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And to preserve their (people’s) independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude.“
Thomas Jefferson ~ July 12, 1816

In this Issue

5 minutes or less Action Items

Information about final push to “git er done” before legislature adjourns for break

1. Trying to fund building the NITC/DRIC Bridge

2. ObamaCare Navigators

The final push to “git er done” is on this (Thursday) before our legislature adjourns for summer. Then we can ALL take a much needed break! However, we still need to have our voices heard!

And YOUR voices have been heard! We have successfully staved off ObamaCare in Michigan and as recently reported the Medicaid Expansion will not be in the Omnibus Appropriations budget bill!

“Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville told reporters on Tuesday that the spending targets for the budget that takes effect Oct. 1 could be finalized soon.

The Monroe Republican said they are rejecting federal dollars for the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Health Care Act “at this time.”

NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO STOP BUT CONTINUE TO PRESS FOR LIBERTY!

One of those items we need to address is the NITC/DRIC Bridge.

If you recall Gov. Snyder’s “back doored” the progress and used an “inter-local agreement” to advance the new bridge after the Michigan Legislature (our voice)  refused to authorize a new bridge and entered into a “letter of intent” with Canada. THIS process is inherently undemocratic and lacking in both government transparency and accountability and the agreement with Canada infringes on Michigan sovereignty. YOU said NO to the new bridge.

Apparently we need to say NO again!

There are two processes at work to try and get the bridge built:

1. Pressuring the House and Senate to revoke the Appropriations bill language

Sec. 384. New International Trade Crossing (NITC)–

REVISED  House provides for reporting requirement and FUND the Bridge

2. HB 4482 greatly expands the powers of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) (itself a creation of a Inter-local agreement) as a potential vehicle to finance the Bridge.

The Michigan Economic Development Corp.(MEDC)  is a quasi-public department of state government. It spends 100 million of taxpayer money but it NOT subject to the Open meetings Act. Basically, the MEDC is a slush fund the governor uses to funnel tax dollars to pick business winners and losers. MORE about the MEDC below

Second Item is, trying to speed up the implementation of ObamaCare by enacting the regulation of ObamaCare Navigators  Sec. 1311    PPACA (Consolidated)(i) NAVIGATORS.

From our Friends at RetakeOurGov

SB 324 – The answer is still NO!

This bill SB 324 sets up policy for hiring and the regulation of ObamaCare Navigators for the state of Michigan.

“Our position is that SB 324 is not needed as ObamaCare regulations are still being rolled out by the feds.  It makes little sense to enact regulations given that we having a “moving target.”  Further, enacting such regulations now hastens the ability of the feds to take away our health care rights by speeding up the implementation of ObamaCare.”

We Agree.

Total Action Items

Email/Call/Fax your House Rep and Senator 

On the Omnibus Appropriations bill:

“I do not want ANY appropriations to build the NITC/DRIC Bridge”

Email/Call/Fax your House Rep and Senator  On HB 4482

“I do not want the power of the *MEDC expanded and I do not want any monies directed to the MEDC to be used for the NITC/DRIC bridge”

HB 4482 is in the House Commerce Committee

Please include them if emailing your Rep and Senator on HB 4482:

House Commerce Committee (Copy & Paste)

Chair FrankFoster@house.mi.gov

DaleWZorn@house.mi.gov,GailHaines@house.mi.gov,WayneSchmidt@house.mi.gov,
JeffFarrington@house.mi.gov,BenGlardon@house.mi.gov,JoelJohnson@house.mi.gov,
AricNesbitt@house.mi.gov,PatSomerville@house.mi.gov,RickOutman@house.mi.gov,
TimKelly@house.mi.gov,TomLeonard@house.mi.gov,JonSwitalski@house.mi.gov,
VickiBarnett@house.mi.gov,JimTownsend@house.mi.gov,HarveySantana@house.mi.gov,
StacyErwinOakes@house.mi.gov,GretchenDriskell@house.mi.gov,HenryYanez@house.mi.gov

*About the MEDC

The Mackinac Policy Center has done a series of excellent articles about the problems of the MEDC HERE

Particularly since the MEDC is a tax payer funded corporation,but it NOT subject to the Open Meetings Act, has an appointed board,and lacks transparency. Furthermore, according to a 2013 audit by Michigan’s Auditor General the MEDC WITHHELD information required by statue from legislators (The Commerce Committee members especially should receive this information in your e-mails or calls) that proves it’s program are UNSUCCESSFUL in the very area the MEDC was created to accomplish, give tax incentives to provide employment and economic impact to the State. Additionally, the MEDC does NOT effectively monitor program compliance of those who are in the program.

