Update: Last Stand Rally D.C. – It’s Now or Never – please call these critters!

Reminder to the Congress Critters: When this vote is over, you have to return to your district and face the constituents who elect you and whom you purport to represent. IOW you have to go back to life, back to reality. Remove the needle from your arm, stop mainlining the Kool Aide, and listen to the will of the people, your people.

Your loyalty is NOT to Obama or Pelosi, or an imagined narcissistic sense of making history, your loyalty is to the people of your district and the Constitution. This process and these votes will forever speak to how you weigh these priorities.

Do the right thing.

Sunday Update: God Bless America and the Patriots speaking for all of us in D.C. Many will return to the Capitol today to pray and stand witness to the actions of our elected representatives.

They still do not have the votes. Pray, call, fax and make sure everyone you know is registered to vote come November.

TheCorner has the schedule, note GOP Rules Staff says the House will have to vote on the Senate bill before the reconciliation now that DemonPass is dead:

From the GOP Rules staff:

The rule sets up the following votes for tomorrow: The first will be on the rule itself; the second the infamous Senate-passed health-care bill, which still includes the Cornhusker Kickback, the Louisiana Purchase, the Gator Aid, and the Cadillac Tax; the third on a motion to recommit on the “sidecar” reconciliation package; and the fourth the on “sidecar” bill itself.

2 p.m.: The House will debate for one hour the rules of debate for the reconciliation bill and the Senate bill.

3 p.m.: The House will vote to end debate and vote on the rules of the debate.

3:15 p.m.: The House will debate the reconciliation package for two hours.

5:15 p.m.: The House will vote on the reconciliation package.

5:30 p.m.: The House will debate for 15 minutes on a Republican substitute and then vote on the substitute.

6 p.m.: The House will vote on the final reconciliation package.

6:15 p.m.: If the reconciliation bill passes, the House will immediately vote on the Senate bill, without debate.

Second Tuesday in November: The Democrats will lose any majority for generations. (MiM- okay I added that but you know it’s true!)

Per Mark Hemingway, peaceful Tea Party Patriots were denied entrance and access to their Critters today! No doubt orders of Pelosi. those frakkers, they cannot keep us from the ballot box come November…

As part of today’s rally to stop the Democrats’ health care reform legislation thousands of protesters descended on the lawn of Capitol building. But many more were also using the occasion to visit the their congressional representative and tell them what they think of the bill.

However, Capitol Police recently stopped allowing any of the peaceful protesters to enter into congressional buildings. Crowds are now gathering in front of the House and Senate offices, demanding that they be let in to air their constituent concerns.

Pics! 30,000 ? Yay Patriots! H/T Instapundit, Althouse – Meade’s pics see ongoing coverage here:

Ed at HA covers Rep Paul Ryan R-WI schooling the Dems on Teh Roolz Cmte here

CALLING ALL PATRIOTS

SATURDAY, MARCH 20

10 AM – WEST LAWN of the CAPITOL

LAST STAND TO STOP HEALTH CARE BILL

Update: AZ is first to cut SCHIP and reduce Medicaid enrollment,. The Feds can keep their ‘stinking matching dollars’! MeganMcArdle has it, h/t Instapundit! We also have a ban on insurance mandates, both state AND federal on our ballot for November! It will be an Amendment to our Constitution when it passes and the Commerce Clause BS won’t cut it in overriding our wishes God willing:

On the eve of the possible passage of a health care bill, Arizona has provided a glimpse of our possible future by shutting down its SCHIP program and booting a bunch of people out of Medicaid:

The Arizona budget is a vivid reflection of how the fiscal crisis afflicting state governments is cutting deeply into health care. The state also will roll back Medicaid coverage for childless adults in a move that is expected to eventually drop 310,000 people from the rolls…

Courtesy of TXGOP

New call list courtesy of NRO:

Stupak swingers at the moment appear to be: Kaptur of Ohio, Berry of Arkansas, Cueller of Texas, and Rahall of West Virginia.

If you live in any one of these districts, you might want to buck your representative up.

UPDATE: With #s:

Berry (202) 225-4076

Cueller 202-225-1640

Kaptur(202) 225-4146

Rahall (202) 225-3452

Reminder- this is a WSJ chart of the proposed tax rates BEFORE the House expanded the new Medicare payroll tax to all investment income and hiked it to 3.8%, taxes will be HIGHER than what we see here:

MM is following the rallies nationwide:

BOSTON
2-4pm today at Faneuil Hall – Meet up at the Sam Adams Statue.

SAN DIEGO
Event: FLASH PROTEST – KILL THE BILL – SAN DIEGO
10:00am – Noon today
Where: Broadway, between 2nd and 3rd
Details here. [Link fixed.]

ST. LOUIS
11am today
At Democrat Rep. Carnahan’s congressional office
8764 Manchester Rd
St Louis, MO 63144
Details here.

SALT LAKE CITY
SAVE THE CONSTITUTION rally
10:30am today at the State Capitol

FDL lists the reasons why this bill should be killed:

1. Myth – This is a universal health care bill.

Reality -The bill is neither universal health care nor universal health insurance.

