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Merry
Christmas
From
the First Family of District 19
From
Left to Right: son, Ben with daughter-in-law, Candice with our two
granddaughters, Grace and Abigail. Back Row: son, John with
daughter-in-law, Emily, my husband, Bernie, my sister and brother-in-law,
Cathy and Ric, my parents, Marylin and Gordon Gosh, son, Matthew.
Middle row: daughter, Cathryn, me, daughter, Amanda. Front
Row: niece, Elizabeth, daughter, Susanna, son, Philip and Nephew,
James.
Wishing
You God's Richest Blessing This
Christmas.
Health
Care Matters
You may
be wondering why I would write about healthcare right before
Christmas. Certainly those in congress seem to be focused more on
their healthcare bill than Christmas. It makes us wonder why they
want to stay in Washington on Christmas Eve, casting
votes during the Sabbath days and into the midnight hours. This
Health Care Bill has some parallels to the story behind the federal
reserve act which was also passed during the Christmas week.
The Federal Reserve
Act
As we
approach the Christmas season, I am reminded of a story about a baby who
was baptized. The family returned home from Church and put the
sleeping infant on the bed in the master bedroom. As all the guests
arrived, they laid their coats on the bed as well. After awhile
people started wondering what happened to the baby. He was found
under all those coats. The guests were having such a great time that
they didn't notice what happened to the main attraction. (Don't
worry. The baby was fine, but grossly
ignored.)
Many
have told that story to illustrate how we treat Jesus at Christmas.
The holiday originated as a way to commemorate the birth of the Savior of
the world, yet we are so busy with baking, shopping and social events, we
can leave the story of the Savior under all our coats and forget He is the
reason for the celebration.
That's
how I feel about the healthcare bill. With all the wrangling, the
folks in Washington
D.C. are leaving out the most
important part of the debate -the
citizens. They are so busy beating up those insurance
companies and trying to calculate how far into socialism and expansion of
the national debt we ought to go, they forgot the real question: How
are they going to control inflating costs and the accompanying
fraud?
I am not
against reforming health care, but I am against the way the congress is
doing it. Nobody wants to risk losing his home and life savings on a
medical event, but the real problems with our current system appear to be
missing from the latest proposal-ideas like competition, accountability
and price transparency.
The best
way to reduce prices is to allow our free market system to work.
People need to shop around. Providers need to have an incentive to
market their advantages over other choices. People had health care
before insurance was invented and without any governmental intrusion,
health care would continue.
On top
of it all, the current bill allows our youngest among us to be
exterminated through taxpayer funding. The congressional plan will
save money by "weeding out the undesirables". That's why they fought
to make sure abortion was covered in the senate bill. When we go to
a national healthcare system, the first step is for government to gain
greater control of our lives. The second step will be to define who
is worthy of medical services. Even if you think it is okay for
parents to destroy their offspring before birth, we ought to be concerned
about what will happen to the disabled and elderly.
Amid all
the debate going on in Washington D.C., it is critical that we take steps
to protect our citizens from further economic
damage. I love a good debate, but
those debating our health care in the nation's capitol apparently are
neither interested in the opinions of citizens nor considering
objective outside
ideas.
So
here is what I am doing about it: You can be confident
that I will use my position to protect our freedoms and our choices.
On December 1st, the first day we could pre-file bills, I filed
HJR 48. It's all about preserving health care options for our
citizens. Here is a recent newspaper article that explains what I am
trying to accomplish:
Missouri
Republicans fight health care reform
Tuesday,
December 8, 2009 | 12:01 a.m. CST
BY
Rebecca
Beitsch
JEFFERSON
CITY - One Missouri representative has sponsored
legislation that would give
Missouri
residents a choice when it comes to a national health care reform
bill.
Rep.
Cynthia Davis, R-O'Fallon, pre-filed a bill Dec. 1 that, if approved by
voters, would effectively put a halt on any national health care
legislation. Davis said her intent was to give voters
a way to protect themselves.
