In addition to a dozen expert presentations, the event will include short breakout sessions with individual speakers, exhibits, and a panel discussion with questions and answers from participants and the Internet. The event will also be available on live streaming video.
"We are proud to me a member of the impressive coalition participating in this event. It is imperative to educate patients and doctors that the law signed by the President last year rehashes the same failed top-down schemes that created our problems in the first place," says Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) Executive Director, Jane Orient, M.D. AAPS, a national organization representing physicians in all specialties, was founded in 1943 to defend the sanctity of the patient-physician relationship, is one of the event's primary sponsors. AAPS President-Elect Alieta Eck, M.D. will speak about alternatives to the PPACA in her presentation entitled "What Would Be Better Than ObamaCare."
Richard Armstrong, M.D.,Chief Operating Officer of Docs 4 Patient Care, a nationwide physician advocacy organization which supports quality of care, affordable access and patients' freedom of choice, another event sponsor, agrees: “It is time that this administration began to tell the American public the truth about health care reform, without the spin. We do have to read this massive law to find out what is really in it," he says. Dr. Armstrong, a general surgeon and former Navy doctor from Michigan, will represent Docs 4 Patient Care as a keynote speaker on how "ObamaCare" affects doctors, patients, access to care, and medical innovation.
Both nationwide physicians' organizations are committed to educating the public about the provisions of the PPACA, as well as repealing and replacing the PPACA with reforms that embrace individual choice and the doctor-patient relationship. That's why the Lehigh Valley COALITION for Health Care Reform approached both groups to sponsor the September 17th event, according to Coalition Chair Donna Baver Rovito, who will also serve as MC for the workshop.
Former Arizona Congressman John Shadegg, who represents event sponsor and respected health policy think tank The Galen Institute, is also committed to repealing and replacing the PPACA. "I think I'll do anything in the health-care field that they want, including work for the repeal of 'Obamacare' and for the creation of a viable alternative," Shadegg told an Arizona newspaper after retiring from Congress. "I personally believe that Obamacare will bankrupt the nation, but I also don't think that Republicans can repeal Obamacare unless they can come up with a viable alternative." Shadegg will talk about the Constitutional challenges against the law, as well as federal efforts to defund, repeal and replace it.
The four hour workshop will kick off with a quick look at the nuts and bolts and implementation timeline of the PPACA, says Rovito, a longtime local advocate for liability reform and quality health care. PA State Representative Doug Reichley will touch on the Constitutionality question, how "ObamaCare" affects Pennsylvania, and Pennsylvania's participation in the legal challenges against the law. Following Reichley, two Pennsylvania physicians who have recently formed a Pennsylvania chapter of Docs 4 Patient Care, Harrisburg Opthalmologist Elena R. Farrell, D.O. and York Orthopaedic Surgeon Nick Pandelides, M.D., will speak about how "ObamaCare" affects families, seniors, personal liberty, taxpayers, medicare, medicaid, and the deficit.
Government Affairs Director for the PA Chamber of Business and Industry Sam Denisco will speak on the law's effects on businesses, workers, job creation and the economy, while Pennsylvania-based grassroots activists Terrence O'Connor, Esq., William Taylor Reil and John Morningstar will talk about three grassroots efforts to eliminate the PPACA in PA - the Health Care Freedom Act, Nullification, and Health Care Compacts. Area businessman and Tax Limitation Committee Chair John Brinson will talk about separate reforms he believes should replace "ObamaCare."
Dr. Eck will wrap up the presentations with proposed solutions. "Government cannot provide health care," says Dr. Eck, who along with her husband operates a private internal medicine practice in Piscataway, NJ. "It can only meddle, restrict, coerce and underpay for services it promises to provide, all while taxing taxpayers beyond their ability to pay." Dr. Eck, who co-founded a free clinic for the poor and uninsured, will speak about effective solutions and "What Would Be Better Than ObamaCare." Dr. Eck is a frequent guest on news programs and in the pages of national publications, and has testified before Congress about better ways to deliver health care. "ObamaCare was presented to us as a solution to the wrong problem. The problem is not lack of health insurance for the poor-- it is lack of a timely, efficient way for the poor to access medical care without wasting taxpayer dollars," according to Dr. Eck.
