Does AARP have Alzheimer's?

It is a stunning defeat. Here we'll go through the President's budget for health care as excerpted from its original text on the Whitehouse OMB website and all can refer to that text. So why is AARP issuing yet another letter of thanks to President Obama?

First, a blast from the past when President Obama was candidate Obama (with bold added to pertinent statements):

On September 06, 2008
Obama's Speech to the AARP Convention
Barack Obama

Via Satellite
As Prepared for Delivery

Hi, everybody. Thank you, Bill, for that warm introduction, and for your friendship and leadership. I want to acknowledge Evelyn Gooden, the Illinois AARP State President, for her years of devoted service to the people of my home state. And congratulations to all of you in the AARP on fifty years of fighting tirelessly to improve the lives of those over fifty.

For generations, we have worked to keep a simple promise in this country - that those who have worked hard their entire lives have the right to retire with dignity and security.

That is the promise my grandparents knew. When my grandfather returned from serving his country in World War II, he was able to go to college on the GI Bill, buy their first house with a loan from the federal government, and set out west from Kansas to build their lives with the confidence that they could reach a secure retirement.

That is the promise that Michelle's parents knew. After her father passed away, her mother was able to live comfortably due in part to his pension as a shiftworker.

That was the promise that FDR made. And it was a promise that Washington kept for decades while folks like my grandparents and Michelle's parents moved through the ups and downs of middle-class life.

But today, that promise feels like it's slowly slipping away. You feel this in your own lives. More Americans are out of work and more are working harder for less. More have lost their homes and more are watching their home values plummet. You're paying college tuition that's beyond your reach while supporting your aging parents. And as you plan for your future, you're finding it's harder to save and it's harder to retire.

That's because, for eight long years, there's been a very different philosophy in the White House. They call it the Ownership Society, but what it really means is you're on your own. Job shipped overseas? Tough luck. Pension disappeared? That's the breaks. No health care? The emergency room will fix it. You're on your own.

Now, let there be no doubt. The Republican nominee, John McCain, has worn the uniform of our country with bravery and distinction, and for that we owe him our gratitude and respect. But the record's clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time. And I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to take a 10 percent chance on change.

And since he's not offering much change, that's why you didn't hear much about his plans for the future this week. You didn't hear much about their health care plan that would actually tax your benefits for the first time ever, or about their plan that would privatize Social Security and gamble your retirement, or how they plan to fix the economy they've ruined or help you live comfortably in your later years. Because, in the words of John McCain's campaign manager, this election "isn't about the issues."

Well I'm running for President because I believe this election is all about the issues. It's not about me, or John McCain, it's about you. It's about your lives. It's about your future.

And securing your future starts with protecting Social Security - today, tomorrow and forever. Now, John McCain said that the way Social Security works is, and I quote, "an absolute disgrace." Wrong. For millions of Americans, it's the very difference between a comfortable retirement and falling into poverty. More than half of seniors depend on it for more than half of their income. And as the first baby boomers become eligible for benefits this year, there are steps we can take to secure its future for generations to come.

That doesn't mean embracing George Bush's failed privatization scheme, as John McCain has. Privatizing Social Security was a bad idea when George Bush proposed it, and it's a bad idea today. It would take the one rock-solid, guaranteed part of your retirement income and gamble it on the stock market. That's why I stood with AARP against this plan in the Senate, and that's why I won't stand for it as President.

But his campaign has gone even further, suggesting that the best answer to the growing pressures on Social Security might be to cut cost-of-living adjustments or raise the retirement age. I will not do either. There's another option that is fairer to working men and women without putting the burden on those who have already earned it.

Right now, the Social Security payroll tax is capped. That means most middle-class families pay this tax on every dime they make, while millionaires and billionaires only pay it on a very small percentage of their income. That's why I'll work with members of Congress from both parties to ask people making more than $250,000 a year to contribute a little bit more to keep the system sound. It's a change that would start a decade or more from now, and it won't burden middle-class families. In fact, 99% of Americans will see absolutely no change in their taxes - 99%.

