Radio Address: Obamacare is on Hold in Maine, July 7, 2012 -- Governor Paul R. LePage

[bsteadman]

Radio Address: Obamacare is on Hold in Maine

Governor Paul R. LePage
Weekly Message
July 7, 2012

"As millions of Americans celebrated America’s birthday this week, we reflected on our individual liberties and our independence as a Nation. Indeed, it’s always uplifting to remember and honor what our Country is founded upon.

Hello. This is Governor Paul LePage.

For 236 years our constitution has tried to uphold our Founding Fathers intent – to protect Americans rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But what our Founding Fathers, I’m sure, did not have in mind is for our rights to be stripped away by our Federal Government. What our Founding Fathers did not see coming is unfair taxation that burdens the American people.

Obamacare is bad policy and bad law. It raises taxes, cuts Medicare for the elderly, gets between patients and their doctors, costs trillions of taxpayer dollars, and kills jobs.

Nonetheless, the Supreme Court has spoken and its decision carries the law of the land. We have an opinion as to what is constitutional and what isn’t. However, what the Court did not tell us is what states should do next.

I have been asked if Maine will move forward with Medicaid expansion. However, Maine is already a welfare expansion state because of the generous benefits offered. Our welfare costs are among the highest in the Nation as a result of some of the lowest eligibility requirements.

Maine has increased its spending by more than a billion dollars during the last decade because of expanded welfare programs. We cannot afford our current programs, so to require Maine to expand coverage even more is fiscally irresponsible. Before we think about taking on any more debt, we must pay our current bills – nearly $500 million is owed to Maine hospitals.

Furthermore, there are still too many uncertainties for Maine to implement Obamacare. We do not know how federal matches would be paid for and how newly eligible is defined. Meanwhile, the President has proposed $800 million to finance exchanges, money that has not been approved by Congress. With these looming uncertainties circling around this issue, Maine cannot move forward right now with Obamacare.

Perhaps what is most disturbing about this ruling, though, is that the federal mandate is considered a TAX. This tax will add to the $500 billion in tax increases that are already in Obamacare. Now that Congress can use the taxation power of the federal government to compel behavior or lack thereof, what’s next? More taxes if we don’t drive Toyota Priuses or if we eat too much junk food or maybe even pea soup?

This decision has made America less free. We the people have been told there is no choice. You must buy health insurance or pay the new Gestapo – the I.R.S.

Even more disheartening is that reviving the American dream just became nearly impossible to do. We are now a nation in which supports dependency rather than independence. Instead of encouraging self-reliance we are encouraging people to rely on the government.

Demanding freebies in life and living freely are two very different things. There used to be a time when we were proud to get people off government programs. Today, we are promoting entitlement programs that are breaking the bank. Success should not be measured by what we can get for free, but rather what we do and give back to society when we are independent and productive citizens. Government-run health care is not what the American dream is about.

Democrats are attacking Republicans saying that we are turning down free health care. I have always said it doesn’t matter if the money is taken from the left or right pocket, it’s still my pocket. Make no mistake about it, taxpayers will pay for this.

The debt ceiling has been hiked again – now to $16.4 trillion. How much more can we take? Because right now it’s not only our children and grandchildren who will be paying for it, it will be our unborn great grandchildren who support our lack of responsibility and accountability for this mistake.

America wasn’t born on these sorts of principles and it’s time we get back on track - not only for our future generations, but for the future of our Nation."

A photo of Governor LePage, the complete transcript to his excellent July 7th Radio Address, and an MP3 audio track of his radio broadcast can be accessed at:

http://www.maine.gov/tools/whatsnew/...9717&v=article

[bsteadman]

LePage calls IRS the 'new Gestapo' -- Morning Sentinel, Steve Mistler

LePage calls IRS the 'new Gestapo'

The governor uses his radio address to attack President Obama's Affordable Care Act.

Morning Sentinel
Steve Mistler, Staff Writer
7/8/2012

"Gov. Paul LePage used his weekly radio address to blast President Obama's health care law and described the Internal Revenue Service as the "new Gestapo."

The IRS description was a reference to a provision in the Affordable Care Act that requires Americans not insured by their employers or Medicaid to buy health insurance or pay an annual penalty when filing their tax returns. The provision, known more broadly as the individual mandate, was the subject of a multi-state lawsuit, but was recently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

LePage said the court decision has "made America less free."

"We the people have been told there is no choice," he said. "You must buy health insurance or pay the new Gestapo -- the IRS."

Maine Democratic Party Chairman Ben Grant, responding to LePage's remarks, said, "We've come to expect a bunch of nonsense from Gov. LePage, but this is a step too far. There appears now to be no limit to the extreme language he will use to misinform, degrade and insult people. Somebody needs to explain to him that he's the governor of a state, and not a talk radio host. I demand a full apology on behalf of all those who suffered at the hands of the real Gestapo."

"There is nothing that degrades politics more than purported leaders who so cavalierly invoke the worst in human history when they can't get their way in legitimate, modern policy disagreements," Grant said.

The Gestapo were Nazi Germany's official secret police under Adolf Hitler, who imprisoned and murdered thousands of people without cause.

The debate over the mandate has become a political flash point since the health law was enacted. Republicans maintain that the requirement is an unfair tax. Democrats say the mandate was originally a Republican idea born from the conservative Heritage Foundation, which introduced the measure in 1989 as a counterpoint to calls for a single-payer health care system.

LePage also addressed another element of the health-care law that was immediately thrust into the public debate: Medicaid expansion. Originally, the Affordable Care Act required states to increase eligibility for low-income residents or pay a penalty. The court decision struck down the penalty; however, the federal government is still offering to pay for the expansion.

The federal government will fund 100 percent of the expansion from 2014 to 2016, gradually declining to 90 percent after that.

LePage says he needs more answers before making a decision about the Medicaid expansion, which has been assailed by fellow Republican governors. At least 15 have said they'll forgo the federal funding.

LePage said the state doesn't know how the federal matches will be paid for and how the newly eligible recipients would be defined.

"However, Maine is already a welfare expansion state because of the generous benefits offered," he said, adding that Maine's welfare costs are among the highest in the nation because the state had expanded Medicaid prior to the Republican electoral sweep of 2010.

The governor also appeared to preempt potential pressure from hospitals to support Medicaid expansion.

Hospitals may end up supporting the expansion because increased Medicaid offerings lower uncompensated, or charity, care levels.

Uncompensated care is health-care costs that hospitals absorb because people can't or won't pay. A recent report in the Portland Press Herald showed that uncompensated care by Maine hospitals has doubled over the last five years, from $94 million to $194 million.

LePage said that increasing Medicaid may make it more difficult to pay hospitals the $500 million the state already owes in reimbursement.

The governor added that Maine will not move forward the ACA's insurance exchanges -- the marketplaces where individuals can shop for health plans from private companies -- until the proposed $800 million tab to pay for them passes Congress.

"With these looming uncertainties circling around this issue, Maine cannot move forward right now with Obamacare," LePage said."
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View the complete article at:

http://www.onlinesentinel.com/news/G...o-address.html

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The above article is being linked on the Drudge Report, 9:00 am, ET, 7/9/2012