White House flip-flop: Ok, ok, we’ll tell you which health execs we met
Transparency. Not because they really believe in it. But because they were threatened with an embarrassing lawsuit and the fear-mongerer-in-chief didn’t want to have to deal with questions about it last night.
Distraction, you know. Via Josh Gerstein:
Minutes before a press conference where President Barack Obama could have been asked about the issue, the White House released a list of visits by health care executives.
The Secret Service had earlier rejected a request for the same information, asserting executive privilege. The issue could have been an embarassment for Obama at the presser in light of his promises during the campaign to make public White House visitors and to conduct deliberations about health care in public.
The public interest group which requested the records, Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington, filed suit earlier Wednesday over the denial.
The list:
· Bill Tauzin visited the White House on March 5, May 19, June 2, and June 24.
· Karen Ignagni visited the White House on March 5, 6, and 11 and June 30.
· Richard Umbdenstock visited the White House on February 4, February 23; March 5, March 25, March 30; April 6, and May 22.
· J. James Rohack visited the White House on March 25, June 22, and June 24.
· William C. Weldon visited the White House on May 12.
· Jeffrey B. Kindler visited the White House on March 5, May 6, and June 2.
· Stephen J. Hemsley visited the White House on May 15 and 22.
· Angela F. Braly visited the White House on February 13.
· George Halvorson visited the White House on March 27 and June 5.
· Jay Gellert visited the White House on February 10, March 11, and March 20.
· Thomas Priselac visited the White House on April 3.
· Richard Clark visited the White House on March 24.
· Wayne T. Smith visited the White House on June 4.
· Rick Smith visited the White House on May 19 and June 2.
In addition to the above information, the White House visitor records reflect that Mr. Tauzin, Ms. Ignagni, Mr. Umbdenstock, Mr. Rohack, Mr. Kindler, Mr. Halvorson, Mr. Gellert, Mr. Priselac, David Nexon, and Rick Smith were scheduled to attend a May 11 meeting at the White House. We understand that all the individuals attended the meeting except Mr. Kindler, and that Mr. Clark attended as well. Finally, the visitor records do not reflect any visits by the following individuals: Ben J. Lipps; William A. Hawkins, III; or Robert L. Parkinson.
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I see the vitriol of Rahm Emanuel in that list: NO corporate affiliations listed anywhere, making reporters (and any interested parties) look them up themselves. How cute. How childish. Now, Rahm, go stand in the corner for ten minutes. You can practice your ballet steps while you’re there.
unless it involves the most secret of secret national security issue we the people should know exactly who does and doesn’t enter “our house”. Same with the morons in congress…no closed door meetings unless it involves national security at the highest level…let’s have total transparency of all governmental affairs!!
We gave up ” our house ” back in november.
It’s now the royal palace.
With over 30 czars to form the oligarchy.
The Hussein regime has apparently been working on this for some time.
Now it’s time to kill his dreams.
By the way, LGF2 (the blog where former members of Little Green Footballs went after Charles Johnson went crackers) has a great summary of HR 3200, section-by-section, and what it means to you.
WE need a Dr. FeelGood to visit the White House and give Dear Leader some strong sedatives–If Dear Leader then had a seizure falling on the floor and chewed a rug we would know where we stand.
With Biden and Pelosi next in line we need to supply Dr. FeelGood LOTS of sedatives.
By the way, even the normally supine AP found it necessary to Fact Check Obama’s Ass because of the lies he tried to pass off in the press conference.
Was Michael Jackson’s doctor there?
yes, and they are blaming him for the death of TOTUS.
To strengthen his credibility he should have invited Dr. Doolittle and Dr. Zeus, and, to explain the true nature of his plan he should had a presentation by Dr. Stragelove.
Who is this guy trying to kid?
Our “White House” is now The National Insane Asylum.
George Halvorson, Kaiser Permanente of California….I knew he was one of those going to the WH.
