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by Jack
Last night Doug LaMalfa, our new Republican Congressman from the 1st District was in Chico for a Town Hall meeting to discuss ObamaCare aka The Affordable Care Act.
This was a tough subject for a public meeting, even for a seasoned legislator. But, for a newly elected Congressman, well, let’s just say there were times when it got downright ugly and confrontational… and a learning experience for the Congressman!
The hostility began right from the start when the Congressman made a little negative quip about ObamaCare that would have drawn smiles and a little applause at a GOP meeting, but this was an open meeting and the democrats didn’t find his comment amusing at all and they let him know it! And so it began, off to a bad start.
The crowd was made up of about 1/3rd older conservatives and of course they were polite and they followed the rules. There were some of our local democrat activists, a few folks from the League of Women Voters, a few members from Butte Taxpayers Alliance and they were all behaving themselves too.
Then there was about a 3rd of what I will call politely as ill informed voters. Nah, I call them what they were… loud mouthed, dolts! They spouted off enough to degrade the exchange of information and tick people off.
We heard briefly from the Congressman, the retired doctor who was his guest and Sen. Jim Nielsen, but it didn’t seem like we got much in the way of substance because of the disruptions and people talking over the speakers.
People were asked to write down their questions and the Congressman would address them, much like we do at City Council Meetings. That didn’t work too well this time. The rude bunch frequently didn’t want to wait their turn and shouted or kibbutz’d from their seats or name called the speaker of the moment. Sadly, there was too much interrupting going on and only this angered people who getting pretty fed up with (presumed) democrat supporters in the room.
I was disappointed because of the shouting, and especially the really stupid comments from the loud mouths. This prevented us from learning more factual, partisan neutral information.
Want an example of the stupid comments? Okay, when the retired doctor was saying that nobody in this country is ever denied medical treatment, this older, fat hippie looking guy wearing wife beater shirt and a headband, shouted out, “Liar, my son was denied treatment and I was, blah, blah, blah…!” He soon faded off as as a request for order came from a woman in the audience. Truth is, nobody is denied emergency, or life saving treatment at a hospital in America. They can be heavily fined if they didn’t provide immediate treatment for such people and that’s a fact that takes just a 30 second phone call to the hospital to prove! Extended care treatment has to be set up with medicare or medical. So the fat stinky hippie guy, (I’m betting he was on welfare) was running his mouth and he didn’t know what he was talking about. Those kind of outbursts really got to me and I could tell it was wearing a little think on Congressman LaMalfa too, because he fired back at times. The nay-sayers in the audience were very disrespectful to the Congressman, the Senator and the doctor.
After the meeting I talked briefly with Congressman’s mom and she was a little distressed how the meeting went. I tried to console her that this meeting was unusual, that it had attracted a lot of rude people who were there just disrupt and there will be better meetings in the future. I came away not really learning much more about the Affordable Care Act than when I went in…and that was a shame. This is something we all needed to know, because it’s about to change how medicine is practiced in America.
I cannot begin to express my disappointment in La Malfa. What a complete tool. He is a perfect example of corporate welfare with all of his rice subsidies and voting to keep them for himself.
The town hall last night was a sham for all sides. There was nothing there for people like me who feel they are conservative, but have the same concerns as most Americans in regards to health care. I think it is terrible in this country that hard working people cannot afford medical care. I spend a fortune on health insurance (and this has been going up and up and up long before Obama) and I spend a fortune when I actually have to go to the doctor or hospital. I spend hundreds a month just for insurance. Not health care, not medicine, just insurance for my family. This doesn’t cover glasses or dental, that is a lot more and for little coverage.
So when I listen to fat cat La Malfa, who has a large family who not only lives on government subsidies, but who also collects $174,000 a year for working 126 days and has premium health coverage I get a little disgusted with my representation. If La Malfa thinks government insurance is so bad why doesn’t he decline his and spend his own money on buying insurance for his wife and kids? And how can he bring speakers who are obviously biased and have them talk to us like we aren’t living in the real world?
