Paul Hodes Refuses to Let Go of Public Option

Continues Push For Government Takeover Of Health Care

Paul Hodes couldn’t be more out of touch with New Hampshire. As President Obama unveils a $1 trillion health care plan, Hodes has doubled-down on the deeply unpopular public option. He’s even joined the fringe of his party in trying to ram government-run health care through Congress.

“Maybe if Paul Hodes read the health care bill or had held open town hall meetings with New Hampshire voters, he’d understand that Granite State families don’t support his plan for a $1 trillion government takeover of health care that cuts Medicare, raises taxes, makes coverage more expensive, and spends our nation further into debt.

“We need common sense health care reform that results in improved care with lower costs. That’s why Kelly Ayotte supports meaningful lawsuit abuse reform, which estimates show would reduce costs by $54 billion, as well as wellness programs and increasing competition through measures such as allowing the purchase of insurance across state lines.”

Read more here.

Ayotte On The Issues  

In case you missed it, view Kelly’s new Issue pages on her website, and let us know your thoughts.

Budget and Spending

Kelly Ayotte will fight hard for New Hampshire taxpayers to stop the professional politicians from bankrupting our country. This year’s budget deficit is a staggering $1.4 trillion and our national debt is over $12 trillion. Congress cannot continue to spend money that we do not have, and burden our children with a debt they cannot afford. We need to return to a fiscally responsible, common sense approach to spending that allows our country to prosper and create jobs.

Read more here.

Crime And Safety

As Attorney General, Kelly Ayotte served New Hampshire as a tough on crime prosecutor fighting to keep families safe. Under Kelly’s watch as the chief law enforcement officer, New Hampshire was ranked the safest state in the Nation for the past two years.

Read more here.

Energy And The Environment

Our country needs a comprehensive energy policy that reduces U.S. dependence on foreign sources of energy. We can accomplish this through increased conservation efforts and by expanding our domestic energy sources.

Read more here.

Health Care

With health care costs growing at unsustainable rates, it is becoming increasingly difficult for small businesses to provide coverage for employees and more expensive for New Hampshire families to obtain affordable coverage. Congress needs to enact meaningful health care reforms that lower costs and improve quality.

Read more here.

Jobs

Kelly Ayotte is committed to strengthening New Hampshire’s economy and nurturing new opportunities for business owners. She understands the critical role that entrepreneurs and small business owners play in ensuring that New Hampshire has a vibrant economy.

Read more here.

National Security

President Obama recently stated that we are at war with Al Qaeda, and I agree with him. Unfortunately, we part ways after that, as his policies do not match his rhetoric.

Read more here.

Responsible Government

As Attorney General, Kelly Ayotte earned a reputation for keeping our public servants honest. When our elected officials violated the public trust, Kelly prosecuted them regardless of political party. Unfortunately, in Washington, backroom deals have become the norm and legislators trading favors for votes has become common place.

Read more here.

Second Amendment

Kelly Ayotte has a strong record of protecting New Hampshire citizens’ rights to keep and bear arms. Kelly is a strong and passionate supporter of our citizens’ individual right to keep and bear arms.

Read more here.

Upcoming Ayotte Events and Travel

On Friday, Kelly will attend the NH GOP Reception with Representative Paul Ryan in Hampton Falls.

On Sunday, Kelly will be in Epsom for the Suncook Valley GOP Committee Candidate Forum.

Next week, Kelly will be on the Seacoast for the Portsmouth Rotary’s Candidates Luncheon on Thursday and will attend the Strafford County Lincoln-Regan Reception on Friday.

Help Kelly take her message of fiscal discipline and real reform to Washington!



Concord - Senator Jeanne Shaheen became the 18^th senator to sign a letter calling for the passage of the public option through reconciliation.  NHDP Chair Ray Buckley released the following statement applauding her decision to sign the letter.

"Senator Shaheen has shown tremendous leadership in her short time in the United States Senate.  Her decision to sign a letter calling for the passage of the public option is yet another example of her commitment to fighting for the people of the Granite State.

"I applaud her decision and hope that it encourages her colleagues in the Senate to stand strongly in favor of the comprehensive health insurance reform our state and country desperately need.  In New Hampshire alone, over 140,000 individuals are without health insurance and thousands more are struggling with costs that are spiraling out of control.

