Bill Nelson’s War on Florida Seniors

In November, 2000 William "Bill" Nelson was elected to the United States Senate by the citizens of Florida. He was re-elected in 2006. Mr. Nelson proclaims himself to be a a centrist as well as a champion of the seniors that comprise a large portion of his constituency. Any views he held as a "centrist" were abandoned long ago. Today he is a champion of nothing but the far-left ideology of Barack Obama.

I consider myself one of the people that Bill Nelson and Barack Obama both revile and fear; an informed, knowledgeable, card carrying tea party member, senior not falling for their fear-mongering tactics. The senior population of Florida must remove their blinders and understand just who Bill Nelson truly is, and how not only his votes, but his silence on some of the more radical Obama czars, will harm them. In order to fully understand the treachery of Bill Nelson, one needs to journey back to the 2009 Obama Stimulus Bill. Many seniors are still unaware that buried in that bill was $1.1 billion to fund the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research, the precursor to The Independent Payment Advisory Board and health care rationing. Sen. Bill Nelson voted in favor of the Stimulus Bill.

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Barack Obama then began putting together his radical group of czars. He nominated Cass Sunstein as his Regulatory Czar. Mr. Sunstein, a far left Harvard Professor is the author of a 2003 paper entitled, "Lives, Life-Years, and Willingness to Pay". The PDF version can be found here. Some of the memorable quotes by Mr. Sunstein contained in his paper:

"Many analysts, however, have suggested that the government should rely instead on the 'value of a statistical life year' (VSLY), in a way that would likely result in significantly lower benefits calculations for elderly people, and significantly higher benefits calculations for children". "I urge that the government should indeed focus on statistical life-years rather than statistical lives. A program that saves young people produces more welfare than one that saves old people". "Older people are treated worse for one reason, they are older. This is not an injustice." "A program that saves young people produces more welfare than one that saves old people. Nor does a focus on life-years run afoul of ethical limits on cost-benefit analysis. It is relevant in this connection that every old person was once young, and that if all goes well, young people will eventually be old".

Senator Bill Nelson voted to confirm Cass Sunstein. Are you seniors feeling the love from Bill Nelson? Next up we have the abomination that became the laughably titled "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act"; more widely known as "Obamacare". Few people know this started as the "Service Members Home Ownership Tax Act of 2009" introduced by that most upstanding of legislators, Charles Rangle, on September 17, 2009. What does this have to do with health care you might ask? Absolutely nothing, but since when has this mattered in Washington. It was but a shell into which the Democrats could craft any legislation they chose. It passed the House on October 8, 2009. The Senate then incorporated it's own health care legislation into the House Bill, renamed it "The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act", and passed it through the Senate on a strictly partisan vote. Even though some Democrats in the House objected to parts of the Senate Bill, after much arm twisting from both Barack Obama and Bill Nelson, the House agreed to "the Senate Amendment" on March 21, 2010. Keep in mind all bills to raise revenue, as well as spending bills, must originate in the House of Representatives. That process was thrown out the window in order to rush through Obamacare. Senator Bill Nelson, over the objections of the majority of Florida seniors, voted in favor of Obamacare and Barack Obama signed it into law on March 23, 2010. I do not believe Bill Nelson read any part of this massive bill; simply parroted liberal talking points when asked about the bill. My belief was confirmed when he made the following statement, "But there is at the end of it what is called a severability clause, that says if parts are struck down, that doesn't strike down the whole law". Say what? The severability clause was removed from the bill and was not in the version the good Senator voted for. Obamacare originally took $500 billion from Medicare to help fund Obamacare. Today that figure is estimated at $716 billion. It is estimated that 1 in 6 nursing homes and hospitals will go out of business. It is estimated numerous physicians will either stop practicing or stop accepting Medicare patients. Remember Obama's promise that "if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor"? Not so much when your doctor either closes his practice or refuses to treat you because he can't stay in business by existing on Medicare reimbursements. The timeline for instituting the major provisions in Obamacare can be found here. When Sen. Nelson continues to assure Florida seniors he is looking out for them, they may just want to question him about the following portions of the Obamacare timeline:

2009

• Medicare cuts to hospitals, long-term care facilities and rehabilitation facilities begin.

2010

• Medicare cuts to inpatient psych hospitals begin

2011

• Medicare Advantage Cuts begin.
• No one will be allowed to use any type of Health Savings Account to purchase over-the-counter drugs.
• Medicare cuts to home health begin.
• Wealthier seniors begin paying higher Part D premiums.
• Medicare reimbursement cuts when seniors use diagnostic imaging such as MRI's and CT scans.
• Medicare cuts begin to ambulance services, diagnostic labs and durable medical equipment.
• Prohibition on Medicare payments to new physician-owned hospitals.
• Seniors prohibited from purchasing power wheelchairs unless they first rent for 13 months.
• New Medicare cuts to long-term care hospitals begin.
• Additional Medicare cuts to hospitals and cuts to nursing homes and inpatient rehab facilities begin.

