330-338 – Rob Bernabe, (rob.bernabe@cox.net) 25-year veteran of the financial services industry, grew E*TRADE Mortgage to the #3 in the nation, and he now runs the Mortgage Workshop at Saddleback (saddleback.com). Rob was responsible for hooking me up with Kenny Luck, who runs the mens' ministries at Saddleback, and having me down at Saddleback this morning for their 6:30am Men's Forum on "The Good Fight" – about 1,000 guys showed up! And, they'll be having a two more Men's Forums at 6:30am on the next two Thursdays. For more info, saddlebackfamily.com/smallgroups/mens/index.html.
343-354 – •• John David Lewis, Classical Ideals (8/6/09) The Health Care Bill: What HR 3200, ''America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009," Says. Lewis is a professor of classics at Duke University.
Here's some of his key "Evaluation of the Passage" statements:
I. Will the plan ration medical care?
1. This section amends the Social Security Act
2. The government has the power to determine what constitutes an "applicable [medical] condition."
3. The government has the power to determine who is allowed readmission into a hospital.
4. This determination will be made by statistics: when enough people have been discharged for the same condition, an individual may be readmitted.
5. This is government rationing, pure, simple, and straight up.
6. There can be no judicial review of decisions made here. The Secretary is above the courts.
7. The plan also allows the government to prohibit hospitals from expanding without federal permission: page 317-318.
II. Will the plan punish Americans who try to opt out?
1. This section amends the Internal Revenue Code.
2. Anyone caught without acceptable coverage and not in the government plan will pay a special tax.
3. The IRS will be a major enforcement mechanism for the plan.
III. What constitutes "acceptable" coverage?
1. The bill defines "acceptable coverage" and leaves no room for choice in this regard.
2. By setting a minimum 70% actuarial value of benefits, the bill makes health plans in which individuals pay for routine services, but carry insurance only for catastrophic events, (such as Health Savings Accounts) illegal.
IV. Will the plan destroy private health insurance?
1. The bill does not prohibit a person from buying private insurance.
2. Small businesses—with say 8-10 employees—will either have to provide insurance to federal standards, or pay an 8% payroll tax. Business costs for health care are higher than this, especially considering administrative costs. Any competitive business that tries to stay with a private plan will face a payroll disadvantage against competitors who go with the government "option."
3. The pressure for business owners to terminate the private plans will be enormous.
4. With employers ending plans, millions of Americans will lose their private coverage, and fewer companies will offer it.
5. The Commissioner (meaning, always, the bureaucrats) will determine whether a particular network of physicians, hospitals and insurance is acceptable.
6. With private insurance starved, many people enrolled in the government "option" will have no place else to go.
V. Does the plan tax successful Americans more than others? [You will pay an additional tax if your modified adjusted gross income is: 1% of $350-$500K ($3500-$5000), 1.5% of $500K-$1M ($7500-$15000), and 5.4% over $1M ($54000)]
1. This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code.
2. Tax surcharges are levied on those with the highest incomes.
3. The plan manipulates the tax code to redistribute their wealth.
4. Successful business owners will bear the highest cost of this plan.
VI. Does the plan allow the government to set fees for services?
1. The government's authority to set payments is basically unlimited.
2. The official will decide what constitutes "excessive," "deficient," and "efficient" payments and services.
VII. Will the plan increase the power of government officials to scrutinize our private affairs?
1. This section amends the Internal Revenue Code
2. The bill opens up income tax return information to federal officials.
3. Any stated "limits" to such information are circumvented by item (v), which allows federal officials to decide what information is needed.
4. Employers are required to report whatever information the government says it needs to enforce the plan.
VIII. Does the plan automatically enroll Americans in the government plan?
1. Do nothing and you are in.
2. Employers are responsible for automatically enrolling people who still work.
IX. Does the plan exempt federal officials from court review?
1. Sec. 1123 amends the Social Security Act, to allow the Secretary to identify areas of the country that underutilize the government's plan "based on per capita spending."
2. Parts of the plan are set above the review of the courts.
358-408 – Health Care Bill continued.
413-423 – Health Care Bill continued.
428-437 – • Tom Maguire (8/13/09) There He Goes Again (Just Don't Call Them "Death Panels").
• David Leonhardt, NYT (5/3/09) After the Great Recession.
THE PRESIDENT: Now, I actually think that the tougher issue around medical care — it's a related one — is what you do around things like end-of-life care —
LEONHARDT: Yes, where it's $20,000 for an extra week of life.
THE PRESIDENT: Exactly. And I just recently went through this. I mean, I've told this story, maybe not publicly, but when my grandmother got very ill during the campaign, she got cancer; it was determined to be terminal. And about two or three weeks after her diagnosis she fell, broke her hip. It was determined that she might have had a mild stroke, which is what had precipitated the fall.
