election Day, the GOP has regained the trust advantage on the majority of major issues regularly tracked by Rasmussen Reports.”
In the race to replace principals and give voters a clear choice, the GOP is ignoring the opportunity to inform the public that special rights for homosexuals, homosexual marriage being the ultimate goal will COST THEM.
This month the SCOTUS will rule on two cases dealing with same-sex marriage. One involves the Defense of Marriage Act,(DOMA) the Clinton-era law that prohibits the federal government from recognizing gay marriage. Section 3 of the law denies federal benefits to same-sex couples, including health insurance for government employees, Social Security benefits, and the ability to file joint tax returns. (which results in less money to pay for these Federal benefits.) Its the money.
And lets not kid ourselves, marriage is really the tip of the iceberg on the homosexual agenda.
The GOP has an opportunity to argue the cost of homosexual marriage along side another taxpayer pocket book breaker in 2014, ObamaCare, focusing on the fiscal side as “Democrats are worried about 2014 — a president’s party typically loses seats in midterm years — and some have gone public with concerns about the pace of carrying out the law.” And speaking of polls, most show that a majority of Americans do no like the law, and are unaware of the effect of the implementation. 2014 will be a wake up call for most Americans as next year is the deadline for introducing Exchanges.
A good example to site is California where insurance premiums have sky rocketed.
Rate Shock: In California, Obamacare To Increase Individual Health Insurance Premiums By 64-146%
In Michigan however the situation is different because the MIGOP IS the majority. Do you see the minority Democrats suddenly voting for and advancing less government and lower taxes issues and bills?
So why should Rep. Bolger help to enable (once again) a Liberal agenda?
Michigan already has a law that defines marriage as one man and one woman but the old MI Democrat Party has introduced a joint resolution (Senate Joint Resolution W) to amend that law. Can we assume then that those members of the “New MI Democrat Party” lead by Rep Jase Bolger will support it now?
Alienating its base and workers by morphing into the (minority) Democrat Party is a smart move?
So when Michiganders go to the polls the choice in far too many state races will look like:
Candidate A with a D by the name: Supports/voted for ObamaCare Exchange, ObamaCare Medicaid Expansion, homosexual marriage
Candidate B with a R by the name: Supports/voted for ObamaCare Exchange, ObamaCare Medicaid Expansion, homosexual marriage
Seriously.
I would encourage you to contact Speaker Bolger and let him know exactly how you feel about the current campaign to become the new MI Democrat Party
Phone: (517) 373-1787
Toll Free: 877-BOLGER-1
E-mail JaseBolger@house.mi.gov
Medicaid Expansion Battle Part 2 How You Can Help!
“The federal government did not create the states; the states created the federal government.”
Some analysis is in order before we get to the “how you can help to defeat a Medicaid Expansion in Michigan with a talking point list for our Senators as the battle now moves to the Senate…
Our friends at formerly did a great job explaining that,:
This bill passed (Who voted Yes and No) with 48 Democrats and 28 Republicans for it. There were 1 Democrat and 30 Republicans against it. There was 1 Democrat and 1 Republican not casting a vote.
This bill did not have a majority of Republicans voting for it. An examination of just Republican votes shows that 28 Republicans voted yes and 30 Republicans voted no. It is traditionally the case that the majority party will not allow a bill to be voted upon unless there is a majority of the majority caucus in favor of the bill. That this bill lacked a “majority of the majority” is a clear indicator that the Republican establishment stuck it to its own constituents. Without a “majority of the majority,” Speaker of the House Jase Bolger (R) should have not allowed a vote on this bill.
But he did. Why? Because the governor wants it.
Now we must fight it in the Senate
Retakeourgov.org has also created several spreadsheets that present a very organized plan to battling the bill in the Senate.
1. Contains the contact information for all 26 Senate Republicans. Included is a column showing the likely voting position for each Senator. You’ll be able to find out if your Senator is projected to vote yes, no, or is currently uncommitted.
And
2. Contains a list of citizens who voted in the February 2012 Presidential Primary and requested a Republican ballot. In other words, these are reliable Republican Primary voters. We screened this voters even further according to the following criteria:
- Lived close to one of these 7 State Senators: Caswell, Jones, Hildenbrand, Meekhof, Emmons, Walker, Casperson. These 7 Senators were identified as “uncommitted” in both of our whip counts.
- We selected 200 voters who lived the closest to the homes of each of these Senators. In other words, these citizens are friends and neighbors of these Senators.
While we have the names and addresses of these voters, we do not yet have their phone numbers. If you could help us get the phone numbers then we will pay to conduct a robocall to these Republican Primary voters on Monday morning. Phone numbers would have to be forwarded to us by no later than 6:00 pm tomorrow (Sunday, June 16). (Normally we could pay a telecom service to automatically look up these 1400 phone numbers. However, my telecom contact said he couldn’t get the phone numbers back to me till Tuesday morning – this is too late given that the vote will likely happen on Tuesday.)
