Obama on the Middle Class... Friend or Foe?

In my last blog I described how ObamaCare will cause a burden on tax payers as well as health care providers. President Obama recently addressed the nation during an election debate with running mate Mitt Romney, citing his strong dedication to reducing the financial strains currently placed on the middle class during this troubled economy. What the president failed to mention however, is how his new health care reform bill, ObamaCare, will cause thousands of dollars in higher taxes to be passed down to the middle class. The same middle class which he vowed to help alleviate from their burdens.  The truth is that middle class Americans are no better off today than they were prior to Obama’s presidency. The economic downturn coupled with higher taxes and a soaring unemployment rate have caused major pressures. With the new tax hikes to take effect in January 2013, and ObamaCare’s hidden fees, there will surely be added stress on the already burdened middle class. Although the President has made a pledge to help support the middle class, his actions have already proved just the opposite. The real truth behind ObamaCare is that like many of the President’s other policies, it is structured under a strong socialist premise. One that functions on the redistribution of wealth, rather than actual governmental reform. Although the President may be saying otherwise, his actions certainly speak louder than words, and Americans are becoming more aware of the manipulations and hidden agenda behind ObamaCare. According to the Wall Street Journal, from the time Obama took office in 2009, “The Obama years have been brutal on middle-class incomes, wiping out $4019 in real income for families.” It is no wonder than, that many Americans are taking a second look at Obama’s health care bill, and perhaps we all should.

Is Obamacare really a cure-all?

There is certainly agreement from both the government and the American people that health care is in dire need of reform. Mounting medical costs coupled with an estimated 42 million uninsured Americans, is proof alone that our system is in need of a complete overhaul. To add fuel to the fire, many of those that are insured are finding that many necessary medical procedures are not covered by their insurance. leaving them to foot the bill alone, which in many cases causes a huge financial strain and hardship. So far, the President’s answer to the cries of the American people has been in the form of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obama Care. Although this bill promises that every American will have quality low cost health care, it may prove too good to be true. Certainly, as with any new legislation that seeks to provide care for a large group, there will be some expected drawbacks. For one, there will inevitably be higher taxes imposed on the middle class, who are already under a great deal of strain from the economic downturn, and as Obama has himself admitted, have been hit the hardest among any social class in America. In addition, those providers in the medical field, particularly doctors, will be also be facing a negative backlash from the new reform bill. Many doctors are already currently fed up with the low reimbursement rates they receive from government run programs, such as Medi-cal and Medicaid. This will certainly be an even larger concern when ObamaCare is enacted in 2014, when an estimated 32 million more people will be added to the health care pool. ObamaCare’s structure is such that it will increase demands for medical care, yet pay out low reimbursements to compensate for the high cost of health coverage. This will in turn cause many fed up doctors to seek other professions and likewise cause a shortage of qualified medical personnel. In addition, the government will have tighter control over health care decisions that will affect many Americans. There will be strict reporting requirements that will ultimately dictate how doctors practice medicine. Again, this is another reason why many physicians are considering leaving the field. Although I must also note, there are some positive points to Obama’s health care reform as well. Mainly, pre-existing conditions will no longer be considered as a reason to drop someone from their insurance plan, and there will be no annual limits to health care costs, which will be especially beneficial to those will terminal and chronic illnesses requiring consistent medical care.Whether or not these benefits outweigh the bad is for each individual to decide for themselves. For now, many uninsured Americans are looking to the government for assistance with an issue that they know will not resolve on its own. If Obamacare is the panacea to what ails them, we do not yet know, however there is certainly much to think about before wholeheartedly accepting the bill and all its baggage. 

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Do people really care?