I work for this company, and it was broadly known and bragged about that the CEO had visited.
Of course, my opinion is that the Board should have thrown this guy out on is arse a long time ago. He cannot run a company worth beans. This will be his first years trying to continue to make enough money to keep things running. Non-profits keep saying they don’t have to make a profit, but ahhh yeah they do, if they want to stay in business.
We are on the cutting edge of Electronic Medical Records. Oh, and this company is based out of San Franciso.. just wanted to give a flavor of the ‘values’ meeting in the WH on medical / healthcare reform.
Coroner’s report on the death of TOTUS: Overdosed on lies. Little white lies, big ugly lies, whoppers, knee-slappers, bare-faced variety, half-truths (which are half-lies, BTW), fish-stories, bold-face lies, fabrications (big and small), noble lies, bluffing, war-stories (“There I was…”), lyin’ eyes…
“and the beat goes on, yes, the beat goes on…” Sonny & Cher
I think that only a wooden stake will work on Obama.
*&^)%$^#??+)*&^#$@^ is all I can say!
Babelfish won’t translate this, but I think I get the gist.
So that’s why you never see him around a mirror……..
Don’t forget Doctor Zhivago — an appropriate addition considering The Won is bent on remaking this country into another Marxist paradise,
The intro of the latest AMA Health System “Reform” Bulletin (quotations mine):
“Here’s your regular update on efforts by the American Medical Association (AMA) to work with lawmakers in reforming the nation’s health care system in a way that provides quality, affordable health care for all.”
One of the reasons that I finally canceled my AMA membership some time ago.
Yet, I am still sent these “bulletins”.
My first impulse was to unsubscribe from them…but, the thought hit me that these might help in some small way to see what the enemy (yes, enemy) is up to.
who are these people? no let me guess, they are ivy league professors in public policy. yes let’s all get our advice from people with zero skin in the game. tenured profs who get free health care through the university, which is funded primarily by tax dollars, giving advice on how to fix healthcare for the country. get the gubmint out of it, let individuals shop for their healthcare with tax deductible dollars, shut down medicare, remove all mandates from medicaid and let the states shut them down, and tell hospitals they don’t have to treat anyone who can’t pay for their services. you know, like a store.
MM… please add job titles and credentials to this cast of characters…
But….But….But…. that would mean individual responsibility for the outcomes …and having to think for ourselves without a gubmint administrator to help us …and not being able to just do whatever feels good …and not worrying about the consequences because the nanny state will coddle us and kiss the boo-boo on our widdle knee and sing us a gentle song and rock us to sleep at night and kick the boogeyman out of the house.
/sarc off
like my employer provided health care. I have a reasonable monthly deduction for myself and the kids (Mrs. Mahmoud covers herself), I have a reasonable annual deductible (my back X-Ray when I had the sciatica attack in June cost me over $100, because I hadn’t been sick yet), reasonable co-pay ($30) on my prescription blood pressure and cholesterol pills.
Obamacare makes getting new private insurance illegal. And my boss admits he’ll probably dump us if it is cheaper to drop us on Uncle Sugar. And I won’t have the choice of getting private insurance.
And the Demonrats lie and obsfucate on that point.
Most working people have ok health insurance, and to provide a minimum of care to the small percentage of the involuntarily uninsured by ruining it for the majority of Americans, stupid.
Of course, this isn’t about medical care. This is a power grab by a would-be communist dictator, trying to strip us of our citizenship, and instead make us all wards and servants of the state.
I think we should give a little credit to the reporters who seem to be finding their spine and asking “impolite” questions all of sudden. There was much less fawning last night.
Like my momma used to say to me when I asked for something extra when I brought home a report card with any ‘A’s. (very seldom by the way)
“You want credit for doing your job? You’re supposed to bring home ‘A’s! Now go clean your room!”
