Support the Efforts of These Two

[Terry Britton]

Senator Coburn took my Twitter message that as far as what should be good for the public should also be good for those representing us, or the "What is good for the goose, should also be good for the gander clause." Well, this clause was introduced in an amendment to the committee.

On Tuesday, the Senate health committee voted 12-11 in favor of a two-page amendment, courtesy of Republican Tom Coburn which would require all Members of Congress and their staff members to enroll in any new government-run health plan. Congressman J...John Fleming has proposed an amendment that would require Congressmen and Senators to take the same health care plan that they would force on us. (Under proposed legislation they are exempt.) Congressman Fleming is encouraging people to go to his Website and sign his petition. The process is very simple.

http://fleming.house.gov/index.html

Senator Coburn and Congressman Fleming are both physicians.


Senator Coburn can be followed and reached on Twitter via @TomCoburn

[Gerry Clinchy]

Under the Baucus proposal, if they want a luxury plan, the company that would provide it would possibly have to pay an excise tax on it ... which, of course, would be passed onto the consumers.

I wonder exactly what it costs taxpayers for the plan Congressmen/women get now? Has anybody seen the # anywhere?

If they Congress is asked/made to take a decreased benefit level than what they now have (unless they pay for additional themselves), that would really get their attention, I think. It would, of course, be in the interest of offsetting the impact of more universal coverage to the deficit. Only appropriate that they should experience the recession like the rest of the citizenry.

[Gerry Clinchy]

I received a video e-mail. It was not specifically labelled, but appeared to be a legislative inquiry in Florida about the cost of medical care for illegals. It appears to have been some time in 2007 or later (as some statistics from 2007 are mentioned).

The business manager of what is called a "small" hospital (Martin Memorial Medical Center of Martin County, FL) testified to some of their problems with treating illegal aliens (they use the term "undocumented").

One patient from Guatamala was treated from 2001 to 2003 at a cost to the hospital of $1.5 million (give or take). Finally, they were able to return the patient to Guatamala, (at the cost of $30,000 to the hospital) but have spent and additional $1/4 million in defense of a lawsuit brought by the patient's family here in the U.S. who believe they should not have returned the patient to his/her home country.

Another patient from Mexico had similar treatment costs, was brain dead, but the hospital could get no help to return the patient to Mexico from either INS or Mexico. There were no family in the U.S.

At the time of the hearing, 6 patients from Mexico were receiving dialysis 2X/week at the hospital. INS was not interested in these undocumented people since there were no crimes involved. Simply being undocumented was not sufficient as a "crime".

I could understand not being able to locate undocumented aliens, but evidently even when INS finds them they do not have the resources to devote to deportation unless there are crimes that aggravate the presence of these illegals.

The woman further stated that estimates for Florida, alone, for medical care of illegal aliens is around $100 million annually. I'd guess that some other border states would have equal dollars; some maybe more. That could sure go some distance to fixing Medicare money problems?

Makes me believe that any medical care proposal that comes from Congress will not be very successful in controlling costs in any significant way until they are committed to solving this problem first. I think most Americans are pretty generous in helping people who are down on their luck. There are surely plenty of citizens who could use such help.

[Pat G]

Thanks for the link Terry, Senator Coburn is a class act.
Pat