Per the CBO:

* Total uninsured in 2019 with no bill: 54 million
* Total uninsured in 2019 with Senate bill: 24 million (44%)

2. Myth – Insurance companies hate this bill

Reality – This bill is almost identical to the plan written by AHIP, the insurance company trade association, in 2009.

The original Senate Finance Committee bill was authored by a former Wellpoint VP. Since Congress released the first of its health care bills on October 30, 2009, health care stocks have risen 28.35%.

3. Myth – The bill will significantly bring down insurance premiums for most Americans.

Reality – The bill will not bring down premiums significantly, and certainly not the $2,500/year that the President promised.

Annual premiums in 2016, status quo / with bill:

Small group market, single: $7,800 / $7,800

Small group market, family: $19,300 / $19,200

Large Group market, single: $7,400 / $7,300

Large group market, family: $21,100 / $21,300

Individual market, single: $5,500 / $5,800*

Individual market, family: $13,100 / $15,200*

4. Myth – The bill will make health care affordable for middle class Americans.

Reality – The bill will impose a financial hardship on middle class Americans who will be forced to buy a product that they can’t afford to use.

A family of four making $66,370 will be forced to pay $5,243 per year for insurance. After basic necessities, this leaves them with $8,307 in discretionary income — out of which they would have to cover clothing, credit card and other debt, child care and education costs, in addition to $5,882 in annual out-of-pocket medical expenses for which families will be responsible.

5. Myth – This plan is similar to the Massachusetts plan, which makes health care affordable. Many Massachusetts residents forgo health care because they can’t afford it.

Reality – A 2009 study by the state of Massachusetts found that:

* 21% of residents forgo medical treatment because they can’t afford it, including 12% of children
* 18% have health insurance but can’t afford to use it

6. Myth – This bill provide health care to 31 million people who are currently uninsured.

Reality – This bill will mandate that millions of people who are currently uninsured must purchase insurance from private companies, or the IRS will collect up to 2% of their annual income in penalties. Some will be assisted with government subsidies.

7. Myth – You can keep the insurance you have if you like it.

Reality – The excise tax will result in employers switching to plans with higher co-pays and fewer covered services.

Older, less healthy employees with employer-based health care will be forced to pay much more in out-of-pocket expenses than they do now.

8. Myth – The “excise tax” will encourage employers to reduce the scope of health care benefits, and they will pass the savings on to employees in the form of higher wages.

Reality – There is insufficient evidence that employers pass savings from reduced benefits on to employees.

9. Myth – This bill employs nearly every cost control idea available to bring down costs.

Reality – This bill does not bring down costs and leaves out nearly every key cost control measure, including:

* Public Option ($25-$110 billion)
* Medicare buy-in
* Drug reimportation ($19 billion)
* Medicare drug price negotiation ($300 billion)
* Shorter pathway to generic biologics ($71 billion)

10. Myth – The bill will require big companies like WalMart to provide insurance for their employees

Reality – The bill was written so that most WalMart employees will qualify for subsidies, and taxpayers will pick up a large portion of the cost of their coverage.

11. Myth – The bill “bends the cost curve” on health care.

Reality – The bill ignored proven ways to cut health care costs and still leaves 24 million people uninsured, all while slightly raising total annual costs by $234 million in 2019.

“Bends the cost curve” is a misleading and trivial claim, as the US would still spend far more for care than other advanced countries.

In 2009, health care costs were 17.3% of GDP.

Annual cost of health care in 2019, status quo: $4,670.6 billion (20.8% of GDP)

Annual cost of health care in 2019, Senate bill: $4,693.5 billion (20.9% of GDP)

12. Myth – The bill will provide immediate access to insurance for Americans who are uninsured because of a pre-existing condition. Access to the “high risk pool” is limited and the pool is underfunded. It will cover few people, and will run out of money in 2011 or 2012

Reality – Only those who have been uninsured for more than six months will qualify for the high risk pool. Only 0.7% of those without insurance now will get coverage, and the CMS report estimates it will run out of funding by 2011 or 2012.

13. Myth – The bill prohibits dropping people in individual plans from coverage when they get sick. The bill does not empower a regulatory body to keep people from being dropped when they’re sick.

Reality – There are already many states that have laws on the books prohibiting people from being dropped when they’re sick, but without an enforcement mechanism, there is little to hold the insurance companies in check.

14. Myth – The bill ensures consumers have access to an effective internal and external appeals process to challenge new insurance plan decisions. The “internal appeals process” is in the hands of the insurance companies themselves, and the “external” one is up to each state.

Reality – Ensuring that consumers have access to “internal appeals” simply means the insurance companies have to review their own decisions. And it is the responsibility of each state to provide an “external appeals process,” as there is neither funding nor a regulatory mechanism for enforcement at the federal level.

15. Myth – This bill will stop insurance companies from hiking rates 30%-40% per year.

Reality – This bill does not limit insurance company rate hikes. Private insurers continue to be exempt from anti-trust laws, and are free to raise rates without fear of competition in many areas of the country.