I voted for this clown and he went right to Washington and voted in his own best interests, not mine. I want the Republican party to represent me, but they have to do something besides repeal Obamacare, it needs to be replaced, we need to do something because it is not right that we work as hard as we do and have to scrimp and save just to take our kids to the doctor and get prescriptions.
The only hope there is is that Americans will become sufficiently educated so that the demand for freedom and free markets will overtake the hand-out mentality that keeps citizens voting for “free” stuff. As we are all experiencing “free” stuff is very, very expensive and becomes more expensive as time goes by.
May I suggest this article and graph? It shows the rapid rise in cost since 1965 when government inserted itself between the consumer and the providers of health care?
Prior to 1965 Americans purchased insurance for protection against financial ruin. They paid for their yearly healthcare needs out of pocket. The poor were provided healthcare in community supported teaching hospitals and by generous doctors who negotiated a price and payment schedule for their services.
Princess the plan is there to move America toward a system using market forces. The will of the people is needed to get the job done in Washington.
I hope that among the “hecklers” at the meeting with La Malfa were voices demanding repeal and replace.
This country has survived under the worst of conditions and come back stronger but only because the people were interested in freedom, personal responsibility and capitalism.
Seventy plus years of progressive experimentation and indoctrination is between us and a more favorable and equitable system. We can’t just complain we must educate…we must overcome the indoctrination. Its a big job and its our only hope.
I will reserve further comment until Jack completes his report.
I am tired of hearing that no one is denied care at the emergency room. First, emergency rooms are overcrowded because of this which means if you have an emergency or are in pain you are waiting longer so people with non emergency conditions can be treated. Why do we have to wait for something to be an emergency to get it treated? We should be able to get affordable health coverage to treat non emergency medical issues. My husband had unexplained agonizing pain in his leg. Even though we both work and have health insurance we still paid hundreds of dollars towards our large deductible to get tests and treatment and prescriptions while the doctors figured out what it was. We already pay hundreds a month for insurance.
La Malfa addressed none of this with his town hall. He started out with the total attitude that Obamacare is crap (which it is) but does not address the real concerns of his constituents. The people in that audience were certainly rude, but I feel that people are desperate. More and more people that I know work, and their kids are sick and they have to worry about getting treatment or paying for braces etc. Which would be fine, but we are already paying hundreds for insurance that covers nothing.
Many of the doctors in this country were educated in public universities. Our tax money is already subsidizing their educations and yet insurance companies make all the money.
I don’t know what the answer is, but La Malfa made it clear to me that he is not worried about his constituents and why would he worry about health care when he has the best coverage available?
I keep hearing the GOP didn’t have a health care plan so went looking to see if they did or not. It took some digging, but I found the House did pass HR 2, on Jan. 19, 2011. Of course it didn’t go anywhere in the Senate.
I’d love to see each and every item become our new HC plan and ObamaCare, which was passed without a single republican vote and shoved down our throats, repealed.
Check them out.
IN PROGRESS: On January 20, 2011, the House passed H. Res. 9, a resolution instructing House committees to develop legislation replacing the job-killing health care law. Committees are currently doing their work to hold hearings and examine solutions to lower costs, increase access to quality care, and strengthen the doctor-patient relationship.
Enact Medical Liability Reform:
Skyrocketing medical liability insurance rates have distorted the practice of medicine, routinely forcing doctors to order costly and often unnecessary tests to protect themselves from lawsuits, often referred to as “defensive medicine.” We will enact common-sense medical liability reforms to lower costs, rein in junk lawsuits and curb defensive medicine.
Purchase Health Insurance across State Lines:
Americans residing in a state with expensive health insurance plans are locked into those plans and do not currently have an opportunity to choose a lower cost option that best meets their needs. We will allow individuals to buy health care coverage outside of the state in which they live.
