Sen. Judd Gregg- There is Time for Change

Senator Judd Gregg shares his thoughts on health care reform in the pages of the Union Leader.

According to Census data, more than 170 million Americans get their insurance through their employer, and most folks want to keep what they already have and not risk losing it by moving to a government-run system. We should build off the success of the private market, employer-based system to provide insurance options to all. However, the Democratic proposals could cause employees to lose their insurance, or worse, their jobs. Under the new pay-or-play mandate in the Kennedy-Dodd proposal, many companies will find it cheaper to pay an annual fine of $750 per employee than to offer health insurance to their workers. The result? Fewer employers will offer health insurance, disrupting the health insurance coverage many families currently have.

Canadian Health Officials: Our Universal Health Care Is 'Sick,' Private Insurance Should Be Welcomed

Supporters of the Health Care Reform in Congress point to Canada as an example of what America should do. Interestingly, opponents of the plan point to Canada too. Only they do it as an example of why the proposed 'reform' won't work. Meanwhile, in a country just north of us, the Canadian Medical Association is calling for more private health insurance because the public plan that covers everyone is imploding.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Fox News

Dr. Anne Doig, the incoming president of the Canadian Medical Association, said her country’s health care system is “sick” and “imploding,” the Canadian Press reported.

“We know there must be change,” Doig said in a recent interview. “We’re all running flat out, we’re all just trying to stay ahead of the immediate day-to-day demands.”

Canada’s universal health care system is not giving patients optimal care, Doig added. When her colleagues from across the country gather at the CMA conference in Saskatoon Sunday, they will discuss changes that need to be made, she said.

“We all agree the system is imploding, we all agree that things are more precarious than perhaps Canadians realize,” she said.

Current president of the CMA, Dr. Robert Ouellet, will make a presentation at the conference about his findings when he toured Europe in January, and met with health groups in several countries.

Ouellet has said that “competition should be welcomed, not feared,” meaning private health insurance should have a role in the public health system. (more)

NH Outlook: Health Care Insurance Reform

Charlie Arlinghaus, President of the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, will be a guest on NHPTV's New Hampshire Outlook airing Sunday, 8/16 at 9:30 am and again on Monday, 8/17 at 6:00 pm.

Health Care Insurance Reform

On August 11th, President Barack Obama visited Portsmouth to sell his health care insurance reform plan. NH Outlook and other ticket-holding Granite Staters attended this town hall-style meeting at the Portsmouth High School.

Obama's plan to overhaul health care was met with opposition, enthusiasm, and many questions. Joining NH Outlook to provide analysis of the proposed reforms are Dr. Jim Squires, head of the NH Endowment for Health; Dr. Jim Weinstein, director of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy; and Charlie Arlinghaus, president of the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy.

Beginning of end for treatment facilities

Lost in much of the debate over Health Care Reform is one simple truth - what the government giveth the government can taketh away. The free market approach to health care lets patients decide what treatments they want and from whom they will purchase them. However, as the Portsmouth Herald observes, when treatment facilities are dependent on the government for funding they are at the mercy of "... a shift in the state's approach to supplying the services."

August 14, 2009 6:00 AM

It was sad to learn this week that OdysseyNH, formerly Odyssey House, a residential substance abuse treatment facility for adolescents in Hampton, is closing its doors for good.

To our minds, there is a desperate shortage of residential facilities for the treatment of alcohol and drug abuse in this state, and a particular need for facilities that focus on young people caught in the cycle of parental neglect and/or substance abuse. (more)

The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare

Perhaps only in the Wall Street Journal would the founder of a natural food store quote Margaret Thatcher while opposing the proposed Health Care Reform.

Eight things we can do to improve health care without adding to the deficit.

By JOHN MACKEY

"The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money."

—Margaret Thatcher

With a projected $1.8 trillion deficit for 2009, several trillions more in deficits projected over the next decade, and with both Medicare and Social Security entitlement spending about to ratchet up several notches over the next 15 years as Baby Boomers become eligible for both, we are rapidly running out of other people's money. These deficits are simply not sustainable. They are either going to result in unprecedented new taxes and inflation, or they will bankrupt us.

While we clearly need health-care reform, the last thing our country needs is a massive new health-care entitlement that will create hundreds of billions of dollars of new unfunded deficits and move us much closer to a government takeover of our health-care system. Instead, we should be trying to achieve reforms by moving in the opposite direction—toward less government control and more individual empowerment. Here are eight reforms that would greatly lower the cost of health care for everyone: (more)

Part III: Where will the money come from?

Here's the third and final part of Foster's series on Health Care Reform.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

(Editor's note: The following is the last in a series of editorials that began Tuesday relating to President Obama's heath care reform effort.)

According to the politically neutral Congressional Budget office the current U.S. House version of health care reform will cost more than $1 trillion.

Supporters argue revenue/savings provision in the bill will substantially pay this tab. On the surface at least, they appear to be right.

An analysis by The Washington Post starts with a cost of $1.04 trillion. Subtract savings the bill calls for and that number reduces to about $8 billion. Subtract new taxes and other revenues levied by the bill and the total nets out at a $289 billion addition to the federal deficit.

But … and there are a lot of buts. (more)

Part II: Health care bill starts but doesn't end

Foster Daily Democrat continues its examination of Health Care Reform.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

(Editor's note: The following is one in a series of editorials relating to President Obama's heath care reform effort. The series began Tuesday.)

The health care proposal languishing in the U.S. House of Representatives is incomplete or at least schizophrenic

At moments it is clear and concise. At other times it is ambiguous and confusing.

An example of precision is found in the portion which details what has been termed “end-of-life” counseling. (more)

Part I: Health care and the president

Foster's Daily Democrat points out a major reason why a majority of Americans do not support the Health Care 'Reform' coming out of Congress - what's in the legislation does not match the stated goals.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Editor’s note: The following is the first in a series of editorials relating to President Obama’s heath care reform effort.)

Linda Douglas, communications director the White House office of Health Reform, is asking the public for help in sorting fact from fiction in the ongoing health care reform debate.

With that in mind and President Obama slated to arrive in the Seacoast today, the goal here is to offer some constructive criticism.

First, there should be no debate that elements of the United State’s health care system and the costs associated with it need attention.

That said, current legislation working its way through the House and Senate offer a convoluted shotgun approach rather than a much-need surgical strike.
President Obama has laid out the tenants of what a reform package should accomplish. Agree or disagree with the specifics, he has stated his goals clearly and concisely.

However, just the opposite is true of health care legislation drafted in Congress.

After reading the much-debated and maligned House bill (yes, we read it), it is clear why Americans are upset and showing their displeasure at town hall meetings across the country.

Unlike the president’s call for transparency in government, this legislation is anything but. (more)

Clunkers program could drive used car prices up

Call it basic economics - the law of supply and demand. Or call it politics 101 - the law of unintended, but glaringly obvious, consequences. Either way, the implementation problems and adverse effects of the relatively small Cash for Clunkers program might raise some doubts about the wisdom of having Congress involved in something a complex as Health Care Reform.

By Chris Woodyard, USA TODAY

Hundreds of thousands of "clunkers" headed for scrappers may cause already rising prices for used cars to head even higher, dealers and market analysts warn.

The popular cash-for-clunkers program, extended by Congress last week with $2 billion more in federal incentives, requires that all the old fuel guzzlers traded in are scrapped — not resold. That means up to 750,000 vehicles will never find their way into the hands of another owner. Many are at the end of their useful lives, but others, with years of life left in them, normally would be resold.

"Those are the cars that lower-income families need," says Geoff Smartt, owner of Smartt Cars in Caldwell, Idaho. (more)

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