Obama care is a big step in the wrong direction.  People are not looking at this bill the right way. The reason for that is because it will soon raise taxes and impact the hospitals even more than what they are.  Is it ok to put more stress on doctors that can only see so many patients in one day?  Is it ok to make people wait even longer than what they have to just to see a doctor?  In this article, “Top Five Reasons Obama Care is Bad,” it talks about how in 2014 Obama Care will dump 19.5 million patients to Medicaid.   This will place an even greater strain on physicians to treat patients and doctors will be faced with decisions to not see patients that have this Medicaid or except even more patients and lower the cost.  If you have ever been hurt in any way where you had to go see a doctor it is not like you just walk right in and see them, there is a waiting time.  If it is to the extent where you have to go to the emergency room how much longer will you now have to wait till you can see the doctor.  Because the emergency rooms are already ridiculously impacted.  A good example that I have in my life is last year, my buddy Shane on my baseball team got cleated during a baseball game and it totally gashed open his arm.  When he went to the emergency room to get stitches he waited two hours.  After he got called in to get stitched up they didn’t even have a room to take him in to because it was so impacted, they sat him in the hall way and stitched him up right there.  So having the knowledge that he didn’t even have a room to go in, how is it possible that we are going to be able to add 19.5 million people.  If everyone is going to be entitled to Medicaid, shouldn’t everyone also be entitled to free food and shelter?  If you look at Los Angeles alone there are 73,000 homeless people.  Now if all of them have free Medicaid who is going to be pay for their bill and when they get treated they go right back into the environment where they got the illness.  Whether it was from lack of nutrition or being out in the cold they are going to end right back in the hospital a month later.  So now add 19.5 million people and tell me how this is going to work without having to raise taxes and barrow more money, putting us more in debt than what we already are.  Another thing is this bill does is destroy the doctor-patient relationship.  Doctors will now have to focus more on how government wants them to rule and regulate then to rather than the specific needs of the patient.  Doctors will soon be like UPS workers having to rush patients in and of their offices in order to treat more people.

Romney Vows to Drop Ax on Obamacare

It seems that the future of health care reform in America is still uncertain as the upcoming election could cause a dramatic shift in health care policy. Mitt Romney has already expressed his strong aversion to the Affordable Care Act, also dubbed as ObamaCare. Romney has stated that if elected, he will repeal ObamaCare, and thus leave the issue of uninsured citizens up to the state. Essentially, Romney's plan is to enable each state to construct an individual health care reform plan for its citizens, while the government’s responsibility will be to ensure fair competition. On the surface this may seem like a good idea, and proponents of the measure have cited Massachusetts success with creating its own health care reform plan from redirected monies derived from the federal medicaid program, as proof that health care reform can be successfully run at the state level. The reality is however, that most states, particularly those in debt such as California, will have major issues which will prohibit them from following suit. Massachusetts had a surplus fund of tax money which was reallocated to their citizens in the form of health care coverage, while many other states are not in the position to do so due to a lack of funds. Therefore, this would leave the health care situation as a lingering issue for many states, primarily those where a high population and unemployment rate are concerned. To add fuel to the fire, Romney met with the Columbus Dispatch editorial board this week, and was quoted as saying, "We don't have people that become ill, who die in their apartment because they don't have insurance." Romney said this in response to claims that millions of uninsured Americans are dying each year due to lack of health coverage. Romney pointed out that people do not stay home and face death even without health coverage, but rather they seek emergency care which is paid for either by charity, government or the hospital. What Romney fails to realize however, is that many individuals without health coverage seek emergency care only when it is too late and there may not be an option for recovery. Furthermore, these "emergency" room visits are costing billions of dollars each year which are being passed down to tax payers, thus contributing to the problem and maintaining the cycle.

Site#1 The American Thinker 

1.       Produced by rick Moran

2.       The websites content is against what the healthcare reform is about.  Why this bill won’t help out our economy

3.       American Thinker is a daily internet publication devoted to the thoughtful exploration of issues of importance to Americans.

4.       The content is only published once.

5.       Yes the comments to accompany the post.  Some of the comments support what the article has to say and others question some of the reasonings.

6.       Yes there is a twitter and facebook link.

Site#2.  The Week 

1.       This site is produced by the writers and editors of the week

2.       The website is blogging about different situations about the health care bill.  Whether or not it is going to work.

3.       The producer’s interest is seeing what people have to say about the topics that are being posted.

4.       The content is being published daily about different scenarios and situations about the health care reform

5.       The comments on the web site back up what Bill Frist has to say.  Some people give their own opinion about the topics

6.       There are no links to Facebook or Twitter.

Site 3.  The LibertyCrier 

1.       Ron Paul is the producer of the web site

2.       The Web site is about why the health care reform won’t work.  And it gives valid points on why that is.

3.       The interest of why the producer made this is to get people to see how this bill is not going to work.

4.       The content has only been published once.  In the video it is consistently being pointed out why this won’t work.

