Kevin Brady Town Hall 9/2/2009

Well, I attended my first Kevin Brady "Dog and Pony Show" at 8am this morning at the United Methodist Church in The Woodlands. My experience was not unlike many of the the others that we've heard about on this blog. Brady starts out with his 30 minute presentation with that ridiculous chart in the background. Then he takes questions. The usual nuts stand up and proceed to make incoherent and inaccurate statements rather than questions. Brady nods a lot, doesn't correct any of their garbage and then when giving an answer, takes the opportunity to steer the discussion to some point that he wants to make.

The first guy wanted to know where in the "Declaration of Independence" it said that the government could operate a health insurance. The next "question" was a woman who said she had lost a child from a vaccine-preventable disease so she had dedicated her life's work to this cause. She was against the "socialized" medicine and I couldn't make sense out of much that she was saying, but I commend her on the work she's doing for kids. She concluded with a comment about mandatory end of life counseling.

Now, I was planning on asking a question about my plight as a soon-to-be poor college student and how I am going back to school at the risk of not having access to health insurance. However, after Brady failed to correct her on the end of life counseling bit, I decided to focus on that.

I said, "Congressman Brady, thank you for holding this town hall meeting. It's important that we all debate this important topic but that debate has no value if it's based on misinformation. As a member of Congress who has read this bill, I was hoping you could clear something up for us. Section 1233 provides that Medicare will pay for an optional advance directive consultation with your physician, however many claim that this is mandatory. Can you clear this up and do you think advance medical directives are a good idea?"

Brady something to the effect that it was mandatory in the bill that Medicare pays for it, but that it would be optional for Medicare recipients. He said advance medical directives were good because we should make our wishes known. So far, I was happy with his response. In his response, he emphasized that it was mandatory that Medicare pay for it and then slipped the "yeah, it's optional" in there real quick. Well, duh, that's the point. How else could this be made available as an option if the funding wasn't provided by law? However, he wrapped up his answer with a sound byte that was designed to eclipse all of the accurate information he had just said. He said something to the effect that he didn't think the government should be getting involved in those types of decisions. And of course, all of the nuts started clapping.

Well, the government is not involved in the advance medical directive (i.e. a living will). The government is involved to the extent that Medicare, the health insurer in this case, pays for the visit with your physician. The physician can tell you whatever they want, they'll just be getting their check from Medicare like they do every other time you come to see them.

It convinced me that Mr. Brady has no intention of an honest debate. His only interest is in propagating more misinformation to keep his mobs fired up.

Brady can't show up at these Town Halls and say that there is nothing wrong with our healthcare system, because everyone has had to deal with some problem on a personal level. Even some of the opponents of reform in the crowd told stories of problems they had in the same breath that they opposed reform. So Brady plays the angle of wanting to fix the system, just not with this "Obamacare". He's been in Congress since 1996 and all of the sudden he has an interest in fixing a system that has been broken for decades. What does he propose as an alternative? A four letter acronym (C.A.R.E) and a 50 point flyer.

The Question I didn't get to ask

I attended the Aug 26^th Kevin Brady town hall meeting on health care. Twice now, I’ve heard Rep. Brady quote the Lewin Group, and cite it as an independent source.

Obviously, Rep. Brady is misinformed about the Lewin Group, which is funded by United Healthcare, one of our nation’s largest health insurance companies.

If I had been given the chance at the town hall meeting, I would have asked, “ Isn’t quoting the Lewin Group as an unbiased source on healthcare, like quoting Colonel Sanders as an advocate for chickens?”

Anne Sermons Gillis, The Woodlands

Representative Kevin Brady's Town Hall Meetings/Political Rallies

What's the saying, "If you keep doing what you're doing you'll keep getting what you got"?
I've now attended two of Representative Brady's Town Hall Meetings and watched two on video and I can tell you we're going to keep getting the same old song and dance from Representative Brady. I can attest to the fact that he has this presentation down to a fine art and the "plants" in the audience are dedicated. "Joe", who stands up and calls President Obama Hitler and a Nazi, sat on the row in front of me for both meetings I attended. There is always the 1) "socialized medicine is evil" plant , 2) "most uninsured are just irresponsible" plant [my friend who ate and exercised responsibly and had a heart attack at 44 and was dropped by his insurance company was responsible!], 3) "keep the Government out of my pocket" plant [by an elderly person on Medicare!], etc. At the Creighton Theater a woman on the front row stood up and said she would leave and give her seat to others wanting in, but first she wanted us to know that Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution said the Government could not legislate health care, and she turned and left. Fortunately, we Dems happened to have a copy of the Constitution with us, and healthcare is not mentioned in Article 1, Section 8 or any other part of the Constitution. However, it does state in Article 1, Section 8 and in the Preamble of the Constitution that Congress shall "provide for the general welfare of the United States."

