Obamacare May Target Gun Owners

by Jillian Bandes at Townhall.com

Who might be the next victim of Obamacare? Gun owners.

Government health care reform “will most likely dump your gun-related health data into a government database…that can preclude you from owning firearms,” said Gun Owners of America, in an email notification to their members, shortly before the health care debate on Saturday. GOA said that diagnoses such as post-traumatic stress disorders or other mental illnesses could be a reason the government uses to charge you more for health insurance under the public plan, or as part of co-op regulations.

Larry Pratt, executive director of GOA, said the chances of Uncle Sam using his power to regulate health care based on gun ownership was even better because Kathleen Sebelius is the head of the Department of Health and Human Services, the agency that would be in charge of specific health care regulations and their enforcement. Sebelius has a long anti-gun history, responsible for vetoes of concealed carry bills in Kansas.

“Gun owners are likely to be in there with fat people,” said Pratt.

It wouldn’t be the first time gun ownership has been tied to health regulation. GOA claims that over 150,000 vets with post-traumatic stress disorder are currently on a list that prohibits gun purchases. But Obamacare would expand government health care to millions of additional Americans.

Calls to Sebelius’ office were not returned, though a member of her press office laughed out loud when questioned about the prospect of health care being tied to gun ownership, saying, “that’s crazy.”

But Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies at the Cato Institute, said such regulations were quite possible. The problem stems from government’s overriding cost-benefit assessments and their take on health issues.

…More

Americans Afraid of Government Run Health Care

Bill Smith, ARRA Editor: If the media was reporting the truth – it would have the following headline: “Americans Afraid of Government Health Care.” With the rising outcry by the public, even Democrats are now concerned with the number of their constituents saying hold it — we can’t afford any more debt and why should we trust the government to interfere with and or run private health care. President Obama, Sen. Harry Reid and Speaker Nancy Pelosi wished to push through national health care quickly. Now they are concerned the delay will allow the truth to be shared.

One major truth is that the majority of Americans fear the government running anything including their private health care. However, many individuals felt alone in their feeling that things were amiss — after all President Obama continues to hold press conferences demanding that they cooperate and that health care must be changed right now! This same pattern has been previously used with respect to global warming (cap-in-trade), the failed stimulus, and bailing out the banks and auto industry. Everything had to be done quickly without even elected congressional representatives and Senators reading the bills. Unfortunately, Reid and Pelosi are denying almost 40% of the U.S. Senators and 41% of Representatives input to the legislative process other than voting.

However, with the delay in passage of health care, groups representing the viewpoints of the majority of Americans are getting the word out in spite of the delay in the truth by government influenced media. As an example, consider the CATO Institute which will be releasing an advertising campaign to highlight the under-reported poll data by the media which has really shown that majority of Americans are concerned that current health care reform plans will raise costs, limit choice and reduce the quality of their health care.

Health care reform is needed. However, reforms that increase the role of government and an already massive federal budget deficit – as many proposals would – are bad medicine. The Cato Institute is undertaking nationwide outreach on how free-market reforms, increased consumer choice, and energized competition – not more government control – improve health care’s quality and affordability. This includes outreach through national newspapers and radio stations, and a new web site of key resources. Below is part of the proposed ad:

Your New Doctor?
What really matters is who decides. Under reform proposals before Congress, government would take over more and more of your health care decisions. Whatever it’s called—socialized medicine . . . government-run health care . . . “a public plan”. . . individual & employer mandates — it’s bad medicine.

In a recent national survey* 4 out of 5 Americans were concerned that government run health care would:

REDUCE HEALTH CARE QUALITY

INCREASE COSTS

LIMIT CHOICES OF DOCTORS

INCREASE THE FEDERAL DEFICIT

There is a better, uniquely American solution: freedom. Freedom to choose your doctor and health plan. Freedom to spend your health care dollars as you choose. Freedom to make your own medical decisions. Freedom to keep a health plan you are satisfied with. View Cato’s full page health care reform ad

Who are the fear mongers?

#TCOT #diggcons

The dems are screeching from every platform in America about the inevitable destruction of life as we know it if we don’t all lay down and let them steamroll us with what Michelle Malkin has suitably titled The Generational Theft Act of 2009.  Obama’s was out the other day guaranteeing us trillion dollar deficits for the foreseeable future, but telling us we should be afraid of what would happen without them.  Without digging the deficit hole so deep our great-great grandchildren may not refill it in their lifetimes, things could get really bad according to the President-elect–even dire.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) tells Americans to trust the politicians who passed the laws, catered the corruption, and ignored the warnings that led to our economy’s current unstable foundation–they can fix it.  Reminds me of the movie “Fast Times at Ridgemont Hight” when Shawn Penn wrecked the football star’s car and said “I can fix it.”  She says we shouldn’t fear mortgaging our grandchildren’s future, but be very afraid of not being able to buy a new big screen TV this year.

If you’ve read my other posts regarding the bailout/stimulus/Socialist spending plans the last few weeks, you already know where I stand.  Ronald Reagan said it best when he said, “Government takes from the needy and gives to the greedy.”  Fred Thompson does a great job explaining why this plan-to-save-us-from-certain-death is fundamentally flawed here.  And you can see another great explanation of the fallacy of Keynesian economics from Dan Mitchell of the Cato Institute in this video.

What, you still don’t believe those folks know what they’re talking about?  Well, how about two UCLA professors who studied the Great Depression and concluded that Roosevelt’s policies didn’t save us from the Depression, they made it worse!  Again, thanks to Michelle Malkin for bringing this study to light.  These two professors, from UCLA (not a right-wing think tank by any means) mind you, set out to find why the Great Depression lasted soooooo loooonng and discovered FDR’s attempts to stimulate the economy actually stifled it!

Their conclusion:

“Ironically, our work shows that the recovery would have been very rapid had the government not intervened.”

Yet, here we go again. Using the same flawed logic and theory that FDR used to make a bad depression worse, Democrats are trying to strike fear of the alternatives into the hearts of Americans.

We need to work hard to make sure these idiots only control all three branches of government for 2 years or the human race may be extinct before we can recover from their stimulus.

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Related Posts

Flashback: UCLA study on FDR’s growth-stifling policies–Michelle Malkin

Nancy Pelosi: Stop talking about the cost of the stimulus!–Michelle Malkin

When Tax and Spend Liberalism Meets Bankruptcy–Blogs for Victo(R)y

CAP: The Country Needs More Bush/Obamaism–The Foundry

The Fallacy of Keynesian Economics

Dan Mitchell of the Cato Institute does a great job explaining why Keynesian Economics can’t work.

Surely, even the dimmest of big government advocates can understand this.