Category: Health Care

EEOC Sues ACA Wellness Programs

The Quisling crony capitalists who gave aid and comfort to the passage of the Obamacare disaster have been stabbed in the back and are as angry as wet hornets.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)  is suing them — well Honeywell International and two smaller firms anyway but all are in its sights — for the “wellness programs” that were instrumental in getting the bossy-types on board for the “Affordable” Care Act.

It should be understood that the EEOC is under the auspices of the President.

Wellness programs give corporations a chance to question workers about the details of their personal lives, make them undergo screenings, and force them to attend weight-loss or smoking-cessation programs.

Obamacare allows huge incentives for those taking part in workplace wellness programs of up to 50-percent of their monthly premiums, deductibles and other costs. This means smokers and heavy people and people with pre-existing conditions face major financial discrimination, not to mention the invasions of privacy.

The also remarkably stupid American Disabilities Act of 1990 prohibits employers from discriminating against those with disabilities including blindness and mental retardation. This means they can’t require medical testing of employees. Further, the EEOC considers obesity a disability with regards to the act.

Oh, just watch the train wreck.

And this does not even attempt to address trying to get those with dangerous sex lives to change their ways.

The wise and simple solution is to completely ban the practice of employer-provided health care. Give raises to compensate for the loss of the benefits and let the workers buy their insurance in the same fashion they do their homes and food.

Most employers — the successful ones, the ones you want to work for — don’t care about your personal life. All they want from you is for you to show up on time and do what you are paid to do.

They don’t care about your skin color either or, generally, sex.

Get government out of hiring decisions.

EEOC Sues ACA Wellness Programs

EEOC Sues ACA Wellness Programs

Top Dem Rips Obamacare

Sen. Charles Schumer of New York,  the third-ranking member of the Senate Democratic leadership, just declared the “Affordable” Care Act —  that he twisted so many arms to get passed  — to be a big mistake.

He said it in a speech, yesterday, Nov. 25, at the National Press Club reports TheHill.com.

Schumer says the Ds  “blew the opportunity the American people gave them” in the 2008 elections,  a Democrat landslide.

“Americans were crying out for an end to the recession, for better wages and more jobs; not for changes in their healthcare,” he said.

Hey Chuck, when Republican leadership wants to turn the ship in a stupid direction members of the body have a reputation for seeing the iceberg ahead and starting a mutiny. Ask Mitch McConnell. What you did in 2009 and 2010 was meekly go along with a disaster. That you imply that you thought so at the time makes you look a whole lot worse.

You should write a book. Call it Profiles in Cravenness.

You note that 85 percent of all Americans get their healthcare from either the government, through Medicare or Medicaid, or through an employer. How is that any different that company housing in a company town? How is that any different than a company store? You think employers/government should be responsible for the food choices of 85 percent of the population? We suspect you do. Your crony-captialists puppet masters certainly do.

You want effective health care reform? End all employer health-care mandates. Actually go further: End all incentives for employers to provide health care for employees. Let workers treat health care just as they do food, clothing, shelter and transportation.

For those that fall through the cracks create a clinic-based system and bring back public free-service facilities like the old Philadelphia General Hospital.

You would end up with an efficient, just health care system in which the practitioners are fairly compensated — hence being professions  that attract quality people — and puts the crony capitalist insurance companies at a disadvantage.

And the poor would get better treatment than they would under Obamacare or the previous standard of free emergency room service.

And Chuck, regarding “better wages and more jobs”, when are you going to end your War on Energy?

Top Dem Rips Obamacare

Top Dem Rips Obamacare

APPRISE Program Gives Medicare Advice

Pennsylvania senior citizens who are reviewing their Medicare plans are reminded about free assistance available through the APPRISE program, says State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129).

APPRISE is a free, unbiased health insurance counseling program designed to help older residents and caregivers with answers to questions about Medicare, Medicare supplemental insurance, Medicaid and long-term care insurance, Cox said.

To learn more, contact APPRISE at 1-800-783-7067 or click here.

APPRISE Program Gives Medicare Advice

APPRISE Program Gives Medicare Advice

Obamacare Deceiver Got Rich Off Obamacare

Jonathan Gruber, the MIT professor who has boasted about how he deceived the “stupid” American people to get Obamacare passed, has been paid  $5.2 million by the federal government and 12 state governments for consulting services to assist in the design and implementation of the “Affordable” Care Act, reports Breitbart.com.

Gruber  certainly  did deceive a lot of people who put their trust in traditional media authorities. These weren’t the conservatives though, and most of those he did successful deceive are of the “fooled me once shame on you,” types which bodes ill not just for the future of the old media establishment but for the Democrat Party itself.

Obamacare Deceiver Got Rich Off Obamacare

Obamacare Deceiver Got Rich Off Obamacare

Alzheimer Awareness Month

November is National Alzheimer’s Awareness and National Caregiver Month. It is estimated that 280,000 Pennsylvania residents live with Alzheimer’s disease, said State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129). He said that about another 120,000 have related dementias.