2012

• Medicare cuts to dialysis treatment begins.
• New Medicare cuts to inpatient psych hospitals.
• Hospital pay for quality program begins.
• Medicare cuts to hospice begin.

2013

• Medicare cuts to hospitals who treat low income seniors begin.
• Part D "donut hole" reduction begins.

2014

• More Medicare cuts to home health begins.
• INDEPENDENT PAYMENT ADVISORY BOARD BEGINS SUBMITTING PROPOSALS TO CUT MEDICARE

2015

More Medicare cuts to home health begin

2017

• Physician pay for quality program begins for all physicians.

By the way, seniors, you can forget about that hip or knee replacement. Bill Nelson and Barack Obama have decided it's more important to pay for birth control for those who feel it's a hardship to spend $9.00 a month for their own pills and provide morning after pills and abortions for those who engage in reckless behavior and expect us to pay for it. Are you getting that warm and fuzzy feeling from Bill Nelson yet? Next up is Barack Obama's nominee to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Donald Berwick. Dr. Berwick was nominated by Barack Obama on April 19, 2010. His confirmation met stiff resistance from Republican Senators after these statements attributed to him came to light:

"Any health care funding plan that is just, equitable, civilized, and humane must – must – redistribute wealth from the richer among us to the poorer and less fortunate. Excellent healthcare is by definition redistribution." "The decision is not whether or not we will ration care - the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open. And right now, we are doing it blindly". "I cannot believe that the individual health care consumer can enforce through choice the proper configurations of a system as massive and complex as health care. That is for leaders to do". "A progressive policy regime will control and rationalize financing-control supply".

Barack Obama chose to circumvent the Senate and recess appointed the extremely radical Dr. Berwick on July 10, 2010. I'm still awaiting the statement of outrage over this appointment from the all caring Bill Nelson. Dr. Berwick resigned in November of last year, but the influence he exerted will be painfully felt by seniors. Coincidentally, the resignation of Dr. Berwick coincided with the nomination of his old friend, Henry Aaron, to the Social Security Advisory Board. As luck would have it, Mr. Aaron is also a huge fan of health care rationing. He is a huge advocate of the British National Health Service, whose chief medical ethicist, Baroness Mary Warnock, according to a U.K. Telegraph article, has previously stated that she felt dementia sufferers, and other similarly burdensome people have a "duty to die." Whether that burden falls on their family, or the state, Lady Warnock says she hopes that people will soon be "licensed to put others down" if they cannot care for themselves. A quote from Mr. Aaron states:

“If Americans are serious about curbing medical costs, they’ll have to face up to a much tougher issue than merely cutting waste. They’ll have to do what the British have done: ration some types of costly medical care — which means turning away patients from proven treatments.”

Mr. Aaron has not been confirmed as yet by the full Senate, but has passed out of the Senate Finance Committee; upon which Bill Nelson sits. It should come as no surprise that our good Senator Nelson voted in favor of Mr. Aaron. Interestingly enough, Mr. Aaron authored a piece in The New England Journal of Medicine on June 23, 2011 titled "The Independent Advisory Board --Congress's Good Dead. Link The founding Medicare legislation stated "Nothing in this title shall be construed to authorize any Federal officer or employee to exercise any supervision or control over the practice of medicine". However, the Independent Payment Advisory Board, or as Sarah and I like to call it, "The Death Panel" does just that. It was created by Obamacare and swings into action in 2014. This Board will be made up of unelected bureaucrats deciding the care seniors will be allowed to receive. This Board is not only anti-Constitutional, but completely authoritarian. We will now face the same type of rationing favored by Dr. Berwick, Henry Aaron and, apparently, Bill Nelson. Florida seniors have a choice to make in November; continue down the path to socialism, communism, marxism or whatever you choose to call it, or cast your vote for the man who not only voted against Obamacare, but has repeatedly voted to repeal it. That man is Congressman Connie Mack. Ignore the petty charges being thrown at him by a man who has consistently voted against Florida seniors. We cannot let Bill Nelson hide from his vote for Obamacare. The huge turnout by Florida seniors at the Villages on Saturday morning to meet with Congressman Paul Ryan is proof we're not all swallowing the kool-aid being fed us by Bill Nelson and Barack Obama. We must now educate the rest. In November we will turn Florida back Red and Florida seniors will lead the way. As you cast your vote, keep in mind these words from P.J. O'Rourke, “Liberalism is just Communism sold by the drink.”