The quality of national, regional and local sponsors is a testament to the importance of the health care reform issue, says Rovito, who along with a coalition of about 20 concerned citizens decided to sponsor an educational event about the PPACA several months ago. "We were thrilled with the immediate and enthusiastic response we received from the physicians' groups and the Galen Institute, whose president Grace-Marie Turner is one of the authors of the new book Why ObamaCare is Wrong for America." Turner is one of the nation's foremost authorities on the negative effects of the federal health care reform law, says Rovito, and copies of the book will be available at the event.
The Black Ribbon Project, which advocates for health care freedom and the sanctity of the doctor patient relationship, is also an event sponsor, under the direction of columnist Dr. Beth Haynes, who asks: "Which kind of doctor is more likely to be willing to rely on his own judgment in service of your individual best interests? One steeped in the ethics of social justice, beholden to a third-party for payment? Or a physician whose livelihood is directly related to and primarily dependent upon the quality of care he provides to you, the patient?" Also sponsoring the event in support of personal choice in health care is the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights, which will be represented by Jonathan Cargan, M.D.
The Pennsylvania chapters of two of the nation's largest grassroots advocacy organizations - Heritage Action and Americans for Prosperity - are also event sponsors. AFP-PA is under the director of former PA Rep. Sam Rohrer who says, "Contrary to what many people think, the attack on our healthcare freedom continues. ObamaCare is not dead nor does it sleep. Its advance must be stopped and select tools used to eliminate any vestige from state and nation. I encourage all who can to attend the Constitution Day event at Desales and learn about what’s happening and what you can do. Being informed is the best preparation to defending our freedom."
The Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry and the Pennsylvania Commercial Action Network (PA-CAN) have sponsored the event in support of businesses in Pennsylvania, along with physician magazine MD News, New World Aviation, and VSAS Orthopaedics.
There is no charge to attend Everything You Wanted to Know about "ObamaCare" (but didn't know who to ask). Additional information and free registration can be found at www.Meetup.com/Lehigh-Valley-COALITION-for-Health-Care-Reform or by calling 1-888-698-4111. Advance registration is encouraged due to limited seating. Details about the event can also be found on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, or by emailing ObamaCareEvent@aol.com.
Right, a teabagger right wingnut conference on healthcare. Pleaae. We already got all of this on Fox News.
ReplyDeleteIt would be funny if it weren't so sad that this crowd thinks people will beleive their radical political drival on soemnthing as important as healthcare.
So go there and tell them how wrong they are, and call them teabaggers to their faces instead of posting anonymous shots at 2:35 AM like the troll you are.
ReplyDeleteWhy doesn't somebody put a stop to this sort of hate?
ReplyDeleteAllentown Democrat Voter
When I was on Business Matters with Donna, they told me she was a malpractice reform lobbyist. It doesn't say that on her LinkedIn profile, but as you can see, she has worked with numerous hospital and insurance industry groups. You should've noted that this group's agenda is to a repeal health care reform and that Donna Rovito should be understood to be arguing in favor of the hospital industry's position - that is, no meaningful cost control.
ReplyDeleteFox News, teabagger, haliburton, wingnut ...
ReplyDeleteIt's all I got. I'm just a dumbass.
-2:35 am troll.
Jonathan,
ReplyDeleteI have mentioned Donna Rovito numerous times on this blog, and she has commented here as well. It is very clear to anyone with 1/10 of a brain that her perspective is that Obamacare is a bad thing.
The attempt to suggest that Rovito is disingenuous is amazing, coming as it does from you. You held yourself out as an "Independent" when it is clear that your agenda is to elect Democrats. In fact, you bray about local issues from your perch in NYC with no knowledge of either the issues or the players.
If I want advice on what I should or should not do in one of my blogs, I'll ask someone else.
So the blog is now pushing a far right agenda on healthcare and wrapping it in the cloak of a meaningful workshop on the issue?
ReplyDeleteYes, you are right. It's better that we just the sick and uninsured stay sick and uninsured.
