Katy Abram of Americans for Prosperity told the attendees at Hands Off My Healthcare that six-and-a-half million Pennsylvanians that now pay an income tax can expect to pay $3,065 more next year because of it.
Dr. Richard Leshner who is chief of cardiology at St. Mary’s Medical Center said doctor-patient privacy will soon be a thing of the past under The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
“Only two people are supposed to be in the room,” he said during a patient consultation. “That’s not the future”.
Chris Stigall, whose talk show airs 5:30-9 a.m. weekdays on 1210 AM, said he was given a article from an Irish newspaper from friend from Havertown named Brian that described how a young girl had used up her oxygen quota and couldn’t get new tanks. That, he said, was the future here.
Hands Off My Healthcare was hosted by Americans for Prosperity and The Delaware County Patriots.
“It’s not about healthcare,” said Leshner regarding the law. “It’s not about women’s right. It’s about control.”
He said the law creates a vertically integrated payment structure that will keep doctors from having a say in how the treat their patients. He noted that the law strongly encourages employers to dump their health care plans as it costs about $8,000 per year to cover an employee’s insurance while the penalty for not doing so is but $2,000.
He said expect rationing.
Mrs. Abram, who entered the public stage when she told then Sen. Arlen Specter that he “
awakened a sleeping giant” during a town hall in the summer of 2009, described how the IRS and Department of Justice will have as much to do with administering Obamacare as the Department of Health and Human Services.
Mrs. Abram, however, also provided details on a way to slay the monster. She
showed this video from the Cato Institute as to why states should reject health care exchanges forcing the federal government to foot the load. Feds don’t have the money to fund a national exchange. A state gets no benefit or flexibility for setting one up an exchange of its own as they are but portals into a national system.
Seven states — Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Wisconsin, South Carolina and Idaho — had declared they won’t be setting up state ones.
Pennsylvania is a different story. Gov. Tom Corbett — never a Tea Party favorite — has accepted $34 million from Washington for a state exchange. Mrs. Abram played a video of comments made by Corbett shortly after the Supreme Court ruling declaring Obamacare constitutional which indicated that he would comply with the law.
Mrs. Abram said Pennsylvania could either adopt a health exchange through an executive order by the governor or via a bill passed by the legislature. She said she didn’t think Corbett would go out on a limb to issue an executive order. Americans for Prosperity will be circulating Health Care Freedom Pledges for state legislators to sign.
Mrs. Abram said that while supporters of a state health exchange included the usual suspects like unions and Planned Parenthood, they also included the Pennsylvania Chamber of Commerce.
In other items from the night, Leshner said electronic record requirements cause doctors to see 20 percent fewer patients.
“The great lie is that electronic records help you,” he said.
He agreed with a questioner who asked if Obama was purposely trying to force Catholic hospitals out of business.
He said the reality is that President Obama’s plan is not designed to help the needy.
He said the consequences that we suffer are “the ramifications of his stupidity.”
One woman during the question session said that many workers don’t understand how soon they might lose their insurance benefits. She suggested that people start quizzing management about their plans and asking co-workers what they had heard.
The night’s introductions were made by Mary Ellen Jones of the Patriots.
Aaron Summers of the Republican Party’s Delaware Victory Center made a short presentation about the need for volunteers. The center in Suite 208 at the Springfield Shopping Center, 1001 Baltimore Pike, Springfield, is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
