A Cool $10B for Unions in House Health Bill

One of the motivations behind the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) and other Obamaic union-ripoff measures is to replete the unions' pension fund coffers, which have been horribly managed and looted for political purpose (e.g., electing Obama).

Now, the House health care bill is rushing to the aid of unions as well, earmarking $10 billion for a "reinsurance fund" to help pay retired union members' health care bills.

On top of that, if a public option passes in the final health care measure (if the package itself passes), it will require that any provider participating in the plan be unionized.

Thus health care reform=more union bailouts (think Chrysler, GM as precursors).

Do a Favor, Get Sued for Weight-Loss Surgery

This actually happened, and it's pretty chilling from an employer's perspective.

A pizza shop owner in Indiana hired a cook weighing 380 pounds because, for starters, the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination against the morbidly obese.

All goes well for a while...until the chef gets knocked in the spine by a refrigerator door and requires surgery. The owner's workers' comp insurer agrees to cover the surgery, but the doctors advise weight-loss surgery before the spinal work. Worker's comp insurer refuses to pay, so worker sues employer and worker wins. Employer appeals and employer loses.

Bottom line: Employer is out $20,000 for doing the guy a favor, and now he may be losing his business as well.

Read it all here.

No Health Insurance=5 Years Jail and $250K Fine

If Pelosicare, which passed a midnight vote this past Saturday, becomes the law of the land, failure to carry an approved health care plan could land you in jail for five years and get you socked with a $250,000 fine.

There's also a misdemeanor violation good for one year behind bars and a $25K fine, but you get the picture. At the very least, when you submit your income tax return each year, if you don't include proof of insurance, you'll be taxed at least at 2.5 percent of income as a fine. Become a scofflaw, and the slammer awaits.

On top of that, a qualified plan is priced merely at $15,000 (and up) for a family of four under Pelosicare.

Good deal, huh?

READ MORE HERE

Obamacare Won't Pay for Death by Hospital

NEWS ITEM: AHRQ says hospital deaths waste $20 billion a year!

REACTION: Obamacare removes payments for hospital stays that result in death, thereby saving $200 billion over ten years.

Fact or Fiction?

So far, just a glint in Zeke Emanuel's eyes, but it could be enacted by fiat (health czar, you know) once Obamacare is passed. NOTE: Obamacare already reduces payments for readmissions to hospitals within 30 days, so this isn't that big a stretch.

The New Misery Index: Five Factors for Pain

Back in the woebegotten Carter era of the 1970s, someone came up with the "misery index"--you add the unemployment rate to the inflation rate to determine its value. Obviously, the higher the number meant the higher the people's misery.

But how about the new millennium? Do unemployment and inflation account for our current misery and economic woes? Unemployment is certainly still a factor, but inflation is just about non-existent. In fact, we were experiencing deflation up until recently.

Fortunately, someone came up with a new misery index made up of five indices: food stamps (number of people receiving them), bankruptcies, foreclosures, long-term unemployment, and credit card defaults.

>SEE THE RESULTS FOR YOURSELF!

NMB Relaxes Unionization Standards

In an apparent effort to help organizers establish a union at Delta Air Lines, the National Mediation Board (NMB) has voted (along party lines) to change the secret ballot standard for unionization.

Airlines (and FedEx, which is currently subject to another political hatchet job to be forcefully unionized) are regulated by the Railway Labor Act rather than the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The NMB has traditionally interpreted unionization voting standards as requiring a majority of affected workers to vote affirmatively, meaning that those who don't bother to vote are counted as "noes."

No more, the NMB action yesterday (Nov. 2, 2009) means that organizers now need just a majority of votes cast even if the number of those voting doesn't even add up to a majority of affected workers.

Cute trick. The only thing now standing between Delta's unionization by minority vote is a 60-day public commentary period following the NMB vote.

If you want conspiracy theory, here it is: On the Friday before Monday's NMB vote, the International Association of Machinists (IAM) withdrew its application for a unionization vote at Delta.

Delta says the IAM withdrew its ballot request to delay the vote until the new rule comes into effect.

You think?

Health Care Reform Not Favored by Most

Pollster.com, which scientifically melds results from all the other polls into one, shows that, overall, Obamaic health care reform is not favored by most Americans, though the gap isn't too wide between pro-ers and con-ners (I can hear the far lefties running with that con-ners construction!). Here's Pollster's explanation of methods and complete results. Below is the graph encapsulating the results: