God Didn’t Make Cop-outs

By Sonja Roberts

October 29, 2009

     Like it or not, God has given us the undeniable right to choose.  Christians say we’re all born sinners.  Okay, if you want to look at it that way.  I say we are all born with the capacity to choose between what is right and what is wrong.  It is a fundamental fiber of our existence; a God-given right.  Try to imagine not ever knowing that you are born with a God-given right to choice.  You are free to choose God or to reject him, but you always have that choice.

     As far as I’m concerned, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi committed fraud on the American people when she insinuated that government-run healthcare is “not really a public option, it’s a consumer option.”(CBS News, 10/27/09)  There is no real competition, and, therefore, no choice, in government and it is ruthless and shameful for anyone, especially a leader of a free nation, to suggest otherwise.  If the government provides an “option” that, using the words of Bill O’Reilly, “they manage to cobble together that has the same benefits and is cheaper” than what is available in the private market, then why on earth would anybody choose the more expensive “option” in the private market?  You see, the government can pick its own prices and undercut all of its competition.  They have the hard earned money of all of us at their full disposal.  Hence, the demise of the private sector and the government’s slow, progressive overtaking of the health care industry will have ensued.

     Regarding the health reform debate currently underway, there really is no genuine pursuit of what is supposed to be affordable health care for all for two main reasons: (1) the current anti-competitive environment of hospitals and health insurance carriers and (2) the lack of legislative competency in Congress on how to partner with private enterprise to come to genuine solutions for the American people.   It is quite clear that state regulators have failed to protect their constituents from non-competitive business practices.  They have either not enforced laws intended to protect consumers or they have approved legislation that helps hospitals to get ever and ever larger.  By eliminating the opportunity for new competitors to enter the market and by gobbling up whatever competition they do have, our health care delivery system, hospitals, in cahoots with state legislators, are driving up the costs of our health care.  Why else would there be legislation currently attached to the health care bills that would reverse protection that the health care industry has enjoyed, but by not properly enforcing anti-trust legislation at the state level.

    What appalls me the most is how the bureaucrats in Washington think they are the answer to our problems.   On October 14, 2009, Fox News had Olympia Snowe (R-ME) on to discuss her positions on the health care legislation.  She said, “It’s up to us here in Congress to resolve this.”  I strongly disagree.  It is up to the American consumers to resolve this.  We must take responsibility for our own health care and stop allowing the government to continuously increase its presence in our health care decisions.   This is not to mention the role of licensed health insurance agents and brokers.  You might not completely agree that providing health insurance to families and individuals as well as to employees through employer sponsored plans is being in the health care industry.  But, wait a minute, it most certainly is.  My colleagues in the health insurance brokerage business have spent an enormous amount of time studying the intricacies of employee benefit plans and understanding how to tailor those plans to meet the needs and budget of employers and employees.  They have the degrees, certifications, and licenses required under the law and required to meet their clients’ goals to show for it.  Undoubtedly, there are flaws in the current payment and delivery systems of health care.  But, to suggest that politicians sitting in a back room led by a Chicago-groomed manipulator are able to serve the best interests of their constituents is, quite frankly, ludicrous.

    Until Congress and the White House administration is ready to sit across the table from real Americans who are knee deep in the very health care delivery and payment systems that they are trying to usurp and to try to help resolve issues surrounding them, Congress needs to turn the lights off and go back home.  Until Congress and the White House administration are willing to leave the actual health care decisions to doctors and their patients and to the appropriate managers of patient care, Congress should stop wasting tax payer money on proposed legislation that will never serve nor be acceptable to the majority of people of the United States of America. 

     Evidence of health plans that are working without the use of traditional insurance carriers abound.  Take for example the success of the Samaritan Ministries, a health care sharing ministry as highlighted on ABC News on September 28, 2009. (Samaritan, 9/29/09)  Shawn Degenhart, a Samaritan member, said “We can go to any doctor, hospital or ER we choose and receive whatever care that is available to us.”  However, Samaritan Ministries pointed out in a news release following the ABC World News’ broadcast that they failed to include critical components of the interview related to the impact of the health reform debate on sharing ministries.  James Lansberry, the Samaritan officer who was interviewed, said in the follow-up press release that “We remain concerned about how those who are paying their bills without using health insurance will be affected by the proposed legislation, and are working to protect our members as the legislation is completed.”  Lansberry went on to explain how sharing ministries work for high-cost incidents.  He said, “People should know that each of the ministries has shared single needs in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and is sharing millions of dollars in needs each month.”  A Samaritan member posted online “my needs were FULLY met…With the discounts I was able to garner for being self-pay we were completely covered…All using the doctors of MY choice at the hospital of MY choice.”

    Mr. Landsberry is absolutely correct.  Self-insured plans such as the Samaritan Ministries are under attack in the current legislation.  Mike Ferguson, Chief Operating Officer for the Self-Insurance Institute of America (SIIA), wrote in a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid on October 19, 2009, that “major changes to the operation of self-insured plans would increase costs for plan beneficiaries… [These] additional costs and burdensome requirements would lead many plan sponsors to simply drop their plans altogether, thus severely limiting one’s ability to “choose” to keep the coverage they like.”  Mr. Ferguson goes on to say, “For the last 35 years, self-insured plans have covered hundreds of millions of American workers and their families with a successful record of ensuring that the consumer protections of beneficiaries of these plans are maintained.”  The latest SIIA Legislative Update on Healthcare Reform posted on-line on October 26 says, “The threat to the self-insurance industry and the employer-based system under which we operate in has never been more significant. Now is the time to voice our powerful and unified voice to politicians in Washington that we will not stand for any proposals that would cause significant damage to our industry and to those lives we cover.”

    The opaque legislation currently being churned out behind closed doors has every potential of diminishing the health and livelihood of the very consumers and small businesses that are the lifeline to economic recovery.  According to House Republicans as stated on gop.gov, the health care bill could impose roughly $208 billion in new taxes on businesses that cannot afford to pay for their employees’ health care, which would result in the loss of an additional 5.5 million jobs.  This is like giving a death sentence to small businesses, especially in the current economic climate.  As the House Republicans point out, small businesses represent 99 percent of all businesses in the country, have historically employed half of the U.S. workforce, and have created more than 72 percent of new jobs across the country.  When you place all of these unrelenting burdens on the innovative, entrepreneurial spirit of the American people, who will be available to help us compete in an increasingly global economy?  Instead of ensuring Americans can continue to prosper, current legislation cripples our ability to even survive.  Finally, as posed on gop.gov, “Why are Democrats pushing a government takeover of health care that will inflict harm on small businesses and make job losses even worse?”

    If you are not yet convinced that we are in the fight of our lives to protect our individual freedoms, I would like for you to consider the perspective of a Russian immigrant.  Svetlana Kunin describes what it was like growing up in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic in an article she wrote for IBDeditorials.com, published August 20, 2009.  She writes that “Life in the USSR modeled the socialist ideal.  God-based religion was suppressed and replaced with cult-like adoration for political figures.”  She goes on to say “In the USSR, economic equality was achieved by redistributing wealth, ensuring that everyone remained poor, with the exception of those doing the distributing.”  Finally, she stresses “Government-controlled health care destroyed human dignity.”

    Now, are we willing to sit idly by while our freedoms are systematically usurped?  Or, are we prepared to dig in and stand up for our individual liberties?  Are you going to sit there and let the world go on around you? Or, are you going to engage?  Are you going to protect your God-given rights for individual choice and freedom?  Or, do you want to watch this country slide down the slippery slope towards the fate of millions in oppressed nations?

    Here are five things you can do, every day from now until the light shines at the end of the tunnel if you can.  If you can’t do all things, pick one or two, but your challenge is to do something!

1. Pick up the phone and call (202) 225-3121, the main number for Congress – the Senate and House – in Washington, DC.  You will be asked for your zip code, after which you will be connected directly to your representatives.
2. Write a letter to Congress:  Check out www.congress.org, a free public service of Capital Advantage, where you can opt to have your e-mail message hand-delivered to their Representative or Senator’s office on Capitol Hill.  You don’t even have to use a stamp!
3. Join an on-line community such as www.faith2action.org, www.asamom.org, or www.freedomworks.org, where you will find like-minded people willing to help you join in the fight.
4. Find out when the next event is going on in your area to defend the principles of the Constitution and GO!
5. Pray for the future of our country.

    Stand up for your freedoms and for those of your fellow Americans.  The time is now for us to come together and Take Back America!  I am leaving you with a prayer I’ve repeated more than the number of fingers, toes or whatever that you can count on your person times at least a hundred, courtesy of Napoleon Hill:

“Oh Infinite Intelligence, I ask not for more riches, but for more wisdom, with which to make better use of the blessings with which I was endowed at birth, through the privilege of embracing my own mind and directing it towards ends of my own choice.  Amen.”

     Sonja Roberts is a Consumer Rights Activist who has over ten years of consumer products experience.  Sonja is married with two energetic and loving children, ages 1 ½ and 3.  She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, graduating from James Madison University in 1995 with a double concentration in Finance and International Business and a minor in Spanish.  Her experience since graduating was originally focused in the areas of forecasting and operations for large consumer products manufactures within the textile industry in the southeast.  This experience is coupled with over four years of consulting for Capgemini U. S., where she helped nationwide retailers implement upgraded Human Resources, Payroll, and Employee Benefits systems.  In 2006, Sonja moved to Great Falls, Montana, where she entered the health insurance industry.  She now works for a small brokerage that offers health, life, and disability insurance to groups and individuals.  Sonja believes strongly it is the responsibility of companies to operate in the best interests of their employees and their end users.  She believes that in so doing, companies thrive and grow from the inside out.  Sonja can be contacted at sonja4health@gmail.com.  You can also find her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/sonja4health.

The letter I’m faxing to members of Congress today, October 23, 2009:

Attempting to pass a socialized health care plan AGAINST THE WILL OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE is a horrific assault on the future of this country.  Rasmussen reports today, October 23rd, that 49% of the people prefer that you DO NOTHING!  Only 39% think the current effort is better than doing nothing.  And, I question that those 39% have been fairly and accurately informed of the consequenses of the opaque legislation currently being churned out insidiously behind closed doors. 

According to Rasmussen, COST, NOT universal coverage, is the top priority for most voters, and 54% favor middle class tax cuts over new spending on health care.

I REJECT any socialized plan that takes away my right to choose (by including a public option, or individual mandates), or dramatically increases the reach and size of the federal government. The American people want less government-not more!

American taxpayers are already being crushed under the weight of too much taxation and a swelling 10 percent unemployment rate, now is not the time to pass a health care measure that some estimates suggest will take 13 percent of our household income to fund!

Listen to the voice of middle-class Americans who are demanding you REJECT this mad dash toward socialized health care.

Please know that I am carefully monitoring your actions regarding this bill and communicating results where ever and whenever possible to as many people I can reach in this new age of technology, SO HELP ME GOD!

ALERT:  Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) are planning to offer amendments this morning in the Senate Finance Committee markup, proposing to add a “strong public option” to the pending health reform bill.  Over the next several hours, we need to contact committee members and their offices to emphasize our strong opposition to the Schumer and Rockefeller amendments

We need to do 2 things:

1.  As Montanans we are extremely important in this bill.  It is, after all, our Senator leading the way.  We need everyone who believes strongly in this to EMAIL Sen. Max Baucus staff members for the finance committee, at the addresses listed below and tell them who you are, where you live, and what you think in the next few hours.  Please copy me so I can keep a tally of the emails. [gloughlin@nwhp.com]

2.      We need to CALL SEN. BAUCUS’s Office to let him know directly how we feel!  We need to do this NOW.  Time is critical!!  The number is 202-224-2651.  Let’s get active in the debate!  America needs agents who understand that reform is good, bad reform is terrible to let our elected representatives hear from us.

A few points to consider:

Government-run Health Plan Option:

End of Employer-based System, Increase Costs for Individuals

and Taxpayers, and Turn Back the Clock on Quality

 Dismantling Employer-based Coverage:More than 165 million Americans rely on

employer-provided health care coverage. The Lewin Group projects that up to 120

million people would move from private health insurance into a government-run plan that

pays Medicare rates and as many as 97 million would shift to a government run plan if it

paid Medicare rates plus ten percent. This violates the shared commitment to ensure that

those who like their coverage can keep it.

 Exacerbate the Hidden Tax on Individuals and Families: In the current system,

individuals and families pay a hidden tax of more than $1,500 on their premiums to offset

underpayments to providers from Medicare and Medicaid. A new government-run

program would exacerbate the underfunding of providers, increase individuals and

families premiums by more than $526 per year and leave fewer people with private

coverage to offset this growing cost-shift.

Add additional liabilities on the federal budget: Low provider reimbursements from

Medicare and Medicaid are currently offset by employers, individuals and families who

pay a hidden tax to cover the cost-shift. A new government-run plan would drive out

private coverage, leaving hundreds of billions of dollars in new liabilities that would have

to be added to the federal budget to avoid bankrupting hospitals across the country.

 Patients’ Choices of and Access to Health Care Will Suffer: Many Medicare

beneficiaries today have trouble locating a primary care physician that will accept new

Medicare patients. Enrollees in the government-run health plan would experience similar

difficulties in locating a participating physician who is taking on new patients or long

wait times before a patient could visit a doctor.

 Turning Back the Clock on Quality, Care Coordination, and Disease Management:

Health plans have pioneered programs to improve the quality and affordability of health

care coverage, such as developing provider networks, implementing tiered drug

formularies, pursuing administrative simplification projects, managing treatment for

patients with chronic conditions, and implementing pay-for-performance initiatives. The

Medicare program, meanwhile, has had virtually zero innovation since its inception

nearly 45 years ago and programs to implement health plan initiatives into the Medicare

fee-for-service program have been largely unsuccessful. A new government-run plan

would turn-back-the-clock on more than forty years of health care innovation.