When called upon at the Bells of Montgomery Town Hall meeting, I stated that Representative Brady had been in Congress many years, referred in his speech to 4 Republican Health Care Reform bills, and that his party had been in control of Washington for the last eight years, yet we don't have health care reform. I suggested that he go back to Washington and pass health care reform for ALL Americans. There were negative noises around the room as I spoke, but he asked them to allow dialog. And, of course, Representative Brady said he'd go back and pass health care reform, but not this bill. It's clear this "Mr. No" is for "status quo".

Also, after meeting with Congressman Brady on August 6, 2009 as a proponent of single payer health care and hearing his comments after our presentation ("So everyone at this table is for single payer and not for what is coming out of Washington"), I fear that saying I’m for single payer health care may be construed as being against the health care legislation coming out of Congress. That is NOT my intention. I support immediate health care reform, although I believe a single payer system is the most cost effective system and covers everyone. With our current health care system and the numbers of uninsured mounting, we cannot afford to wait another 10 – 15 years for reform. I suggest we not waste our time trying to carry dead weight with us as we head toward this worthy goal - Healthcare for ALL Americans.

Kevin Brady meets Rube Goldberg

Our very own Kevin Brady has become a sort of a celebrity in right-wing-nuttery world of late. The Congressman's staff has developed a "Flow Chart" that purports to demonstrate the health care system that is proposed by bills in Congress. It has spread like wildfire throughout the right-wing blogosphere and of course, Fixed News. Because the chart contains so many exaggerations that are misleading, the House Franking Committee initially refused to grant Brady and other representatives permission to distribute it via mail as official congressional correspondence. However, they are now allowing it to go out and I'm sure we'll all be seeing it in our mailboxes soon. Salon.com recently published an analysis of this hilarious prop:

Supposedly depicting how a new system would be organized, this drawing shows more than 50 multicolored boxes, circles and cartoon pictures, connected by red and blue arrow vectors. According to Rep. Kevin Brady, the Texas Republican who distributed it, the chart displays the "new levels of bureaucracy, agencies, organization and programs [that] will all be put directly between the patient and their healthcare."

That is simply a lie, as Brady surely knows, since none of the Obama administration's proposals or the Democratic bills would interpose any federal agency between patients and doctors -- or between consumers and insurers -- for those who are satisfied with their current plans. Examined closely, most of the items on the chart, including several Cabinet departments and federal agencies, as well as "the States" and "Consumers" and "Private Insurers," already exist, of course. It is hard to say what the GOP drawing can actually be said to show except that American healthcare is already complicated. Much more complicated than systems in other countries, such as France, Germany, Sweden, Norway and Japan, that rely on public as well as private insurance plans to achieve universal coverage.

Salon.com 7/17/2009

The chart accomplishes its goal. It provides the shock value needed to reinforce the beliefs of the hard right wingers and it scares the bejesus out of middle of the road voters who've yet to develop an opinion but are certainly feeling the anti-reform pressure in one of the reddest counties in Texas. It doesn't have to be accurate, it just needs to be complex-looking and colorful. Just enough to make the point that Obama and the Democrats are just salivating over new bureaucracies that will drain our deficit further in order to give jobs to poor government workers (Democrats) and healthcare to illegal immigrants (also Democrats voting fraudulently). The Republicans don't need a plan of their own, they just have to keep saying NO to ours.

The larger point is missed with this chart. We deal with bigger bureaucracies today! They're called private insurance companies and unlike the federal system, their bureaucracy is designed to deny coverage and make huge profits at the expense of the lives of their policy holders. The reality is that running any large enterprise isn't as simple as running a lemonade stand. It requires a variety of functions that work collaboratively together and provide checks and balances to ensure success. Do you think the organizational chart at General Electric consists of two boxes and a straight line? Of course not, because General Electric is a mega corporation and their ability to provide products and services is a complicated venture. Just like providing health insurance to millions of Americans will be a very complicated venture.

I'm sure if we saw the current system laid out in this fashion, it would be much more complicated. So instead of providing a real solution to what is an obvious problem, the Republicans cook up this chart to serve as a distraction and to misinform the public. Leading their way, proudly hoisting their banner of ignorance is Kevin Brady. Boy, am I proud!




