End-of Life Decisions

Keeping End-of-Life Decisions, Our Decision

by Newt Gingrich

Emotions are high in the debate over the future of our health care, and for good reason. What we are discussing are deeply personal, often deeply emotional issues.

I think every American should have the opportunity my father-in-law had to have a conversation with their doctor about end of life care that is totally private, in which there are no standards set by the government and no fear of the bureaucracy.
We had that kind of an experience at Gunderson Lutheran Hospital in Lacrosse, Wisconsin, where my father-in-law died.
At Gunderson – without any mandates from government – 92 percent of patients have advanced directives setting out what kind of care they want at the end of life.
Patients are treated with compassion, dignity and humanity. Families are engaged. Doctors are allowed to do what they think is best for patients, without fearing that the federal government is looking over their shoulders.

 

Health Care Isn’t Politics.
It’s Personal.

End-of-life care is becoming a political football – and that’s precisely why so many Americans are fearful for the future of their health care.
Because it’s not politics. It’s personal.
And the test of any health care reform proposal is whether it gives us more power to control deeply personal decisions, or whether it takes that power away.
What follows is an article I wrote for the Los Angeles Times this weekend that explains how health care reform in Washington threatens to take us down the road to government control, and what we can do to stop it.

  Your friend,
Newt Gingrich
   Newt Gingrich

Aug 19, 2009 | 0 comments | View Post

Americans Really Believe Taxes are Not Going Up With The Government Health Plan?? – Yeah R-R-Right!!

From Rasmussen Reports

8% Say Health Care Reform Likely to Mean Higher Taxes for the Middle Class

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Seventy-eight percent (78%) of U.S. voters say it is at least somewhat likely that taxes will be raised on the middle class to cover the cost of health care reform. Fifty-six percent (56%) say it’s very likely.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 15% of voters think it’s unlikely that the cost of health care reform will require raising taxes on the middle class.

Those who earn between $20,000 and $75,000 per year believe even more strongly that health care reform will require raising taxes on the middle class.

On a related topic, voters have mixed feelings about taxing wealthier Americans to help pay for health care reform as House Democrats are now proposing. Forty-eight percent (48%) favor raising taxes on those who earn more than $250,000 per year to pay for health care reform, but 44% oppose such a move. Surveys over the years have consistently shown that when politicians talk of taxing the rich, many middle class voters assume their own taxes will go up as well.

Currently, 39% of voters expect their own taxes to increase during the Obama Administration.

A bill now being considered in the House of Representatives places a one percent (1%) surtax on individual incomes above $280,000, which rises to 1.5 percent for those making between $400,000 and $800,000 a year. Both could double by 2013 if insufficient savings are found to cover the additional spending envisioned in the health care reform plan. On incomes above $800,000, the surtax is 5.4%.

Under the plan, taxpayers will not be able to use mortgage interest or charitable contributions to reduce their surtax liability. Eighty percent (80%) of voters say wealthy Americans are at least somewhat likely to give less money to charity if their deductions are reduced, up 14 points from April.

Just 13% believe the wealthy are not likely to cut back their charitable giving.

Earlier this year, 51% of voters said Obama’s plan to raise taxes on those who earn more than $250,000 a year would be good for the economy. Thirty-one percent (31%) disagreed and said it would be bad for the economy.

But voters in general consistently favor tax cuts over increased government spending.
In a poll conducted before House Democrats unveiled their current version of a reform plan, 49% of voters opposed the health care reform plan being developed while 46% favored it.

Seventy-seven percent (77%) of Republicans and 62% of voters not affiliated with either major party say health care reform is Very Likely that to raise middle class taxes. Only 37% of Democratic voters agree.

Seventy-eight percent (78%) of Democrats like the idea of taxing wealthier Americans to help fund health care reform. Sixty-nine percent (69%) of Republicans and 62% of unaffiliated voters are opposed.

Text emphasis added by Freedom Finder

Jul 19, 2009 | 0 comments | View Post