According to Michigan Auditor General report:

Audit Objectives

Our performance audit* of the Renaissance Zone Program, Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), had the following objectives:

1.To assess the effectiveness of MEDC’s efforts to evaluate the Renaissance Zone Program’s impact on creating new jobs, retaining jobs, and stimulating capital investment within the State.

2.To assess the effectiveness of MEDC’s efforts to monitor Renaissance Zones for compliance with development agreement requirements.

MEDC did not ensure that all information required by statute in relation to the Renaissance Zone Program was completely and accurately reported to the Legislature. As a result, users of the annual report did not have complete and accurate information regarding the Program.

MEDC did not properly report all information required by Section 125.2695 of the Michigan Compiled Laws in the calendar year 2008, calendar year 2009,and calendar year 2010 annual reports to the Legislature.

MEDC did not adequately monitor Renaissance Zones’ compliance with the requirements of their development agreements. As a result, MEDC lacks assurance that the zones are actually meeting the terms of their development agreements.

Also, Renaissance Zones that were out of compliance with the requirements of their development agreements continued to take advantage of the tax incentives provided by the Program while providing little or no employment and economic impact to the State.

Based primarily on information provided by the Department of Treasury, we estimate that approximately $820 million in State and local tax revenue (aka OUR MONEY) was abated in relation to the Program from its inception in fiscal year 1996-97 through fiscal year 2009

10. Therefore, it is imperative that MEDC be able to determine the true value of the Program.

It’s past time that we demand an actual accounting of the MEDC to determine if this is an organization that should continue to even operate!

Continue reading »]]> “Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is argument of tyrants.It is the creed of slaves.”–William Pitt in the House of Commons November 18, 1783

“The appropriation of public money is always is perfectly lovely until some one is asked to pay the bill..” President Calvin Coolidge–New York Herald Tribune, August 5, 1930.

In this Issue

 5 minutes or less Action Item

Information about the new Medicaid Expansion bill

I don’t know about you but I am getting tired of my Representatives trying to sneak in an expansion. To cut down on that and reduce state’s costs we should seriously consider renewing the conversation of a part time legislature.

Apparently ours legislators are trying to Expand Medicaid…Again

This time its not in the budget but a bill HB 4714  and IT has the same expansion language as the budget : Enroll nondisabled adults with an annual income level below 133% of the federal poverty guidelines who meet the citizenship provisions of 42 CFR 435.406(a)  § 435.406 Citizenship and alienage.

Major Budget Changes From FY 2012-13 YTD Appropriations
1. Medicaid Expansion
….. The expansion of the income criteria for Medicaid eligibility up to 133% of the federal poverty level (FPL) is estimated to qualify an additional 320,000 (THAT is a very  low estimate) Michigan residents in FY 2013-14. The assumed expansion start date is January 1, 2014.

Since the Dept of Community Health (DCH) will be using the Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) system to determine eligibility the numbers will be higher (and the Federal matching dollars.)

As the federal government has expanded Medicaid over the decades, state governments have had incentives to continuously expand the program as well. Since Medicaid is an open-ended federal matching grant, the states receive additional federal cash whenever they expand eligibility or covered services.

(“Under the law, the first 5 percent of income is not counted. The practical effect of this income “disregard” is to make the eligibility threshold 138 percent of poverty.) In fact, Assuming the ACA is implemented (Medicaid Expansion) as planned, Michigan could have approximately 600,000 new Medicaid enrollees by 2019—. “Medicaid Eligibility in Michigan: 40 Ways”

Action Item

Now there are some reforms thrown in this time to try and make it palatable, but as the saying goes, you can put lipstick on a pig and its still a pig.

I thought we made it clear, however apparently we need to make it CRYSTAL CLEAR…We do NOT want a Medicaid Expansion in any way, shape or form.

There is a Committee (Michigan Competitiveness) Meeting on this bill this Thursday at 2:30pm

IF you can show up to testify great! You do not have to speak but fill out a testimony card. IF you can not make it

You need to send ONE e-mail to these people. I will provide the contact information and then further information on the new bill if you wish to provide more detail

Copy and Paste e-mail addresses

Committee Clerk David Mead at dmead@house.mi.gov and ask that your email to be entered into the record as testimony.

Chairman of the Committee Rep. Mike Shirkey     -MikeShirkey@house.mi.gov

Committee Members:

KenYonker@house.mi.gov,GailHaines@house.mi.gov,KevinCotter@house.mi.gov,
FrankFoster@house.mi.gov,RayFranz@house.mi.gov,KenGoike@house.mi.gov,
DanLauwers@house.mi.gov,TomLeonard@house.mi.gov,DavePagel@house.mi.gov,
PaulClemente@house.mi.gov,JimTownsend@house.mi.gov,AndySchor@house.mi.gov,
HarveySantana@house.mi.gov,KateSegal@house.mi.gov

And House Speaker Jase Bolger since this is his endorsed plan  -JaseBolger@house.mi.gov

YOUR House Rep HERE

YOUR Senator  HERE

More about the new bill and Michigan Medicaid fraud

1. Everything depends on getting a waiver from the Feds because Medicaid although a voluntary program for the states is still a Federal program. A waiver is essentially a “mother may I” from the states to the Feds.

(a) If the department of community health is unable to obtain a waiver from the United States department of health and human services to implement the provisions

And this is why the only meaningful reforms can be done at a Federal level.

Federal laws and policies restrict how much cost-sharing states can impose on recipients. And while some states have conducted promising experiments with financial incentives — such as cash accounts managed by recipients — any state’s room to maneuver is limited by federal law.  (that’s why we need a waiver) ….the passage of Obamacare has only made it more difficult. Many of the most powerful lobbies … in state capitals will work against any effort to fix what ails this deeply flawed entitlement.

But the simple truth is that American taxpayers cannot afford the status quo. Even before Obamacare, the combined cost of Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security was projected to consume nearly 15% of gross domestic product by 2030 — up from less than 10% today. These entitlements are already falling into the red, and have an unfunded liability of nearly $100 trillion through the end of the century. “How to Fix Medicaid”

Even though this bill offers some reforms (see below) they are bandages to the problem. The button line the real answer to Medicaid reform, is to get out of the Federal program, NOT expand it. Keep the money in our state and let Michigan design its own program (free markets, insurance and tort reforms, etc. ) free from the commands and the co-dependency of Federal dollars of  Washington D.C.

Instead of expanding and continuing to enable flawed, bloated, fraud ridden, tax payer money sucking big government program that does not provide the intended product, decent health care for the poor for temporary gain.

As chief Justice Robert’s noted in oral arguments on the Medicaid Expansion

 ” How willing they (the states) have been since the New Deal to take the Federal government’s money.. And it seems to me that they (the states) have compromised their status as independent sovereigns because they are so dependent on what the Federal Government has done, they should not be surprised that the Federal Government, having attached the — they (the states) tied the strings, they shouldn’t be surprised if the Federal Government isn’t going to start pulling them.”  – Supreme Court Health Care Law Oral Argument, Day 3, Medicaid Expansion

More information about the bill

— ask low-income non disabled adults to pay up to 5 percent of their income on health care — with a sliding scale — and require them to start paying monthly premiums.

However, that is based on “THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY HEALTH’S DETERMINATION OF THE NONDISABLED ADULT’S ABILITY TO PAY” So its likely that a number of “NONDISABLED ADULTS ENROLLED would not pay at all.

–48-month cap on benefits is for able-bodied adults

–create health savings accounts for recipients and let them choose whether to be under the traditional Medicaid system or buy their own coverage on a marketplace known as an exchange. This is similar to Gov. Walker’s plan except that Gov. Walker is NOT expanding Medicaid.

