There's money growing off of that Tree of Liberty

For two weeks I've tried half-heartedly to understand the healthcare reform debate. I watched a little news, read a couple of articles, and generally wrote the whole thing off as this month's Obama is the Devil stunt ala the Tea Party Protestors of April '09.

But over the last few days, things have changed. Yesterday a man named William Kostrik arrived outside a town hall meeting in New Hampshire with a handgun strapped to his leg and a sign reading "It's time to water the tree of liberty..."

Brush up on your historic quotes recently?

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." -Thomas Jefferson

Did I forget to mention that the man was standing outside the doors of a high school in which our President was currently speaking? Don't worry though, Mr. Kostrik wasn't arrested. After all, New Hampshire law grants their citizens the right to bear arms. There's no clause restricting any American from hanging out near the President with a couple of weapons bearing a sign suggesting the time had come to shed blood.

So, why was Kostrik there? What was he so angry about? Why was Obama holding this town hall meeting in New Hampshire?

Well, it all has to do with Health Care Reform. And this is where it gets complicated.

Let me start at the beginning.

President Obama wants to pass a comprehensive Health Care Reform bill.

The 852 word document outlines the ways in which the Government would play a role in the regulation of the health insurance industry.

It is not a Universal health Care proposal.

But the reform would set a universal standard of health care, "guaranteeing access to affordable coverage, essential benefits, and other consumer protections."

It would ensure that "a qualified health benefits plan may not impose any pre-existing condition exclusion."

It would establish a "Health Insurance Exchange in order to facilitate access of individuals and employers, through a transparent process, to a variety of choices of affordable, quality health insurance coverage including a public health insurance option."

Allow me to explain...

If reform passes:

President Obama will appoint a Public Health Administration Commissioner, who would help create a standard of care. This means all health insurance policies would be held responsible for covering the same minimum benefits including certain treatments, visits, and medicines.

Your insurance company can not deny you coverage because of your health history. Sure, they may want you to pay more, but they can't deny coverage.

The government would offer all citizens the option of being covered by public health insurance. In the President's own words...

"This is where a lot of the idea of government takeover of health care comes from. All we want to do is set up a set of options so that if you don't have health insurance or if you're underinsured, you can have the same deal that members of Congress have, whi

ch is they can look at a menu of options-- we're calling it an exchange but it's basically just a menu of different health care plans-- and you will be able to select the one that suits your family best."

The Opposition

As with any political issue, there is debate over Obama's proposed reform. Many believe the "nationalization of health care" will not only cost taxpayers a whole bunch of money, but that millions of Americans will actually lose their insurance due to employers switching from private to public health insurance plans.

In the same vein as the tea party protests, "grassroots" organizations have called upon their members to storm town hall meetings and have their voices heard.

Tea Party Patriots, the "Official" Grassroots America Movement, is the leader of the pack when it comes to this debate. On their website, they urgently encourage visitors

to download flyers, read over a list of talking points, and join up with other like-minded people to have their voices heard at health care town halls throughout the country. They remind meeting protestors to "make sure to get plenty of video and photos of the

event, post them to YouTube," and to "remind your protest attendees that they may be on video with those who support nationalized health care."

Dig a little deeper, baby.

Note: Though I suspected as much myself, the investigative reporting in this section must be attributed to the staff of The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC. I have done my own research and have been able to verify every claim made here.

At the bottom of the TeaPartyPatriots.org site, you will see a list of affiliated partners, the most notable of which is Freedom Works (revisit my original Tea Party blog for more on this organization).

Now follow along closely...

The chairman of Freedom Works is former U.S. House Majority Leader, Dick Armey.

Armey is also Senior Policy Advisor for a lobbyist group called DLA Piper.

Among DLA Piper's major clients are Bristol-Myers Squibb- a pharmaceutical company, and SleepMed- a medical device supplier specializing in sleep medicine, Medicines Company- another pharmaceutical bigwig, and Metcare- a health care provider based in Florida.

The connection that The Rachel Maddow Show has laid out here, doesn't end there.

In 2007, the American Council of Life Insurers paid Armey's Lobbying firm, DLA Piper, $100,000. Within six months, Freedom Works, that "Grassroots" organization, had begun lobbying Congress to deregulate the life insurance industry.

In 2006, DLA Piper began lobbying for the Senado de Republica, or Mexican Senate "to promote U.S.-Mexico relations." Soon after, Freedom Works started promoting themselves as "one of the few conservative organizations willing to aggressively promote meaningful immigration reform."

The Director of Freedom Works is a man named Richard J. Stephenson. He is also the Chairman of the Board and Founder of Cancer Treatment Centers of America Inc (a for-profit company).

Matt Kibbe, President of Freedom Works, is a former Senior Economist for the Republican National Committee.

Grassroots? Really Freedom Works? Really Tea Party Patriots?

From Wikipedia...

"A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. the term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it is natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures."

Don't be scurred!

So in misrepresenting themselves, these organizations, who, by the way, obviously have a major financial interest in leaving health care the way it is, have been able to scare people into believing that the hostile takeover of health care will mean going bankrupt over taxes, sending our elderly to the "death panel," and, somehow, turning into a socialist society run by Nazis.

Let's start with the money.

Yes. It will cost money to implement a plan like this. A lot of money to be exact. And some of it will come from taxpayers. But not all of it. Yesterday, at the town hall meeting in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, President Obama laid out his plan for financing the reform.

"About two-thirds of those costs we can cover by eliminating the inefficiencies that I already mentioned. So I already talked about $177 billion worth of subsidies to the insurance companies. Let's take that money, let's put it in the kitty. There's about $500 billion to $600 billion over 10 years that can be saved without cutting benefits for people who are currently receiving Medicare, actually making the system more efficient over time.

That does still leave, though, anywhere from $300 billion to $400 billion over 10 years, or $30 billion to $40 billion a year. That does have to be paid for, and we will need new sources of revenue to pay for it. And I've made a proposal that would -- I want to just be very clear -- the proposal, my preferred approach to this would have been to take people like myself who make more than $250,000 a year, and limit the itemized deductions that we can take to the same level as middle-class folks can take them."

So we're talking about leveling out the playing field here. Rich people get to take just the same deductions as the middle class, therefore collecting more tax from the wealthiest in this country. Sure, that may be upsetting to those who fall into that bracket. But it's not as though they're being punished- simply being treated the exact same way everyone else is. In the name of liberty and justice for all, isn't it about time we started treating each other equally on all levels- including financially? I don't see why not.

Moving on.

Obama is not sending your Grandma to the grave early because it's too expensive to keep her lying around. I'm sorry, but stop being absurd.

Here's where this malicious rumor came from.

The way it stands, most health care policies, including Medicare, don't provide any coverage for end-of-life counseling or the creation of a living will. If I wanted to go to my doctor and create a document outlining my wishes should I become incapable of making decisions for myself, I have to pay out of pocket for that visit.

There is a provision in the reform bill that requires Medicare and health insurance companies to cover the cost of that visit- should you want to have it. No one forces you to do it. There is no requirement to have this discussion with a doctor every five years. But you have the option to have the consultation every five years. If you'd like to go, it will be covered by your insurance. Want to learn more? Read this Washington Post interview with Republican Senator Johnny Isakson.

Don't get me wrong. I have loved watching Americans go from completely apathetic to down right pissed. We are finally involved in our own country. I just wish that those with opposing opinions would do a little research before they throw their hearts in the ring, only to benefit the wallets of those who started this political terrorism in the first place.