16. Myth – When the bill passes, people will begin receiving benefits under this bill immediately

Reality – Most provisions in this bill, such as an end to the ban on pre-existing conditions for adults, do not take effect until 2014.

Six months from the date of passage, children could not be excluded from coverage due to pre-existing conditions, though insurance companies could charge more to cover them. Children would also be allowed to stay on their parents’ plans until age 26. There will be an elimination of lifetime coverage limits, a high risk pool for those who have been uninsured for more than 6 months, and community health centers will start receiving money.

17. Myth – The bill creates a pathway for single payer.

Reality – Bernie Sanders’ provision in the Senate bill does not start until 2017, and does not cover the Department of Labor, so no, it doesn’t create a pathway for single payer.

Obama told Dennis Kucinich that the Ohio Representative’s amendment is similar to Bernie Sanders’ provision in the Senate bill, and creates a pathway to single payer. Since the waiver does not start until 2017, and does not cover the Department of Labor, it is nearly impossible to see how it gets around the ERISA laws that stand in the way of any practical state single payer system.

18 Myth – The bill will end medical bankruptcy and provide all Americans with peace of mind.

Reality – Most people with medical bankruptcies already have insurance, and out-of-pocket expenses will continue to be a burden on the middle class.

* In 2009, 1.5 million Americans declared bankruptcy
* Of those, 62% were medically related
* Three-quarters of those had health insurance
* The Obama bill leaves 24 million without insurance
* The maximum yearly out-of-pocket limit for a family will be $11,900 (PDF) on top of premiums
* A family with serious medical problems that last for a few years could easily be financially crushed by medical costs

Ed Whelan at TheCorner has the latest call list:

If you want to make your voice heard on the health-care bill before the House votes on Sunday, you’d better do so quickly.

To make things easier for you, here, organized in alphabetical order by state, are the 40 key Democratic members of Congress whom Jeff Anderson and Andy Wickersham identified in a Critical Condition post last week, together with their direct Capitol Hill office phone numbers. (I haven’t kept track of all the developments since then, but it would be useful to congratulate or berate your member, as you see fit, if he or she has firmly adopted a position.)

The “(S)” means that the member voted for the Stupak amendment last fall.

The full House phone directory is here.

“Yes” on Obamacare Last Time but Might Want to Switch:

Gabrielle Giffords, (D., Ariz.)—202-225-2542

Ann Kirkpatrick, (D., Ariz.)—202-225-2315

Harry Mitchell, (D., Ariz.)—202-225-2190

Vic Snyder, (D., Ariz.) (S)—202-225-2506

Marion Berry, (D., Ark.) (S)—202-225-4076

John Salazar, (D., Colo.) (S)—202-225-4761

Melissa Bean, (D., Ill.) —202-225-3711

Bill Foster, (D., Ill.) —202-225-2976

Joe Donnelly, (D., Ind.) (S) —202-225-3915

Brad Ellsworth, (D., Ind.) (S) —202-225-4636

Baron Hill, (D., Ind.) (S) —202-225-5315

Bart Stupak, (D., Mich.) (S) —202-225-4735

Michael Arcuri, (D., N.Y.) —202-225-3665

Tim Bishop, (D., N.Y.) —202-225-3826

Bob Etheridge, (D., N.C.) (S) —202-225-4531

Earl Pomeroy, (D., N.D.) (S) —202-225-2611

Steve Driehaus, (D., Ohio) (S) —202-225-2216

Zach Space, (D., Ohio) (S) —202-225-6265

Charlie Wilson, (D., Ohio) (S) —202-225-5705

Chris Carney, (D., Pa.) (S) —202-225-3731

Kathleen Dahlkemper, (D., Pa.) (S) —202-225-5406

John Spratt, (D., S.C.) (S) —202-225-5501

Ciro Rodriguez, (D., Texas) (S) —202-225-4511

Solomon Ortiz, (D., Texas) (S) —202-225-7742

Tom Perriello, (D., Va.) (S) —202-225-4711

Alan Mollohan, (D., W.Va.) (S) —202-225-4172

Nick Rahall, (D., W.Va.) (S) —202-225-3452

“No” on Obamacare Last Time But Might Need Encouragement:

Mike Ross, (D., Ark.) (S) —202-225-3772

Betsy Markey, (D., Colo.) —202-225-4676

Allen Boyd, (D., Fla.) —202-225-5235

Suzanne Kosmas, (D., Fla.) —202-225-2706

John Barrow, (D., Ga.) (S) —202-225-2823

John Adler, (D., N.J.) —202-225-4765

Michael McMahon, (D., N.Y.) —202-225-3371

Scott Murphy, (D., N.Y.) —202-225-5614

Larry Kissell, (D., N.C.) —202-225-3715

John Boccieri, (D., Ohio) (S) —202-225-3876

John Tanner, (D., Tenn.) (S) —202-225-4714

Glenn Nye, (D., Va.) —202-225-4215

Brian Baird, (D., Wash.) —202-225-3536