–lower premiums and co-pays if nondisabled adults quit smoking or lose weight, for instance, and follow their doctor’s orders.

D) DEVELOP INCENTIVES FOR HEALTHY BEHAVIOR AND FOR PROGRESS MADE TOWARD HEALTHY BEHAVIOR
(E) DEVELOP INCENTIVES FOR ELIGIBLE ENROLLEES WHO ASSIST THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY HEALTH IN DETECTING FRAUD AND ABUSE IN THE MEDICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.

Speaking of fraud the Department of Community Health (DCH) could use some help in that area! In several audit reports on Michigan’s Medicaid program issued January of this year Michigan’s Auditor General found:

In the area of.Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies – Performance Audit – 391-0717-12 (DMEPOS)the auditor found that DCH was “moderately effective” and found improper payments of $997,000 (approximately $293,000 General Fund/general purpose)and potential improper payments of up to $1,600,000 (approximately $470,000 General Fund/general purpose). DCH issued $341,000 (approximately $100,000 General Fund/general purpose) in duplicate payments to the same provider that submitted a claim multiple times with a different modifier

DCH did not ensure that it prevented, detected,and recovered duplicate payments for DMEPOS

In another audit, Medicaid Pharmacy Services – Performance Audit – 391-0116-12

The auditor found:

DCH did not identify and recover Medicaid pharmaceutical drug payments made on behalf of beneficiaries who were Medicare eligible

We estimate that DCH could recover up to $15.3 million ($5.4 million General Fund/general purpose) in pharmaceutical claims that were originally paid by Medicaid but are the financial responsibility of Medicare (Federal)

For example:

DCH did not always ensure that it notified the PBM of deceased service providers. As a result, 324 pharmacies were reimbursed $89,000 ($31,000 General Fund/general purpose) for prescriptions written after the date of death of 82 deceased service providers

DCHs efforts to identify and recover payments for pharmaceutical drugs covered by Medicare were moderately effective

And the bill includes that the DCH  makes the reports about the new expansion program?!

BY NOT LATER THAN MARCH 1, 2015 AND ANNUALLY BY EVERY  MARCH 1 AFTER THAT, THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY HEALTH SHALL PROVIDE A REPORT TO THE LEGISLATURE

Another interesting addition in the bill is… ALLOW FOR SERVICES PROVIDED THROUGH TELEMEDICINE. Telemedicine is the use of telecommunication and information technologies in order to provide clinical health care at a distance.

Telehealth is a major user of electronic health records (EHRs) and generator of digital data…and additionally would benefit from a Medicaid Expansion and this bill  And Telemedicine is not without it’s major problems, physicians and hospitals can be exposed to new potential liabilities, including providing less than optimal care for patients, if telemedicine is not well managed.

–Require the Feds to provide 100% of funds

THIS SUBSECTION FOR THE PURPOSES OF MEDICAL ASSISTANCE ELIGIBILITY. THIS SUBDIVISION DOES NOT APPLY …(ii) IF AT ANY TIME THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DOES NOT PROVIDE FUNDING AT A LEVEL OF 100% FOR IMPLEMENTATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF THIS SUBDIVISION.

Even though it nice to read a state bill that dictates to the Feds, this is highly unlikely because:

1. It’s the Feds program, they do the dictating

2. IF they Feds were to agree than how many other states would ask for the same 100% Federal funded deal?

3. And does a broke, in debt, fiscal cliff Federal government have the funds?

Further, Each state that declines to expand Medicaid relieves strain on the overall federal budget.

And State or Federal, its ALL our money!

And most likely in order to pass the bill would be a WATERED DOWN VERSION with reforms stripped out or severely compromised in order to get the Democrats to sign on.

“They can’t afford to pay 5 percent of their income for a mediocre health plan, or 48 month cap” Rep. Greimel House minority leader

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE MEDICAID PROGRAM AND EXPANSION

Continue reading »]]> RALLY AGAINST COMMON CORE!

