Enter the Obama administration, which seems to consistently forget the spirit of the 1st Amendment, which is the ability to speak without fear of reprisal, and, I seriously doubt that the Founders meant for the Executive Branch to go after the private sector like a lawyer in a really nasty divorce case.

Reality Check: AHIP’s “Study” Hard to Take Seriously

Well, isn’t that nice?

This morning America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the health insurance companies’ lobbying operation, released a study it commissioned in an attempt to confuse the debate around health reform. Linda Douglass of the White House Health Reform Office didn’t mince words in her reaction:

“It comes on the eve of a vote that will reduce the industry’s profits,” Douglass told TPMDC. “It is hard to take it seriously. The analysis completely ignores critical policies will lower costs for those who have insurance, expand coverage and provide affordable health insurance options to millions of Americans who are priced out of today’s health insurance market or are locked out by unfair insurance company practices.”

Well, duh. If you reduce the industry profits, people who hold stock will lose vast amounts of money, too. And, private insurers will have to increase their rates. Is there anyone in the Obama admin who understands basic economics?

Here’s an extended Reality Check to set the record straight:

AHIP CLAIM: Health reform will cause health care premiums to rise faster than they would under the current system.

REALITY: The Congressional Budget Office and other analysts confirm that the current Senate Finance Committee (SFC) health reform proposal will lower health care premiums in the exchange and make health insurance more affordable for families. AHIP’s study reaches its flawed conclusion for at least three reasons:

Notice, this only mentions those in the exchange, ie, the government is pretty much running it. So, the White House is already being disingenuous, ie, lying. For those not in the exchange, costs will skyrocket. The whole point is to get people into the exchange, moving towards single payer.

Selective analysis: the AHIP study picks and chooses which policies to consider, ignoring the full benefits of the SFC proposal. For example the AHIP analysis completely ignores:

Very selective.

Grandfather policy that assures that if you like the plan you have, you can keep it.

Except, you will not like it much because the cost will skyrocket. And, if you want to make any minor change, well, say goodbye to it, because you will have to go through the exchange (except for certain companies which will have a 5 year grace period.) With skyrocketing costs to companies, they will dump their plans, pay the fines, and tell their employees to have fun in the exchange. Basic economics

AHIP CLAIM: Fees on health insurance providers, pharmaceutical manufacturers and device makers will be passed through to individuals and families.

REALITY: This claim does not withstand scrutiny for at least three reasons:

First, the idea that every dollar of assessment will be passed on to consumers is not credible – especially given the policy design. Second, these fees are intended to recapture part of the benefits these businesses will get from reform. Third, the fees help improve and expand coverage and thus reduce the $1,000 hidden tax tens of millions of Americans pay for the uncompensated care of the uninsured.

Basic economics again. The WH gives it a cute try with those three rebuttals, however, the taxes imposed on those companies, and the artificially low mandated costs will severely reduce profits. Basic economics says if taxes and costs go up, so do selling prices.

What do these companies do with profits? Well, if you develop drugs and medical devices, besides compensating your employees and shareholders, you plow it back into development. So, the government health plans will reduce development. The U.S., with 2 percent of the worlds population, develops 50% of the worlds medicines, and are a leader in medical devices. Kiss that goodbye.

Overall, yes, we need some reform. But, with government, there are always unintended consequences. Look what the end result was with Cash For Clunkers. Look at the massive costs with Medicare and Medicaid. Do you want to get your health insurance from the DMV? What if government ran health care?

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As the Tea Party movement has spread across America the left has claimed that everyone on the right are “angry,” or “un-American,” or even “dangerous.” The left has also claimed that those on the right that stand against the increasing government abuse of the Constitution and the trust voters place in government are somehow dragging down the level of our national debate. Folks that stand against Obama’s agenda are mean, sharp tongued, offensive, etc., etc.

And what of the left? The left imagines that it is the adult in the room, that it is the only side trying to keep the level of debate at a higher, more serious level. And in the case of the leftist organization Americans United for Change we can see exactly what that more civil debate entails. It consists of portraying your enemy as the devil in a commercial to push Obamacare.

That’s right, the left’s version of the more civil debate is to portray your enemies as the devil.

AUC begins a recent animated webad meant to push Obamacare portraying Humana CEO Michael McCallister as the devil:

Allow me to put this video exposing Darwin as a racist with complete seriousness and without condescension for your debate.

