By Diane Cohen

Goldwater Institute

In an extraordinary move, an expert in President Obama’s administration has challenged the federal health care law’s mandate to arbitrarily reduce funding for Medicare under as “unsustainable,” “unworkable,” and likely to block some people from seeing their doctors.

Richard Foster serves as chief actuary for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the federal agency that administers Medicare coverage, and his job is to predict future health care costs. His office wrote a memo in August 2010 that objects to key estimates in the annual report about the Social Security and Medicare trust funds. Trustees of those two funds are also Obama administration officials, led by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathryn Sebelius.

The trustees’ annual report claims the federal health care bill “improves the financial outlook for Medicare substantially.” But Mr. Foster’s staff strongly disputed that, writing that the report’s projections “do not represent the ‘best estimate’ of actual future Medicare spending.” Even worse, people with Medicare coverage will “almost certainly face increasing severe problems with access to care,” the memo says.

The memo also pointed out the annual report doesn’t consider that required spending cuts for Medicare could stop people who do see their doctors from getting the best possible health care, which could result in more patients falling ill or dying early.

Notably, the chief actuary must predict future growth in Medicare enrollment and spending each year, and give that information to a new federal agency created by health care reform called the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). That board will have virtually unchecked power to adopt laws setting prices and payments for nearly all medical services.

The Goldwater Institute has identified IPAB as a critical reason why the federal health care bill is unconstitutional and must be struck down. Otherwise, as the chief actuary’s office has predicted, the mandated changes to Medicare likely will result in poorer health care for more people.

Diane Cohen is an attorney with the Goldwater Institute Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation.

Here’s a great ad from Americans for Prosperity featuring a number of conservative activists!

by Byron Schlomach, Ph.D.

Goldwater Institute

The nation’s high unemployment rate has barely fallen this year, in part because many businesses are waiting for the other shoe to drop from federal health care reform.

At this point, business people can only guess at what new employees will cost in the near future. Already, health care benefits constitute almost 8 percent of the total cost of an employee. Though these costs were rising before, they did so predictably.

Now, the Arizona Department of Administration has warned of a previously unexpected 37 percent increase in state employee health care costs due to federal reform. That follows announcements by John Deere and AT&T of unexpected expenses of $150 million and $1 billion, respectively, also due to the federal health care bill.

Michael Fleisher, president of Bogen Communications in New Jersey, recently wrote of an unexpected and extraordinary 28 percent increase in his company’s health insurance premiums. “As much as I might want to hire new salespeople, engineers and marketing staff in an effort to grow, I would be increasing my company’s vulnerability to government decisions to raise taxes, to policies that make health insurance more expensive, and to the difficulties of this economic environment,” he wrote in the Wall Street Journal.

Similarly, Steve Wynn, the hotel-casino magnate, while discussing new ventures in China, told CNBC, “No one in the (U.S.) business community from one coast to another has any idea what’s next…The uncertainty of the business climate in America is frightening, frightening to everybody, and it is delaying a recovery.”

Add the many thousands of regulations yet to be written to the current almost-3,000 pages of health reform legislation. It’s no wonder that entrepreneurs are skittish. The certainty needed to inspire widespread job growth will only return when this “reform” is stopped.

Dr. Byron Schlomach is an economist and the director of the Center for Economic Prosperity at the Goldwater Institute.

by Clint Bolick

The federal health care bill is one of the most sweeping invasions of individual liberty in American history. Two weeks ago, the Goldwater Institute filed a lawsuit to bring down the law and restore your right to make your own health care decisions.

The lead plaintiff is Nick Coons, who owns a small computer sales and repair business in Tempe. Mr. Coons pays his health care expenses out of his own pocket, so that he can invest every possible dollar in expanding his business. When he gets older, Mr. Coons plans to purchase a high-deductable health insurance policy that would cover a catastrophic accident or illness.

Neither of those options is allowed under the new federal law. Starting in 2014, Mr. Coons will be forced to purchase government-approved health insurance – covering far more than he needs. If he refuses, he will have to pay a stiff penalty to the IRS every year.