So now she's in the hospital, and the doctor says, Look, you've got about — maybe you have three months, maybe you have six months, maybe you have nine months to live. Because of the weakness of your heart, if you have an operation on your hip there are certain risks that — you know, your heart can't take it. On the other hand, if you just sit there with your hip like this, you're just going to waste away and your quality of life will be terrible.
And she elected to get the hip replacement and was fine for about two weeks after the hip replacement, and then suddenly just — you know, things fell apart.
I don't know how much that hip replacement cost. I would have paid out of pocket for that hip replacement just because she's my grandmother. Whether, sort of in the aggregate, society making those decisions to give my grandmother, or everybody else's aging grandparents or parents, a hip replacement when they're terminally ill is a sustainable model, is a very difficult question. If somebody told me that my grandmother couldn't have a hip replacement and she had to lie there in misery in the waning days of her life — that would be pretty upsetting.
LEONHARDT: And it's going to be hard for people who don't have the option of paying for it.
THE PRESIDENT: So that's where I think you just get into some very difficult moral issues. But that's also a huge driver of cost, right? I mean, the chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives are accounting for potentially 80 percent of the total health care bill out here.
LEONHARDT: So how do you — how do we deal with it?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think that there is going to have to be a conversation that is guided by doctors, scientists, ethicists. And then there is going to have to be a very difficult democratic conversation that takes place. It is very difficult to imagine the country making those decisions just through the normal political channels. And that's part of why you have to have some independent group that can give you guidance. It's not determinative, but I think has to be able to give you some guidance. And that's part of what I suspect you'll see emerging out of the various health care conversations that are taking place on the Hill right now.
•• Sarah Palin (8/12/09) Concerning the "Death Panels".
443-452 – Calls
458-508 – Calls
512-523 – Tom Doyle, Director of International Ministries and Middle East Specialist for E3 Partners (e3partners.org, "Equip, Evangelize, Establish"), is the author of Breakthrough: The Return of Hope to the Middle East (goodnewsfromthemiddleeast.com), on his recent trip to Israel where we had to reschedule the interview because he had people listening in on his phone calls due to trigger words such as "Gaza." Interesting story!
TH 524 – [2:00] Don Rohde (818) 262-2092. For the past 37 years, Don has been a sales manager at Galpin, the #1 volume Ford dealer in the world for the past 19 consecutive years. Galpin has been family-owned and operated for the past 59 years, and 90% of their business is repeat or referral. Galpin offers Ford, Lincoln-Mercury, Honda, Mazda, Saturn, Volvo, Jaguar, and Aston Martin. Located in the heart of the San Fernando Valley at Roscoe and the 405.
528-538 – Bill and Pam Farrel are international speakers, relationship specialists and authors of nearly 30 books including their best-selling Men are like Waffles, Women are like Spaghetti. They're practical, personal and pretty humorous too – and, they are the real deal. Happily married for 30 years, with three kids, one of them a strong-willed A.D.D. athlete who's grown into a great leader, as have his two siblings. And like the rest of us, they have to juggle family, friendships and fun with making a living. They've got books, cd's, and videos, along with a bunch of free relationship resources at their website (farrelcommunications.com 800-810-4449). We talk about sex and romance out of their latest book Red Hot Monogamy.
539 – [2:00] Let's check in with the "pros" at Applied Financial Planning, "The Money Guys" Robert Micone and Bill O'Connor at 866-SEEK-COUNSEL or SeekCounsel.com. [Questions… 1) "Hey guys I've got some folks who'd like to know your take on what the bible's instruction on interest and speculation is?" 2) "Have you got some info on this for our listeners?] So get independent, unbiased advice on your investments and retirement planning from the "pros" in the investment world in Southern California for decades, "The Money Guys," Robert Micone & Bill O'Connor, at Applied Financial Planning, by calling 866-SEEK-COUNSEL or on the web at SeekCounsel.com.
544-554 – Bill and Pam Farrel
558-608 – Bill and Pam Farrel
612-623 – Bill and Pam Farrel
628-638 – Rob Bernabe (Reprise)
644-700 – Tom Doyle (Reprise)
• Alan B. Miller (8/13/09) Medicare For All Isn't The Answer: My company ran a hospital in London. We don't want to go the government route. Mr. Miller is chairman and CEO of Universal Health Services Inc.
• Hugh Hewitt (8/13/09) The Coming Referenda on Obamacare.
• Michael Barone (8/13/09) When Liberal Leaders Confront a Centrist Nation.
• John Boehner (8/13/09) Americans aren't going to buy health care spin, Mr. President. John Boehner of Ohio is the Republican leader in the U.S. House of Representatives.
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