To be perfectly honest, my husband and I both have Medicare and it is good coverage. Of course, we have a very good supplement that picks up the differences and the deductibles. If it was Medicare alone, it wouldn’t be so good. We pay plenty, but without Medicare, we would be paying a heck of a lot more! My husband has had a couple major illnesses this past year or so. We didn’t pay hardly a thing!! He had 3 major surgeries, and was in a top notch medical facility special unit for 3 weeks. Most of the bills were paid for. It was truly awesome! We pay a lot for the insurance, but it has been worth it. Of course, Medicare is going broke and we will probably lose it. That will be hard on us. I could see a lot of waste when I spent all that time at the hospital. A LOT of waste that would make a difference in our costs!! But there are so many regulations about germs, etc. We took home tons of stuff that didn’t even have the boxes open, because they were in the room with my husband and he had an infection. They couldn’t re-use them, even though the boxes hadn’t been opened. Stuff like that.
In the former USSR, most doctors were women, because the pay for a doctor was barely higher than for a plumber, electrician or construction worker, and why would a man spend ten years training to be a doctor when he could spend a year as a journeyman apprentice and earn about the same pay.
The UK and Canada have to pay doctors something close to market price, lest they emigrate to the US. But when all the major English speaking countries go Marxist, then expect doctors compensation to start drifting down toward what the proletariat make, as their is no longer a safety outlet.
I do predict, however, a short term boom in medical office construction in border towns like Matamoros, Nuevo Laredo, Juarez and Tijuana, assuming Mexico can gets it narco-terror problems under control, as doctors flee to Mexico to treat patients who can afford better medical care than available under Obamacare.
Riding the bus home from the Pentagon one evening I struck up a conversation with a seemingly bright young lady who was working as an intern with a federal agency during her summer break from college (an Ivy League school, CRS prevents me from recalling which one).
I asked her what she wanted to do when she graduated and she replied, “Write policy for the government.”
When I asked, “What experience do you have to draw upon, other than your internship?” I got a blank stare in reply.
I imagine this young lady is currently right where she wanted to be and doesn’t have a clue about real-life experiences.
MM, it would be helpful to know something about this visitor list: Who are they, who do they work for or run, and what are their known political associations….thank you!
I think the list purposefully left off the corporate affiliation of each individual and agree with the #1 post by bradley. Shame on Obama for playing this game. Let the lawsuit continue!!
Are you serious? How stupid is this comment?
If your asinine definition of “case” was what happy was talking about, then she would be implying Obama could NEVER comment on it since there is always a record. How “case” equals “record” in your mind is baffling.
Uh…because he was arrested? I am not saying he is right. Sounds like he got beligerent. But I can’t for the life of me figure out why people want an apology when they feel they have been wronged.
Bradley, (#1) – brilliant observation!
http://tinyurl.com/mqswlo
If you have the time to read it I suggest you all do so. Hitler could have done a better job. This thing has end of life provisions pg 425 (insidious). It has a unconstitutional survivorship provision.
Page 60 deals with denial of medical services but when you get to Page 130 or so you find the scheme encompasses the use of Medicaid Agency Determinations but which to limit itself to exchange applicants not denial of service. So now it gets confusing because in place of the Medicaid / Medicare Hearing – it looks like it throws a denial of medical service straight into Federal Court, rather than a simple hearing.
It’s hard to list all the stuff they have in here that’s going to be fatal to some poor fool who doesn’t know his rights or gets an attorney who tries but just doesn’t understand this stuff enough.
Page 425 has an End of Life / Palliative Care Mandatory provision for the elderly. They must be “counseled” every 5 years or when a significant change occurs as when they are moved to an adult care facility or develop a substantial illness for example, – malignant meloma which is totally treatable and elderly patients who receive proper treatment live as much as 10 years or much more.
This stuff is just incredible. Who would write something like this? Where did they find these Congressional staff people – It reads like it came from some sort of Nazi sub group that quietly got ensconced in Congress.