Our lawsuit, Coons v. Geithner, argues that forcing Mr. Coons to buy government-mandated health insurance violates his constitutional rights and exceeds the limited powers of Congress.

Joining Mr. Coons in this lawsuit are 29 state legislators and three members of Congress who are prevented by the health care bill from providing meaningful oversight or voting solely in the best interest of Arizona citizens. I’ll explain more about those issues in future articles.

The title of my most recent book, David’s Hammer, depicts the judicial gavel as a force that can be wielded by ordinary Americans to bring down government oppression. If ever we needed that hammer, it is now.

Clint Bolick is director of the Goldwater Institute Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation.

Contact: J.P. Twist
Mobile: 602-689-7647
jp@GosarforCongress.com

Sarah Palin Endorses Dr. Paul Gosar for Congress

“Paul stands firmly behind Governor Jan Brewer’s
efforts to protect Arizonans”

(Prescott, Arizona)  Today, Governor Sarah Palin endorsed Dr. Paul Gosar for Congress. Dr. Paul Gosar is running in the Republican Primary Election in Arizona’s First Congressional District.

In announcing here endorsement of Facebook, Governor Sarah Palin stated:

“I’m also proud to endorse Dr. Paul Gosar for Arizona’s 1st Congressional District. Thankfully, Paul shares our belief that the federal government’s reckless spending is putting us on a dangerous path towards insolvency – and he’s determined to do something about that. In addition to being a proud family man, Paul is a dentist, and as a small business owner running his practice, Paul understands the challenges confronting job creators when DC stifles us with endless mandates, over-regulation, plans to impose new energy taxes, and just generally (and unnecessarily) overreaches into the private sector. The good doctor knows that true job creation comes from the private sector, not government; and he will work to rein in the fed’s long arm and get our economy moving again by getting government out of the way.

Paul stands firmly behind Governor Jan Brewer’s efforts to protect Arizonans, and the rest of us for that matter, by securing the border. He’s endorsed by three of Arizona’s leading sheriffs because they know America needs Dr. Paul Gosar to hold Washington accountable on this imperative national security issue.

Paul is a bold man! He deserves our support, so please join me in helping him help this great country. You can visit his website at www.gosarforcongress.com and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.”

“I am very honored to have received the endorsement and support of Governor Sarah Palin,” said Dr. Paul Gosar. “I ask that Republican voters join her in supporting my campaign and together we will take back Congress.”

Dr. Paul Gosar is a small businessman who knows how to create and protect jobs. He is a dentist and health care provider who has garnered many awards and honors, such as the Arizona Dental Association’s “Dentist of the Year,” and was inducted into the Arizona Dental Association’s Hall of Fame.  He served as the President of both the Northern Arizona Dental Society and the Arizona Dental Association. He also served as the Vice-Chair of the ADA Council on Governmental Affairs.

Dr. Gosar is a 25 year active resident of Flagstaff where he has been married to Maude for 22 years. They have three children.

###

Happy 4th, all! At UnitedWeStandforAmericans.org, we had a special 2 hour show with Goldwater Institute attorney Clint Bolick on the Constitution and the current state of Constitutional law. Sounds long, but I think it goes by VERY fast! We cover everything from basic Constitutional concepts to recent cases like the McDonald gun rights case and Clean Elections. Enjoy!

4th of July UWSFA show on the Constitution

A review of Nancy Young Wright’s website is very revealing. She lists ten issues and here is the gist of what she says:

 Budget:  “. . . She will push to protect funding for education . . .Businesses want a strong educational system . . .We must plan and provide for schools, parks and other infrastructure . . “

 From FY 2000 to FY 2009 (est), total Federal, state, County and local spending on K-12 has increased 88%, or an average of 8.8% per year, about twice the rate of inflation. The data source is the Joint Legislative Budget Committee. Per pupil funding has increased 49% or about 4.9% annually, or about 1.5 times the rate of inflation. It appears that, contrary to Nancy Wright Young’s position, the schools are adequately funded. The problem is the school administrators are not using the funds properly.

 Economic Development:  “Nancy believes that the key to improving Arizona’s economy lies in investing in our public schools and universities . . .”

 As stated above, the Legislature is adequately funding the schools. School administration is the problem. In 2009, only 56.9% of the school dollar reached the classroom. The Office of the Auditor general found that declining classroom dollar percentages indicated supplanting, which means that schools administrators are shifting Classroom Site Fund (CSF) monies from the classroom to non-classroom purposes: a violation of State statute. 

 Education:  “. . . Nancy will fight to restore our public schools . . .She will push for higher salaries . . . Once we have rebuilt our schools to an adequate level of funding . . .”

Instead of voting for higher taxes and more money for schools, Nancy Young Wright should be actively looking at where the problem lies: school district administrators. Shifting CSF funds to transportation and other non-classroom categories directly harms the students. The Auditor General has found a clear association between classroom dollars and student achievement. Districts with higher classroom dollar percentages appear to have higher percentages of students who met or exceeded AIMS Math, Reading and Writing Assessments. This association holds true even after controlling for the effects of poverty.

 Energy:  “. . . She supports incentives for solar energy and research for clean alternatives. She supports Green construction . . .”

 Nancy Young Wright’s counterpart, Cheryl Cage, who is running against Al Melvin for State Senate, supports solar.  Ms. Cage stated in an Op-Ed that, “Studies have shown for every $1 million dollars [sic] invested in solar will provide 13.5 jobs to the nuclear industries 4.5 jobs.” What Ms. Cage did not say is the solar jobs will be low paying while the nuclear jobs will be high paying. Also, for every solar 13.5 jobs created other industries will lose 30 jobs.  It’s obvious that neither lady has really thought about solar energy and its impact on our economy.

 Environment:  “. . . She will advocate for clean air and water for our state. . .” 

 Well, that’s nice. I bet everyone reading this article will advocate for clean air and water. The question is how do we meet the challenge? How will it be funded? It will have to be executed on a State and Regional basis. How to get there? Nancy Wright Young did not say.

 Health care:  “Nancy supports programs to attract and retain the health care professionals we desperately need.”

 Well, this is nice too. When the Obama health bill passed, 46 million uninsured were added to Medicaid and other government programs. At that moment, the United States suddenly had a physician shortage (“Physician Shortages: How’s That for Hope and Change,” 10/09) of over 54,000 primary care physicians. Training physician takes time and money. So does training Nurse Practitioners and Physician assistants in the numbers now required.

She also failed to discuss health care rationing taking place since ObamaCare was signed into law. Arizona’s AHCCCS is slashing benefits to enrollees over age 21.  Physicians are already refusing new Medicare patients and dropping existing patients due to low reimbursement rates. Medicare Advantage patients will lose their Medicare Advantage benefits due to reduction in Medicare funding by Nancy Wright Young’s Democratic Party. Nancy Wright Young failed to comment on the depth of the problem or propose any solutions. 

 Open Government:  “”Nancy is a strong advocate for citizen participation and will fight to preserve our right to the initiative and referendum process . . .”

 This is a daring stand. Unless I missed something, no one has advocated taking the initiative and referendum away from the people.

 Taxes:  “Nancy believes that Arizona’s entire tax structure must be examined for fairness and stability. Our current budget crises in Arizona can be traced to too much dependency on sales tax and on a lack of diversification in our economy . . . She supports impact fees for the costs of new infrastructure such as roads, sewers, parks and schools to lessen the tax bill to existing residents.”

 Arizona got into trouble with increased spending under Governor Janet Napolitano. I agree with Ms. Wright’s statement that our entire tax structure must be examined for fairness and stability.  States like Texas, Nevada and Florida prosper without an income tax. Why can’t Arizona?

 I also disagree with implementing new impact fees (increased taxes) for costs of new infrastructure. The fees will be passed on to the consumer in the price of the product or commodity. Taxes are too high now.

 Transportation:  “. . . Nancy supports statewide cooperation on a transportation plan that includes alternative transportation, impact  fees for roads, and local control . . . She strongly supports the rail system connecting Tucson and Phoenix and the provision of bio-diesel and alternative fuel stations for the general public.”

