Barack Obama's Health Care Reform...OR IS IT?

Editor's Note:  Many of you may have noticed my absence  in recent days and I felt I owed you an explanation.  

As you know, our 666 sites are all published by volunteers - which like with many organizations - we never have enough of.  I readily admit that I spend most of my time on our GoldmanSachs666 site and do my best to keep this one up.  While I don't place more importance on our GS666 site then I do on this one, the GS site does get more readership.  With our new design and layout, it is now easier for anyone to go to any of our sites and move back and forth between them.  Our hope - in this new design - is that you, our loyal reader, will view all of our sites, contribute, comment or pass them on to others.  If you would like to volunteer please contact me at info@gold666.org

Now for the reason of my absence.  

On Tuesday, March 23rd, I had a heart attack.  The good news was that I was in the ER complaining of chest pains and was awaiting admittance to the hospital for "observation".  While waiting in the ER on a gurney, I had "the big one".  As one of the doctors told me I was fortunate to have been in ER as the reaction time in dealing with me was almost immediate - and it was.  I cannot thank the staff of Morton Plant Hospital's ER enough for what they did and how they responded.  They truly saved my life.

They stabilized me and quickly got me sent up to the Heart Cath Lab where another surgeon put a stent into the artery causing the immediate problem.  This was around midnight.

The "good" bad news is that I am still not out of the woods even though I was released Thursday and in general feel pretty good.  During the Cath procedure they found that three other arteries are damaged and baddly clogged and cannot be treated with stents.  I will have to undergo open heart bypass surgery to replace those arteries but must wait a month until that can be done.

In the meantime, I am back home  with some physical limitations - but they did not limit the use of my fingers or mind - so I can continue my work here at our 666 sites.

Now what is really relevant to all of this is my position within the health care situation that exists and how this new "reform" - or lack o f - is affecting me and how it will affect me as well as millions of other Americans.

Just before my heart attack, I began what was to become a series of posts identifying what is really inside the 2000 plus page "Health Care Reform Bill".  Today I ran across this video which in a little over 10 minutes begins to take actual pages and lines from the bill and read them to you.  It is - to say the least - shocking.

As I am now very much in need of health care and very much a part of a very broken system, I will be writing on my issues - and that of many thousands of others just like me.  To give you a teaser, I am amongst the 40 million of uninsured.  I am diabetic, lost my coverage when the company I was with was forced to close its doors which made me ineligible for COBRA.  In short I am in need of major, life saving medical treatment.

More on this and the Health Care slam down bill we now have as law.

Please take the time to watch and listen.  We all need to know this.  It is not an interpretation but a "reading" of the bill.  there are 11 more parts to this. It has already had over 3 million views.

. Update: THE PDF.OF THE BILL HR3200 NOTED AT THE END OF THE VIDEO IS NO LONGER VALID. HERE IS THE UPDATED LINK TO THE PDF. http://candicemiller.house

Barack Obama's Health Care Reform...Not So Much Reform

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Tanning Tax

I said it in my last post, most people including those who voted in favor of this bill and probably most who did not vote for the bill ever read it.

In case any of you are interested, here is a link to Bill HR 3509  It is well in excess of 2000 pages and will take a lot of time to read.  I am going to read it a little at a time over the next few days and weeks.  As I find things of interest, I will post them here.

In glazing though this document today, I found this section which I find utterly ridiculous with no bearing on providing health care to the American people.  It is a TAX on Tanning Salon services.  Yes, you read it right - for those of you that go to tanning salons or even use a tanning bed - you will have to pay a 10% tax for doing so.  Unlike  the provision allowing uninsured people to obtain insurance - which does not go into effect until sometime in 2014 - this provision goes into effect July 1, 2010.  Amazing, when it comes to a benefit for the people it takes years to go into effect.  When it comes time for the Government to collect tax - it happens almost immediately.

Look out folks, the air that we breath in some areas is considered dangerous and it is very likely that to offset health care costs for those braathing "bad air", we will all sometime in the near future have to pay a tax for breathing.

