Health Care // Current TV

Santorum: Romney and Obama both created ‘death panels’

By David Edwards
Monday, February 6, 2012 14:24 EST

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum on Monday asserted that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was “uniquely unqualified” for the GOP nomination because of the similarities between health care laws in Massachusetts and President Barack Obama’s health care reforms, including the repeatedly debunked claim that “death panels” would ration care to seniors.

Speaking at a ballroom across the street from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, Santorum pointed to a report (PDF) from the the non-partisan organization Families USA that found at least 15 major similarities between Obama’s Affordable Care Act and the reforms Romney enacted in Massachusetts.

“Both create government panels to dictate quality and cost containment,” Santorum explained. “Some of you may be familiar with the Independent Payment Advisory Board — which is a board separate from Congress, independent of Congress — that President Obama created to control health care costs. How? By cutting reimbursements to doctors and hospitals under the Medicare program. Well, Gov. Romney has a similar program called the Council on Health Quality and Costs.”

“Some people refer to these types of boards as death panels,” he added. “Why? Because they ultimately decide to ration care to those procedures and people because they don’t believe these procedures are effective in providing care, that the utilization isn’t worth the costs.”

“So, again, you have government making decisions and rationing and apportioning care based on research that shows what outcomes are dictated by the research that’s out there.”

In 2009, Politifact named “death panels,” a term thought to have been first used by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), as their “Lie of the Year.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/06/santorum-romney-and-obama-both-created-death-panels/

Watch this video from CNN, broadcast Feb. 6, 2012.

"Funny how he says "Some people refer to these types of boards as Death Panels" to the best of my recollection only His Party does!!!"By David Edwards Monday, February 6, 2012 14:24 EST Republican presidential... more

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Why is the USA slipping behind in Life Expectancy? Obesity? Health Care? Car Crashes?

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Ron Paul Town Hall Meeting In Meredith New Hampshire

January 08, 2012 C-SPAN

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Please feel free to use, copy (but not alter!) this 30-sec Anti-Romney Video I Just Created

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Romney: I didn’t know what Medicaid was ‘before I got into government’

By David Edwards
Friday, December 16, 2011

Millionaire Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney admitted Friday that he wasn’t sure what Medicaid was before being elected as governor of Massachusetts at the age of 55.

“Medicaid, you wonder what Medicaid is, those that are not into all this government stuff,” Romney told voters at a campaign event in Sioux City, Iowa. “You know, I have to admit I didn’t know all the differences between these things before I got into government.”

“Then I got into it, and I understood that Medicaid is the health care program for the poor,” he explained.

The candidate said that as president, he would work to turn Medicaid over to the states in a block-grant program.

“We’re not going to have the federal government tell you how to care for your own people,” Romney declared. “Let states craft their own program, and then grow that program at inflation plus 1 percent. If we do that, by the way, we save about a hundred billion dollars a year.”

Romney’s plan is similar to one offered by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI). Responding to Ryan’s plan for Medicaid earlier this year, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) concluded that “[t]o maintain current service levels in the Medicaid program, states would probably need to consider additional changes, such as reducing their spending on other programs or raising additional revenues.”

“Alternatively, states could reduce the size of their Medicaid programs by cutting payment rates for doctors, hospitals or nursing homes; reducing the scope of benefits covered; or limiting eligibility,” the CBO said.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/12/16/romney-i-didnt-know-what-medicaid-was-before-i-got-into-government/

Watch this video from CNN, broadcast Dec. 16, 2011.

"Hmmm, he just said that 'Money was taken by Congress and Spent!!!' Is he telling us what many have already guessed??? I think so, and maybe he thinks that telling the Truth is a better way of winning his parties candidacy??? I am thinking they are going to hand him his head!!! What do you folks think???"By David Edwards Friday, December 16, 2011 Millionaire Republican presidential... more

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80/20 rule hard pill for insurance companies to swallow

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A Little Straight Talk on National Defense

So by how much will the defense budget decline over the next decade? That could be seen as a trick question, because in nominal terms it will grow. Prior to the super committee's failure, the defense budget was slated to increase some 23% between 2012 and 2021. Now, according to Veronique de Rugy, the Pentagon will have to make do with a 16% boost...To pretend that this would make us virtually defenseless is to insult our collective intelligence. We can make that cut and still have the most powerful military on the planet by a factor of five or six. If that doesn't make you feel safe, nothing will.

How much is enough? During WWII we beat the Germans not by building the best tanks, just building more cheaper tanks. We do not need the largest navy in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S. Navy also has the world's largest carrier fleet, with 11 in service, one under construction (two planned), and one in reserve. The service had 328,516 personnel on active duty and 101,689 in the Navy Reserve in January 2011. It operates 286 ships in active service and more than 3,700 aircraft. The U.S. Army currently consists of 10 active divisions as well as several independent units. The force is in the process of growth, with four additional brigades scheduled to activate by 2013. Within the Army National Guard and United States Army Reserve there are a further eight divisions, over fifteen maneuver brigades, additional combat support and combat service support brigades, and independent cavalry, infantry, artillery, aviation, engineer, and support battalions. The Army Reserve in particular provide virtually all psychological operations and civil affairs units. As of 2009 the USAF operates 5,573 manned aircraft in service (3,990 USAF; 1,213 Air National Guard; and 370 Air Force Reserve); approximately 180 unmanned combat air vehicles, 2,130 air-launched cruise missiles, and 450 intercontinental ballistic missiles. The USAF has 330,159 personnel on active duty, 68,872 in the Selected and Individual Ready Reserves, and 94,753 in the Air National Guard as of September 2008. In addition, the USAF employs 151,360 civilian personnel, and has over 60,000 auxiliary members in the Civil Air Patrol, making it the largest air force in the world.

Is this all necessary? As a Vet., I say no. We could make do with a lot less, and apply that saving to necessary things like rebuilding roads and bridges, rebuilding crumbling sewage, water treatment, and water delivery systems, improved education system were kids are taught real science and math, health care reforms which would have its own savings by making Medicare/Medicaid negotiate pricing, creating high speed rail with our own products rather than other countries products, and finally building a green electrical grid. We could still have money left over if this is used judiciously.So by how much will the defense budget decline over the next decade? That could be... more

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Bill Maher Uses A Christmas Carol To Slam The Republican's Holiday Hypocrisy

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