"We
(Missourians) don't like it when people try to take away our
freedom," Davis said. "We will maintain the right
to purchase health care however we choose. This national health care
debate is not about health care as much as it is about
redistribution of the wealth. This resolution allows voters to say
don't redistribute our wealth here in Missouri."
Davis' bill would allow people
to purchase insurance from whomever they want and would also protect
against penalties for not having insurance.
But the
measure to preserve the status quo might be
unconstitutional.
If
Davis' bill passes both houses of the
Missouri
legislature, residents would not have the opportunity to vote on the
measure until November 2010 - presumably after a federal health care bill
will have passed.
"This
attempts to annul or invalidate any federal provision to require people to
buy health insurance." said Greg Casey, a constitutional law
professor at MU. "It's unconstitutional based on the supremacy
clause."
The
supremacy clause, in Article 6, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution,
keeps states from
encroaching on the federal government's
powers.
"If
there's a conflict between federal and state law, state law falls," Casey
said.
"A state
can't, on its own, invalidate federal law," Casey
said.
But
Davis
pointed to the 10th Amendment, which reserves powers not granted to the
federal government by the constitution to state governments or the people,
as justification for legality.
"There
is nothing in the U.S. Constitution whatsoever that constitutionally
authorizes this national monster to encroach on the way we do health care
in Missouri," Davis
said.
Rep. Don
Calloway, D-St. Louis, a civil litigation attorney with a specialization
in constitutional rights cases, said the 10th Amendment merely grants
powers to states that are not reserved by the federal government.
According to him, it "doesn't give states the right to effectively block
or nullify" federal law.
The crux
of the idea - a state government versus federal government power struggle
- is one that might also sharply divide Democrats and Republicans in
Missouri.
"I would
be in favor of having the state make decisions on health care and
not the federal government," said Rep. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph,
a family physician and chair of the House Healthcare Transformation
Committee.
More
"Cynthia in the News" Articles
The Growing Movement to Nullify
National Health
Care
KMOX: Area lawmaker wants state vote on healthcare
reform
Your
thoughts are important to me, so please let me know what you think about the national healthcare
proposal.
You
can send me your opinion by clicking here: Cynthia Davis
A Little
Bit of Humor . . .
F.A.Q. about your Healthcare
Plans and Doctor
Since I just joined a
HMO, how difficult will it be to choose the doctor I
want?
Just
slightly more difficult than choosing your parents. Your insurer will
provide you with a book listing all the doctors who were participating in
the plan at the time the information was gathered. These doctors basically
fall into two categories -- those who are no longer accepting new
patients, and those who will see you but are no longer part of the plan.
But, fortunately, there is a doctor who is in the plan accepting new
patients. And...he has an office just four hours
away.
What does HMO stand
for?
This is actually a variation of the phrase,
"Hey, Moe" Its roots go
back to a concept pioneered by
Doctor Moe Howard, who
discovered that a patient
could be made to forget about the pain in
his foot if he was poked hard
enough in the eyes. Modern practice
replaces the physical finger
poke with hi-tech equivalents such as
voice mail and referral slips,
but the result remains the same.
Do all diagnostic procedures
require pre-certification?
No. Only those you need.
Well, can
I get coverage for my pre-existing conditions?
Of course, as long as they don't require any
treatment.
What happens if I want to try
alternative forms of medicine?
You'll need to find alternative forms of
payment.
What should I do if I get sick
while
traveling?
Try
sitting in a different part of the bus.
No, I mean what if I'm away
from home and I get sick?
You really shouldn't do that. You'll have a
hard time seeing your primary care physician. It's best to wait until you
return, and then get sick.
I think I need to see a
specialist, but my doctor insists he can handle my problem. Can a general
practitioner really perform a heart transplant right in his
office?
Hard to
say, but considering that all you're out is the $10 co-payment, there's no
harm giving him a shot at it.
This
Capitol Report is a weekly column by Representative Cynthia
Davis, from the 19th District,
covering events in the Missouri Legislature and district-wide
issues.
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