Here is the section on Tanning:

‘‘CHAPTER 49—COSMETIC SERVICES
‘‘Sec. 5000B. Imposition of tax on indoor tanning services.
6 ‘‘SEC. 5000B. IMPOSITION OF TAX ON INDOOR TANNING
7 SERVICES.
8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There is hereby imposed on any
9 indoor tanning service a tax equal to 10 percent of the
10 amount paid for such service (determined without regard
11 to this section), whether paid by insurance or otherwise.
12 ‘‘(b) INDOOR TANNING SERVICE.—For purposes of this
13 section—
14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘indoor tanning
15 service’ means a service employing any electronic
16 product designed to incorporate 1 or more ultraviolet
17 lamps and intended for the irradiation of an indi18
vidual by ultraviolet radiation, with wavelengths in
19 air between 200 and 400 nanometers, to induce skin
20 tanning.
21 ‘‘(2) EXCLUSION OF PHOTOTHERAPY SERV22
ICES.—Such term does not include any phototherapy
23 service performed by a licensed medical professional.
24 ‘‘(c) PAYMENT OF TAX.—
2399
HR 3590 EAS/PP
1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The tax imposed by this sec2
tion shall be paid by the individual on whom the
3 service is performed.
4 ‘‘(2) COLLECTION.—Every person receiving a
5 payment for services on which a tax is imposed under
6 subsection (a) shall collect the amount of the tax from
7 the individual on whom the service is performed and
8 remit such tax quarterly to the Secretary at such time
9 and in such manner as provided by the Secretary.
10 ‘‘(3) SECONDARY LIABILITY.—Where any tax im11
posed by subsection (a) is not paid at the time pay12
ments for indoor tanning services are made, then to
13 the extent that such tax is not collected, such tax shall
14 be paid by the person who performs the service.’’.
15 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of chapter for
16 subtitle D of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended
17 by this Act, is amended by inserting after the item relating
18 to chapter 48 the following new item:
‘‘CHAPTER 49—COSMETIC SERVICES’’.
19 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by this
20 section shall apply to services performed on or after July
21 1, 2010.

Health Care Reform or Health Care Tax?

Where will the money come from?


A question always raised when politicians talk about any program that will directly benefit the people. There always seems to be conversation as to the costs of any new program and questions as to where the money will come from.  More tax seems always to be the answer and that raises objections and the debate continues for years (like health care)  Yet, there always seems to be a way to come up with money "they" want when "they" want to spend it.

• Money for bailouts - easy - just create it!
• Money for war - easy - just create and increase the deficit.
• Money for no bid contracts - like Halliburton, easy - just give them the contracts and pay them what ever they want.
• Money paid in foreign aid - easy - we just pay it out.  No discussion, no vote no accounting to the taxpayer.  Trillions spent on this alone.  We support others before we concern ourselves with our own homeless, hungry and starving children.  Criminal!
  
  Money for anything "For The People" - hard - they never know where to get it.

We don't know if all the TARP money will ever be paid back. Some has, some hasn't and some won't be paid back.

The money spent on the wars will be a liability for generations to come.  (What ever happened to the oil revenue that was to be used to offset our cost?  Where does it all go?  hmmmm.)

Money paid to Halliburton and all their subsidiaries for services in Iraq and Afghanistan - I would have to believe - is more then we should be paying or could be paying had those contracts been put out to bid.  I am sure that over the years billions of dollars in excessive fees have been paid.  We will never know because no one will tell us and Halliburton is NOT a US company so we can't audit their books

This country is guilty of abusive spending and always has been.  There is no real oversight or proper financial management of the use of our money.  The old $700 hammer syndrome still exists.  In case you forgot or not old enough to remember, the U.S. was caught paying that much money for hammers.  Hammers was used as a symbol of gross overpayment of many items purchased by the government.

Money for many things that would directly benefit the people could be found if sound fiscal oversight at every level of our government would be exercised.  Trim the fat and reallocate it but don't tax tanning in a salon.  How soon before there is a tax for sunbathing on public beaches? 

It is ironic that when it comes to helping our people there is always months and years of debate questioning "where the money will come from".  Our ranks of unemployed, homeless and hungry are growing.  Our own children are literally starving and many will die for lack of health care.

We are smarter then this and can certainly do more then what we are doing.  We have two parties fighting over their own political agendas and personal gain without once considering the good of the people.

To both Democrats and Republicans, left, right and center - along with all of the other variations  - start working for your country not your parties.  Listen to the people and act together on their behalf. 


In the next post:  States take action and sue.