Cox said that the Pennsylvania Department of Aging established an Alzheimer’s Planning Committee to study the  best ways to confront this disease. The report can be found here.

The state has numerous resources to help those with the disease and their loved ones. Visit the Department of Aging’s website for  information.

Alzheimer Awareness Month

November is National Alzheimer Awareness Month  and National Caregiver Month

Chronic Wasting Disease Found In 10th Deer

The discovery of a 10th captive deer to test positive for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) prompted a informational meeting between The Pennsylvania House Game and Fisheries Committee and officials from the state Department of Agriculture and the  Game Commission, reports State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129).

CWD attacks the brain of infected deer, elk and moose, producing small lesions that eventually result in death.

The disease was first discovered on a captive deer farm two years ago. Currently, 31 captive deer farms across the state are quarantined, where deer cannot be moved on or off the properties.

There is no evidence that humans or livestock can get the disease. However, as a precaution, hunters are advised to not eat meat from animals known to be infected with CWD, Cox said. The Pennsylvania Game Commission offers to test game — for a fee — that may be infected with the disease. Information on testing can be found here.

For more information on CWD, including precautions hunters should take this season, click here.

Chronic Wasting Disease Found In 10th Deer

Chronic Wasting Disease Found In 10th Deer

Doctors Leaving ACA Exchange Plans

The American Action Forum is saying that more than 214,000 physicians will not be participating in Affordable Care (sic) Act exchange plans.

It is basing the claim on an analysis of a May 2014 survey by The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA),  a trade group which has served  administrators of medical group practices since 1926.

American Action says the big reason is  a March 27, 2012 HHS regulation that exchange plans provide their customers with a 90-day “grace period” to pay bills. This makes it very possible that  providers are left uncompensated for services provided in those 90 days.

Anther factor though is the discovery that ACA exchange plans are now paying sixty cents on the dollar for services. Private plans pay 100 percent , and Medicare pays 80 percent.

Further it is noted that many ACA enrollees have high deductible plans but don’t understand what a deductible is.

The MGMA study indicates 75 percent of responders said that exchange plan patients were “very likely” or “extremely likely”  fo have high deductible Bronze or Catastrophic plans.  American Action said their concern is that those with these plans don’t understand what a deductible is and don’t realize that they could accumulate thousands of dollars in charges before these deductibles are met.

“The fear in the provider community is that low-income patients with these plans may rush to get delayed care without the financial ability to pay the high deductible, and while the insurer continues collecting premium payments, the provider will be left uncompensated,” says American Action.

Obamacare is looking more and more like the train wreck we long said it would be.

Hat tip CNSNews.com

Doctors Leaving ACA Exchange Plans

Doctors Leaving ACA Exchange Plans

 

 

HB 803 Awaits Corbett’s Signature

The Pennsylvania General Assembly presented HB 803 to Gov. Tom Corbett for his expected signature on Oct. 23.

The bill  allows schools to be  proactive in preventing allergic reactions in students, said State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129).

The legislation requires that  schools  may keep a supply of epi-pens, on the condition that they are in a secure location.

The bill also requires the Pennsylvania Department of Health to provide staff with  training for the administration of this medicine in emergencies

The bill also provides civil immunity to those who administer this injection in good faith.

 

HB 803 Awaits Corbett's Signature

HB 803 Awaits Corbett’s Signature

Pennsylvania Monitors Ebola For 100

The Pennsylvania Department of Health is monitoring about 100 people for signs of Ebola, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

Most are those who recently spent time in Ebola-stricken West African nations albeit three are Pennsylvania residents who shared  an Oct. 13 flight from Cleveland to Dallas with a nurse who later tested positive for the virus.

None have tested positive for Ebola and that their risk of getting it is very low, according to Department of Health spokewoman Spokeswoman Aimee Tysarczyk.

She said the department is in touch with each person daily.

So kudos for Gov. Tom Corbett for staying on top of the matter.

Hat tip Bob Guzzardi

Not that Bob is going to vote for Corbett.

Pennsylvania Monitors Ebola For 100

 

Pennsylvania Monitors Ebola For 100

HB 46 Eases Organ Donations

The Pennsylvania General Assembly has passed legislation, HB 46, that would remove a major hurdle for potential organ and bone marrow donors, reports State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129), and the bill awaits Gov. Corbett’s signature.

Cox said the bill would reauthorize, and make permanent, a program initiated in 2006 to provide tax credits to employers who offer paid leave to workers who choose to become living donors. The ability to get paid time off work for this procedure could help save lives.

He said tax credits offered under the bill would be equal to the amount paid out in wages while an employee donor undergoes the transplant procedure and recovery – up to five days.

The bill is awaiting the governor’s signature.

For  information about organ donation, including how to become a donor, click here.

HB 46 Eases Organ Donations

HB 46 Eases Organ Donations