{"id":13711,"date":"2012-12-13T17:39:30","date_gmt":"2012-12-13T17:39:30","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2012-12-13T17:39:30","modified_gmt":"2012-12-13T17:39:30","slug":"senate_dems_want_obamacare_waivers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2012\/12\/13\/senate_dems_want_obamacare_waivers\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate Dems Want Obamacare Waivers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Listen<\/a><\/p>\n

RUSH: This story isn\u2019t getting a lot of play, but it should be. Many powerful Democrats, even some of the most liberal among them, are supporting what amounts to dismantling of Obamacare, and they are using Republican language to make their case. These Democrats are attempting to repeal some of the funding mechanisms as well as the cost containment measures that were purportedly inherent in the law.<\/p>\n

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This is a piece by Dr. Susan Berry at Breitbart.com. “With some of their most influential constituent groups facing onerous tax increases that are slated to help fund the law\u00c2\u2019s mandates and regulations, Senators like Al Franken (D-MN), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Patty Murray (D-WA), John Kerry (D-MA),” who served in Vietnam, “Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and others — all of whom voted in favor of the law — are aiming to delay or outright repeal parts of Obamacare.”<\/p>\n

All told, there are 16 Democrats. Powerful Democrats are trying to defund Obamacare <\/a>because it\u2019s gonna hit their constituents like a load of bricks, and it\u2019s gonna harm their reelection chances if they happen.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Back to this story on the Senate Democrats urging the undoing of Obamacare. This really, really is a big story. It\u2019s not getting any play at all in the mainstream media. But one of the reasons this is happening is that in these states, medical device makers, for example, in blue states are gonna see their taxes go up. Their businesses are gonna be penalized. Brand-new fees, brand-new charges. And all of these Democrats that are now urging the undoing of the funding mechanism for all this, they knew exactly what was happening beforehand. They voted for this knowing exactly where this was going to take them. And now that they got it passed, now that they were loyal Democrats and now that they did what they had to do to support the president, now it\u2019s time to try to undo this.<\/p>\n

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Get this passage: “It turns out Senators Franken and Klobuchar have been enlightened of these facts by medical device companies in their home state of Minnesota,” which I think is one of the largest medical device manufacturing states the country. Franken and Klobuchar “have joined 16 other Democrat Senators who now share the same view. In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, these Senators have asked for a delay in the medical device tax, but they are actually aiming for a full repeal of this part of the law. The delay\/repeal bug appears to have bitten members of the health care industry as well, including some doctors, hospitals, and drug companies who originally supported ObamaCare because of the fact that it is chock full of subsidies for many of these health care sectors.” <\/p>\n

It was why GE supports the government. They were getting subsidies to do windmills and stuff, $800 billion here, $700 billion there, sub-200 billion over here. The same thing Obama was promising various doctors, hospitals, medical groups, exemptions if they would support his plan overall, and of course people, rather than put the country first, put their self-interest first, and in this case it was selfishness, not self-interest. And they went ahead and they said, “Look, if the rest of the country is going over the tubes but I can keep myself from going over the tubes, I\u2019ll do it.” And that\u2019s what happened. Now they want out of it, knowing full well what they supported. In a way, this is outrageous. Not just these senators, but there were some doctors, there were some hospitals. Remember the AMA early on was all for Obamacare? ‘Cause everybody was trying to suck up to Obama. <\/p>\n

Some were scared of Obama, didn\u2019t want to get on his bad side. They knew what kind of guy he is. Didn\u2019t want to be punished. That\u2019s a large part of it, by the way. That\u2019s a very big part of it. When you have statist type leaders like Obama who are willing to use the federal government to punish, you don\u2019t want to risk it. You don\u2019t even want to get on his bad side. So if he wants Obamacare and it\u2019s gonna destroy the health care system, but you get an exemption carved out, you\u2019ll do it in order to keep the government off your back. And that\u2019s exactly the threat that Obama used. Okay, so now, they supported it because they were gonna get their carve-outs, their exceptions, their subsidies. Now all of a sudden it\u2019s 18 senators and some of these doctors and hospitals and medical groups who all of a sudden now, after it\u2019s passed, and after John Roberts contorted himself like a pretzel to find this stupid law constitutional, now they want out of it. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Gutless wonders, every damn one of them. Where were they knowing full well where this was going? Where were they before this thing passed? Where was of their guts, where was their courage to stand up and oppose it? They knew full well this day was coming. These people did not have to pass the bill to find out what was in it. Everybody knew what was in this. It was just an easy cop-out to say “I don\u2019t know what\u2019s in it.” It was a cop-out to say, “Well, I\u2019m supporting my president.” It\u2019s a cop-out, “I\u2019m staying loyal to my party.” It\u2019s a cop-out, “I want insurance for 30 million people that are not covered.” Whatever silly excuse they used to justify their support of this thing. <\/p>\n

They\u2019re worthless now. But, now, here\u2019s the thing. I don\u2019t know whether they\u2019re gonna be able to succeed. There\u2019s 18 senators who want to defund this. Because all politics is local in this case, and now it\u2019s gonna hurt their constituents, and now that might mean it\u2019s gonna hurt their reelection, and it\u2019s gonna hurt their state economies. But all of this, I contend, was known before these people all got on board this monstrosity. <\/p>\n

“The Independent Payment Advisory Panel,” this is the death panel, “The Independent Payment Advisory Panel, the board of unelected officials that will determine which medical treatments and procedures are too costly for some patients, is supposed to impose cost controls on federal medical spending. Threatened by these cost-containment provisions, these members of the health care industry are now intent on eliminating this panel.” They want to eliminate the death panel. <\/p>\n

Again, it\u2019s the Independent Payment Advisory Panel. This is the bunch that determines who gets paid, how much they get paid, who gets treated, how much is going to be spent on the treatment, and who doesn\u2019t get treated and instead who gets the pill. And now after it\u2019s been found constitutional by a gutless Supreme Court chief justice, after it\u2019s been found constitutional, everybody being harmed by it now comes forward — quietly, by the way — because you\u2019re not gonna see much of this in the Drive-By Media. <\/p>\n

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This is still in the Never Surrender Crowd media (led by me, of course)<\/a> and they\u2019re working under the covers, behind the scenes to try to prevent this debacle from happening. And as Dr. Susan Berry concludes in her piece here, “It appears many of the groups that originally supported Obamacare want to be able to have their cake and eat it, too, and Senate Democrats seem poised to allow them to do just that.<\/p>\n

“The question is, without these sources of funding for all the Obamacare mandates, and without cost-containment … how will the law be implemented at all?” See, let\u2019s review very quickly. The medical professionals — the doctors, the hospitals, drug companies — and the senators, they want this independent payment panel disbanded. Well, that\u2019s the bunch that determines what gets spent and what doesn\u2019t! They determine who gets what and who doesn\u2019t get what.<\/p>\n

They want to disband that panel, and they want to be exempted (in this case) from the new taxes on the medical devices and whatever other things. I don\u2019t know what Schumer wants his people protected from, but in Minnesota it\u2019s medical device manufacturers. So they want Obamacare to stay in force for everybody else, but they want the mechanism to penalize their constituents ripped out of the law.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

So the question is, “Well, if you rip the funding mechanism out of the law, and then you take this independent payment advisory panel and you rip them out of the law…?” That\u2019s cost containment, ostensibly. That\u2019s the bunch that determines what we\u2019re gonna spend and what we\u2019re not gonna spend. So that\u2019s cost containment. You take those two things out, how can you implement the law at all?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where this is headed. Now, don\u2019t misunderstand. I don\u2019t expect this not to be implemented. I\u2019m not pointing this out for that reason. I\u2019m just tell you, there are 16 senators and a bunch of these people (all of them just couldn\u2019t wait to vote for this thing) who now want to be exempted from it, folks. They\u2019re not going to the mat to keep you exempted. They want their own constituents and themselves exempted. That\u2019s what “having their cake and eating it, too,” means.<\/p>\n

They voted for it and they got credit.<\/p>\n

Now they want to not be penalized by it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the most gutless type of maneuver you can see in politics.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Yeah, so suddenly all these Democrats want waivers from Obamacare, and they want funding mechanisms wiped out of the legislation. Elizabeth Warren, for example, gave her whole-hearted approval to Obamacare. Now she is one of the senators that wants to take that back. She\u2019s an Indian giver. Yes, I intended to say that, Snerdley. Elizabeth Warren is a heap big squaw Indian giver.<\/a><\/line><\/p>\n

Try this. “Aetna CEO: Obamacare Likely to Double Small Business, Individual Insurance Premiums — Health insurance premiums may as much as double for some small businesses and individual buyers in the US when the Affordable Care Act\u2019s major provisions start in 2014, Aetna Inc.\u2019s chief executive officer said.” I had some people over for dinner last night.<\/p>\n

Among them was the chairman of a major American corporation who almost started crying telling me what Obamacare was gonna mean for the employees he\u2019s going to have to let go in order to provide health care for the employees he has left. He almost started crying. These are people that make $25,000 to $40,000. They\u2019re gone. He can\u2019t afford to keep them and give everybody health care.<\/p>\n

So he\u2019s had to make the decision that some people have to go if he\u2019s gonna be able to provide health care, according to this law, for his remaining employees. (interruption) Nope. He did not vote Obama. He\u2019s not particularly political, either. But he didn\u2019t vote for Obama. But this is happening all over the country now, and here come these people who want special consideration, among them 16 US senators (all Democrats) and hospitals and doctors.<\/p>\n

They now want waivers.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: I mentioned to you Aetna. “Health insurance premiums may as much as double for some small businesses and individual buyers in the US when [Obamacare]\u00c2\u2019s major provisions start in 2014, Aetna Inc.\u00c2\u2019s chief executive officer said.” Aetna, the third biggest US health insurance company, told analysts yesterday in New York that their premiums are gonna double. Now we have this.<\/p>\n

California\u2019s Blue Shield is seeking up to 20% increases in their premiums. I thought Obamacare was supposed to reduce premiums. Yeah, that\u2019s exactly right. That\u2019s the number I heard. Everybody\u2019s insurance premium was gonna drop $2500. Now, Aetna, theirs will double. Blue Shield California is set to go up 20%. People are saying, “You people at Blue Shield, you ought to dip into your profits! Well, why…?”<\/p>\n