Kevin Brady pushing his baby on Fixed News.

The Scare Tactics Continue

Dr. Wally Wilkerson, Montgomery County Republican Party Chair wrote a great little ditty in The Courier today in which he fabricates information to scare seniors. Dr. Wilkerson, who normally writes letters to the editor with his MCRP title, signs this one with just "MD". This is shameless, even for Wally Wilkerson. Below is Dr. Wilkerson's letter and my response.

To the Editor:

There is a lot to question about the proposed Democrat House Bill on healthcare, but senior citizens on Medicare need to know what is on page 425. The section is titled: "Mandatory Requirement for Medicare Counseling to Elderly Every Five Years." The counseling will advise seniors how to end their life sooner, how to decline nutrition, how to decline hydration and how to go into hospice care. The objective is to reduce the cost of end-of-life care by denying care to dying Medicare recipients. This sounds like a death enablment plan and not a healthcare plan. The Obama health care plan is being promoted by the "non-partisan" AARP, who is also in the insurance business. AARP should know that the creation of a new healthcare system will not reduce government spending and will drive up the deficit.

Walter D. Wilkerson, Jr. MD
Conroe

My response that has yet to be published:

Dear Editor,

In response to Dr. Wilkerson’s letter of July 29, I would like to set the record straight. The House version of the healthcare reform bill (H.R. 3200) does not mandate that that seniors undergo counseling that will teach them how to “end their life sooner”. Dr. Wilkerson cites page 425 of the bill, which he says is titled, “Mandatory Requirement for Medicare Counseling to Elderly Every Five Years.” This allegation is absolutely and unequivocally false. Section 1233 of the bill, which actually starts on page 424, is titled “Advance Care Planning Consultation”. This part of the bill amends Title 18 of the Social Security Act and allows Medicare to pay for a visit to a medical practitioner to discuss advance care planning, living wills and other advance directives, a list of national and state-specific resources to assist consumers and their families with advance care planning clearinghouses, and state legal services organizations. The provision does not mandate this consultation, but merely makes it available to those on Medicare every five years. Completing a living will is a very responsible thing to do and someone may want to talk with his or her doctor about it before creating such an important document. Should Medicare pay for that consultation? That’s a good question that should be debated. Let’s keep the healthcare debate based on the facts and not wild exaggerations and falsehoods. This has been circulating on email lately and has been thoroughly debunked by the non-partisan Factcheck.org. You can see for yourself by reading the full text of the bill from the House Energy & Commerce Committee at http://energycommerce.house.gov/ .

Austin Stout
Spring, Texas

Links:

Actual Text, H.R. 3200
Factcheck.org: False Euthanasia Claims
About.com: Urban Legends

This is what we'll be hearing next!

Kevin Brady Scare Tactics

As the debate over healthcare reform heats up, the least that our elected representatives could do is stick to the facts. In Congressman Kevin Brady’s recent email newsletter, he predicts many horrid results of health care reform. A few of the gems he purports are: “People wait so long for dentist appointments that some pull their own teeth”, “If you're sick enough to be admitted, the average wait is 23 hours”, and “Some towns hold lotteries to determine who gets a doctor.” These baseless scare tactics have nothing to do with reform that has been proposed in Congress this year. As I think it has been stated a million times, proposed changes would not force you to change your health insurance plan or your doctor unless you wanted to. The introduction of a public option is meant to increase coverage of the currently uninsured while increasing competition in the marketplace. This lowers costs for everyone, including those not on the public plan, and keeps insurance companies honest. If you’ve ever had to deal with one, you know it’s a lacking quality. It’s common sense that if someone can afford to get preventative care; they lessen their healthcare costs over their lifetime. These are costs that those who currently have insurance are paying for anyway in the price of higher premiums and higher hospital bills. It’s common sense that if we don’t do something to fix this system today, it’s not only going to bankrupt the country due to rising Medicare/Medicaid costs, it’s going to bankrupt you and I, who pay higher costs each year. In fact, many Americans are already there, with 60% of bankruptcies being the result of medical bills. This proposal may not yet be perfect as it works it way through Congress, but it seeks to fix a major problem. That’s more than what I can say about Congressman Brady and the rest of the Republicans who complain about this plan but offer no solution of their own. Instead they send out emails warning people that they may have to pull out their own teeth or wait for the town clerk to draw their name before they can go to the doctor. Give me a break!

Published in The Courier, Opinion Page, 7/26/2009