Anon 9:00,
ReplyDeleteI don't consider myself far right and believe Obamacare is seriously flawed. I believe government's chief obligation is to help those unable to help themselves, but believe Obamacare ultimately fails to ensure that goal. All along, I have advocated an incremental approach to health care reform, to see what works and what does not.
If there were a local seminar from Moveon or some other group touting the advantages of Obamacare, I'd be happy to note it.
If you feel that a seminar presenting facts is too far right for you, I suggest you go and set them all straight. That's a lot more helpful than an uninformed anonymous shot on a blog.
Will they be having a jobs fair as well?
ReplyDeleteYou'll have to ask President Obama. He and Congress wasted nearly two years shoving this down our throats while the unemployment rate climbed. And his "pass this bill now" proposal is pretty much irrelevant to the actual emloyers who might hire someone.
ReplyDeleteI understand Ms. Rovito has ample knowledge about this issue and I would love to attend the workshop. Healthcare in this country has fallen to lack-luster standards because no one wants to pay for anything.
ReplyDeleteThe giant insurance cartels such as Capital Blue Cross and Independent Blue cross/ Blue Shield have dictated how doctors must practice their medicine and almost put themselves right out of business. The public option would have done that, but sadly, the insurance cartel won that battle.
We need reform, but the answers and solutions are complex and will fail to please everyone. Pay close attention to the contract failure in Pittsburgh.
Trish
How many more over priced and failing governmental programs are we going to allow, one, ten, a boogal? We have people here and other places saying that they need this program because they can't figure out how to buy a health insurance policy. Yet these same people buy homes, cars, trucks, life insurance policies, long term care insurances, and automobile insurance. Why are we so stupid when it comes to buying helth insurance. Let me venture a reason. We do not own our health insurance because it is a benefit provided by our employer thus we do not participate in its purchase . When that happens we end up like Anonymous 2:35AM. We end up being stupid.
ReplyDeleteChris, here is a good example. When I left traditional nursing and went into homecare 3 yrs ago, I was welcomed to the world of no employer provided health coverage and had to pay for a private plan. I did that, only to find that my private policy had a pre-existing condition clause that allowed extreme latitude by Capital Blue cross to deny claims.
ReplyDeleteThey denied claims alright and stuck me with a $19K tab owed to the most viscious hospital system in the world...Easton Hospital. Unless that tab is paid in full, the hospital will deny medical care at the door, and get away with it.
I tried to combat the problem by opening a home-based business to up my income in order to pay that bill, but my corrupt town put an end to that too. Since I have been deprived of medical care and qualify for zero assistance, I try to stay healthy through diet and excercise. So far, I have been able to avoid all contact with the Hospital cartel on Fairview Ave in Easton.
Think we need reform?
Trish
we don't need reform as long as it means that you take my property by force to provide insurance for someone else.
ReplyDeleteThat's robery and that's wrong regardless how heartless you think I am
10:32
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you. When the insurance commission finally is empowered through legislative action, it can have the authority to put an end to these practices. Then we wont need Obamacare.
Trish
Trish
ReplyDeleteAll I will say is that pre-existing conditions is one of the major items of concern for anyone purchasing insurance. I would suggest a couple of possibilities. One, check the policy. Two, consider forming a health care coop for people with pre-existting conditions. Three, have someone or your attorney look over the policy. Getting the government involved--NOT SO MUCH.
Chris, please cite an example of a private group of people getting together and creating a "co-op" that a local hospital recognized. Please verify with independent sources if they pay .35 centws on the dollar for their medical bills like BC/BS does Also you can re and re-read a private insurance plan and you will not find any exclusions for pre-existing conditions. As a teacher you enjoyed some of the best healthcare coverage in the world. Did you say, "no I don't want it"?
ReplyDeleteYou receive it for life, have you given it back. Even when you get medicare your teacher plan is your backup, have you said, "I don't want it"?
It covers you and your spouse for life. Like most baggers, you love getting the coverages, checks and other benefits of the "system", but scream and hollar because you no longer want to contrtibute to the very system that you suckle off of.
Just grab your little," don't tread on me flag", and join the other social secuirty , disability collecting "patriots" and continue to rail away with your hatred of the nation's first black President.