When Tuesday, May 14, 2013 11:30am until 2:00pm

Rally near the Capitol against Common Core and for keeping the prohibition in the budget – not one dime to be spent in MI on national standards with Common Core and the Smarter Balance testing. (The budget is about to be approved – sometime in mid to late May)

Speeches at noon. Lobbying legislators before and after, if you want.

(come early and attend the State Board of Ed mtg – two blocks away – where they are voting on Next Generation Science Standards with global warming, that will be folded into Common Core Science standards)

** stay tuned for more details about where at the Capitol the rally will occur

Continue reading »]]> Government is not reason; it is not eloquence. It is force. And force, like fire, is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.“
–George Washington

“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is argument of tyrants.It is the creed of slaves.”
–William Pitt in the House of Commons November 18, 1783

“The appropriation of public money always is perfectly lovely until some one is asked to pay the bill..” –New York Herald Tribune, August 5, 1930.

In early April Gov Snyder at a press conference,”

As his self-imposed budget deadline approaches, he listed the expansion and transportation funding as two of his top priorities.

“I think you’ll see an increase in activity from what we’ve had. We are going to continue to step up activity in terms of having the discussion, because Medicaid expansion is a good thing for Michiganders….that his administration has been meeting with both legislators and staff on the Medicaid expansion issue and would be ramping that up in the near future.”

The future is NOW.

It’s been reported that the Governor is putting other issues on the back burner to push the Medicaid expansion to legislators, thumb screws or promises.

So we NEED to do some “Informing” of our own and contact our Reps and Senators and let them know:

“WE DO NOT WANT A MEDICAID EXPANSION.”  Simple

However, Below are some facts that you may use if you so desire that refute Gov. Snyder’s position to expand Medicaid

1. The Medicaid Expansion is vital to the success of Obama Care

2. Always FOLLOW THE MONEY

3. Any state savings are TEMPORARY

4. Medicaid is a broken,costly taxpayer dollar sucking program that is terrible health care.

1. The Medicaid Expansion is vital to the success of Obama Care

In his article, “Did the Supreme Court Ruling Render the Health Law’s Finances Untenable?” Chuck Blahous warns that the court’s change of the Medicaid-expansion provision makes ObamaCare much less sustainable and practically guarantees its failure: “Much attention has been given to the argument that without the individual purchase mandate, other parts of the health care law would become unworkable. Much less attention has been given to the fact that without the states forced to be on board with the Medicaid expansion, the law’s health exchange subsidies might be fiscally unworkable. The Supreme Court may have just set in motion of chain of events that could lead to the law’s being found as busting the budget, even under the highly favorable scoring methods used last time around.“

2. FOLLOW THE MONEY

So like ANYTHING in politics, someone is going to benefit from policy.  I met a very smart gentleman a few weeks ago that said to me,” Medicaid isn’t socialism for the poor, its socialism for the powerful” BINGO! Who benefits from the Medicaid Expansion? BIG HEALTH

Hospitals, insurers and drug companies have lobbied in state capital after state capital, leaning on Republicans until they agreed to create insurance exchanges or expand Medicaid as Obamacare prescribed…..One driving cause has been the business lobby — specifically the health-care lobby…..They’ve hired every lobbyist they can get….pro-exchange health-industry companies also poured money into legislative campaigns. Comb through the campaign finance disclosures …Republicans tend to drop their opposition to big government when big business pushes them hard enough.“ The Examiner Washington

All one has to do is look through the Medicaid supporters to identify “Big Health” in Michigan

3. Any state savings are TEMPORARY

From that same press conference Gov Snyder said, “It’s a human case, too; it’s not just a fiscal case. ….said Snyder. “And that translates into dollars and cents, …

A fiscal windfall in the near-term, perpetual losses thereafter

“There’s plenty of reason to disagree. It’s true that the state is likely to enjoy a short-term fiscal windfall if it expands Medicaid. But by 2020, the expansion will sink into the red, and lose money for the state thereafter….Gov. Snyder likes to call himself “one tough nerd”—it’s even his handle on Twitter—but it’s hardly tough to saddle Michigan taxpayers with perpetual deficit spending in order to collect a windfall while you’re in office.

Snyder insists that he will sock away a portion of the near-term windfall to pay for future spending, but the history of entitlement programs should make us skeptical of that promise. Both Social Security and Medicare accumulated substantial surpluses in their early years, only to incur losses later on. The savings were not put away for a rainy day, but rather were frittered away on other priorities.”

Obamacare Medicaid Expansion a ‘Roach Motel?’

In the short term, accepting the expansion will save states money, thereby allowing politicians to spend more on other programs. In Michigan, it will free up around $200 million in next year’s budget (half of which Gov. Snyder wants to put in a “lock box” to cover higher state costs the expansion begins to impose starting in 2017).  This temporary loot is the “attractive nuisance” that has caused previously anti-Obamacare Republican governors like John Kasich and Rick Scott in Florida to become implementation collaborators.

Given Michigan’s legislative term limits, the temptations are even stronger for our legislators to accept these pieces of Obamacare silver, since many will no longer be in office when the higher costs hit. Alas, there are no term limits on the burdens Michigan taxpayers will have to carry for decisions made today that are very likely irrevocable in the future.

Take Ohio for example: According to the governor, the health care lobby, and socialized medicine advocates, these costs would be worth it because they would secure billions per year in new federal funds from a government already $16.7 trillion in debt.

Where would the new federal funding come from? “Don’t worry about it” might be the answer of Medicaid expansion proponents, if Ohio’s press even bothered to ask.

According to HPIO, the PPACA Medicaid expansion would “Strengthen Ohio’s economy by bringing in federal resources that have already been set aside for Medicaid expansion, creating tens of thousands of jobs within the state’s borders.”

HPIO did not explain how a federal government that has run $1 trillion deficits each year since President Obama took office can “set aside” billions per year into perpetuity without even passing a budget since before PPACA was written.”

Speaking of the Federal government…Moody’s currently rates the US government Aaa with a negative outlook  

Maybe Gov. Snyder has been watching Kaish’s, “How To Push Medicaid for Dummies”

From Media Trackers ...“Kasich falsely insisted that Ohio’s promised federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) funding for expanding Medicaid will be sent to other states if Ohio rejects the expansion….. The Ohio Channel has the governor’s entire speech; watch the segment in question to see Kasich pressure legislators by inaccurately asserting their rejection of Medicaid expansion would not prevent any of PPACA’s new spending.”

4. Medicaid is a broken,costly taxpayer dollar sucking program that is terrible health care.

“In 1987, Congress projected that Medicaid – the joint federal-state health care program for the poor – would make special relief payments to hospitals of less than $1 billion in 1992. Actual cost: $17 billion”  U.S. Health Plans have History of Cost Overruns

From our article “2013 ObamaCare in MI and More!”

In Michigan,according to the governor’s budget, Medicaid is 85% of the HHS budget!

According to the Kaiser Health Foundation Medicaid and CHIP stats

• Michigan has 20% of her total population enrolled in Medicaid (2009)
• Michigan’s Medicaid spending from 1990 -2010 has increased 8% ranking her as 23rd in the nation for Medicaid spending. In contrast our Midwestern neighbors Indiana has increased 5% and Illinois 6.6%
• The state of Michigan spend $3,153,326,988 (2010) compared to $1,454,600,107 in Indiana and was the 9th highest in the country

“It’s a human case, too; it’s not just a fiscal case. It’s about people’s real health,” said Snyder.

Medicaid Is Bad Coverage — Access to health insurance is not the same as access to health care.

Coverage for the poor should not be synonymous with poor coverage

Medicaid is the worst health insurance coverage in the country, and yet Obama Care did nothing to fix its many problems.

• Take access to physicians.  The Texas Medical Association published a survey showing that the number of Texas doctors willing to accept new Medicaid patients has declined from 42 percent in 2010 to 31 percent in 2012, in large part because Medicaid pays doctors so little.
•   For various reasons Medicaid beneficiaries often go to the emergency room instead of a family doctor. 
• In addition, Medicaid drug formularies limit the poor’s access to many beneficial drugs.
• And,Currently, nearly one-third of doctors are unwilling to take new Medicaid patients; For children, it’s even worse—the GAO reports about 79 percent of doctors accept all privately insured children as new patients, compared to about 47 percent for children in Medicaid and CHIP[2]; and
• Consequently, emergency room use is at least 50 percent higher for Medicaid patients compared to those with private coverage (or, for that matter, those without coverage).[3]

[3] Based on randomly assigning 10,000 people to Medicaid coverage in Oregon, found there was no statistically significant difference in ER use between those newly enrolled in Medicaid relative to the (largely uninsured) comparison group. That is, giving such individuals Medicaid did not affect their ER use one iota!