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The White House tonight is providing the below clarification on what the president’s health-care proposals would mean when it comes to the issue of illegal immigrants.

The question, as we all know, arises from the Wilson “You lie” outburst, and the core claim that notwithstanding specific bill language barring illegal immigrants from participating in the “exchange,” as a practical matter, there is no way of verifying the citizenship of applicants — which is the current state of play. Republicans say that then means illegal immigrants would end up being enrolled in plans — bill language or no bill language.

Today, for the first time as far as we know, the administration is backing a provision that would require proof of citizenship before someone could enroll in a plan selected on the exchange.

First, when Joe Wilson yelled out “lie” when Obama stated that illegal aliens would not be covered, well, yes, he was right. While President Sparky was standing at the podium glowering at Joe, Joe was right. As the news media went nuts, telling us how mean Joe was, Joe was right. Funny how those things happen, eh

Second, I find it interesting that these are the first details released regarding Obama’s health plan. He offered none during his campaign speech to Congress, and still hasn’t released an overall plan. Except for this. Heh!

Here are the bullet points from ye olde White House (I am ommitting the one about emergency room care for illegals, since that has long been in place, and really has nothing to do with Obama)

• Undocumented immigrants would not be able to buy private insurance on the exchange. Those who are lawfully present in this country would be able to participate.
• Undocumented immigrants would be able to buy insurance in the non-exchange private market, just as they do today. That market will shrink as the exchange takes hold, but it will still exist and will be subject to reforms such as the bans on pre-existing conditions and caps.
• Verification will be required when purchasing health insurance on the exchange. One option is the SAVE program (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements) which states currently use to make sure that undocumented immigrants don’t participate in safety-net programs for which they are ineligible.

Notice the second one. “The [private] market will shrink as the exchange takes hold.” I have said time and time again that the whole point of this so-called reform is to eventually implement single payer. If we listen to Obama and other Democrats, the “public option” would simply provide some competition to private insurers. Here, we find out it is expected to shrink the private market.

Of course, this whole thing could mean nothing in the long run, since what Joe Wilson was referring to was HR 3200, which does allow illegals to be part of the system beyond emergency rooms. Obama can come up with all the plans he wants, but, the legislation is already there. Obama might want to pay attention to what is actually flowing through the halls of Congress in the future.

PS: The Obama administration also tried to bury a story that they will be going ahead with no-preconditions talks with Iran, releasing it Friday night.

Double PS: Media Matters points out that more media is paying attention to Wilson than to Obama’s speech. Obama now wearing “pwnd” sign.

Triple PS: Wilson says he will not apologize on the House floor, as the Democrats want him to do.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove

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The average June-August 2009 summer temperature for the contiguous United States was below average – the 34th coolest on record, according to a preliminary analysis by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. August was also below the long-term average. The analysis is based on records dating back to 1895.

Some highlights

• For the 2009 summer, the average temperature of 71.7 degrees F was 0.4 degree F below the 20th Century average. The 2008 average summer temperature was 72.7 degrees F.
• The Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota region experienced its sixth coolest summer on record. Only the Northwest averaged above normal temperatures.
• The average 2009 August temperature of 72.2 degrees F was 0.6 degree F below the 20th Century average. Last year’s August temperature was 73.2 degrees F.
• Temperatures were below normal in the Midwest, Plains, and parts of the south. Above-normal temperatures dominated the eastern seaboard, areas in the southwest, and in the extreme northwest.
• Several northeastern states were much above normal for August, including Delaware and New Jersey (eighth warmest), Maine (ninth), and Rhode Island and Connecticut (10th). In contrast, below-normal temperatures were recorded for Missouri and Kansas.

That last one is interesting. It confirms that Mother Nature, ie, the weather, does what it wants. Especially since

A recurring upper level trough held the June-August temperatures down in the central states, where Michigan experienced its fifth, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and South Dakota their seventh, Nebraska its eighth, and Iowa its ninth coolest summer. By contrast, Florida had its fourth warmest summer, while Washington and Texas experienced their eighth and ninth warmest, respectively.