PLEASE GO TO RetakeOurGov.org formerly http://retakeourgov.com/index.php/news/363-stop-hb-4714-medicaid-expansion-in-the-senate for more information.
“This makes sense for the physical and fiscal health of Michigan…Expansion will create more access to primary care providers, reduce the burden on hospitals and small businesses, and save precious tax dollars.” Gov. Rick Snyder, Feb. 06, 2013
Lastly, I want to provide some talking points for you to consider when calling the Senators.
- NO Explicit Rights in the U.S. Constitution
The United States Constitution does not explicitly address a right to health care. The words “health” or “medical care” do not appear anywhere in the text of the Constitution.
The provisions in the Constitution indicate that the framers were concerned with guaranteeing freedom from government, rather than with providing for specific rights to governmental services
- Since Medicaid is a Federal program states have little to no leeway to make reforms. The current bill HB 4714 is basically a list of suggests because the bill requires a Federal waiver to implement changes to the program.
- The ObamaCare Medicaid Expansion is one the largest expansion of government with huge price tag for Michigan citizens. Currently, Medicaid is 25% of Michigan’s total budget and 80% of DCH. In the short term Michigan would see extra Federal dollars but its short term.
In “An Analysis of the Proposed Medicaid Expansion in Michigan” formerly http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=23278 by the National Center for Policy Anysis (NCPA) Among their findings, “
- Assuming that about 70 percent — around 124,000 — of these newly eligible sign up for Medicaid, the additional cost during the following decade would be $475 million to state taxpayers and nearly $7 billion to federal taxpayers.
A Medicaid expansion would likely shift many insurance costs being borne by the private sector to state taxpayers.
- The penalty for non-compliance to a loss of federal funding associated with the expansion only, rather than all of the state’s Medicaid funding. State Medicaid Expansion Tracker formerly/http://www.nasuad.org/newsroom/archive/2013/state_medicaid_expansion_tracker.html Nor will another state receive the funds for a state that declines the Expansion
- Each state that declines to expand Medicaid relieves strain on the overall federal budget. which is Michigan taxpayer money also.
- “Opposition to Medicaid expansion is getting a boost from an unlikely source—President Barack Obama. The Democratic president released his proposed federal budget Wednesday. It includes a one-year delay in reduction of “disproportionate share” Medicaid payments — money hospitals receive for treating large numbers of uninsured patients. Bryant: Obama Budget Undercuts Medicaid Expansion
A new NEJM study suggests Medicaid might not improve health care outcomes, raising a flurry of questions for researchers and new doubts about the ACA’s planned Medicaid expansion.
According to the latest update from the much-watched Oregon Health Study—which involves researchers from Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the National Bureau of Economic Research—obtaining health insurance appeared to lower catastrophic medical expenses and reduce mental health problems for previously uninsured patients.(obtained data from 6387 adults who were randomly selected to be able to apply for Medicaid coverage and 5842 adults who were not selected.)
- More doctors say they will not accept Medicaid patients. If a doctor is paid $100 to see a patient with private insurance, $70 to see a Medicare patient, and $56 to see a Medicaid patient, which kind of patient is he most likely to want to see? “In-Depth: Medicaid expansion may aggravate M.D. shortage” ( To entice doctors to participate, the federal health law this year temporarily increased pay for those providing primary care services to the same level as Medicare rates — an average 70% pay raise. The pay raise only lasts through 2014, which has limited its effectiveness)
- The Medicaid program is means-tested program which enables welfare dependency because you have to be poor to obtain and retain it, which leads to poorer health habits and outcomes. There is virtually no incentive to work and all incentive not to work. Those who ignore this problem will never be able to empirically assess the underperformance of Medicaid.
- “Why States Should Not Expand Medicaid” an Informative study the Galen Institute, a health and tax policy research organization with a TOP TEN REASON LIST
- Finally, Michigan should not be expanding Medicaid but instead be seeking innovation solutions to health care based on free market and voluntary solutions as Michigan works towards the goal of removing herself from voluntary Federal Medicaid.
Dental clinic offers affordable relief for Medicaid users, uninsured
Inland Dental Expanded Access Clinic, in Sokane, WA a clinic for uninsured or underinsured patients staffed by volunteer dentists.
The IDEA Clinic is a project of the Spokane District Dental Society Foundation, and it offers comprehensive dental care on a sliding fee scale. It also offers access to dental specialists like oral surgeons.
“That’s a biggie. For people on Medicaid, it’s very difficult to get access to specialists,” Wesley said. “Typically, they go to the ER if they have a dental emergency. The ER offers them painkillers and antibiotics and sends them home. That is it.”
Wesley said many Medicaid patients can’t afford to fill two prescriptions so they choose the painkiller because it will let them function. That leaves the infection untreated, potentially causing a more dangerous health problem.
“As taxpayers we are on the hook for the $1,400 the ER visit costs and the patient often returns to the ER several times, because they have nowhere else to go,” Wesley said. “If the patient came in here treatment would cost, maybe, $300 instead.”
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