Last night, over dinner, the point was made that battle-lines that have emerged are basically

trisected, for its the Ds vs. two groups of Rs [Wall St. and Main St.]; the more the latter members of the GOP stymie the former [excuse the pun] members of the GOP, the better the odds will become that ObamaCare will be effectively defunded. This confusion dominated the anti-Cruz/Palin banter this-a.m. on Morning Joe, when they arrived @ the counter-intuitive conclusion that CRUZ is the leader of the Surrender-Caucus, [when, of course, actually, that accusation is solely leveled @ defeatist-Rs]; pivotal, here, is the absence of any discussion of the problems of ObamaCare, other than to claim lamely that minor glitches must be fixed. Amazingly, the points repeatedly made by Cruz are sidestepped, lest they crowd-out the faux-strategists who are highlighted by the mediafor the truth seems too painful. During the evening-reception honoring Toomeys swearing-in, The Bob [Guzzardi and dr. bob] chatted with Rep. Tom Price [who remembered the spate of resolutions that the latter had submittedalmost two decades priorto the annual meeting of the American Society of Internal Medicine, as Guzzardi is my witness]; during this half-hour, we learned that no one had chronicled all departments in the federal government, and conjured conjointly was the phrase sequential selective strategic shutdown to suggest what might need to transpire if the spending-binge was to be effectively reversed. Thus, this concept is known to the true-conservative leadership of Congress and appears relevant when framing the current debate over the CR passage [minus ObamaCare-$$$]. Yet, for reasons that will be explored infra, it doesnt appear that such draconian-angst need be entertained, inasmuch as the ability exists to split the mother-CR into baby-CRs, thereby providing the Ds [Senatorial and POTUS] the need to sign-off on clean billsand therefore relieving the GOP of ANY potential blame for any subsequent shut-down; combined with the ability to insert the substitute healthcare legislation of Scaleses RSC [Republican Study Committees alternative to ObamaCare], which is revenue-neutral. Guzzardi has been unleashed on Facebook, alliteration [Duplicitous, Disingenuous, Deceptive, Deceitful, Dissembling Democrats] and all [Government bureaucrats and their elected enablers carve out an ObamaCare exemption; the Government's Double Standard undermines the Rule of Law]; again noting the ongoing need to clarify/explain what has long been recognized, this physician has also not been idle [It is true that there is mandatory spending associated with ObamaCare, but there is also discretionary spending associated therewith; the latter is in the category of command/control, in that [for example] the IRS-enforcement must be funded. Thus, defunding NOW would lead to its not being implemented.]. Meanwhile, the NY-Times allowed negative-info to slip into its pages [lower-health-insurance-premiumsto-come-at-cost-of-fewer-choices] as others revealed more worrisome info [ObamaCare Will Increase Health Spending By $7,450 For A Typical Family of Four]; although ObamaCare faces inevitable failure [while its authors will get rich implementing it], forestalling its initiation would minimize pain. Therefore, as major-critique accumulates [Twitchy is aggregating Hey! Your health care plan got cancelled! letters. #ObamaCare], perhaps to ventilate, emphasized is the fact that most-americans-supportfederal-shutdown-to-defund-ObamaCare; also, thats why its necessary to FOCUS instead ofat this late dateafford much credence to side-shows such as that which is promulgated by an occasional-ally [rand-paul-wants-chief-justice-roberts-all-federal-workers-to-enroll-in-ObamaCare]. Cruz, albeit aggressively maligned [Ted Cruz: The Distinguished Wacko Bird from Texas], has articulated the path to victory, having Laid Out the GOP's Options depending upon what Reid might do [cruz warns harry-reid is abusing-his-power-by-asking-for-majorityvote-on-ObamaCare]; here is his meme: " A vote for cloture is a vote for ObamaCare." Other iterations of these concepts abound [Senate Republicans Can Stop Reid from

Funding ObamaCare and what-the-senate-must do]; notwithstanding claims from libs such as Politico [Cruz scrambles to salvage strategy], the approach is clear and contains contingencies. As noted by Sarah Palin, it is 'Not Surprising' GOP Would Turn on Cruz for Fulfilling Campaign Promises; Palin also noted that BHO is Using Syria to Distract Nation from Debt Crisis, and this sage-observation is applicable also to gun-control, etc. Explaining why we are fighting-democrats-with-one-arm-tied-and-a-knife-in-our-backs, seeping from the woodwork are naysayers, both D [pelosi:-theres-no-more-cuts-to-make] and R [boehner-and-mitchmcconnell-are-funding-ObamaCare]; the media are also, of course, Cruz-critics [CNN Anchor: Founding Fathers Would Oppose Defunding ObamaCare]. This exchange is also enlightening for another reason [Countdown to GOP Self-Destruction: On immigration reform and ObamaCare, the 'party of no' confirms its reputationand courts long-term devastation followed by Medved Misses in Attack on Cruz, Conservative Opposition], namely, that Medved has consistently advocated amnesty [a position that prompted a direct query from this physician a few years ago when he was in Philly on behalf of WNTP, after which he claimed the GOP can only survive if it supports amnestyafter which he lost this listener]; another naysayer is Tucker Carlson, whose dailycaller played into the D-narrative when it [falsely] focused on the claim that a government shutdown looms as congress battles over continuing resolution to fund government. Lost in this noise is the fact that the the government doesn't shut down when there is a shutdown; furthermore, in this 'Hostage' Standoff, Obama Is Weaker than He Thinks. This was composed in response to the aforementioned, exploring Why the Senate GOP would Block a Vote on the Continuing Resolution [namely, House-passed legislation]: Of course, the media will forget to explain all this as they rush to print stories about the kwaaaaazy Repubwicans filibustering their own bill. We talk about the media protecting Obama a lot, but it's simply astonishing how hard they work to protect Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who has quietly murdered huge stacks of good legislation without ever getting tagged as an "obstructionist" or master of "gridlock." You can take it to the bank that he'd already be a figure of pop-culture parody if he were a Republican using procedural tricks as garrotes to strangle House Democratic legislation, especially if he was a corrupt, creepy, slander artist and gaffe machine like Reid. Our side has not been idle; for example, a cogent query has gone viral [Who sent oppo research on Ted Cruz to Chris Wallace?] and Dr. Ben Carson has noted ObamaCare not for and by the people; also, support for this effort has been registered from rep joe pitts [a better way than ObamaCare] and kathleen parker [delaying-ObamaCare-makes-sense]. sen.-mike-lee has explained why-the-governmentwont-shut-down-because-of-ObamaCare-funding-fight, even as joe-manchin and tom coburn express doubts-over-ObamaCare-shutdown-strategy. Conservatives feel that the only chance Republicans have to maintain their House majority and win the Senate is to hold firm against ObamaCare implementation. The following was written by a colleague [with whom I was confirmed, in 1967]: ObamaCare Hypocrisy and Medical Loss Ratios By Ross Schriftman, RHU, LUTCF, ACBC, MSAA In the lead up to the passage of the so-called Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (also known as ObamaCare), supporters claimed that one of the major problems with our current system is that insurance companies spend too much on non-health related expenses. If they were restricted to only a certain percentage of premiums for