Weather creates climate. Climate is simply the averages of what weather creates. In Raleigh, it was warmer than average. We had 22 days above max temperature, and 7 below. For mean temperature, 23 above and 2 below. Overall, it was about 2 degrees warmer in Raleigh for August. Why? Nature. City life. Lots of cloud cover at night, so, low radiational cooling (almost every night was above average, even on days when the temp was below normal.) Other areas of the country were the exact opposite. Such is nature.

Meanwhile, Marc Morano of Climate Depot continues to beat the Washington Post’s Andrew Freedman like a rented mule. Freedman has chickened out on an actual debate with Morano. Washington Post meteorologist Matt Rogers has also declared his skepticism (same article.)

French folks are a wee bit pissed off over carbon trading that will increase many power costs.

Lord Stern states that economic expansion must be halted to stop AGW. More proof that these climate alarmists want to bring us back to the 15th century.

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Erick Erickson of RedState sends this message along and I want to pass it on to you all.

The Democrat opponent to Congressman Joe Wilson has raised over $100,000.00 since last night.
What have you given to Joe Wilson? The man spoke for America. And now we need to open our wallets for Joe.

It does no good to pat Joe on the back or give him an “atta boy.” Joe Wilson needs us to open our wallets and checkbooks. Joe Wilson is now a serious threat to Barack Obama because he dared point out that the Emperor has no clothes. The left will target him. The left will target his family. The left will try to destroy Joe Wilson.

We can stop the left. But we must give generously to Joe.

Prove that conservatives are not pathetic activists. Put your money where your mouth is.

Give to Joe.

The left are excited they are raising money for his opponent! Lets beat them at their own game.

Related: Get Your Free “I’m With Joe Wilson T-Shirt”!

Laughable: The left are trying to smear Wilson by digging up shocking dirt that he used to take caffeine pills! Did they forget caffeine pills are legal and that Obama did dope and coke?

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“But I want to hear him defend his bill. I want him to open up the house bill that was passed and actually point to sections…and say it is in there, read it… I don’t want to hear any generalities, I don’t want to hear any more false promises… He needs to defend his plan and not just criticize those of us who are presenting alternatives.”

Hat tip: Hot Air

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But what is one to make of the practical, political argument from the likes of Ezra Klein, who argue that any public plan actually included in legislation probably wouldn’t make that much difference, and that reform is worth having even without such a plan?

There are three reasons to be suspicious of that argument.

The first is that I suspect that Ezra and others understate the extent to which even a public plan with limited bargaining power will help hold down overall costs. Private insurers do pay providers more than Medicare does — but that’s only part of the reason Medicare has lower costs. There’s also the huge overhead of the private insurers, much of which involves marketing and attempts to cherry-pick clients — and even with community rating, some of that will still go on. A public plan would probably be able to attract clients with much less of that.

Second, a public plan would probably provide the only real competition in many markets.

Third — and this is where I am getting a very bad feeling about the idea of throwing in the towel on the public option — is the politics. Remember, to make reform work we have to have an individual mandate. And everything I see says that there will be a major backlash against the idea of forcing people to buy insurance from the existing companies. That backlash was part of what got Obama the nomination! Having the public option offers a defense against that backlash.

Got that? Paul provides no proof, just typical sophistry and “we know what is best for you, so just sit down, shut up, and let your betters do what they want.” His third reason confirms that people will be forced to purchase health insurance, whether they want to or not. So much for the freedom loving Democrats.

But, let’s take a look at #1. Why do private insurers charge more than Medicare and Medicaid? Because government mandates those lower costs. Which is one of the reasons more and more doctors and medical institutions are opting out of those programs.

The huge overhead and such? Mostly because of government regulations.

Notice his last sentence of that first reason paragraph “A public plan would probably be able to attract clients with much less of that” along with his second point. First, isn’t the public option simply a way to cover those 47 million uninsured? Here we have Krugman talking about it being able to compete for everyone. This is one of the reasons the Democrats have a big fail tag, because they flip flop in what they say. Of course, what they really mean, and which I would bet people get, is that the public option pushers are looking to create single payer.

On to Sarah Palin, who has a wonderful op-ed in the Wall Street Journal

Let’s talk about specifics. In his Times op-ed, the president argues that the Democrats’ proposals “will finally bring skyrocketing health-care costs under control” by “cutting . . . waste and inefficiency in federal health programs like Medicare and Medicaid and in unwarranted subsidies to insurance companies . . . .”

