Every week — even every day — we get new information about how massively flawed and destructive ObamaCare is. The spotlight now is on the mandate that everyone must have government-approved health insurance — the issue at the center of the legal challenges to the law. We had an article published in The Wall Street Journal November 9 explaining why the individual mandate can never work and why 82% of Americans oppose it. But what if the Supreme Court upholds it, citing the precedent for seemingly unlimited expansion of the Constitution’s Commerce Clause? Read on for highlights of our activities in November to alert federal and state legislators, opinion leaders, and the American people about what’s at stake, what’s actually in this law, and how it will impact every one of us — putting our liberty and freedom in jeopardy.
Publications
The Wall Street Journal published a commentary by Grace-Marie, “ObamaCare: Flawed Policy, Flawed Law,” explaining that the unconstitutional individual mandate won’t even work.
Grace-Marie had a commentary published in more than two-dozen papers, answering the question: “Do Mitt Romney’s views on health care hurt his bid for the GOP nomination?” (She said yes.) It was published in the Montana Standard, Sunday Deseret Morning News, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Arizona Daily Star, Keene Sentinel, and many other papers.
The Huffington Post featured Grace-Marie’s commentary, “For the Super Committee, an Option to Save Medicare.” An additional op-ed about the committee, “The Super Committee Can Tackle Entitlement Spending,” was featured in more than 15 publications, including the Hawaii Reporter, Sacramento Oracle, and La Prensa de San Antonio.
Grace-Marie’s commentary on “Deficit Deal Could Diminish Drug Access” was featured in Real Clear Markets.
We also had 2 pieces in National Review Online’s Critical Condition blog: “Cain Shows He’s Savvy on Health-Care Policy,” and “Supremes Will Hear Obamacare Challenge.” And our piece on “Ideas for Super Committee” was featured in Modern Healthcare magazine.
Galen in the News
Grace-Marie joined Varney & Co. on FOX Business to discuss court challenges to ObamaCare. She also appeared on the FOX & Friends weekend show to talk about a range of issues, including action by the Super Committee on deficit reduction.
Grace-Marie gave a dozen radio interviews in November, on local shows such as Atlanta’s Butler on Business, and on national programs including The Lou Dobbs Show, The Lars Larson Show, The Mark Reardon Show, and Payne Nation with FOX Business co-host Charles Payne.
We also gave interviews to Newsweek, The Washington Examiner, Kaiser Health News, and other publications. Galen’s work was cited in several additional publications this month, including:
- Herman Cain’s (Mostly) Conventional Plan for Health Care Reform
Forbes.com - Is Romney the Right Person to Achieve Repeal and Real Reform?
The Weekly Standard - Poorly Designed Medicare Auctions Could Disrupt Device Marketplace
Heartlander - Supreme Court’s Health Care Hand Grenade
The Washington Times
Speeches & Events
We co-hosted another in our series of health policy briefings for congressional staffers on November 14. Our guest speaker was Tom Miller of AEI, whose presentation answered the question, “Is Private Health Insurance Really Private Anymore?” Galen is co-hosting the series with the American Enterprise Institute and The Heritage Foundation.
We co-hosted our monthly conference call for state legislators and state policy leaders, focusing in the November call on the crucial issues of ObamaCare’s health exchanges. Leading officials from Wisconsin, Utah, Louisiana, and Florida spoke on the call about their strategies involving exchanges. Galen co-hosts the call with the Institute for Policy Innovation and the State Policy Network.
Grace-Marie also spoke to a group of legislators attending a “Health Policy Boot Camp” sponsored by The Heritage Foundation, on November 2, emphasizing the crucial role state leaders can play in getting started with sensible health reform policies that work for their states.
Grace-Marie gave several presentations about health policy issues including entitlements and the Super Committee, medical innovation, the mis-named competitive bidding, and the future of health reform to health care industry executives and policymakers. She also spoke about the impact of ObamaCare at Loyola University in New Orleans and at the Women Working for Change conference in National Harbor, MD.
We facilitated a meeting of the Health Policy Consensus Group to discuss options for replacing ObamaCare.
And Grace-Marie attended the 13th annual Health Sector Assembly meeting in Sundance, Utah, focusing on “Long-Term Care — The Unacknowledged Elephant in the Room” on November 4-6.
Galen staff also met with Congressional staffers, health care professionals, state legislators, and policy experts to discuss free-market reform initiatives, medical innovation, Medicare, and other health policy issues.
We sponsored two conferences in November, where we hosted exhibitor tables to tell attendees about Galen’s work and our new book, Why ObamaCare Is Wrong for America. Congratulations to Barb F., who won our book raffle at the Americans for Prosperity Defending the Dream Summit and to Tina W., our winner at Project GOPink’s Women Working for Change conference.