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This country deserves a respectful, honest debate about health care. And the hundreds of townhall's Members of Congress will be hosting across the country this August are just the place for that conversation to happen. Here are just five questions Americans should be pressing their elected leaders on over the coming month:
Can you promise me that I will not lose my current plan and doctor?President Obama says it is "not legitimate" to claim the "public option is somehow a Trojan horse for a single-payer system."
But Reps. Barney Frank (D-MA), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), and Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman have all admitted that the public option will inevitably lead to government-run health care. The independent and non-partisan Lewin Group estimates that about 83.4 million people would lose their private insurance if Obamacare became law.Can you promise that you and your family will enroll in the public plan? Members of Congress and their families currently receive health care through the popular, and completely public-option- free, Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) which allows members of Congress to choose between 283 private health insurance plans. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) proposed an amendment that would require all members of Congress and their staffs to enroll in the newly-created public health insurance plan. His amendment passed by just one vote in the Senate Health Committee. In the House, Rep. Dean Heller (R-NV) offered a similar amendment and all 21 Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee voted it down. If the public plan is so great, then Members of Congress should by willing to forfeit their private coverage and join the millions of Americans who would be moved into the public plan.
Can you promise that Obamacare will not lead to higher deficits in the long-term? President Obama said that he would not support health care legislation that would add to the national deficit. But Congressional Budget Office director Douglas Elmendorf has stated that the House health care legislation would "generate substantial increases in federal budget deficits during the decade beyond the current 10-year budget window." To help Obama keep his promise, Rep. Patrick Tiberi (R-OH) offered an amendment that would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to submit an annual report to the President and Congress, comparing the expected revenue and spending under the bill's provisions for the upcoming 10-year period. In the event that projected spending under the bill outpaced revenue, the Secretary would have to reduce spending so that it would not exceed revenue. Democrats defeated Tiberi's amendment.Can you promise that government bureaucrats will not ration health care for patients on the public plan? President Obama promised on July 22 that health care reform would keep the government out of health care decisions, but both the House and Senate bills call for an increased role of comparative effectiveness research (CER). More information on health care effectiveness is good as long as doctor's and patients are the ones empowered to use that information. Conservatives in both the House and Senate offered amendments prohibiting the use of CER by government to mandate, deny, or ration care. These anti-rationing amendments were defeated in both the House and Senate.
Can you promise me that my tax dollars will not fund abortions? The House bill, as currently drafted, allows the Secretary of Health and Human Services to outline the minimum benefits that must be included in any health plan. There is no specific provision in the bill that would require insurance coverage of abortion. However, since the decisions over benefits are left to the Secretary of HHS, with recommendations from a newly created Health Care Benefits Advisory Committee, there is nothing to prevent the current or future Secretary from including abortion coverage in Americans' health insurance. Conservatives in both the House and Senate offered amendments that would prohibit the use of taxpayer dollars to fund abortions. The tax payer funded abortion bans were defeated in both the House and Senate.
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Yesterday at our monthly meeting we received a good bit of information regarding what is going on in our country. Cliff told us of numerous organizations that are geared toward helping each citizen who wants to do something to help us get out of this mess we are currently in. We have posted two new links to organizations, Campaign for Liberty at www.campaignforliberty.com and We the People at www.givemeliberty.org that are like minded in restoring the United States back to where our fore-fathers' Bill of Rights and Constitution intended us to be.
And as I added afterward, that we all need to do our civic duty and continuously contact our civil servants at all levels and tell them where we stand. Not just on biker issues, because any loss of freedom or rights applies just as well. I have been reading Senator Jim DeMint's book Saving Freedom and he also states time and again, that if the people do nothing, their civil servants do what they want or mostly what the lobbyist want who are paid to be there beating down their doors, which is not necessarily in the best interest of the republic or the people.
As most of you know I work in a bar and of late all that the patrons talk about is politics and how they are against the things happening in our country and to their freedom. I ask them, "what are you doing about it?", most reply, "I can't do anything, they don't care what I think." Well how canthey know or care if you don't tell them? They work for you. If your boss never told you what and how they want things done, would you not do whatever is easiest for you? Hello!
So, all I am saying or should I say "asking", is that each and every member of our chapter write a brief letter each week, letting your civil servants know how you feel about what is happening in your world. Each of us has differeant issues that are important, but I believe we all are striving for the same end result; Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
E-mail a copy of your letter to gcabatesc@earthlink .net and we will post it here or for more discussion and information join our Yahoo Group at http//groups. yahoo.com/ group/ABATEofSC
All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent. ~Thomas Jefferson
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JOIN ABATE BECAUSE...
- you are a concerned biker, a concerned citizen, parent, or partner.
- you want to have your voice heard in government.
- you want to make a difference.
- you care about the issues that affect your liberty.
- YOU ARE MADDER THAN HELL AND DON'T WANT TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!!
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Read more... [Why Join ABATE? - ABATE of South Carolina, Greenville County Chapter]
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Membership
- Membership dues for single (A) members are $20.00.
- Membership dues for couples sharing the same household (A and B members) are $30.00.
- Children of A members under 18 and sharing the same household as the A member are entitled to a free associate membership with no voting rights.
- New A and B members are entitled to receive one free membership patch.
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Read more... [Policy & Procedures - ABATE of South Carolina, Greenville County Chapter]
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