 Again, a nice sentiment but clearly not thought out. The increase in ethanol production has caused the price of corn to sky rocket. Tortillas in Mexico almost doubled in price. Bio-diesel and alternative fuels are exotic subjects for which there is no mass of customers. What is needed is serious discussion on what our communities need versus what they can afford. Nancy Young Wright offers no serious discussion.

 Veterans:  “Our veterans deserve our support and adequate resources for medical care, education and continued care . . .”

 Thank God she got this one right.

 Of the ten issues she listed on her web site, Nancy Young Wright had one answer for Budgets, Economic Development and Education: pour more money into public schools.  This is after the Auditor General has found school districts are mismanaging the money they already have. To provide additional money to school districts to mismanage is insane.

 Nancy Young Wright supports solar energy, which will destroy more jobs than it creates. Clearly, she has not seriously thought about the long term effects of alternative energy impacts on our economy.

 She took a breath-taking stand for clean air and water without providing any policy details.

She repeated the problem of physician shortages without stating how many physicians we’re going to need, how we’re going to find them, how we’re going to fund them . . . obviously she has no clue. That’s why she could only state the obvious problem.

 Nancy Young Wright’s position on open government was vacuous. Her response on taxes was higher taxes in the form of impact fees. Her comments on transportation were superficial.

 We want our representatives in Phoenix to think. Where are Nancy Young Wright’s ideas? Where is her ability to think outside the proverbial box and create new solutions?  Higher taxes and pouring more money into education as school administrators mismanage their spending is outrageous.

 Serious issues demand serious thinking by our elected representatives. Nancy Young Wright has demonstrated she is not serious. She is a blinded shallow thinker, narrowly focused on pouring money into public education without accountability, without checks and balances but with sheer abandon.

 Nancy Young Wright is not a serious thinker. The Democratic Party can do better than Nancy Young Wright.

Several weeks ago, I posted about how the right, in its vigor to try to stem the problems of illegal immigration, is actually advancing the leftists agenda of national id and north american integration.

This installment is to provide more evidence of the same.

In a March 8, 2010 Wall Street Journal article, “ID Card for Workers is at Center of Immigration Plan”, you can see that it is the explicit intent of the leftists (such as Schumer), globalists and RINOs (such as Lindsay Graham) to force anyone applying for a job to present a national id to obtain one.

What do you think e-Verify is?  It’s a web front end sitting on top of the US Department of Homeland Security’s national id database which integrates data from the US Department of Labor, the US Department of Health and Human Services, the State Department, pretty much every department, but most importantly and worst of all, from the states.

Why do the feds need the state data on the states’ own citizens so badly?  Because otherwise, the feds to not have all of the data they need to track each legal citizen uniquely.  Why? Because in the past it’s been ILLEGAL to do so.  Not to mention the fact that there is absolutely no authority in the constitution for the federal government to track law abiding citzens, nor to expend sacred tax dollars on doing so.

How does the federal government get data from the states?  There are several ways, but here’s a summary of a few relevant ones….

1) 42USC666 (a)(13), implemented under the federal Deadbeat Dad’s law.  This federal statute required states to collect SSNs from all drivers’ license applicants and remit them to the federal government.  However, this information alone was still not enough to create a water  tight data tracking system for citizens (nor to obtain enough information on individuals to tie to legal gun purchases from dealers, but that’s another story.)

2) REAL ID. The REAL ID program was a federal mandate on the states to collect and remit certain information on their citzens in order for the federal government to complete building out their national id database.  The cost of compliance on states was very high.  Additionally, conservatives opposed this strongly on religious and political grounds and many states, such as Arizona, “opted out”.

3) A state voluntarily hands over the data.

This one is a tricky one.  For example, the state of Arizona, has always traditionally resisted handing over data from its law abiding citizens.  However, recently under SB1070, the anti-immigration law, SB1070 removes ALL RESTRICTIONS from sending and exchanging license data for ANY LICENSE for ANY PERSON (legal or illegal), with ANY AGENCY of the federal government.