First, ask yourself whether the government that brought us such “waste and inefficiency” and “unwarranted subsidies” in the first place can be believed when it says that this time it will get things right. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) doesn’t think so: Its director, Douglas Elmendorf, told the Senate Budget Committee in July that “in the legislation that has been reported we do not see the sort of fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal health spending by a significant amount.”

Does the guy who has a .200 batting average and can’t hit a curve-ball or slider get a new contract, or, does he get cut? So, why are we going to believe that government, batting .200 in AA ball, can suddenly hit that curve-ball?

Finally, President Obama argues in his op-ed that Democrats’ proposals “will provide every American with some basic consumer protections that will finally hold insurance companies accountable.” Of course consumer protection sounds like a good idea. And it’s true that insurance companies can be unaccountable and unresponsive institutions—much like the federal government. That similarity makes this shift in focus seem like nothing more than an attempt to deflect attention away from the details of the Democrats’ proposals—proposals that will increase our deficit, decrease our paychecks, and increase the power of unaccountable government technocrats.

No one is saying that insurance companies are perfect and great. But, if you do not like yours, you can find another. Government incompetence seems eternal.

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Obama is considering detailing his health-care demands in a major speech as soon as next week, when Congress returns from the August recess. And although House leaders have said their members will demand the inclusion of a public insurance option, Obama has no plans to insist on it himself, the officials said.
“We’re entering a new season,” senior adviser David Axelrod said in a telephone interview. “It’s time to synthesize and harmonize these strands and get this done. We’re confident that we can do that. But obviously it is a different phase. We’re going to approach it in a different way. The president is going to be very active.” …
On health care, Obama’s willingness to forgo the public option is sure to anger his party’s liberal base. But some administration officials welcome a showdown with liberal lawmakers if they argue they would rather have no health care law than an incremental one. The confrontation would allow Obama to show he is willing to stare down his own party to get things done.

Ed Morrissey says it’s too little too late and that Obama ain’t no Bill Clinton.

Right now, Obama remains where he’s at because of the almost-lockstep support he gets from his base. If he goes to war with the left wing of the party, he won’t convince Republicans and independents of anything except his taste for political expediency. His approval ratings will go even further south, though, in a dynamic that will look a lot like what happened to George Bush after he nominated Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. Those low approval numbers came from conservatives voting with their feet, and thanks to Bush’s spending, they never came back.

The left are already in freak out mode. AJ Strata gathers the reactions.

Also see Karl’s post.

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Tell the US Chamber of Commerce To Stop Denying Global Warming

To US Chamber of Commerce Member Companies,

The US Chamber of Commerce is threatening to sue the EPA for accepting the overwhelming scientific evidence that climate change is real in an effort to put “the science of climate change on trial.”

The trial is over, case closed. I urge you, as a responsible member of the Chamber of Commerce, to demand that the Chamber drop this desperate tactic to protect polluting energy companies, publicly recognize that climate change is real and acknowledge that action needs to be taken.

Please tell the U.S. Chamber they need to speak for the majority of its members who support action on global warming, or your company will resign its membership.

You know the left is scared when they start with these dictatorial campaigns designed to shut down debate and silence dissenting voices.

In related news, the OC Register is taking the official position that the EPA should hold hearings, as called for by the Chamber, and hear all the arguments for and against the notion of anthropogenic global warming. If the EPA won’t, the OC Register approves of climate trials. They are also in favor of a massive discourse on the economy numbing legislation, both the national and the California versions. They are not thrilled, either, with what the EPA will soon do, namely, declare CO2 a dangerous pollutant, which could will lead to massive new, and costly, regulations.

Governor Gary Herbert (R-Utah) is going to host the “first legitimate debate into whether humans are causing “climate change.” Expect vicious things to be said about him, many, most likely, revolving around his religion, similar to what happened with Mitt Romney.

Meanwhile:

• What happens when demand exceeds supply? Prices go way up. Welcome to the world of the hybrid
• Industry is beating the snot out of the AGW supporters, says The Washington Post.
• The Goracle is being challenged over the accuracy of climate models. $20,000 is on the line

And, to wrap it up, a sad, sad story. What, exactly, is the point of watching women’s volleyball when the summer weather is abnormally cool and the women aren’t wearing those skimpy bikinis? Story has depressing photos. Sigh. Well, since it is going to be about 15-18 degrees below normal here in Raleigh….

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