administrative and marketing, there would be plenty of money to pay for the healthcare needs of all Americans because our system would cost less. This restriction for insurance companies is called medical loss ratio. It is part of the new law and requires insurance companies to spend no more than 15% of our premiums on healthcare in the group market and no more than 20% in the individual market. Recently, Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz stated that, "Insurance companies have been spending substantial percentages of premium dollars on administrative costsincluding executive salaries, overhead and marketing-and profits." It certainly sounds good to most people to restrict this kind of spending. After all, you buy insurance so that when you get sick your claims are paid and not for someone else's salary. So what has the government been spending our tax dollars on under ObamaCare so far? Here is a list: A $12 million ad buy to promote the law in states with the highest uninsured population. According to the Huffington Post eventually the overall marketing and advertising campaign across the country may end up costing $684 million. $45 million by California to promote its health insurance exchanges. $1.5 billion for a computer hub to tie the records of eight different government agencies, including Homeland Security and the IRS, collecting information for people who enroll in an exchange. $67 million for grants to community organizations to hire "navigators" to explain the new law. $13 million of this amount was taken away from wellness and disease prevention programs according to the New York Times. Navigators, who are unlicensed, will be paid as much as $48 per hour to tell people how to enroll. Estimated average operation costs for each state exchange range from $25 million to $60 million in a report by the Kaiser Family Foundation. One report stated that California may end up spending over $600 million for their exchange. Then there are start up costs. Colorado has spent more than $109 million in start up costs, Oregon has spent more than $200 million and Washington State has spent more than $150 million. And all of this is just on the taxpayer paid side. There is now a tax on insurance premiums to pay for all of this. There is the cost of paying government regulators to complete their work on more than 20,000 pages of regulations. There will be the cost of government employees to make sure all of us are complying with these regulations. There is the cost to businesses to comply with the requirements including giving every employee in America a notice explaining how the exchanges work. The time spent and the loss of focus on their core business activity by business owners trying to comply can not be measured. And here is the real kicker. In order to comply with the requirements of ObamaCare, the insurance companies have had to spend lots of money and time analyzing the

regulations and communicating with agents and customers. So their administrative costs have gone up. Defunding ObamaCare would reduce costs. Let's stop the wild spending on non-health related items like the ones listed above. That is the irony of ObamaCare. It's advocates tell the insurance companies they spend too much on administration and marketing. Then the Obama Administration goes out and spends our money on the administration and marketing of the new law. There is a much simpler and less expensive approach. Eliminate all the new government and quasi-government bureaucracy called Exchanges or Marketplaces. Provide a subsidy for premiums for low income Americans. Create a one-time open enrollment for anyone who has not purchased coverage before to purchase insurance of their choice from any insurance company's product available in their state. Promote wellness. And get the government out of micromanaging our health choices and our lives. Ross Schriftman has been an insurance representative since 1975. He is a long term care and Medicare supplement insurance products specialist. Mr. Schriftman is an active member of the National Association of Health Underwriters and served as the organizations Associate Chair for Long Term Care from 2001 to 2003. He also served as the Legislative Chair for the Pennsylvania Association of Health Underwriters from 1994 to 2003 and the Legislative Chair for the Montgomery County Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors from 2001 to 2003. He has served twice as a panelist at the Montgomery County Estate Planning Councils Annual Seminar. Mr. Schriftman holds the professional designations of Registered Health Underwriter, Fellow of the Life Underwriters Training Council, Advanced Chartered Benefit Consultant and Medicare Supplement Accredited Advisor. He teaches courses to other insurance agents including a course in preparation for the Chartered Benefit Consultant designation. Mr. Schriftman is a frequent speaker on health care reform and has published numerous articles related to long term care and health care reform. He also testifies regularly before the Pennsylvania General Assembly and has conducted briefings for legislators and their staff. Mr. Schriftman is the author of My Million Dollar Mom which chronicles the life of his mother, Shirley Schriftman and his time caring for her when she had Alzheimers at the end of her life. http://www.buybooksontheweb.com/product.aspx?ISBN=0-7414-6713-5