Twyla Grace is the Head of Citizens Council on Health Care in Minnesota and is a recognized Healthcare expert discusses Congressional healthcare reform activities.  The current Congressional discussion is focused on health insurance reform. There are 3,000 "shall"s in the Bill which create an extensive structure of mandates.  The individual is to purchase "insurance" as that is defined in the Bill.  If he doesn't then he is required to pay a penalty which is enforced by the IRS and may include jail time. The mandates enunciate a standard for healthcare which allows the government to run the insurance industry and medical system. As currently articulated, this Bill will cause the loss of freedom of choice over types of insurance; loss of a citizen's right to control the amount of money spent for a purchase; loss of privacy as a tracking system will be created through a National Medical number; and, a loss of the choice of a health savings account option which was tax free.

Attorney Leslie Fourton is General Counsel to Gary Null.

Discusses challenges to FDA approval of Swine Flu Vaccine in New York & Washington DC.  In New York, a Judge has granted a TRO for several groups to stop the State from implementing a mandatory requirement to receive the Swine Flu vaccine for State Employees.  A Public Employees Union, a Nurses Group and the New York United Teachers Union oppose getting the vaccine as a condition of employment.  The New York Health Department intends to vigorously defend its right to impose this requirement.  On September 29, 2009, a Federal Appeals court refused to stop mandatory anthrax vaccines for service members.  Plaintiffs argued that the information re efficacy obtained by the FDA was not credible.  In the DC FDA case the arguments center on safety and efficacy.  There is a conflict between the claim that there is a major worldwide pandemic of a new kind of flu on the one hand and the claim that what they're looking at is just another shift in the genetic strain.  FDA hasn't looked at the source of this flu or how it began.

Mark Lerner is a Co-Founder of the Stop Read Id Coalition and a Spokesperson for Constitutional Alliance.

Discusses Read Id which extends the reach of the government into our lives, the problems involved with it and what we can do about it.   After 911 President Bush signed the Real ID Act into law which created new databases and linked all State drivers licenses, so that every individual could only have one license from one issuing State. The need for this came from the fact that the terrorists used counterfeit drivers licenses as a means of identification. The Real ID Act has as its goal to ensure that all Americans are enrolled in its global biometric ID system which allows mechanical facial recognition.  This system can be used internationally which goes beyond issues of violation of privacy and actually provides a way for citizens to be tracked.  See www.StopReadId.com and 

www.ConstitutionalAlliance.org

Douglas J. Holtz-Eakin

Former Director of Congressional Budget Office, Chair at Council of Foreign Relations and Senior Fellow at Peterson Institute for International Economics

Discusses Economics of Healthcare Reform Debate.  The problem is that 1/6 of our economy is underperforming.  The costs outweigh the benefits and longevity and infant mortality suggest we aren't getting high quality outcomes.  This has lead a large part of Congress to look at slowing the cost growth of healthcare and the related problems of the rising cost of insurance and the fact that many people are not insured.  50 million are not currently insured. In the last year, 60 million were not insured.  Over the past few years, 40 million were not insured.  It's a very complicated problem involving so many players that it is difficult to fully understand.  History will be the judge as to whether the current Congressional approach is the best route to improving our system.

Attorney Andrew Grosso spent 10 years as an Assistant US Attorney in Tampa, Florida, and Boston, Massachusetts before founding a law firm in Washington DC which focuses on whistle blower and federal fraud cases. He also formed the nation's first federal-state health care fraud task force. Discusses health fraud and health reform activities. Grosso talks about the prosecution of health care fraud cases in the late 1980s which began in Florida where there are a large number of retirees.  There the fraud involved billing for services that were not provided.  In Boston the fraud was more sophisticated and involved manipulating the administration of Medicare. Today most States have False Claims Acts. Around 50% of the claims made under those acts are health care related.  In today's health care system, there is a large amount of soft fraud.