SB1070 does not restrict the sending and exchange of law abiding Arizona citizens’ data with the feds to a police stop.  It removes ALL RESTRICTIONS and ALL PROHIBITIONS from the exchange of law abiding Arizona citizens’ license data with the federal government, beginning July 1.

That means any agency that has license data on Arizonans can send all or none, it can send the entire database of license data anytime it wants, beginning July 1, 2010.

You can rest assured that the federal government, especially Janet Napolitano and the US Department of Homeland Security, will amply incentivize the MVD and DPS to do so, so she can get her hands on the data she needs to track your gun purchases, among other things.

So, whereas Arizona opted out of the federal mandate program called “REAL ID” wherein the federal government attempted to pull data from Arizona to complete its national id database data on Arizona citizens, under SB1070, Arizona turns around and hands Janet Napolitano and G_d only knows who else, including the IRS, all data it has on you as a law abiding Arizona citizen.

Hmm… betcha didn’t know that was in the immigration law, did ya?

Read the bill - indeed.

So, how does that turn Arizona licenses into national ids?  Despite the cartoon picture at the top of this post, a national id is not a card, barcode, RFID chip, nor a magnetic strip.

It is the DATA the government has on you, such as your unique identifers, name, domicile, any biometric identifiers such as the digitized MVD photo on your license, which is also in your MVD data file.

So, if Arizona hands the data over to the feds and the feds promptly stick the data in their national id database and all of that data links directly to your drivers license, guess what?!?!?!?

VOILA…. your Arizona drivers license turns into something Clinton always pined for and dreamed of foisting on the country, A NATIONAL ID CARD!

The same card can and will be used to deny birth certificates for your children, unless you agree to a national id card check.

The same card can and will be used to deny you the ability to work, per the WSJ article above, to deny you work.  In other words, no citizen may work before the US Department of Homeland Security clears them to work (or doesn’t if you happen to be a political opponent.)

If you do not have your unique identifiers and national id on your mind or in your hand at all times,  you will be denied the ability to buy, sell, or engage legally in any commercial transaction, such as banking, buying/selling a home, opening a business (SB1070 does not exempt the exchange of business license data with the feds either.)

Conservatives have ALWAYS opposed national ids, since day 1 when FDR wanted them, in the 1980s, Ronald Reagan was vehemently opposed, in the 1990s the conservatives stopped every Clinton and democrat attempt at creating them.

Now, conservatives are supporting them.    Worse, it’s conservatives advancing the leftist globalist agenda, which has always been to number and catalog citizens as a form of control and……..

.

Once again, Gabrielle Giffords misled her constituents, this time in her Health Care Reform statement praising the Affordable Health Care for America Act. Her politically biased, one-sided description speaks volumes about her lack of integrity and how she views seniors in her congressional district . . . with cold-hearted loathing.

 Giffords stated the Act “will provide security for seniors, guarantee access to health insurance coverage for the uninsured and make health care affordable for the middle class . . .” and  that the Act will “[i]mprove Medicare for 135,000 beneficiaries . . .”  What Giffords did not tell her constituents is 279,833 Arizona seniors will lose their Medicare Advantage coverage because Giffords voted to gut Medicare funding by $500 billion. Giffords cannot gut Medicare and simultaneously improve it.

 2010

Giffords announced a number of “benefits” to health reform:

*  New health care plans and select grandfathered plans will allow 57,000 young people in District 8 to remain on their parents’ insurance policy until their 26th birthday.

*  Children with pre-existing conditions can no longer be denied health insurance coverage. The law prohibits that practice for new health plans as well as grandfathered group plans.

 *  Children covered by Medicaid or State Children’s Health Insurance Programs cannot be dropped from the plan.

*  Adults covered by State Medicaid programs cannot be dropped from the plan.

 What she failed to tell her constituents is the federal government will reduce Medicare reimbursements for hospitals who provide seniors with long-term and inpatient and rehabilitation care. Giffords certainly made her seniors feel more secure. First she eliminates their Medicare Advantage coverage then reduces Medicare reimbursements to hospitals.

 2011

Here are Gifford touted benefits of health care reform in 2011. First, Medicare Part D recipients who fall into the “donut hole” will receive a 50 percent discount on their prescriptions. A new, voluntary insurance plan providing modest cash assistance for long-term in-home or nursing home care becomes available.

 Insurance companies will be held accountable for unreasonable rate hikes. The law supports states in requiring that insurance companies submit justification for requested premium increases. Any company with excessive or unjustified premium increases may not be able to participate in new health insurance exchanges.

 Employers will start reporting the value of employees’ health care benefits on their W-2s. Community health centers will get increased funding to treat low-income and underserved individuals.

 What did Giffords fail to tell her constituents?

 *  Medicare Advantage cuts begin.

 *  Seniors will be means tested and forced to pay higher Medicare Part D premiums.

 *  Medicare reimbursements will be reduced for seniors who use MRI and CT scans begin.

 *  Medicare reimbursements for seniors’ use of ambulances and durable medical equipment will be reduced.

 2012

Giffords noted that nonprofit insurance co-ops will be created to compete with for-profit insurance companies. Physicians, hospitals and payers will be encouraged to band together in “accountable care organizations.”

 What did Giffords fail to tell her constituents?

 *  The federal government will cut Medicare reimbursement rates to any hospital with high readmission rates.

 *  The federal government will cut Medicare reimbursement rates for seniors on hospice care.

 *  The federal government will cut Medicare reimbursement rates for seniors on dialysis.

2014

 Giffords stopped describing the “benefits” of the Democrat health care reform act at 2012. Do you wonder why? Here’s the reason.

 The federal government will establish an Independent Payment Advisory Board with powers to make further, draconian cuts in Medicare reimbursements.

 2015

The federal government will cut Medicare reimbursements for seniors who depend on home health care.

 Giffords failed to tell her constituency the truth, the whole unvarnished truth. Giffords has betrayed her senior constituency. She repeatedly failed to inform them of the draconian cuts in reimbursements . . . only in Medicare.

The federal government is not making any cuts in reimbursements for the federal employees’ health plan. Tri-care (for military dependents) reimbursements are not being reduced. Only Medicare reimbursements are being reduced. Only Medicare Advantage health coverage is going to be slashed.

 Giffords and her fellow progressive-socialist Democrats  have targeted seniors for health care coverage reduction, health care reimbursement reduction and health care premium increases.

 Giffords claims to be a fiscally conservative blue dog but she is just a Pelosi lapdog who willingly and knowingly put a knife in the back of every senior in her congressional district.

Thank you to Congressman Mark Kirk, R-ILL, for his permission to use information from his web site. And good luck to the Congressman as he runs for Barack Obama’s old Senate seat.

What had before been a day of dutifully filing your personal tax return has been transformed by the American people into a day of protest against bigger government, higher taxes and runaway spending.

As costly and cumbersome your compliance with federal tax law is today, imagine what it will be like under the new healthcare takeover passed by Harry Mitchell and the Democrats in Washington. If you own a small business, your taxes will be going up. If you have been successful in your job or business, your taxes are going up. If you purchase prescription drugs, your taxes will be going up. In fact, the list of higher taxes coming down the pike will only get bigger and more cumbersome.

So while our current tax system is nothing more than a complicated mess – under Harry Mitchell and Democrats it will only get worse.

And that’s why we must do something about it this November. Like any good liberal, Harry Mitchell and his left-leaning colleagues in Washington are only now getting started. They are pushing a cap and trade bill that will further increase that tax burden on you and your family. In case you have forgotten, they also plan to let the tax cuts passed several years ago expire – another tax increase.

Are we going to sit back and let Harry Mitchell and liberal Democrats tax our country into oblivion to pay for their dramatic expansion of government? Are we going to watch as the money you and your family earn is slowly but surely siphoned off to pay for new government programs?

I know my answer and I think I know your answer – NO!

And that’s why I’m writing today. I need your help.

