Don't Like Obamacare? Do Something About It

Addressing the Racine Tea Party at a forum on health care, Rep. Paul Ryan, State Rep. Robin Vos and State Sen. Leah Vukmir told the crowd in Racine County on Sunday it's time for them to take action if they want to see the Affordable Care Act repealed.
By Denise Lockwood (Editor) , January 14, 2013 at 02:32 AM, originally published on the Caledonia Patch.

Expressing their disdain for the Affordable Health Care Act, Rep. Paul Ryan and other state Republicans Sunday evangelized their anti-Obamacare message and asked the Racine Tea Party faithful to go out and spread the message that it isn’t working.
One by one, notable Republicans got up in front of the roughly 300 people gathered at the Racine Tea Party Healthcare Forum at South Hills Country Club in Caledonia. In turn, they each dissected the health-care law and said how the American people made a decision in November they may come to regret.
Headlining speaker Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, called the law “fundamentally flawed” in its conception and implementation, and said it is doomed to fail.
“Obamacare is too overarching and it runs contrary to the practices of this country so it can’t last,” Ryan said.
Ryan told residents to start at home, educating themselves and their friends and then supporting conservative lawmakers in Wisconsin.
"We have great leaders to show us the way forward," he said. "You can fix this at the state level and show the federal government how to do it."
State Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said liberals and conservatives want the same thing; a government that functions well and takes care of the less fortunate. Wisconsinites, he said, do both really well, even if there's disagreement on how to reach both those goals.
“Under Gov. (Jim) Doyle, we had a massive expansion of Medicaid that included low premiums or no premiums and no co-pays and it worked great until the federal government stepped in,” he said.
But, Vos continued, Gov. Scott Walker wisely rejected setting up a state-based exchange and told the federal government they can do it so Wisconsin lawmakers aren’t left holding the bag when costs sky-rocket and residents are pointing fingers.
“We can make a difference, though, because states form the federal government, not the other way around,” Vos said.

Cost is king

Michael Tanner, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, heavily criticized Obamacare. The Cato Institute is a non-partisan think tank, Tanner said, which leans more towards a libertarian perspective.
Tanner told the crowd the problem with the Affordable Care Act is young and healthy people would have to pay more in premiums to subsidize coverage for others — older, sicker people and those with pre-existing conditions — and their premiums would go up a lot faster.
He criticized the health care exchanges, saying the very concept was rife with government intervention. The crowd applauded Tanner’s mention of Walker’s decision to reject the state-based exchanges.
“I make a living making fun of Congress, but I want you to try to grasp this,” Tanner said. “They are going to create a place where buyers and sellers can come together. And the buyers will have money and the sellers will have product, and the buyers will exchange money for the product. Can you imagine that? How have we survived all of these years?”

What we can do here at home

State Sen. Leah Vukmir, R-Wauwatosa, plans to put forward bills on tort reform, tax breaks for companies that offer health insurance premium accounts for younger workers, looking at ways to build more transparency in the healthcare industry, and allowing people and companies to purchase health insurance outside of Wisconsin.
“Transparency is key, but we haven’t gone far enough,” Vukmir said. “We should be able to shop around. And why can’t we purchase insurance across state lines like we buy other products and services?”
Vukmir explained that many young workers — the "young invincibles" — don’t have insurance. But, she said, if companies earmarked money that could only be used to purchase health insurance, they would buy the insurance.
After Vukmir had her time at the podium, Vos joined her on stage for a joint Q&A. While neither thought a nullification of Obamacare is probable or realistic, they again told people they have the power in this fight. Vos and Vukmir said the way to stand up to the ACA is to take a page out of the Democrats’ playbook by talking to everyone.
“We need to support conservative talk radio and our great bloggers by talking to our friends and family and our neighbors,” Vukmir said. "The November election was tough, but Wisconsin is a bright spot. We will push forward with conservative and founding principles."

Thousands Attend Racine Tea Party Rally In Caledonia

Speakers - Paul Ryan, Van Wangaard and Rebecca Kleefisch -- encourage Racine Tea Party attendees to get out the vote and head to the polls.

By Denise Lockwood (Editor) and Heather Asiyanbi, June 03, 2012 at 12:36 AM, originally published on the Caledonia Patch.

Fired up and ready to vote, thousands of people—including some from out of state—attended the Racine Tea Party rally Caledonia Saturday morning.
Traffic was backed up and people parked along side Nicholson Road after overflow parking lots filled with people ready to: Go to the polls on June 5 to vote for Gov. Scott Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and state Sen. Van Wanggaard.
The crowd was loud and had a lot of energy, cheering raucously for each speaker. Made up of people of all ages, it was also split pretty evenly between men and women, but only a handful of people of color came out.
Darryl Henderson of Franksville said he was there because most rallies are held at times when he can't attend, since he works at night.
"I'm for smaller government, less government," he said.
Once the Racine Tea Party rally started at 10 a.m., Kleefisch, Rep. Paul Ryan and Wanggaard reinforced the reasons why people should not only show up to the polls on Tuesday to support the GOP candidates, but to get out and encourage others to vote.
"Do we want to keep going forward or do we want to go backward?" Kleefisch asked the crowd. "Forward means keeping taxes down, more money in classrooms and our sons and daughters living their American dream. That's why you need to call everyone you know so they vote on Tuesday."
Ryan said Walker, Kleefisch and Wanggaard winning the recall will save Wisconsin so voters can then save America in November.
"This recall is about liberty and freedom, the stuff that makes America great," he told the crowd. "This is a big deal. There are two futures in front of us and how we want our state and nation to look."