Now, even if we keep Social Security strong for future generations, it's still not enough to help seniors on fixed incomes who are struggling with the rising cost of everything from gas to groceries. That's why I'll make retirement more secure by eliminating income taxes for retirees making less than $50,000 per year. This would completely eliminate income taxes for 7 million seniors. And I will cut taxes - cut taxes - for 95% of all working families in this country. Now is the time to give the middle-class a break.

Now is the time to finally provide affordable, accessible health care for every single American - because you shouldn't have to worry about being one illness away from bankruptcy. If you like the health care you have, you'll see lower premiums under my plan. If you don't have health care, you'll be able to get the same kind of coverage that members of Congress give themselves. And as someone who watched my mother argue with insurance companies while she lay in bed dying of cancer, I will make certain those companies stop discriminating against those who are sick and need care the most.

Now is the time to also strengthen and preserve Medicare, and these reforms will do just that. In addition, I will allow the government to negotiate with drug companies to lower costs for seniors, and we'll allow reimportation of drugs from other countries and ensure their safety, lowering costs for all consumers.

Now is the time to help families care for their aging parents by enacting a real long-term care plan that lowers costs and guarantees that all Americans receive quality care in their later years; to end the outrage of CEOs cashing out while workers watch their pensions disappear; to encourage savings, investment and wealth creation for our younger workers by enacting automatic workplace pensions.

As President, these are the policies I will pursue so that older Americans can continue living the longer, better, more productive lives that they have every right to expect.

AARP, that's how we'll renew Americans' confidence in a secure retirement. That's the change we need. But I need your help to make it happen. So if you're ok with the next four years looking just like the last eight, then I am not your candidate. But if you want change - if you want to restore that fundamental promise we've made from generation to generation, then I ask you to give me your vote on November 4th. And if you do, I promise you - we will change this country together.


And now, sadly we're seeing that Obama said anything to get elected. Gone are the words of 2007: Now is the time to finally provide affordable, accessible health care for every single American - because you shouldn't have to worry about being one illness away from bankruptcy. If you like the health care you have, you'll see lower premiums under my plan. If you don't have health care, you'll be able to get the same kind of coverage that members of Congress give themselves.

And in their stead we get the ridiculous billions thrown out in the budget of 2010:

The Budget establishes a reserve fund of more than $630 billion over 10 years to finance fundamental reform…” Apparently that's as far as the Republicans read because instead of noting the stupidity of the program where stupid is doing the same thing and expecting different results (stupid rather than insane is used here), Republicans have latched onto the $634 billion number. The same paragraph promises that "additional funding will be needed." Wow.

Doubling Money for Cancer Research: Provides for $6 billion for the NIH to "support cancer research," in addition to the "$10 billion provided in the Recovery Act". Who could be against cancer research? Uh, remember all the news about how oncologists are now going over people's insurance with them in an effort to let them know what they can afford in terms of treatment? Yes, that is the new approach by oncologists because if you can't pay, you don't get the treatment. So why support research for cures that will leave many unable to obtain such cures using everyone's money? This is a pet project, financing by all for the agenda of few. It's more of the same, we already have different QUALITY of health care available dependent on a person's ability to pay.

Accelerates the Adoption of Health Information Technology (IT): This one provides for more money, an unnamed amount to build "on the historic $19 billion investment in the Recovery Act....The Recovery Act offers physicians and hospitals participating in the Medicare program temporary incentive payments starting in 2011 for using a certified electronic health record...financial penalties starting in 2015 for failure to use such a system." We have already considered this pet project. Updating technology to produce online health records by providing INCENTIVES (= MORE MONEY) to dox using the system. Penalties for not using don't kick in for another five years (hmmm...next term?). Oh, but there's more: "INCENTIVE PAYMENTS to Medicaid providers, including physicians and children's hospitals, to assist with the purchase, implementation, and use of certified EHR technology." And why this pet project because of the EXPECTATION that they will save money as stated: “Computerizing health records--while protecting the privacy and security of personal health information--is expected to facilitate improvements in the quality of health care, prevention of unnecessary health care spending, and a reduction in medical errors.”

One question: HOW? Computer records that protect privacy...well, that isn't working out so well from retailer credit cards to bank accounts to online banking so is there some secret security that exists for medical records? Of course not.
Improvement of QUALITY of health care again, HOW? This is rhetoric, no explanation just nice words used to justify the expansion of government and dollars thrown at health care providers with the added benefit of pushing off any ACCOUNTABILITY on the part of the President until his NEXT term (if there is one).

