Research

The American Hospital Association is running ads with “Thank You” notes for vulnerable Democrats who voted against their constituents and supported government-run health care. But not all hospitals are happy with the new law, which put their fates in the hands of the federal government. The bill includes over $150 million in cuts to hospital payments through Medicare and Medicaid, and hospitals across the country, especially rural ones or those which serve a larger number of Medicare patients, are facing a real crisis.

Molly Sandvig, the executive director of the Physician Hospitals of America said ObamaCare “[c]ould cause some hospitals to wither on the vine, restructure, sell or die…” because of new restrictions and regulatory hurdles. You can read all about them in a story in Gary, Indiana’s Post-Tribune.

The passage of Obama's health care bill brought with it an additional $570 billion worth of taxes on everything from your employer, your investments, your doctor, your medical devices (like wheelchairs), and if you fail to purchase government approved insurance, you as well. While on a campaign stop in North Carolina, in his continuous push to improve this job-killing bill's public image, he was asked by a woman in the crowd “whether it was a 'wise decision to add more taxes to us with the health care' package.” The Washington Post reports the following bizarre response:

He then spent the next 17 minutes and 12 seconds lulling the crowd into a daze. His discursive answer - more than 2,500 words long -- wandered from topic to topic, including commentary on the deficit, pay-as-you-go rules passed by Congress, Congressional Budget Office reports on Medicare waste, COBRA coverage, the Recovery Act and Federal Medical Assistance Percentages (he referred to this last item by its ... more

President Ronald Reagan once joked, “The 10 most dangerous words in the English language are, ‘Hi, I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help.’”  Well, in today’s Wall Street Journal, Obama Commerce Secretary Gary Locke does his best attempt to deliver those 10 words with a straight face with “Don’t Believe The Writedown Hype:”

President Obama began his campaign to reform the American health-care system focused on three goals: protecting Americans' choice of doctors and health plans, assuring quality and affordable health care for all Americans, and reducing costs for families and businesses.

The new comprehensive health-care legislation meets these goals, and will significantly benefit American businesses by slowing and eventually reversing the tide of crippling premium increases washing over our nation's employers.

The reality is, unfortunately, that Sec. Locke’s words are rightly delivered on April Fools’ Day, because they are an attempt to fool the American people into ... more

Today, Obama will meet with labor leaders, CEOs, small business owners, and policy experts to discuss workplace flexibility because “[m]illions of women and men across the country struggle to balance the demands of their jobs and the needs of their families.” The first discussion item should be repealing and replacing the government-run health care experiment he just signed into law, because its new mandates and taxes reduce flexibility for businesses, families, and states.

To learn more, take a look at our Research Briefing, “No Flexibility.” To see how businesses are reacting, take a look at our Health Care Pulse Check, “Job Creators Planning Layoffs.”

President Obama and Nancy Pelosi’s Congressional Democrats decided not to listen to Americans. Instead of heeding their constituents’ advice to work with Republicans on common-sense reforms to our health care system, they decided to shove through their government takeover of health care. Now that Obama’s government-run health care experiment is the law of the land, Americans are calling for Republicans to fight against it. Republican leaders are offering their ideas on how best to repeal the bill and replace it with true reform. Here’s a quick look at what they are saying:  

• Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana wrote “the overall direction of the bill is to empower government, not patients.”
• Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana warns ObamaCare will inevitably lead to state tax increases, pushes tax credits to buy health insurance.
• Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana says ObamaCare turns it’s back on the tradition of “limited government,” should be replaced with “common-sense market solutions.”
• Rep. ... more
  
  

President Obama was in Iowa today to attempt to sell the government-run health care experiment he signed into law on Tuesday. The event was significant because he returned to the place where he laid out his plan for a government take-over of one sixth of our economy. But a funny thing happened between his campaign and his presidency, since the law he signed is very different from the plan he proposed. In fact, Obama campaigned against many of the elements in his bill. See for yourself why Obama should tell Iowa voters he’s sorry in our Research Briefing, “I-OWE-AN Apology.”

About a year ago, Obama said “you can measure America’s bottom line by looking at Caterpillar’s bottom line.” How is Caterpillar’s bottom line? Here’s how the company reacted to Obama’s government-run health care experiment:

Caterpillar Inc. said Wednesday it will take a $100 million charge to earnings this quarter to reflect additional taxes stemming from newly enacted U.S. health-care legislation. … [C]aterpillar has argued that higher taxes and other potential cost increases related to insurance coverage mandates in the legislation will hinder the company's recovery this year after a 75% plunge in income during 2009. “From our point of view, a tax increase like this cannot come at a worse time,” said Jim Dugan, a Caterpillar spokesman.

But a company doesn’t have to be a major multinational corporation like Caterpillar to get hit hard by the job-killing taxes and regulations in Obama’s government-run health care experiment. Even seasonal tourist businesses like ski resorts are ... more

Now that Obama has signed his bill to take-over the health care industry, the Senate is debating a secondary bill that further increases taxes, further cuts Medicare, and expands the government encroachment to take over the student loan industry. Democrats have not been shy about promoting ideas that expand the government’s control over the lives of every-day Americans, but they are rarely as blatant as Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) was in a recent interview on a Detroit radio station:

The harsh fact of the matter is when you’re going to pass legislation that will cover 300 [million] American people in different ways it takes a long time to do the necessary administrative steps that have to be taken to put the legislation together to control the people.

“Put[ting] legislation together to control the people” is an excellent summary of the Democrat agenda. They’re restricting freedom across the board, and the only way to stop it is to fire Nancy Pelosi by defeating Democrats at the polls ... more

This afternoon, Obama signed part 1 of his government-run health care experiment into law. As the Democrats celebrate their latest government takeover, we can’t help but ask “What’s To Celebrate?” After all, the bill Nancy Pelosi rammed through on Sunday will hurt Americans because it’ll raise their premiums, raise their taxes, and put government bureaucrats between them and their doctors.

Over this past year, Democrats didn't listen to the American people’s rejection of the Obama-Pelosi government-run health care experiment, and they’re not going to start now. Instead, they’re going to talk about what happens now. We’ve seen their talking points and noticed that they’re missing several key points. To see what Americans can really expect, check out our Research Briefing, “5 Things That Will Happen Now.”

The best way to prevent more government takeovers is to fire Nancy Pelosi and elect Republicans to fight for common-sense solutions. To help us out, visit FireNancyPelosi.com.

When Nancy Pelosi’s campaign of arm-twisting was coming up short on Saturday, she turned to Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI), who was the ringleader of a small group of Democrats who opposed Obama’s government-run health care experiment and its funding for abortion. Unfortunately, his opposition was in name only, since he and six of his colleagues decided to support the bill anyway, with nothing but a promise from President Obama that he wouldn’t use public funds for abortions.

Pro-life organizations opposed the switch, with the Susan B. Anthony List going so far as to rescind an award they were preparing to give Rep. Stupak in a few days. Instead, they have vowed to defeat Reps. Stupak, Driehaus (D-OH), Kaptur (D-OH), Rahall (D-WV), Mollohan (D-WV), Dahlkemper (D-PA) And Donnelly (D-IN) in November.  Defeating these seven Democrats is key to ensuring our goal to fire Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House in the next Congress. Head to FireNancyPelosi.com to help out, and read our Research ... more