Dispatches From The Front

Friends -

Thank you for your support of the "Free Our Health Care NOW!" petition. More than 870,000 Americans have joined you in saying "NO!" to the federal government becoming their health care provider. We now have a tremendous opportunity! The probable delay in the vote until September in Congress allows you to use the tools available below in "What can you do about this?" to educate everyone you know.

Your continued support is crucial in the fight against nationalized health care. In the last week, the proponents of nationalized health care have continued to champion legislation which will increase cost, limit choice and decrease quality of your health care. Please continue to tell your network, friends and family that government-run health care is a threat to the quality of their health.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that ObamaCare will cost over $1 trillion. Notwithstanding President Obama's promise to oppose legislation "if that reform adds even one dime to our deficit over the next decade," the CBO estimates that recent House proposals will increase government spending by $1.04 trillion. Additionally, as for the Administration's most recent cost-savings plan - to create an independent advisory council to set Medicare fees - the CBO concluded that "the probability is high that no savings would be realized".

ObamaCare will dramatically reduce the choices you have over the cost and quality of your health insurance plan. Here's how:

• ObamaCare will create an artificial market called a Health Insurance Exchange. The mandates the Exchange imposes will reject plans that don't 'measure-up' to the federal government's expectations for health care plans. As a result, millions of Americans will be forced to abandon their current plans and to accept a plan that they do not want or need.
• Additionally, ObamaCare will create a board of bureaucrats empowered to define which health benefits are "essential". However, these "essential" benefits may exclude health care which most Americans and their doctors believe are essential - such as MRI scans and blood tests.

The bottom line: Under ObamaCare, Americans will face higher taxes and receive less take-home pay - all for a health insurance plan that forces them to pay for benefits they do not want and refuses to pay for procedures their doctor may recommend.

What can you do about this?

• Use the Action Pack http://actionpack.ncpa.org to sign the petition, to print the petition or to access our Learning/Teaching Tools about health care so that you can educate your friends, family and neighbors.
• Send NCPA Health Care Solutions to everyone. http://www.ncpa.org/pdfs/Health_Care_Solutions_072909.pdf  
• Go to The Heartland Institutes site for more health care solutions www.chcchoices.org
• Send a copy of the proposed government-run plan to your lists http://docs.house.gov/gopleader/House-Democrats-Health-Plan.pdf

Thank you again for your support of the "Free Our Health Care NOW!" and for fighting against nationalized health care.

Jeanette Nordstrom
National Center for Policy Analysis
www.ncpa.org