Oh and don't forget "Ponzi scheme", maybe the ghost of Jefferson Davis will join you.
Tim
Tim -
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing that you can write so much and say so little.
The reality is that the government (otherwise known as the people) can't afford to pay for everything for everyone. Trying to is a sure path to national bankruptcy.
That there are roughly 40% (or slightly less) in this country that don't understand that simple mathematical fact is a tribute to our union-staffed public school system.
Chris,
ReplyDeleteI wont say much about it, but I have chosen certain battles and left others on the back-burner. The Easton hospital cartel refused any payment plan less than $350 per month, so now they wont even accept my money if I try to pay them.
Patrick,
I agree that the government cannot be all things to all people, because once it tries to do that, we're all in trouble. They need to clean house with all of the disability abusing bums, and provide free/ low cost medical on a case by case basis according to medical need/ necessity....and not out of entitlement for 20 some year olds looking for a drug fix at the ER, who have no assets and no job.
Trish
Trish,
ReplyDeleteTalking sanity to Patrick and Chris is like talking to a Wall..Save your breath..We should have medicare for all like every other civilized country on earth.And in most polls throughout the health care debate, people agreed..Instead we spend trillions on defense and give tax breaks to the incredibly rich..I imagine Patrick and Chris think that's just peachy keen..Most sane people don't..Obama care is a jumbled mess because the Republicans in the Senate watered it down as much as they possibly could until it was a pathetic joke..Now they cry about it being a bad plan..It's hilarious.. Essentially it's a mess thanks to them and they spend all their time attacking it..Pathetic!
In almost every poll out there, about 60% of Americans supported a public option..Thanks to the republicans in the Senate, it was never considered..Now they all cry and rant on about how bad Obamcare is..It would have been much much better had they agreed with the vast majority of Americans and agreed to a public option..They didnt let that see the light of day..So they need to shut the hell up about Obamacare already because they rejected a much better way..
ReplyDeleteI guess I will reserve my judgement on someone calling themselves,"Parick McHenry". Do you take off your tri-cornered tin foil hat when you type.
ReplyDeleteActually a clear majority of amwericans blieve that health insurance companies are out of control and participate in conrtoversial and unetical practices.
Since this is the 21st century and you haven't been keeping up, I will make this simple. In a large and complex heterogeneous society disease doesn't stop at propery lines. Science is a national need. You don't get sick because of God. Don't pass out, science is not anti-God, just anti-stupid.
You stay the way you are and I am sure one day Blue Cross will send you a fruit basket with their letter rejecting the coveage of your illness.
With hope for your future, Always
Tim
I want the government that can't properly fix potholes or avoid purchasing $500 hammers deciding whose chest gets cracked open and who gets dialysis.
ReplyDeleteAnd I want them to do it for free.
Yeah. That's what I want.
Sincerely,
Every dope who voted for Obama
Trish,
ReplyDeleteI trust the government to solve and handle my health care issues. Who could argue with that?
Allentown Democrat Voter
Darwin agreed with Tim. He also wanted society's imbecilic culled by whatever means necessary to improve and protect a master race from enemies and extinction. And all of this in the name of anti-stupid science. It sucked for many of Australia's Aboriginals. Yet, Tim is still here cheerleading for anti-stupidity. To not believe is really to believe something else. Aquinas called on believers to robustly question their faith and physical world in order to gain enlightenment and, ultimately, strengthen that faith. Extremists on each side should lighten up and try to learn something.
ReplyDeleteBernie.
ReplyDeleteSponsoring the event is the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights."
.This Not a Grassroots org. and Tea Partiers which are highly religious avoid the fact that while Rand was a staunch advocate of limited government. She was also a staunch advocate of abortion rights and sexual hedonism, and an atheist to boot, which her Tea Party conservative admirers have largely ignored.
Tea Party conservative pundits have found that they "can use the parts of Rand they want to use and not engage the rest". Which is where one of the most glaring incongruities between Tea Partiers and Rand's philosophy appears: Rand, almost above all else, championed the individual over the collective, she would never be caught in church,or a big collective like the Borg/Tea Party (maybe as a wolf in sheep clothing in church). The notion that a populist movement is using her name and economic philosophies to mobilise their broader political goal is laughable at Best..