Expand Health Savings Accounts:
Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are popular savings accounts that provide costeffective health insurance to those who might otherwise go uninsured. We will improve HSAs by making it easier for patients with high-deductible health plans to use them to obtain access to quality care. We will repeal the new health care law, which prevents the use of these savings accounts to purchase over-the-counter medicine.
Ensure Access for Patients with Pre-Existing Conditions:
Health care should be accessible for all, regardless of pre-existing conditions or past illnesses. We will expand state high-risk pools, reinsurance programs and reduce the cost of coverage. We will make it illegal for an insurance company to deny coverage to someone with prior coverage on the basis of a pre-existing condition, eliminate annual and lifetime spending caps, and prevent insurers from dropping your coverage just because you get sick. We will incentivize states to develop innovative programs that lower premiums and reduce the number of uninsured Americans.
Permanently Prohibit Taxpayer Funding of Abortion:
We will establish a government-wide prohibition on taxpayer funding of abortion and subsidies for insurance coverage that includes abortion. This prohibition would go further and enact into law what is known as the Hyde Amendment as well as ban other instances of federal subsidies for abortion services. We will also enact into law conscience protections for health care providers, including doctors, nurses, and hospitals.
http://www.gop.gov/indepth/pledge/healthcare
The GOP knows they don’t have a replacement option. Do you hear anyone talking about their replacement? Not just the pathetic media which would rather talk about Miley Cyrus for days instead of talking about what actual Americans want; but the Republicans on Sunday tv shows are talking about repeal, offering no replace. I am more focused on La Malfa because he supposedly represents me and had my vote but he is already a disappointment. I don’t need another mouthpiece for John Boehner, I was kind of hoping he would go there and have a little courage. Instead, he is loving life with his farm subsidies, his excellent health insurance and his light work schedule with over 200 days off during the year. Last night he didn’t need to be Boehner’s yes-man, he could have shown up and listened to people and offered some suggestions. His speaker did not represent real-life Chico that I see and hear every day.
Jack, I agree with a lot of your articles, this one how ever I would like to adjust a bit, “Obamacare”, the “affordable car act” is neither AFFORDABLE nor does it CARE, it is just a act of shoving a poorly written scrabble of disconnected Liberal wants down the tax payers throats for the Glory of Obama.
Doug, who I am sure got a clear idea of the type stupid low informed who only support ideology and ignore the effects of lousy law making. This Obamacare was poorly cobbled together, and now being poorly executed, if only for political reasons. The only clear message coming from this mess of Obama’s is showing the country what a bunch of half wits they elected to Congress.
in regards to the morass of hecklers that disrupted the purpose of the meeting with such idiotic BS as your example. Question, did they leave a mess for someone else to pick up like the DC bunch? and I guess Duffy’s must have lost a lot of business for a while.
Princess, you lie.
I demand proof you ever once voted for a Republican in your entire pathetic existence on this planet.
All you ever do is bitch, bitch, bitch about conservatives and Republicans.
You are a typical Obama supporter who most likely votes straight Democrat ticket.
You are so far left that I would bet a bundle that you are probably ecstatic about the communist homo crap going on in California and cannot wait for Jerry Brown to run for president in 2016.
Conservative my ass!
Princess you are one tenacious lady. If that energy could be trapped and used to force political will we could actually rid ourselves of this monstrous law.
If I were La Malfa, however, I’m not sure I’d know what you want and expect. He didn’t make this mess and he sure as heck doesn’t have enough power alone to do your bidding. It’s too bad the disruptions prevented a useful discussion so you would know where he stands. After reading Jacks article I am not at all surprised that you came away dissatisfied.
The Republican Study Committee has a plan targeted to be introduced in the fall:
Roll Call
House Republicans have voted 40 times to repeal Obamacare but with the current gridlock….
Princess, I’m with you on the media, Boehner, Congress and Doug if he’s in lock-step with Boehner. If Doug isn’t going to represent us then he needs to go and replaced with someone who will. And if they don’t either they need to go too.
