Tag: Pat Colbeck

Seriously, how cool is that?

There are few who have ever experienced true weightlessness, or have seen the earth from space. Its a pretty exclusive club, and the chances are that we aren't closer to seeing general travel becoming the norm for a couple more generations. Grand Rapids native Jack Lousma is one of those who has had the rare opportunity, and he is going to to share some of his experiences during a Pat Colbeck fundraiser on Friday. ($20 - CHEAP)

From his Bio:

Lousma is one of the 19 astronauts selected by NASA in April 1966. He served as a member of the astronaut support crews for the Apollo 9, 10, and 13 missions. He was the pilot for Skylab-3 (July 28 to September 25, 1973) and was spacecraft commander on STS-3 (March 22-30, 1982), logging a total of over 1,619 hours in space. Lousma also spent 11 hours on two spacewalks outside the Skylab space station.

Anyhow, the event is on SATURDAY September 14, 2013 at 2pm - 5pm

WHERE: Yankee Air Museum 47884 D St, Belleville, MI 48111

Frankly, the fact that government is involved in the slightest way with regard to health care, is not only annoying, but flies in the face of personal responsibility, and liberty.  Having said that, we recognize the state of Michigan, and it's citizens' right to pursue certain issues of public policy outside of federal manipulation.  Senator Colbeck has also earned the opportunity to be heard IMO.  From a Press release late yesterday:

Colbeck patient-centered solution legislation moved out of committee

Free market alternative to Medicaid expansion moves to the full Senate

LANSING, Mich. - The Senate Government Operations Committee today voted to send legislation that would create a free market alternative to Medicaid expansion to the full Senate for consideration by the Chamber.  Senate Bills 459 and 460, introduced by Sen. Patrick Colbeck (R-Canton) and known as the Patient-Centered Care Act, would enact a patient-centered healthcare plan that expands access to quality care without expanding government.

I was not at all surprised to find the [quite correct] position Senator Patrick Colbeck (R-7th) had taken on the issue of 4111.  His office confirmed his decision to oppose the legislation, and offered exactly what should be the next step in the effort to ensure we have not completely destroyed our ability to provide coverage for employees and families.  Especially considering the grotesque horror of Obamacare and its destructive path towards failure. They say:

"The Senator is exploring other options with regard to potential legislative action that would offer free-market alternatives to a federal or state-federal partnership exchange so the state will have something to fall back on should the provisions of Obamacare be unmanageable or unenforceable."

Its likely that without the state capitulating, there is NO way the federal exchanges can work. The infrastructure would have to be built completely from scratch, and would be unworkable for many years. This allows the weight of such an effort to fall on itself, and no state money or resources need to be involved.  Expanding freedoms (as that statement suggests) for the insurance offerings in Michigan could do wonders.  De-regulating with safety devices built in can make a better product available and cut free some of the innovation as yet unseen.

But until the state is willing to exercise it's 10th amendment authority, its won't happen.  All of the best efforts would make it even harder for Obamacare to work, and by "work" I mean destroy health care as we know it.

And there are people who want that .. badly.

You may remember me mentioning a couple of weeks ago that the grassroots are just a tad ticked at 29 "republican" squishies who caved on House Roll Call 11 and brought this state one step closer to what is perhaps the single biggest government intrusion into private lives that I can recall in my lifetime.  While I'm not going to go into too many technical details here, I will say that one particular organization isn't screwing around.