Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate will hear a request from Christian Medi-Share for extra time beyond his Monday order to shut down all operations in Kentucky by today. The hearing is scheduled for 2:00 pm ET in Frankfort.
At least one Medi-Share member is scheduled for surgery tomorrow.
Check back often for news and commentary about Kentucky by David Adams. Contact via email: kyprogress(at)yahoo.com or Lexington area telephone 537-5372.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Kentucky Halloween Massacre
A Circuit Court judge in Kentucky announced this morning he will rule by October 31 on whether or not to revoke the business license of a Christian group serving as an alternative to state regulated health insurance.
The Kentucky Department of Insurance has been (so far) successfully waging a war against Christian health consumers seeking to work around expensive regulations which result in severely limited health coverage choices for Kentuckians. Christian Care Medi-Share has been in and out of Kentucky courts for an entire decade, fighting for its ability to offer significantly better health coverage to Bluegrass State consumers.
Christian "health sharing" is actually not banned under ObamaCare, but Kentucky's hostility toward healthcare consumers predates the federal takeover of medical care by decades.
The Kentucky Department of Insurance has been (so far) successfully waging a war against Christian health consumers seeking to work around expensive regulations which result in severely limited health coverage choices for Kentuckians. Christian Care Medi-Share has been in and out of Kentucky courts for an entire decade, fighting for its ability to offer significantly better health coverage to Bluegrass State consumers.
Christian "health sharing" is actually not banned under ObamaCare, but Kentucky's hostility toward healthcare consumers predates the federal takeover of medical care by decades.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Pitchforks and Torches in Frankfort
Kentucky's ObamaCare Advisory Board is meeting publicly in Frankfort on Thursday October 25 at 1:30 pm ET.
You don't really need to bring pitchforks or torches, but the silliness will be so thick that witnesses could be very valuable. So please make plans to come to 12 Mill Creek Park in Frankfort. Specialized knowledge in healthcare isn't at all necessary to see how foolish a big government scheme this is.
And that's the point. We need more people with more first-hand knowledge of the ObamaCare trainwreck our own people in Frankfort are signing us up for, so please come if you can and invite others even if you can't make it.
You don't really need to bring pitchforks or torches, but the silliness will be so thick that witnesses could be very valuable. So please make plans to come to 12 Mill Creek Park in Frankfort. Specialized knowledge in healthcare isn't at all necessary to see how foolish a big government scheme this is.
And that's the point. We need more people with more first-hand knowledge of the ObamaCare trainwreck our own people in Frankfort are signing us up for, so please come if you can and invite others even if you can't make it.
Monday, October 22, 2012
Courageous candidates' legislative pension fix
Since 2005, several Kentucky legislators have taken advantage of a pension trick pushed into law by Senate President David Williams and former House Speaker Jody Richards to enrich themselves with public money after long General Assembly careers and short stints in the executive or legislative branches of state government.
J.R. Gray. Steve Nunn. Dan Kelly. Charlie Borders. James Comer. Ernesto Scorsone. Fred Nesler. Jon Draud. Greg Stumbo. Clearly, this is a bipartisan problem.
Several legislators have filed bills the last few years to close this "loophole," but none have seriously gotten close to being enacted. It's time for that to change.
Ironically, the first person who could have taken advantage of this pension trick did not do so.
Former state Rep. Joe Barrows took retirement from the legislature rather than boost his pension with the "reciprocity" scheme before going to work in the Executive Branch.
This week, Senate President David Williams will come one big step closer to a judicial appointment that would make all his state pension dreams come true at a cost to taxpayers of nearly one million dollars. Five state House candidates joined together last week and signed onto a statement encouraging Williams to put an end to the pension grab madness.
Chris Hightower, Matt Lockett, Jason Crockett, Bryan Lutz and Lynn Bechler agreed to the following:
"Should Senate President David Williams accept appointment to the circuit judgeship in his home district, we encourage him to set a strong example for future legislators by retiring from the legislature so he will not be eligible to receive pension reciprocity he has fought to repeal in the Senate."
J.R. Gray. Steve Nunn. Dan Kelly. Charlie Borders. James Comer. Ernesto Scorsone. Fred Nesler. Jon Draud. Greg Stumbo. Clearly, this is a bipartisan problem.
Several legislators have filed bills the last few years to close this "loophole," but none have seriously gotten close to being enacted. It's time for that to change.