If Doug has voted to get rid of ObamaCare he should have the you-know-whats to vote to not fund it. Walk the walk – period!
What I wanted to point out is the Republicans have developed a plan we’ve heard little to nothing about. Instead of letting the Democrats say they haven’t being met with deafening silence the Republicans should be speaking up and letting everyone know what they’ve presented. If they have, I haven’t heard them.
@Gate
Spoken like a true man of Christ…Watch out, Princess might just demand proof that you are a “born again Christian”.
#10 Alex
I am sure that when Christ was turning over tables and whipping the lot of moneychangers with a whip, many present were asking a similar question of Him.
“Where is the proof this man is from God?”
When in fact, He is God Himself.
When Godly men get pushed to the brink, sometimes they can act very ungodly.
One thing you can count on from me, I am the same today, yesterday, and will be the same forever.
If you have any doubt about where I stand, just ask my good friend Tina.
Time for a good laugh and cry at getting what we asked for.
http://www.ijreview.com/2013/08/75488-video-50-dumbest-democrat-quotes/
Keep in mind that Obamacare is based on the 1989 proposal by Stuart Butler at Heritage Foundation. This was also the model for Mitt Romney’s health care plan in Massachusetts.
Is the individual mandate at the heart of “ObamaCare” a conservative idea? Is it constitutional? And was it invented at The Heritage Foundation? In a word, no.
The U.S. Supreme Court will put the middle issue to rest. The answers to the first and last can come from me. After all, I headed Heritage’s health work for 30 years. And make no mistake: Heritage and I actively oppose the individual mandate, including in an amicus brief filed in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to the Supreme Court.
Nevertheless, the myth persists. ObamaCare “adopts the ‘individual mandate’ concept from the conservative Heritage Foundation,” Jonathan Alter wrote recently in The Washington Post. MSNBC’s Chris Matthews makes the same claim, asserting that Republican support of a mandate “has its roots in a proposal by the conservative Heritage Foundation.” Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi and others have made similar claims.
The confusion arises from the fact that 20 years ago, I held the view that as a technical matter, some form of requirement to purchase insurance was needed in a near-universal insurance market to avoid massive instability through “adverse selection” (insurers avoiding bad risks and healthy people declining coverage). At that time, President Clinton was proposing a universal health care plan, and Heritage and I devised a viable alternative.
My view was shared at the time by many conservative experts, including American Enterprise Institute (AEI) scholars, as well as most non-conservative analysts. Even libertarian-conservative icon Milton Friedman, in a 1991 Wall Street Journal article, advocated replacing Medicare and Medicaid “with a requirement that every U.S. family unit have a major medical insurance policy.”
My idea was hardly new. Heritage did not invent the individual mandate.
But the version of the health insurance mandate Heritage and I supported in the 1990s had three critical features. First, it was not primarily intended to push people to obtain protection for their own good, but to protect others. Like auto damage liability insurance required in most states, our requirement focused on “catastrophic” costs — so hospitals and taxpayers would not have to foot the bill for the expensive illness or accident of someone who did not buy insurance.
Second, we sought to induce people to buy coverage primarily through the carrot of a generous health credit or voucher, financed in part by a fundamental reform of the tax treatment of health coverage, rather than by a stick.
And third, in the legislation we helped craft that ultimately became a preferred alternative to ClintonCare, the “mandate” was actually the loss of certain tax breaks for those not choosing to buy coverage, not a legal requirement.
http://mittromneyandhealthcare.blogspot.com/p/romneycare-vs-obamacare.html
“A recent article in The New Yorker magazine states that “Romney had accomplished a longstanding Democratic goal – universal health insurance – by combining three conservative policies.” In other words, Romney had beaten Democrats at their own goal of providing universal health insurance. But Romney’s novel approach accomplished this goal not with a government takeover, but with conservative principles. The success of Romney’s healthcare law led many Democrats to consider adopting a similar approach to achieving universal health insurance.
