Muzzling ObamaCare Critics – by Floyd and Mary Beth Brown

muzzle

Barack Obama and sneaky congressional leaders don’t want you to know what’s in ObamaCare. They have made it clear that they will hide all the details from you. When Sen. Jim Bunning offered an amendment that would have required that the language of the bill be made available to the American people 72 hours prior to a vote, Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee squashed it.

It’s becoming more apparent that Obama and his allies in Congress don’t want the American people to know or read or hear anything negative about ObamaCare. They are willing to shut down debate by any means necessary.

We believe they are laying the groundwork to enact ObamaCare in the dead of night, under the cover of darkness before any of us are any the wiser.

Michael Franc, writing for the Heritage Foundation’s blog, The Foundry, gives us the details: “During the Senate Finance Committee mark up of the Baucus health bill… Senator Bunning of Kentucky put forth an innovative amendment. This amendment stipulated that before voting on the measure in Committee, legislative language would have to be accessible to the public for 72 hours and that the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) would need to publish an official tally of how much this bill will cost the American people and what the real impact will be on health costs.”

Franc continued: “The amendment failed 11-12 on nearly a party line vote. Senator Blanche Lincoln (AR) was the sole Democrat to support this attempt at transparency. The bottom line: when the committee completes its work on this re-make of one-sixth of our economy, Senators will have voted on a phantom – a bill that does not exist with costs that are unknowable until, that is, the unelected legislative draftsmen write the real bill in some back room on Capitol Hill.”

It’s bad enough when our federal legislators vote on bills they have not even bothered to read. But to actually start “negotiations” on 200 pages of notes and ideas on a bill that has not even been written? Then in the heights of arrogance, they squash an amendment that would require them to give you 72 hours to read what will likely be thousands of pages before they vote on it.

But what’s even worse, Obama is trying to muzzle, and intimidate, those who dare to speak out against ObamaCare.

Managed care provider Humana published a letter to its members warning them of potential drastic cuts to Medicare (specifically the Medicare Advantage program) under ObamaCare. It urged its members to contact Congress.

Specifically, Humana said; “if the proposed funding cut levels [in the current health care legislation] become law, millions of seniors and disabled individuals could lose many of the important benefits and services that make Medicare Advantage health plans so valuable.”

It was a very valid point to raise as such proposals are on the table, and it makes all the sense in the world to alert people to what is going on and motivate them to call their elected officials. But it didn’t take the long for our government to come down hard on Humana. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) initiated an investigation and sent an ominous gag-order to Humana:

“As we continue our research into this issue, we are instructing you to immediately discontinue all such mailings to beneficiaries and to remove any related materials directed to Medicare enrollees from your Web sites.”

And Sen. Max Baucus demanded that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services launch an “investigation” against Humana as well, claiming the letter put forth “false information.” Baucus snidely asked, “Does the First Amendment include lies?”

Of course, there’s just one small problem with Baucus’ ranting accusation. Humana was voicing an opinion that was well grounded in fact. Bob Ellis with Dakotavoice.com wrote: “Even the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) confirms what the White House doesn’t want to get out, with CBO head Douglas Elmendorf telling the Senate this on Tuesday.”

If nothing else that has transpired up to this point has convinced you that ObamaCare must be rejected, these shenanigans should.

  • Proxywar

    A gag order? Well this is tyranny. But I don't see how they could place a gag-order on Humana. What did he do wrong? Even if he is lying so what? Free-speech doesn't matter when it's the opposite side. We should just all become terrorists maybe that way Obama & the Left will respect us.

  • gstasse

    What's even more shocking than the left's tireless efforts to obfuscate, threaten and lie whenever challenged is that they don't realize this is precisely what happens in dictatorships throughout history. Threats can be verbal or physical; the former very easily leads to the latter.

    This is the same left that screamed censorship during the Bush years, when they wallowed in bizarre paranoia about the war, foreign policy, race, gender, the environment (especially the environment) and spending, knowing there would be no camps, no jails, wiretaps, secret police or whatever waiting for them.

    The left follows Alinsky's rule of doing that which they accuse others. They have no clue that the Humama case is a canary in the coal mine. They have no clue that, in the linear projections of this administration toward dictatorship, they will be among the first in those camps (HR 645, courtesy Alcee Hastings, D-Fla), just as the true believers were after the Russian Revolution.

  • patriotwork

    The unspoken,hidden radical green agenda in Obamacare is to use health care to lessen our human enviromental footprint by reducing our reproduction rate and decreasing our longivity,our lifespans.

  • http://www.tarandfeathers.shugartmedia.com/ Tar_and_Feathers

    And liberals wonder why some of us invoke the term “Nazi.” Baucus is promoting bold and naked tyranny. If he had his way, he'd forbid any speech he judges to be false. Just what we need–an American Ministry of Truth: “We're the government–truth is what we tell you it is.”

  • 080

    However much they try to hide it the cat is out of the bag. The Federal Government will now administer your health care besides financing it. Your doctor will be reduced to a functionary who will follow Federal Government protocols. Health care will be rationed. Your doctor will be the agent of the government not yours. When they finally succeed in giving health care for free (single payer) the health care system will more and more resemble the educational system where the government finances, administers and gives its services away for free.

  • WFB2

    “The bottom line: when the committee completes its work on this re-make of one-sixth of our economy, Senators will have voted on a phantom – a bill that does not exist with costs that are unknowable until, that is, the unelected legislative draftsmen write the real bill in some back room on Capitol Hill.”
    ———————————
    Outrageous! The MarxiCrats are simply writing themselves a blank check to do whatever they want, whenever they want and to whoever they want. Worse, this can all be done by stealth by unaccountable individuals and sub-committees in middle of the night transactions. This has to be un-Constitutional (or do we still have a Constitution?)

  • bubba4

    But we have to reform Medicare as well. Insurance companies don't want any reform, so they lie and say that this reform of Medicare will mean cuts to it.

    The CBO's report on earlier bills didn't say anything about Medicare.

    “if the proposed funding cut levels [in the current health care legislation] become law, millions of seniors and disabled individuals could lose many of the important benefits and services that make Medicare Advantage health plans so valuable.”

    This is a lie. These two FPM writers can say this is their opinion all day long, but an insurance company cannot send out mailers lying about legislation. Sorry.

    Why don't you just keep lying about it on FPM for them…thanks.

  • http://www.humanacom.net/ Alex

    Thanks for this information . It is useful for me.