Disincentives to work under Medicaid. Work Disincentives, Still Crazy After All These Years

And for your final consideration: Bottom line?  It doesn’t matter what race, sex, or socioeconomic group you belong to, entitlement programs are incentives for you to behave badly, make bad decisions, and place the burden to pay for those bad decisions on the shoulders of others.  In short, they undermine self-reliance and personal responsibility. Congratulations! She’s Having His Baby . . . and You’re Paying for It!

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Rotten to the Common Core

1. Action Item from activist Melanie Kurdys
The House will likely vote this week on the state Department of Education’s budget. Please call/email/fax ASAP and inform your Rep to: STOP ALL funding for Common Core’s implementation in Michigan’s Department of Education budget.

Last week, Melanie was invited to a debate about common core in Grand Rapids on a public TV channel WGVU. To watch the debate, click HERE

2. Bill Update
HB 4276 – The stopping Common Core bill has had one Education Committee meeting. And will have another. Your testimony is vital! You may testify several ways:
1. Testify (speak) in person
2. Attend committee meeting and fill out a brief testimony but NOT speak
3. E-mail your testimony in support of HB 4276 to the Education Committee Clerk at mabdul@house.mi.gov and ask that your e-mail be entered into public testimony.
To be notified via e-mail of upcoming Education Committee Meetings : YOU MAY SIGN UP FOR EDUCATION COMMITTEE MEETINGS NOTICE HERE

3. Guest Author
Grassroots in Michigan is pleased to have Karen Braun as a guest author writing on the topic of Common Core.

A little about Karen:
Karen Braun is married to Steve and a home school mom of six children, All six children were (will be) home educated through high school.

Karen is a popular blogger at SpunkyHomeschool, a free-lance writer and conference speaker on issues related to education, parenting, and family life. She has appeared on television, radio, and in print defending home education and the family. Most recently, Karen testified in the Michigan House Education Committee in Support of HB 4276 to prohibit Common Core State Standards to be used in Michigan. Her article “Homeschooling ‘Internationally Benchmarked’” was published in the April 2013, issue of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and focused on how national and international standards will impact home education.

 Karen resides in Canton, MI with her husband and four of her six children.

Homeschoolers and Data Tracking

Will Estrada, Director of Federal Relations at HSLDA has an article discussing the data tracking aspect of Common Core. National Databases: Collecting Student-Specific Data is unnecessary and Orwellian.

The 2009 federal stimulus bill created the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) program as “a new one-time appropriation of $53.6 billion.” [1] With this money, the Department of Education would award states money in exchange for a commitment to develop and use pre-kindergarten through post-secondary and career data systems, among other criteria.
…….
A national database of student-specific data is very concerning for many reasons. The national databases being created now include detailed records of students, including race, gender, birth information, learning disabilities, detailed academic records, and much more. This information is being collected soon after birth, all the way through graduation from college.The more personal information that is included, the greater the danger to the student’s privacy and safety if the data is breached. Will certain data make it harder for students to get into higher education? Will it be disclosed to government employers, or even private employers?HSLDA believes that each student is unique, with far more to offer society than just the sum of their academic years. Government tracking students from soon after birth until they graduate from college is Orwellian and seems like a “Big Brother” mentality, and has no place in a free society.It is important to note that there are many reasons for aggregated student data to be available. Such data is helpful for researchers, and it is reported widely so that parents and policy makers can determine how students are doing academically. But HSLDA believes that there are very little reasons for the government to track student-specific data.

National Databases and student tracking are not new to President Obama. It’s been in the work since President Bush and in the blueprint for years before that….to continue reading click HERE