The article goes on to say that in 2006 when Romneycare was passed, “most conservatives praised Romney’s plan.” The Bush administration sent a letter praising the passage of the new law. An often overlooked fact is that without the support of the Bush administration, Romney’s healthcare law never would have become a reality.
The Boston Globe editorial board recently published an article defending Romneycare on conservative grounds. The editorial board states “the role Romney played on the state level was skillful, creative, and business friendly. Romney was a governor sensitive to business concerns and worried about the state’s business climate.”
It is often asserted that Romneycare is the same thing as Obamacare, but this is simply not true.”
Mr. Butler thank you very much for posting a response to Post Scripts that clarifies the issue with authority!
The most obvious difference with Romneycare is that it is done by the state. Those in Massachusetts who don’t like it have an option…they can move to another state!
Progressives don’t dare compare by noting the differences in the two plans; it would expose the ugly, destructive, expensive, rationed, result that Obamacare will impose on the American people.
Jack, did Doug say how he’d voted on the ObamaCare repeal bills and if he was going to vote to defund it?
Our mutual friend and I were going to go, but she had a medical emergency.
Oh yes, the welcoming GOP, where if you don’t follow every idiotic talking point they tell us we “vote a straight Democratic ticket.” As far as I’m concerned La Malfa is a Democrat. A real conservative is not going to defend his rice subsidies or the fact that our Congresspeople work less than 200 days a year, gets excellent benefits and does nothing.
The truth is that the Affordable Care Act was supposed to help Americans. And it will help millions of Americans become insured. Hooray! But what are we doing for the millions of Americans who actually work? Who already buy expensive insurance? The hatred expressed towards me by GATE because I actually pay attention is what we can expect from all of our politicians these days. I have actually looked at buying insurance for my family on the California exchange in October. It is affordable. A family of four can make up to $96,000 and still buy a very affordable policy on the exchange.
But not me. Because my employer offers insurance that the ACA deems to be affordable for me. Even though the insurance offered for family coverage is not affordable using their formula because it is for me I can’t buy on the exchange. What Obamacare has done is continue to punish the middle class with this plan.
This should not be a Democrat or Republican issue. The issue is two-income families in America should not have to pay $1,000 a month for insurance coverage that covers very little. So far the only benefit of Obamacare for me personally is I didn’t have to pay for my kids physicals this year. My husband works for a big insurer. All they have done is figure out how to get around Obama’s mandate that they spend 80% of their money on healthcare and only 20% on administration. Loophole city. And the stuff that is mandated to be covered at no cost is great, but stuff that used to be covered is no longer covered so people are getting big surprises when it comes to blood tests and other diagnoses. Obamacare is a massive giveaway to the insurance companies and the taxpayers continue to pay through the nose.
The automatic discounting of a person who is a Democrat is really disturbing to me. We all live in this country and we are all being hosed by the corrupt politicians. As I pay my insurance premiums every month and my big out of pocket expense on top of that, I think about that massive NSA building in Utah, and how I didn’t see any debate in the House or Senate over funding it. We managed to come up with billions of dollars for that with no fanfare or discussion.
Princess are you aware that in the last farm bill passed in the Senate 80% of the trillions allocated to be spent over ten years was for food food stamps?
Not only are they spending massive amounts of money, they are fudging to the public on how its spent.
We have given them this power over decades and generations because we failed to value freedom and dependency on ourselves and each other.
Do we really imagine that undoing it will be easy?
We each have to find ways to educate ourselves and future generations or we might as well quit complaining and relent. We are the problem and only we can fix it.