The voters here in AZ-05 are clearly fed up with Mitchell’s tax hiking agenda and we have a great opportunity to defeat Mitchell in November. But we need your help to do it.

Because, make no mistake, the liberals are not stupid. They know their policies are unpopular. They know the majority of Americans are opposed to what they are doing. But they don’t care.

They figure that with the support of their liberal labor union buddies and groups like MoveOn.org, they can buy this seat for Mitchell in November.

I’m not going to let them do that. We have taken in thousands of dollars in new donations over the last several months and those donations of $25, $50, and even $100 have allowed us to be in a strong position to beat Mitchell and his liberal agenda.

But we can’t afford to stop. Last election cycle, Mitchell and his liberal cronies spent millions defending Mitchell in this seat and he paid them back for their largess with a yes vote on the healthcare takeover.

We aren’t going to give Mitchell another opportunity to go back to Washington and vote liberal again. That’s why we need your help today.

We can take back the Congressional seat and take back Congress, but to do it we need the support of people like you.

Join us in this fight to defeat Mitchell in November. We need your help more than ever!

It’s time to restore fiscal sanity to our country.

Thousands will gather this evening at Tempe Diablo Stadium to make their voices heard. I hope to see all of you out there.

Join AFP Arizona, AFP President Tim Phillips, and thousands of Arizona taxpayers and tea partiers for the Tax Day Tea Party.

Diablo Stadium in Tempe
Thursday, April 15, from 6:00 to 8:30 pm
(next to I-10, just south of the Broadway Curve).

Come early to get the best seats and to meet candidates and representatives from pro-taxpayer organizations. The stadium seats 9,000 and there is plenty of extra room on the grassy hill on the north side of the ballpark—so bring the whole family!

Click here for more information.

Schweikert for Congress T-Shirts!

We’ll be getting t-shirts in soon. Reserve yours today with a $25 contribution.

For Immediate Release: April 9, 2010

Phoenix, AZ (April 9) – U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ) pledged today that if he were in the Senate he would co-sponsor legislation S.3152 introduced by Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) to repeal ObamaCare that puts the free market healthcare system under the control of the federal government. Hayworth has already shown leadership in signing the Club for Growth repeal pledge at www.repealit.org a grassroots effort to rescue America from government run health care.

Hayworth said, “To this point, John McCain has done a lot of talking about the bill but has failed to take any real action. To date Mr. McCain has not co-sponsored the DeMint legislation or signed the Club for Growth petition. Therefore, we invite the Senator to step forward to co-sponsor the bill and sign the petition from Club for Growth just as over 350 other lawmakers and candidates have done.

“When elected to the U.S. Senate to represent the people of Arizona, I will be Arizona’s first line of defense and will be the first in line to sponsor and aggressively support such repeal legislation.”

Hayworth is challenging U.S. Senator John McCain in the Arizona Republican primary August 24th.

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, April 6, 2010

For Immediate Release: April 1, 2010

Former legislators no longer around to help Arizona join lawsuit

Phoenix- Paulina Morris, candidate for Arizona Congressional District 3, criticized today the recent passage of the Obamacare Health Plan and throws her full support behind efforts to stop the unconstitutional Federal mandates. Along with the billions of dollars of increased Federal spending; this plan will cost the State of Arizona an estimated $3.8 Billion over the next three years and nearly $11 billion over the next ten years. With our state facing unprecedented budgeted deficits, these additional federal mandates could literally bankrupt our state.

“I have seen firsthand the effects of healthcare costs while serving on the Maricopa County Special Healthcare District,” said Morris. “Just like the bailouts on Wall Street and the banking system, in healthcare, we now are faced with a system of little transparency and increasing bureaucracy, which few understand and even fewer will be able to regulate.”

Over 62,000 voters elected Paulina Morris in 2004 to the inaugural Maricopa County Health District, whose boundaries nearly match those of Congressional District 3. She served as Chairman for two of those years. The Board oversees and directs the Maricopa Integrated Health System, which consists of the Maricopa Medical Center, 11 family health centers, psychiatric facilities, a health plan and a $700 million budget.