Update: Nails in Lot at Tea Party Event Cause Flat Tires

Racine police confirm they have reports of two vehicles with flat tires that owners say is a direct result of someone dumping roofing nails in the parking lot of the old Sam's Club before a Racine Tea Party event on Saturday.

By Denise Lockwood and Heather Asiyanbi, October 29, 2012 at 09:52 PM, originally published on the Caledonia Patch website.

The Tea Party faithful gathered Saturday for a loud and enthusiastic rally aimed at getting out the vote on Nov. 6 and putting Republicans Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan in the White House. The Racine Tea Party's "Rally for Jobs" kicked off at 2:30 p.m. Saturday inside the old Sam's Club at 6200 Regency West Drive.
Before the event could get under way, though, organizers say a white van affixed with "Obama" stickers drove through the parking lot and dumped quantities of roofing nails.
"We went outside and picked up what we could," said Lou D'Abbraccio, holding a cup filled with nails. "But this was just wrong."
Lora Halberstadt, a Tea party member, said the group did call the Racine Police Department to file a report.
Patch asked two RPD officers outside the venue if they could confirm the report, but they only said they couldn't comment about a truck.
According to the shift commander on duty Sunday morning, officers responded to the old Sam's Club Saturday morning to take a report from event organizers.
"The report says that sometime between 9 and 11 a.m. someone threw roofing nails across the parking lot," the lieutenant told Patch. "There is no mention of a type of vehicle or ideas for who might have done this."
On Monday, Racine police Public Information Officer Sgt. Martin Pavalonis confirmed his department does have a report of the incident on file. He also said two vehicle owners reported flat tires as a result of the nails and possibly a screw.
"Two vehicles were damaged, obviously with tire damage and then some nails and screws were apparently strewn about the parking lot," he said. "However, we have no information about a suspect or suspect vehicle. We certainly encourage the public to contact us with any solid information that they might have."
Inside the venue on Saturday, a crowd of around 1,000 grew to about 2,500, many of them waving signs or wearing t-shirts proclaiming their support for candidates on the Republican ticket.
The list of guest speakers was a Who's Who of conservative leaders — including local Republican state legislative candidates Pam Stevens and Tom Weatherston; and state Rep. Robin Vos;  former Navy SEAL Chris Heben; U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson; Ryan's brother, Tobin Ryan; former Gov. Tommy Thompson; Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey; and conservative talk show host Vicki McKenna.
Each speaker touched on points where they think President Barack Obama and his administration has failed, but their message also echoed that of the Democrats: take advantage of early voting and get everyone you know, and even those you don't, to cast a ballot in what they called the most important election of our time.
Anyone with information about this incident can contact Crime Stoppers anonymously by: calling 1-888-636-9330, email: http://racine.crimestoppersweb.com, or text message: RACS to 274637(CRIMES).

Ryan Goes After Obamacare in First Post-Election Appearance Here

Former vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan said Obamacare was doomed to fail, as he spoke at a Racine Tea Party event on Sunday.

Posted by Denise Lockwood (Editor) , January 14, 2013 at 07:39 PM, originally posted on the Caledonia Patch.

 

In Paul Ryan’s first appearance in his home state since his failed vice presidential bid, the Republican congressman took aim squarely at Obamacare — and warned that if changes aren’t made, insurance and the health-care system will fall apart. 

Ryan was the headlining speaker at a Racine Tea Party event Sunday afternoon in Caledonia. Focused on the Affordable Care Act — commonly referred to as Obamacare — he and other speakers told the crowd of about  300 what was wrong with the law. They said even though Democrats still hold the White House, Republicans are committed to fighting it. Ryan called the law “fundamentally flawed” in both its conception and implementation. Republicans had three options for knocking the law down, Ryan said, and two of them are no longer on the table: the US Supreme Court challenge, Mitt Romney winning the White House and repealing the law. The only one left, he said, was watching the law collapse under its own weight.
“Obamacare is too overarching and it runs contrary to the practices of this country so it can’t last,” Ryan stated.
Ryan said the leaders of a large Wisconsin company talked with him and said if their competitors stop offering insurance — because providing the benefit is more expensive than paying the $2,000-per-employee fine for not offering health insurance to employees — that company would follow.
“We’re going to see competitive dumping because of Obamacare, and that’s when we’ll really see costs go up,” Ryan continued.
Obamacare is about price control, Ryan said, not the freedom of choice that President Barack Obama would have everyone believe. And, he said, the American people deserve a better plan.
“We owe you a specific alternative and I believe we can pick the right path to a free economy, to being debt free and stick to our founding principles,” Ryan said.
Obamacare wasn’t the only issue Ryan addressed. In response to an audience question about income tax reform, he once again raised his plan to close tax loopholes.
“We know we can’t beat something with nothing so we plan on going into great legislative detail about Obamacare replacement, reforming the income tax code and dealing with our entitlement problem,” he said. “We need a tax code that’s equal so companies like GE will have to pay because we’re taking away those loopholes. We need a tax code that keeps everyone equal in their brackets so it will be about what you make and not who you know.”