By the way the sponsors of the this Bill are Waxman, Kennedy and a couple of others. It absolutely essential to get these people out of government, along with their entire staffs.
I don’t believe I’ve ever read anything like this before (in America anyway). The only thing you can do as you read this is laugh or when your jaw comes off the floor – say wow.
Oh and there is an education provision only for educational dollars to minorities. Now I don’t have a problem with that if it just wasn’t ONLY for minorities!
I like the part where government must be provided with access to the members bank accounts so as to receive direct deposit payments. The IRS code is also amended in that Government is entitled to obtain copies of your tax returns. HIPAA is also amended in that government is granted access to all of your medical records.
Is there any right that is not being signed away?
Anyway I suggest you all have a good stiff couple of drinks before reading!
Sorry. Wrong thread. But I hope our little e-tough fulldroolcup sees it.
Yah, WTF the comments seem to be closed in the Gates vs. Crowley thread.
Comments are closed on the Professor Louis Gates arrest Michael Graham was discussing the issue with Imus this morning and the subsequent mention of his arrest in the Obama press conference.
There is an excellent interview by Michael Graham linked in this post well worth the listen.
http://youhavetobethistalltogoonthisride.blogspot.com/2009/07/fox-friends-triva-question-for-july.html
“e-tough”. Trying to bait someone into a RL fight now are you?
Visitor bio’s
Billy Tauzin, President and CEO of PhRMA
Karen Ignagni, president and chief executive officer of America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP)
Richard J. Umbdenstock is the president and chief executive officer of the American Hospital Association (AHA)
J. James Rohack, MD, President, American Medical Association (AMA)
William C. Weldon, Chairman and chief executive officer, Johnson & Johnson
Jeffrey Kindler, the chairman and chief executive officer at Pfizer
Stephen J. Hemsley is President and Chief Executive Officer of UnitedHealth Group
Angela F. Braly is president and chief executive officer of WellPoint Inc.
George C. Halvorson is chairman and chief executive officer of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals
Jay M. Gellert is president and chief executive officer of Health Net, Inc.
Thomas Priselac is President and CEO of the Cedars-Sinai Health System
Richard T. Clark, Merck & Co.’s chief executive
Wayne T. Smith, Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, CHS/Community Health Systems, Inc., and Community Health Systems Professional Services Corporation
Richard J. (Rick) Smith, associate administrator of HRSA’s new Bureau of Clinician Recruitment and Service (BCRS), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
c’mon Chap. Are you calling fulldroolcup out for a RL meet, or are you just being all “e-tough” yourself?
I fixed the Michael Graham link
http://youhavetobethistalltogoonthisride.blogspot.com/2009/07/fox-friends-triva-question-for-july.html
This is soooo OT, but maybe Michelle will feel it warrants a specific thread.
That gal Hillary – bringing the world together the only way an adolescent can.
#38 appears to make my comments in 20 at least partially worthless. these people have skin in the game, and want to keep from getting skinned by the gubmint. these people are just high paid lobbyists for big medicine, getting oval office face time with the pres. i wonder if any future campaign contributions were discussed?
If my dog had this many blood sucking ticks, I’d just put it down.
Probably the first and last time I agree with the NK’S
Did Dick Cheney ever release the list of his visitors involved with his Energy Task Force?
jim m: Has Obama kept ANY of his campaign promises?
You first. After all, Dick Cheney’s task force was at least four years ago.
No, he hasn’t. How’s that for an answer?
But the task at hand was “to develop a national energy policy designed to help the private sector, and, as necessary and appropriate, State and local governments, [to] promote dependable, affordable, and environmentally sound production and distribution of energy for the future.”
On the other hand BO is attempting to pass legislation where the gubmint takes over a MAJOR portion of the nation’s economy.
Policy is one thing, laws are another.