“It is unfortunate that the State Legislature is missing a few members who decided not to stick around to tackle important issues such as this,” said Co-Chair Phil Francis. “That’s the difference between those just looking for a new job and someone working hard to get the job done. Paulina served four years of countless hours, at no salary, to save the Maricopa Integrated Healthcare System. She’s not an elected official looking for a soft place to land or someone doing this for a hobby, she is in this race to serve and give back to a country who has given her so much.”

Morris congratulated Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, Speaker of the House Kirk Adams, Senate President Bob Burns, and members of the Arizona House and Senate for passing legislation to allow Arizona to seek legal remedies in stopping the Obama Healthcare plan.

Morris said, “I want to congratulate Arizona’s leaders for taking a stand. With Obamacare, the control is no longer in the hands of the consumers or the taxpayers. This bill puts government bureaucracy squarely in the driver’s seat, which is something we should fight at all costs. We must demand transparency and real reforms to protect consumers instead of government-controlled medicine. As your Congresswoman, I will take my experience to Washington and fight for real reform that is right for Arizonans.”

A m e r i c a n P o s t – G a z e t t e

Distributed by C O M M O N S E N S E , in Arizona

Obamacare pays to help sex offenders Kirsten Sinema loves the new law

In Arizona State Representative, Kirsten Sinema’s (D) Saturday article, given full coverage by the Arizona Republic, she points out some of the wonders of the Healthcare bill recently signed.  Though the taxes and fines start now, most of the benefits don’t start for four years, but don’t worry, just pay.  That 70% of the American people were opposed to – well, they just aren’t as smart at Representative Sinema.  That not one Republican in the Senate or House voted for it, well, they just don’t see all the beauty of this law.  That two major companies have already announced that this law will cost them at least $100 million, thus causing more jobs to be lost is just a footnote. She did neglect to tell us that 14 states have filed suits in federal court, with more coming, challenging the Constitutionality of the Healthcare bill.  If they’d just check with Sinema, they no doubt would have changed their mind.  And the $2.5 billion dollars the federal government will soon send out way – hmmm, since the government has no money, that $2.5 billion can only have been acquired by raising taxes on a whole lot of people, just for us.  How nice.  Oh, and coverage for all those children who have preexisting health conditions; sorry, they’re not covered under the healthcare plan.  Representative Sinema, as usual, never supports any cuts in programs when a state, our state, is going deeper in debt.  No, she wants to keep on spending us into oblivion, just like the President does. The CBO has now estimated that this plan, after going through all of the details, like providing counseling for native-American sex offenders, will actually drive up the debt another $1.5 Trillion dollars.  Wow, who couldn’t love that?

by Byron Schlomach, Ph.D.
Goldwater Institute
 
One of my relatives received a letter Tuesday from his primary-care physician announcing that he would no longer accept private insurance or government payment. This doctor is moving immediately to accepting only direct payment from patients for his services. This is just the beginning of a cascade of consequences from passage of the federal health care bill.

Here’s some insight into things to come:

· Health insurance will get more expensive for most of us. A few unhealthy people will spend less because of federal subsidies. But two mandates make higher premiums inevitable: Everyone is guaranteed insurance coverage and everyone in your community will pay the same premium. Combine these requirements with the relatively modest IRS fine for not buying insurance as required by law, and it increases the likelihood that only the already-sick will buy coverage. Therefore, insurance premiums will increase.

· It will become harder to get health care. Many doctors, like my relative’s physician, will stop taking insurance (private or government-run), or they will move to another country where we can visit them. Or they will just leave the profession, not wanting to deal with the intrusion that will accompany the new federal mandates.

· States will raise taxes. The federal law expands Medicaid and states are required to match federal funding for the program. States are not as free to borrow and they cannot print money like the federal government. Short of miraculous levels of revenue growth then, states will have to raise taxes to cover the new mandatory expense.

This will only be the beginning. We may not be able to see the ultimate end today, but one thing is certain: save for the few, health care in America just got a lot more expensive.

Dr. Byron Schlomach is an economist and the director of the Center for Economic Prosperity at the Goldwater Institute.