Bernie the other sponsors are billed as "The Pennsylvania chapters of two of the nation's largest grassroots advocacy organizations - Heritage Action and Americans for Prosperity"
ReplyDeleteThese aren't grassroots organizations, these organizations are funded heavily by the Koch Brothers and most people know who they are and their goal of destroying regulations and policy's that don't benefit their bottom line...
Did you know that Bernie?
The Tea Party Collective is a Koch Bothers enterprise. It is always amusing to not only watch the rabbits walk into the trap but to watch the rabbits help build the traps.
ReplyDeleteBuild you tea bunnies, build.
Obamacare recipe: First, cut $500 billion from Medicare; then, using really odd economic theory, expect health care costs to go down because insurance companies will charge less; then mix in a few million uninsured folks who used to mob emergency wards and get free medical care and, heat over a warm basin of same old same old promises and you get huge savings and mucho medical care mostly for illegal immigrants.
ReplyDeleteNow THAT is hope and change you can believe in.
Re-elect this man at your peril. Even greater audacity is ahead as we watch the America we loved be deconstructed.
I really hate the way medical care reform was handled. It was shoved down the throats of an unwilling public. I'd be inclined to vote against Obama, but not of the Rs in contention look very appealing to me.
ReplyDeleteWith the Republicans like Dent playing class warfare and scaring the hell out of people, no kidding the healthcare reform scared them.
ReplyDeleteOf course the Republicans had no choice. Considering over 60% of Americans felt that the nations healthcare was too expensive and only worked for the very poor and the very rich.
The only play they could make was work with their propaganda arm, Fox Noise and the Koch Brothers Collective(tea party) to get all crazy on any change.
The Republican party slogan, "let corporate America work things out". You know the old Republican saying, "Whats good for GM is good for America". Wait, oh-oh, never mind.
"Republicans want old folks to lose their Social Security and Medicaid and Medicare and just die"
ReplyDeleteNo class warfare on the Obamacrat side.
Trying to is a sure path to national bankruptcy.
ReplyDeleteTell that to Germany. It's incredible that some (most) Americans have no idea what they are talking about when it comes to this issue.
I want the government that can't properly fix potholes or avoid purchasing $500 hammers deciding whose chest gets cracked open and who gets dialysis.
ReplyDeleteAnd I want them to do it for free.
Yeah. That's what I want.
Sincerely,
Every dope who voted for Obama
Um, how many generations before you relied on Medicare again? You do realize Medicare is a government run healthcare program right? Wow.
Heritage Action and Americans for Prosperity
ReplyDeleteAyn Rand Center for Individual Rights
To which Bernie O'Hare naively replies that the event nor he is far right. Bwahahahahaaa
Anon 4:41 said:
ReplyDelete"Obama care is a jumbled mess because the Republicans in the Senate watered it down as much as they possibly could until it was a pathetic joke.."
and
Anon 4:47 said:
"Thanks to the republicans in the Senate, it was never considered.."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
You do realize that the Democrats had a huge (and I seem to remember filibuster-proof) majority in the Senate when ObamaCare was shoved down our throats, right?
What you got is exactly what Obama and the Democrats gave us - a mess.
Patrick, Stop confusing Obamocrats with facts. It's not fair.
ReplyDeleteWhile you are at it Tweety or I mean "Patrick". Take a remedial basic governemnt class. It may be too late but it might help.
ReplyDeleteKeep the damn government away from my medicare and social security, damn gum it!
According to OpenSecrets.org, Koch Industries also gave Rep. Dent $10,000 in the 2010 cycle, and $5,000 thusfar this cycle. Of course he is far from the only member of Congress to accept their money.
ReplyDeleteI understand accepting money from Air Products, etc, as they are a (great)valley employer and he's been a good advocate for them. That is how the process is, like or not. But, Koch Industries? Unless he believes in what they stand for.
Hi, Bernie,
ReplyDeleteI posted this the other day, but it doesn't seem to have "taken." Your blog either loves me enough to repeat everying I say twice or hates me enough to refuse to post anything! Fortunately, I don't take it personally!