5.       Yes there are comments about the video.  The comments are people backing up the video, agreeing with what the speaker has to say

6.       Yes, there is a Facebook and Twitter Link.

Site#4.  The Economist

1.       It was produced by writers and editors of the economist.

2.       The article that is being shown is about how states are don’t about of the bill that was passed.  Also Republicans think of it as an intrusion into private affairs.

3.       The producers interest in this article is showing both sides of the political parties on what they feel about the bill.

4.       The content was only published once for people to read up on it.

5.       There are comments and posts about the article and a lot of it are debates about the social topic. 

6.       Yes there is a Facebook and Twitter.

Peer Group Reconnaissance

 By: Linda Evan

Site #1: The New York Times' Health Care Topic Column

Question #1: The site's content is produced by the researchers and editors of The New York Times.

Question #2: The site produces neutral news based content on the issue of health care reform with timely updates on recent events. The articles are original reporting, and only internal links are provided to other related  NY Times articles pertaining to the issue.  

 Question #3: The Times' interest in covering this topic is for public information and awareness. Since health care reform is a significant social issue to many Americans, the NY Times covers this topic to gain visitors to their site and be regarded as a reputable news provider. 

Question #4: Their content is published on a daily basis, with stories that are either directly or indirectly related to health care reform. However, those articles specially related to my social issue are are published several times a week.

Question #5: Yes, there is a comments section after each article. The comments are mainly people's opinions on the issue of health care reform as it relates to the specific topic or event reported int he article.

Question #6: Yes, they have both a Facebook page and Twitter feed.


Site #2: The Health Care Blog

Question #1: The Site's content is produced by an organization running guest posts from influential bloggers across the health care community.

Question #2: The site produces content involving health and science issues, with special emphasis on the topic of health care reform. It is a news based commentary from various bloggers involved in the fields of health care and politics. It is original writing with no linking to outside sources, and offers content based on each blogger's own point of view, so it is not entirely neutral.

Question #3: The producer's intent is to provide the public with informational material on the topic of health care reform, from different perspectives of individuals working in the field.

Question #4: Content on this site is published on the topic of health care reform specifically, and is published several times each week.

Question #5: Yes, there is a comments section which is primarily readers responding to the posts and expressing their views and opinions on those posts.

Question #6: Yes, they have a Facebook and Twitter  page.


Site #3: Alan Katz' Health Care Reform Blog

Question #1: The site's content is produced by Alan Katz, the former president of both the National and the California Associations of Health Underwriters and founder of the Alan Katz Group, which focuses on health care reform and public service.

Question #2: The site produces current news on the topic of health care reform from a commentary standpoint. All postings are original reporting by Alan Katz and from his point of view. There are various links to other related sites where readers can gain more information on this topic. It appears to be neither liberal nor conservative, but rather from a neutral standpoint with the public's best interest in mind.

Question #3: Alan Katz writes about this topic due to his own personal interest and background in the health care field. The blog was created for the public good and to make people aware of how health care reform will affect them.

Question #4: The site publishes content about once a week to several times a week depending on recent developments in health care reform.

Question #5: Yes, there are comments which discuss reader opinions on the topic of health care reform, many of them being opposing views from different readers.

Question #6: No, this site does not have a Facebook or Twitter page.


Site #4 The Washington Post's Health Care Column

Question #1: The site's content is produced by the writers and editors of the Washington Post.

Question #2: The site produced neutral news based stories on health care issues, particularly on the topic of health care reform. It is primarily informational in content, yet their are a few articles with editor commentary. The writing is original reporting with no little to outside sources.

Question #3: The Post writes about this topic to provide the public with information on this social issue since health care reform is of great concern for many of its readers. The site generates up to date news stories on this topic to keep readers informed and ensure they frequently visit their site for more information.

Question #4: In general, the content on this site is published on a daily basis, and content specific to my social issue is published usually daily or every other day.

Question #5: Yes, there is a comments section after each article. The comments are mostly reader opinions on health care issues and other political issues indirectly related to this topic. Many times readers disagree on this issue and there is some debate generated.

Question #6: Yes, they are on Facebook and Twitter.