Dear Friends,

Wall Street is celebrating "Health Care Reform." According to an industry insider report yesterday by MarketWatch (Gibson and Britt) health care stocks rallied as the bill moved through the Senate, particularly since there is no public option in the bill to compete or compare with insurance company rate-making.

"Health care investors find themselves having confronted their greatest fear, and, while there will be legislation, it will be significantly watered down ..." said Mike O'Rourke, chief market strategist at BTIG LLC. As a result, shares of Aetna gained 4.7%, while Cigna rose 3.9%. United Health and Wellpoint "rallied to 52-week highs."

Once the bill becomes law, insurance companies will gain at least 26 million new customers and as much as $50 billion in new annual revenue from private-pay and from government subsidies as people will be required by law to purchase private insurance. While certain expenses are capped in the bill, it appears that premium costs are not.

The Senate's move prompted Gregory Nersessian of Credit Suisse to raise his price targets [predicting greater strength of stock performance] on seven insurers: Aetna, Cigna, Amerigroup Corp., Humana Inc., Molina Healthcare Inc., UnitedHealth Group Inc. and Wellcare Health Plans Inc.

" ... the [bill] is a positive first step" Nersessian said in a note to clients. "The heavy lifting will come when Congress is forced to slow the rate of medical cost growth through more aggressive payment restrictions and utilization controls down the road," he said - meaning that this particular industry insider is predicting limitations on benefits.

Marketwatch also wrote that none of the new standards on how much the industry must spend on medical expenses will "impose great hardship on any insurers."

Tomorrow: My analysis of the health care legislation as it currently stands.

Sincerely.


The "Public Option" Endures
In Reid's manager amendment, there lays some $871 billion in taxpayer subsidies from insurance coverage provisions.

An Insult to All Science – Are We Beyond Reproach?
We all should value scientific integrity, but all scientists must value it above all else if there is to be continued growth of scientific knowledge.

A Tale of Two Stories
Sometimes, to paraphrase British statesman Edmund Burke, all that is necessary for triumph of good is for the iniquitous to open their mouths and spill the beans.

ALG in the News: Obama's Favorite Republican Senator
NW Republican features William Warren's cartoon on Senator Lindsay Graham.

National Right to Life letter to Senator Casey:

Your "compromise" does not fix abortion problems

WASHINGTON (December 18, 2009) -- The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of right-to-life organizations in all 50 states, today sent a letter to Senator Robert Casey, Jr. (D-Pa.), expressing its strong opposition to language Casey proposed regarding subsidies for insurance plans that cover abortion on demand.

NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson and Senior Legislative Counsel Susan T. Muskett wrote, in part:

We believe that your proposed language in no way improves the highly objectionable provisions of the Reid bill that authorize subsidies for health plans that cover elective abortion, and that authorize federal mandates for private health plans to cover elective abortion.

...The Reid bill, as modified by your proposal, would effectively enshrine in federal law the doctrine that elective abortion is routine health care, and then deign to allow individual citizens to declare themselves to be conscientious objectors.  This is a political fig leaf for a pro-abortion policy – and a cellophane fig leaf, at that. 

On December 8, the Senate tabled an amendment sponsored by Senators Ben Nelson (D-Ne.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Ut.) that would have removed elective abortion from the new federal programs that would be created by pending health care legislation.

The letter also notes that the already objectionable abortion provisions in the Reid bill were made worse on December 3 when the Senate adopted the Mikulski Amendment.  The Mikulski Amendment empowers the Department of Health and Human Services to compel every private health plan in the country to include coverage of all abortions, merely by listing abortion as a “preventive” service.  Senator Ben Nelson voted against the Mikulski Amendment for this reason.  As NRLC explained in a November 30 letter to the Senate opposing the Mikulski Amendment, some pro-abortion authorities have already started describing abortion as a “preventive” health service.

A PDF of the NRLC letter to Senator Casey is available here:

http://www.nrlc.org/AHC/CaseyProposalNRLCOppositionLetter.pdf

The National Right to Life Committee, the nation=s largest pro-life group, is a federation of affiliates in all 50 states and 3,000 local chapters nationwide.