Lowers Drug Costs and Improves Food and Medical Product Safety: Huh? "The Budget also includes a substantial increase to strengthen FDA's efforts to make food and medical products safer." No more said. Are you kidding? The FDA is a joke with the issues arising, so reward that agency with MORE MONEY? And remember that good guy Obama the candidate: "I will allow the government to negotiate with drug companies to lower costs for seniors, and we'll allow reimportation of drugs from other countries and ensure their safety, lowering costs for all consumers." Does that mean that those costs will go up because the FDA will now require funneling through their inefficiencies to get at those drugs so that the prices of imported drugs become closer to the outrageous costs of drugs we buy in the US?

Strengthens Program Integrity: "The Budget proposes to dedicate additional resources that will initially be targeted to improving oversight and program integrity activities for the Medicare Prescription Drug Program (Part D), Medicare Advantage, and the Medicaid Program.” Okay, now we're talking, anti fraud is a great idea. People getting rich off Medicare drug and provider programs, it's rampant. But ....what are the penalties? We the consumer are penalized every day for mistakes, omissions, imagined activities that cut into the dollars of others, yet the promise of more jobs in government to oversee these programs WITHOUT severe PENALTIES for failures both deliberate and negligent for such employees is merely more civil service expenses for taxpayers.

Provides Health Care Coverage to Low Income Individuals: by "temporarily increasing Federal Medicaid funding to help States facing budget shortfalls maintain their current programs." This one should have every citizen in an uproar. More money to states to maintain their CURRENT programs. That's just to help the newly unemployed or impoverished, it addresses covering MORE individuals but it does not address requirements that STATES in order to get their mitts on this money cover additional groups of individuals who exceed unreasonably low threshhold levels for ELIGIBILITY. It is not an expansion of the program which might assist those who put OBAMA in office, the young, the part time workers, it merely is designed to help increased numbers of unemployed in states.

And I've spoken enough about the stupidity of further funding of CHIP, Children's Health Insurance. Children are uninsured because their FAMILIES ARE UNINSURED.

Enhances HIV/AIDS prevention and Treatment: "increases resources to detect, prevent, and treat HIV/AIDS...especially in underserved populations...so much for THEIR PRIVACY.

Strengthens the Health Profession Workforce: $330 million to get health workers into certain areas for "...loan repayment programs for physicians, nurses, and dentists," we already have these programs. They require a certain number of years in underserved areas for help with paying for school for these "professionals" who are then free to overcharge in more lucrative communities for the rest of their careers. More of the same, how 'bout funding MBA's for guys who won't take $30 billion in bonuses for the first five years of their employment, will that really change the scenario, it's stupid.

Expands Access to Health Care for American Indians and Alaska Natives: More special legislation.

Supports Americans with Autism Spectrum Disorders: "$211 million in HHS for research into the causes of and treatments for ASD, screenings, public awareness, and support services."

Improves Rural Health "$73 million to improve both acces to and quality of health care in rural areas", in addition to paying for tuition for people who work in these environments. For Pete's sake.

Compares the Effectiveness of Treatments: This one is a McCain style proposal, if treatments are not perceived to be effective, why spend money on them...this means that if you're a bad risk and a treatment isn't considered best in terms of predicted outcome, you're out of luck, the treatment will be denied...Hardly fair to those who don't have those promised benefits that Obama has.

The other provisions are ridiculous throw aways: Head Start, Low Income Home Energy Assistance, Prevention of Teen Pregnancy, and the final section which generally Provides Support for Other Presidential Initiatives: including domestic violence, drug courts, reduction of health disparities....." There it is, a throwaway line without a dollar amount or a plan..."REDUCE HEALTH DISPARITIES", three words in the whole budget.

So back to the original question, does AARP have Alzheimer's? Maybe. Mostly, AARP seems to be hoping that by kissing up and thanking Obama that perhaps Social Security reform and tax exemption for seniors will be passed...Based on what we're seeing from Obama the President vs Obama the candidate, I wouldn't hold my breath.