BZ
Proper Salute
Tag Archives: Imperial Presidency
Questions about the “Affordable Care Act”
First, a misnomer: the “Affordable Care Act” ISN’T, particularly for the American Taxpayers who are FUNDING it.
[An aside: you know, honest to God, I really do conjure that the bulk of what Rush Limbaugh terms “Low Information Voters” believe that the government is the source, the fount, of all income — and not the Mark I, Model I American Taxpayer. America has, sadly, become Brain-Glazingly Ignorant within the past few generations. Too many alleged Americans believe that their governmental Free Cheese grows on trees.]
I ruminate because of Old NFO‘s recent blogpost involving “My Medical Appointment.”
Please read it before continuing.
With that in mind, in re doctors now apparently asking patients about their firearms during a medical consultation that has and should have nothing to do with firearms, I posit a few questions for my ever-intelligent readers:
1. Are you or have you been posed any questions about firearms during a recent medical visit?
2. What was your answer?
3. Are these questions lawful?
4. Are you legally required to answer them?
5. What statutes are involved? Provide citations.
Because, up to this point, much has been written that I suspect is hearsay, unsupported and/or otherwise anecdotal from other sites.
Please, I ask, if you have answers to the above questions, kindly provide situations and citations and statutes.
BZ
P.S.
Excellent Forbes.com article about the issue, here.
Jobs
BZ
“Immigration Reform” — It’s a done deal.
Monday’s hub-bub is all about Mr Obama’s proposed “immigration reform.”
This is about the only post you’ll see from me dealing with the issue unless something completely untoward occurs.
This bill or its clone will pass. Period. Get used to it. There are no forces against it like the forces opposed to disarming the American public.
It’s that simple.
BZ
Half a BILLION Dollars for 23 new Obama “Executive Actions” — meaning: Executive ORDERS
Mr Obama issued 23 new “Executive Actions” on Wednesday which, in truth, are actual Executive Orders. For details, check out:
1. WhiteHouse.gov
2. President Obama Announces New Measures to Prevent Gun Violence
3. FULL DETAILS: Fact Sheet on the President’s Plan to Reduce Gun Violence
4. This is a $500 million dollar package
5. These orders also, essentially, make doctors and health officials Mandatory Reporters if they may possibly believe there is a hint of a verbal threat of violence perceived or remotely implied during a medical visit
6. Doctors will now be talking to you about firearms safety, as part of the Mandated Reporter chain
7. Logically — I extrapolate — you can bet that the insurance for doctors will go up, necessitating additional healthcare costs passed on to the consumer, as doctors face greater risk exposure for not reporting incidents in hindsight
The Executive Orders are:
Today, the President is announcing that he and the Administration will:
1. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system.
2. Address unnecessary legal barriers, particularly relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, that may prevent states from making information available to the background check system.
3. Improve incentives for states to share information with the background check system.
4. Direct the Attorney General to review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun to make sure dangerous people are not slipping through the cracks.
5. Propose rulemaking to give law enforcement the ability to run a full background check on an individual before returning a seized gun.
6. Publish a letter from ATF to federally licensed gun dealers providing guidance on how to run background checks for private sellers.
7. Launch a national safe and responsible gun ownership campaign.
8. Review safety standards for gun locks and gun safes (Consumer Product Safety Commission).
9. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations.
10. Release a DOJ report analyzing information on lost and stolen guns and make it widely available to law enforcement.
11. Nominate an ATF director.
12. Provide law enforcement, first responders, and school officials with proper training for active shooter situations.
13. Maximize enforcement efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime.
14. Issue a Presidential Memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control to research the causes and prevention of gun violence.
15. Direct the Attorney General to issue a report on the availability and most effective use of new gun safety technologies and challenge the private sector to develop innovative technologies.
16. Clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes.
17. Release a letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence to law enforcement authorities.
18. Provide incentives for schools to hire school resource officers.
19. Develop model emergency response plans for schools, houses of worship and institutions of higher education.
20. Release a letter to state health officials clarifying the scope of mental health services that Medicaid plans must cover.
21. Finalize regulations clarifying essential health benefits and parity requirements within ACA exchanges.
22. Commit to finalizing mental health parity regulations.
23. Launch a national dialogue led by Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan on mental health.
Please notice that the media doesn’t call them what they are: Executive Orders, otherwise known as EOs. They are given euphemisms such as “actions” and “measures” and a “package.”
And EOs completely bypass Congress and require no Congressional approval or oversight.
Rule — not leadership or the involvement of Congress — by Imperial Executive Fiat is, ladies and gentlemen, here.
BZ
Mr Obama says: “L’etat, c’est moi.”
