Best health care political pull can buy by Dr. Paul Hsieh

This article by Dr. Paul Hsieh explains how Obamacare will not only shrink competition in health care services it will lead to another kind of undesirable competition.

Yet while Obamacare is suppressing genuine marketplace competition for medical services, it is also spurring a more sinister facsimile of competition - for political favors. Employers and insurers with sufficient political clout can save money by obtaining a much-coveted "waiver," exempting them from onerous new insurance regulations. The 222 current recipients of such waivers include popular employers such as McDonald's and Universal Orlando as well as the Service Employees Benefit Fund, which insures members of the Service Employees International Union (a major political supporter of the Obama administration). Because these waivers are granted at the discretion of the secretary of health and human services, they create easy opportunities for political favoritism and corruption.

Nor will the political favor-seeking be limited to insurance waivers. If the Obamacare individual insurance mandate survives current legal challenges, it will also spur a lobbying frenzy from special-interest groups seeking to include their pet benefits in the mandatory insurance package Americans must purchase.

How to Cultivate a Food Crisis by Robert James Bidinotto

Read this and prepare to lose your appetite. How to Cultivate a Food Crisis

Belarus Burns - By Jonah Goldberg - The Corner - National Review Online

From the beginning of a letter Robert Bidinotto wrote to National Review.

This past week, the nation of Belarus in Eastern Europe held another rigged “election.” Now, long-time Stalinist dictator Alexander Lukashenko has cracked down on his opponents with a ferocity not seen since the worst days
of the old Soviet empire.

The rest of the letter can be found at this link:

Belarus Burns - By Jonah Goldberg - The Corner - National Review Online.

GOP: Dance With The One Who Brung You by Paul Hsieh

I like this post by Paul Hsieh. I agree with his comments about the Republicans getting the right message. I too think the election expressed the frustration people are feeling with the health care bill and the economy, not whether gay marriages should be allowed or whether abortion should not be allowed.

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/gop-dance-with-the-one-who-brung-you/?singlepage=true

The Tea Party vs. the Ruling Class

The always excellent Robert James Bidinotto has written this analysis of The Tea Party vs. the Ruling Class.

Five Reasons We Think RECs Are RECkless by Houston Neal

Houston Neal, Director of Marketing for Software Advice posted this poll regarding Regional Extension Centers.

Three weeks ago we launched a poll asking, “Will Regional Extension Centers deliver on their mission?” With the help of fellow bloggers, we received a total of 87 responses from physicians, health IT insiders and other health care professionals. Thank you to those who participated and to those who helped us spread the word about the poll.

One of the major components of the the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) was the allocation of $19 billion to jump start the adoption of electronic health records (EHRs). One of the major uses of those funds was the establishment of Regional Extension Centers (RECs) to support EHR adoption by primary care physicians.

Read more: http://www.softwareadvice.com/articles/medical/five-reasons-we-think-recs-are-reckless-1092310/#ixzz13CUhFBX5

President 40/60

Victor Davis Hanson offers a good, concise analysis of the reasons for President Obama's continually sliding poll numbers.