Would you rather have a policy shoved down your throat, with no legislation to enforce it, or just have the legislation crammed up another orifice, like the POTUS is trying to do to us now?
Now, about my question, are you going to answer it?
Do we really want him to?
jim m: Cat got your tongue? Dog eat your keyboard? Going to answer the question?
BAL: No, I just wanted to highlight what a flip-flopper the POTUS is…
Establishing policy means establishing laws. They’re by and large one and the same.
See this link: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises.
This newspaper thinks Obama has already kept about 30 promises.
jim m: I beg to differ — While law can compel or prohibit behaviors (e.g. a law requiring the payment of taxes on income) policy merely guides actions toward those that are most likely to achieve a desired outcome.
Compelling someone to act a certain way or prohibiting an action is a lot different than guiding them to take or avoid an action.
Most American citizens are compelled to pay their taxes or suffer the penalties for not doing so — unless you are in the Obama Adminstration.
On the other hand, a policy aimed at encouraging commuters to take public transportation has no ‘direct’ penalties for using private transportation. ‘Indirect’ penalties would be imposed to get people to comply with the policy, e.g., ‘laws’ incentivizing carpools, higher gas taxes, etc. But, it isn’t against the law to go against the policy aimed at cutting traffic congestion (unless you drive by yourself in a carpool lane).
BTW, according to the link, 6% of his promises have been kept (37) with nearly the same number (29) ‘compromised, broken or stalled’ is not a great record considering he has (according to the site) made 515 promises. Let’s see how he is doing in six more months — make sure you get back to us on that.
jim m: In the meantime, are you going to acknowledge the differences between policy and law?
Obama and the DemocRats are trying to shove a law onto Americans, Cheney was merely attempting to establish policy. There is a difference, no matter how you try to spin it.
And she desperately needs a fashion consultant. Orange pants suit? Come-on!
Well…he DID promise to re-make this country.
happyscrapper: If he broke that one, I would be happy like you!
Thank you Tazed and confused for the info about these people…the only person I think I recognize is Billy Tauzin, whom I belive to be a former democrat congressman from Louisiana…am I right?
Hillary Clinton should be wearing an orange prison jump-suit…just my thoughts.
That’s him… read on…
Tauzin was a democrat before he was a republican before he was a healthcare jockey. I’m surprised Hussein hasn’t gone after Tauzin for his extraordinary level of personal income.
Sorry but maybe I’m missing something here. What exactly is the beef? That they met with these people AND didn’t release the information OR that he met with these people?
In forming health care coverage policy why would I be upset that the President met with people in the health care industry?
my concern is that these are the people who the gubmint will be regulating, and in this face to face time, was the question of contributions discussed? if i get a call into the white house and the prez says i’m going to nationalize your business, i might see if i could induce another outcome with the mother’s milk of politics. chavez understands it, and so does castro. obozo doesn’t strike me as any different.
Was wondering today, what would you guys think of some plan that worked like this.
Doctors (and nurses and physicians assistants) would be allowed to form medical cooperatives… sort of like private practices, with a few incentives to get them to care for those who can’t afford insurance.
1. 20% of their care must go toward providing basic services to those who can’t afford insurance (who would be issued Federal Medical cards confirming program eligibility). The cost of routine office visits, check-ups, pre-natal care, tests, and so forth is fully deductible from their business taxes. The Federal government starts a program to pay for more involved treatments.
2. In return for keeping at least 20% of their practice focused on the needy, they receive immunity from malpractice suits, except in cases of gross negligence. Suits involving allegations of gross negligence must be cleared by a panel of independent doctors.
This is in addition to my previous idea where the Federal Government creates a public insurance plan to care for certain high-expense, catastrophic health events like cancer and organ transplants.
“i might see if i could induce another outcome with the mother’s milk of politics.”
I find it hard to believe all of these folks are the kind of folks IF Obama was pulling Chicago extortion politics given the nature of the beast regarding the health care industry that none of them would complain.