Jack: “Okay, when the retired doctor was saying that nobody in this country is ever denied medical treatment, this older, fat hippie looking guy wearing wife beater shirt and a headband, shouted out, “Liar, my son was denied treatment and I was, blah, blah, blah…!” He soon faded off as as a request for order came from a woman in the audience. Truth is, nobody is denied emergency, or life saving treatment at a hospital in America. They can be heavily fined if they didn’t provide immediate treatment for such people and that’s a fact that takes just a 30 second phone call to the hospital to prove! Extended care treatment has to be set up with medicare or medical. So the fat stinky hippie guy, (I’m betting he was on welfare) was running his mouth and he didn’t know what he was talking about.”
Wait, which is it? Which did La Malfa say? Did he say “nobody in this country is ever denied medical treatment,” or did he say “nobody in this country is ever denied *emergency* medical treatment?” Because first you say he said the first one, then you act as if he said the second. If the first thing you wrote was what he actually said, then the rude stinky hippy was correct, and La Malfa was wrong. The hippy may have still been rude, but when someone makes a statement as dumb as “Nobody is ever denied medical treatment” in front of people whose family members have been denied medical treatment, then the anger is understandable.
Princess: “As far as I’m concerned La Malfa is a Democrat. A real conservative is not going to defend his rice subsidies or the fact that our Congresspeople work less than 200 days a year, gets excellent benefits and does nothing.”
Princess, I think you should listen more to what Democrats (the people of the party more so than the politicians “representing” us) are saying about these issues. Progressives are the loudest voices railing against farm subsidies and the short work schedule of our politicians.
As for Gate, he said it himself: he has always been the same, and will never change. That means he is, always has been and always will be a nasty bigot who won’t tolerate even the smallest deviation from the party line. In his eyes, criticizing Republicans makes you a Democrat. You are either with him or against him. There’s no room for in-between in his worldview, it’s all black and white. And he thinks God is on his side.
Sound familiar?
I guess the “fat hippie” is supposed to be automatically taken at his word. We know nothing about him…and yet he is, by implication, an icon in defense of single payer?
We have no idea whether this man works or has ever worked. If he’s an older “hippie” its not like he hasn’t had several decades to establish himself in a good paying job with benefits. How diligent has he been about working and saving for his future? Did he live for today, hand to mouth, spend on frivolities and save nothing?
If he’s just a guy down on his luck in this lousy economy can he qualify for Medicaid (but maybe he doesn’t realize it)? If he does qualify for Medicaid, I believe there is a clinic in Chico that takes Medicaid patients during the day, by appointment. If he works but has no insurance has he even tried to find a doctor that would take his family on a cash/payments basis or does he just show up in emergency out of convenience to him?
Has he abused the emergency room and received services without even attempting to make payments to pay off his growing bill?
Is he an out and out activist liar at the meeting only to hassle LaMalfa?
If the guy has done everything he can and is truly desperate he might consider looking for a job close to Sacramento where his family could utilize the teaching hospital at Davis. Since California is such a stupid state he might consider moving to Texas.
It is astounding that the only solution for some people is getting the government to fix their problems. We’ve indulged this thinking for so long that we are becoming like the USSR before its collapse. Obama’s policies have already driven prices up and destroyed millions of jobs. Unless we as a nation embrace freedom, work, and personal responsibility…unless we choose to be productive people creating a thriving economy… the day will come when government won’t be able to deliver even basics like bread to a wimped out citizenry with its hand out. How stupid we have been to believe that our futures depend on a big bloated bureaucracy.
Hospitals cannot deny people emergency services…the purpose of “emergency” rooms.
They have also gone ahead and treated a lot of people who go to emergency for things they could take care of during the day at a doc in the box clinic…we have several in Chico.
I find the article offensive. I find the fact a Phony town hall of prepared propaganda attracted people to rise against the Tea Party Machine of lies. Americans are tired of both Parties and the real grass roots are the independents who are willing to discuss facts, corruption, Citizens United, Democracy will be taken back. As far as La Malfa, I find him taking subsidies and saying what they tell him to. Ever look at what kind of rice he grows and who actually eats it?
Doug is a failure. Impeach the ass.