“BCBS has recently sent out renewal notices of over 40% increases; the lucky ones received increases of approximately 20%”, states Lisa Blais, Board Member of the RI Tea Party. ” This is all while we are overtaxed and paying for rich health insurance benefits for our public sector employees. So much for having an advocate at the Department of Health. So much for having an advocate in Lt. Governor Elizabeth Roberts, who claims she has done great things for health insurance coverage in RI. Instead small businesses and direct purchasers of health insurance are being forced to pay unacceptably high rate increases.” Ms. Blais cites an example of this outrageous premium hike. “How does going from $1140.00 per month for 2 healthy adults to just shy of $2 thousand sound to you?”

Come to the meeting and let your voices be heard!

News Release: Rhode Island Tea Party

WASHINGTON — When Congress required most Americans to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty, Democrats denied that they were creating a new tax. But in court, the Obama administration and its allies now defend the requirement as an exercise of the government’s “power to lay and collect taxes.”

And that power, they say, is even more sweeping than the federal power to regulate interstate commerce.

Administration officials say the tax argument is a linchpin of their legal case in defense of the health care overhaul and its individual mandate, now being challenged in court by more than 20 states and several private organizations…

Read More: The New York Times

“We consider health reform to have been an important battle and a success of his (Obama’s) government,” Castro wrote in an essay published in state media, adding that it would strengthen the president’s hand against lobbyists and “mercenaries.”…

And he said it was remarkable that the most powerful country on earth took more than two centuries from its founding to approve something as basic as health benefits for all.

“It is really incredible that 234 years after the Declaration of Independence … the government of that country has approved medical attention for the majority of its citizens, something that Cuba was able to do half a century ago,” Castro wrote…

Read More: Yahoo

Finally, some action on job creation from the Administration!

Top IRS officials have been working with Democrats on Capitol Hill to determine how the agency will enforce President Obama’s new health care law. Republican lawmakers estimate the legislation will require the hiring of many thousands of new tax enforcement agents.

While it’s still not known exactly how many will be hired, here’s what’s clear: Under the new law, the IRS is required to fine taxpayers thousands of dollars if they do not purchase health insurance. In order for the government to enforce compliance, tax authorities will need information, for the first time, about people’s health care. Collecting that data will require more IRS personnel.

Consider what has happened in Massachusetts, which passed a similar health care bill in 2006. To enforce the individual mandate, the state’s Department of Revenue asks filers what kind of insurance they have, as well as details like whether their “sincerely held religious beliefs” are moving them to petition for an exemption from the requirement…

Read More: The Daily Caller

“President Obama has betrayed his oath to the nation — rather than bringing us together, ushering in a new kind of politics, and rising above raw partisanship, he has succumbed to the lowest denominator of incumbent power: justifying the means by extolling the ends. He promised better; we deserved better,” Romney wrote in a statement on the website of his political action committee, Free and Strong America.

The former Massachusetts governor has been criss-crossing the country and doing a series of interviews on his recently released book, “No Apology,” which premiered Sunday atop The New York Times’ best-seller list for non-fiction books…

“His health care bill is unhealthy for America. It raises taxes, slashes the more private side of Medicare, installs price controls, and puts a new federal bureaucracy in charge of health care. It will create a new entitlement even as the ones we already have are bankrupt. For these reasons and more, the act should be repealed. That campaign begins today.”…

Read More: Boston.com

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZgXhdpF9hc[/youtube]

Usually autopsies are reserved for after the patient has died, but in this case it is useful to get ahead of the matter. The malformed health legislation is not the only reason Democrats are facing political extinction in November, but it is one of the most dramatic. The legislative process in this country has never been so unseemly. Arm twisting, backroom deals, special privileges and potentially criminal “government jobs for votes” agreements became a normal way of doing business. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi fixated on the mantra that the Democrats’ health plan is “historic,” but so was the Black Plague…

Read More: The Washington Times

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOdvn2dtM0A[/youtube]

Bill McCollum will join Attorneys General from South Carolina, Nebraska, Texas, Utah, Pennsylvania, Washington, North Dakota and South Dakota to file a lawsuit against the federal government.

“The health care reform legislation passed by the U. S. House of Representatives this evening clearly violates the U.S. Constitution and infringes on each state’s sovereignty,” McCollum said in a statement distributed late Sunday night.

“If the President signs this bill into law, we will file a lawsuit to protect the rights and the interests of American citizens.”

McCollum will hold a press conference at his Orlando office Monday morning to discuss his plans…

Read More: ABC News

“For decades,” the letter says, “the United States Catholic bishops have supported universal health care. The Catholic Church teaches that health care is a basic human right, essential for human life and dignity.”

“Our community of faith,” the bishops continue, “provides health care to millions, purchases health care for tens of thousands and addresses the failings of our health care system in our parishes, emergency rooms and shelters. This is why we as bishops continue to insist that health care reform which truly protects the life, dignity, consciences and health of all is a moral imperative and an urgent national priority.”

Nevertheless, they add, “we are convinced that the Senate legislation now presented to the House of Representatives on a ‘take it or leave it’ basis sadly fails this test and ought to be opposed.”

The letter is signed by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, Chairman of the Committee of Pro-life Activities; Bishop William F. Murphy, Chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development; and Bishop John C. Wester, Chairman of the Committee on Migration.

Source: Catholic News Agency