Ironically, the first person who could have taken advantage of this pension trick did not do so.
Former state Rep. Joe Barrows took retirement from the legislature rather than boost his pension with the "reciprocity" scheme before going to work in the Executive Branch.
This week, Senate President David Williams will come one big step closer to a judicial appointment that would make all his state pension dreams come true at a cost to taxpayers of nearly one million dollars. Five state House candidates joined together last week and signed onto a statement encouraging Williams to put an end to the pension grab madness.
Chris Hightower, Matt Lockett, Jason Crockett, Bryan Lutz and Lynn Bechler agreed to the following:
"Should Senate President David Williams accept appointment to the circuit judgeship in his home district, we encourage him to set a strong example for future legislators by retiring from the legislature so he will not be eligible to receive pension reciprocity he has fought to repeal in the Senate."
"The honor of appointment or election to
higher office deserves to be without controversy as much as possible and we
believe President Williams' leadership on this issue will be followed by others
until the reciprocity law can be repealed by the legislature."
Williams would do very well to go along with this. Same goes for Senator Tom Jensen, who is also leaving the legislature to become a judge.
Friday, October 05, 2012
Obama wants us staring at our shoes, too
Just got a response from Obama's Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights, to my complaint about the Kentucky Department of Insurance unconstitutionally attacking Christians for attempting to avoid ObamaCare's health insurance mandates.
The OCR rejected my complaint, but helpfully added that another agency may be able to assist and that they had taken the liberty of forwarding my complaint against the Kentucky Department of Insurance onto another agency. So, to whom did the Obama Administration send my civil rights complaint against the Kentucky Department of Insurance for further investigation?
The Kentucky Department of Insurance, of course.
The OCR rejected my complaint, but helpfully added that another agency may be able to assist and that they had taken the liberty of forwarding my complaint against the Kentucky Department of Insurance onto another agency. So, to whom did the Obama Administration send my civil rights complaint against the Kentucky Department of Insurance for further investigation?
The Kentucky Department of Insurance, of course.
Wednesday, October 03, 2012
What part of "prohibited" don't they understand?
Kentucky law prohibits insurance coverage of abortions except as an optional rider on a policy for which an additional premium is charged. Otherwise, the law prohibits coverage of an abortion unless the life of the mother is in jeopardy.
Kentucky's ObamaCare health insurance exchange basic plan, announced yesterday, Anthem PPO plus KCHIP's pediatric vision and dental benefits covers abortions when the life or health of the mother are in jeopardy.
That may not seem like a big difference, but it is undeniably an illegal expansion of abortion coverage in the state by a Department of Insurance that went crazy in August at the mere suggestion they wanted to cover more abortions in Kentucky. Plus, we don't know how they plan to define what constitutes a threat to a mother's health. Could be just about anything, right?
Even if you favor abortion coverage or even abortions, none of us should support state bureaucrats ignoring the law on a whim. Please forward this post as widely as you can.
Kentucky's ObamaCare health insurance exchange basic plan, announced yesterday, Anthem PPO plus KCHIP's pediatric vision and dental benefits covers abortions when the life or health of the mother are in jeopardy.
That may not seem like a big difference, but it is undeniably an illegal expansion of abortion coverage in the state by a Department of Insurance that went crazy in August at the mere suggestion they wanted to cover more abortions in Kentucky. Plus, we don't know how they plan to define what constitutes a threat to a mother's health. Could be just about anything, right?
Even if you favor abortion coverage or even abortions, none of us should support state bureaucrats ignoring the law on a whim. Please forward this post as widely as you can.
Tuesday, October 02, 2012
Kentucky judge shuts Christian MediShare
Franklin County Kentucky Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate just now ordered Christian Care MediShare to stop operating in the state.
In related news, Kentucky's Department of Insurance has announced that Anthem's PPO health plan plus KCHIP's pediatric dental and vision benefits will constitute the basic plan for the ObamaCare health insurance exchange, which will cause premiums to skyrocket.
Now is not the time to be limiting coverage options or larding up plans with more and more mandates, but that's exactly what we are getting.
In related news, Kentucky's Department of Insurance has announced that Anthem's PPO health plan plus KCHIP's pediatric dental and vision benefits will constitute the basic plan for the ObamaCare health insurance exchange, which will cause premiums to skyrocket.
Now is not the time to be limiting coverage options or larding up plans with more and more mandates, but that's exactly what we are getting.