Quick update before I re-post - if you'd like to watch the event online, just click here on Saturday: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/health-care-reform---desales
Back to my original post:
Thanks for the nice coverage, Bernie - we right wingnuts need all the help we can get!
Anon 2:35 a.m., you'll note I didn't repeat the homophobic sexual reference upon which you seem to get off when referencing Americans who choose to participate in the electoral and legislative process - and who don't subscribe to your narrow viewpoint. That's because it doesn't deserve repeating. You'd consider yourself quite insulted if I called you a c*ck****er, wouldn't, you? It would be nice if you were able to comprehend the comparison, but I won't hold my breath.
A lot of really smart people have spent a lot of time analyzing the PPACA - and the facts which have emerged about the provisions of the law and how they will affect the cost, quality, and delivery of health care are indisputable.
Those facts have led many (57% of Americans, according to a recent Rasmussn poll) to decide that ObamaCare should be repealed. Pointing OUT the factual consequeces of this massive government overhaul of health care isn't "hate," it's reality. Pretending that health care can be free or that government planners are capable of providing better health care is the worst kind of lunacy.
Jon, you are the LAST person who should talk about being disingenuous. When you introduced yourself to me and Dr. Dippolito prior to the health care reform episode of Business Matters, you wouldn't even tell me your last NAME. You said, "Hi, I'm Jon." I didn't realize you were the "famous" Jon Geeting until the camera started rolling when Tony Ianelli introduced you.
(cont in next post)
(cont)
ReplyDeleteAnd I was NEVER identified as a "lobbyist" for malpractice reform. An advocate, perhaps, or, in the broadest sense of the term, a CITIZEN lobbyist, but I have never been paid by ANY organization to "lobby" for malpractice reform. I have VOLUNTEERED MY TIME - a LOT of my time - on behalf of doctors and patients - but I have NEVER been paid for my efforts.
Further, if you actually READ my linked in profile, you would have found NOTHING there about working with "insurance industry groups" and my only tie to a hospital group is the quarterly meetings I attend to provide consumer input as a member of the Patient Centered Experience (PCE) Advisory Board for Lehigh Valley Hospital - a completely non-political, non-advocacy position.
Clearly, you haven't read much of my work if you think my advocacy has been on behalf of the "hospital industry" - which just isn't the same thing as advocacy on behalf of doctors and patients. I NEVER argue "for the hospital industry." In fact, I wrote against a particular local hospital spending too much on appearances and too little on health care providers to the point that one area hospital CEO wouldn't talk to me for a couple of years.
Jon, a nurse in the audience at the Health Matters we taped together - a nurse who actually READ THE BILL - proved that you don't have a CLUE what's in the health care law, even though you blindly argue in favor of it. If you think there are "cost controls" in the PPACA, you're sadly mistaken. And if you think there's anything in the bill which will improve the quality of health care, you're again sadly mistaken.
The experts who will be speaking at our event will be presenting hard, cold facts. Their research and analysis had led them to one inescapable conclusion - that the PPACA will not accomplish ANY of its stated goals - and the only reasonable course of action, as I stated on Business Matters, is to get rid of it and start over again, with the kinds of measures that two of our experts will be outlining on Saturday. See, we don't just want to tear it down - we want to replace it with something that will actually WORK.
Anyone who wants FACTS, please come to Saturday's presentation. But we won't be serving any Koolaid.
Just Tea! Save the bags for playtime.
ReplyDeleteSure, the folks who cheer letting a 30 year old man, "just die", if he has no health insurance. Yeah these are the folks who will give a reasoned presentation on national healthcare policy.
ReplyDeleteBUAHAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!
I love teabagger humor. You Koch Brother write-offs are a hoot!!
Let me guess, everything the Democrats want to do is wrong.
HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!
You are so right. The teabaggers think this phoney baloney propaganda stunt will change anyyones opinion about them is hilarious.
ReplyDeleteHealth Care used to be a profession but today it is a corporate money making exploitation of disease and human suffering.
ReplyDeleteAmericans pay 3 times the world average for health care yet the US is ranked lowest in quality in the industrialized world.
The US is the only industrialized nation that does not have universal health care.