Dr. Schaaf Proposes Balanced Budget
Dr. Rob Schaaf was the only member of the House Budget Committee to offer a balanced budget proposal during deliberations this week. He offered amendments trimming just under $200 million, the amount of the imbalance, but each one was voted down by a voice vote of the committee.
Read More | Email Page | Print PageRob Schaaf Files for State Senate
Read More | Email Page | Print PageState Representative Rob Schaaf filed to run for 34th District State Senate on Tuesday, February 23. The 34th District includes Platte and Buchanan Counties. Dr. Schaaf announced that the focus of his campaign would be to “develop the economy without creating new taxes, return to smaller, more efficient government and protect health care through market based, patient choice legislation”.
Rep. Rob Schaaf raises over $83,000 for his Senate Campaign
State Senate candidate State Representative Rob Schaaf announced Thursday that to date, his campaign has raised over $83,000 from over 260 contributors in his bid to be the next Senator from the 34th district. The significant number of more individual donors than his opponent shows there is excitement growing for Rep. Schaaf’s candidacy. For the third quarter, the campaigns fundraising efforts were boosted by an additional $34,100 in donations.
“I am honored by the number of people who have contributed to my campaign,” Rep. Schaaf said. “I am truly grateful to all those who have donated their hard earned resources and rallied around the conservative values I believe in.”.....
Read More | Email Page | Print PageMO Wasting Millions of Dollars in Overpaying Medicaid to Hospitals
The Associated Press article which came out on Labor Day begins “Hospitals have received hundreds of millions of extra Medicaid dollars over the past few years as a result of a quiet deal intended to soften the blow of Missouri’s 2005 Medicaid cuts.” Should you be outraged? Yes, you should. That “quiet deal” resulted in hospitals being overpaid YOUR TAX DOLLARS!.....
Read More | Email Page | Print Page | Comments (5)MO Patients' Rights Initiative
UPDATE: You can see the video from my speech on the Patients' Rights Initiative above.
If you like your health care providers, you should be able to keep them. That is the simple truth behind the recent announcement by Missourians United for Choice in Healthcare (MUCH). They will collect signatures to put the Patients’ Rights Initiative on the ballot next year. It would be a constitutional amendment that would give you the ability to keep the health care providers you like.
When you change insurance plans, either because your employer chooses a different plan or because you change jobs to an employer that offers a different plan, your doctor / hospital / care center may not be allowed to see patients under the new plan. Then you have to find a new provider. But under the Patients’ Rights Initiative, if your doctor is qualified and willing to accept the usual insurance payment, you would not have to change.
Similar laws are in place in 23 other states now, and healthcare prices are not higher in them. In particular, Arkansas, the most recent to pass such a law, has not seen such a rise, and some say competition has been enhanced there.....
Read More | Email Page | Print Page"Cash for Clunkers" Program Doesn't Make Sense
My partner in medical practice, Dr. Jim Conant and I, have a saying: “Fair is fair”. Whenever we discuss business things, we both know what fair is, and we get along well because we both only want what is fair, and we treat each other with fairness. As a legislator, I try to keep the same concept in mind. Legislation ought to be fair.
The recent “Cash for Clunkers” Program violates my fairness doctrine. All it does is redistribute wealth, something government should never do. For some reason, many people think that taking money from rich people and giving it to poor people is what government should be doing. But what is fair about that?
From time to time, Congress decides that a certain behavior is either good or bad, and they decide that it is their duty to encourage good behavior and stop bad behavior. So they pass laws that include incentives to encourage behavior they want and incentives to discourage behavior they don’t want. But you have to ask yourself—is this what Congress ought to be doing? Should Congress be deciding which behaviors are good and which are bad?
Let’s assume for a minute that it is the place of Congress to decide what you should or shouldn’t be doing. Then how should Congress go about putting incentives in place to get you to start doing good things and stop doing bad things? I would say that incentives should always reward good behavior, punish bad behavior, and be fair. What do you think?
Now consider the “Cash for Clunkers” Program. Congress has said......
Read More | Email Page | Print PageUnion Mill Road Closed
We've received word from the Platte County Department of Public Works indicating they have partnered with the Missouri Department of Conservation in a project to raise the elevation of Union Mill Road, the most frequently flooded road in the county. The Union Mill Road closing was scheduled to begin Monday, July 20, 2009, and the road will remain closed to traffic until the construction project is completed in September 2009.
If you have any questions, please contact the Platte County Department of Public Works at (816) 858-2223.
Read More | Email Page | Print PageObama Health Care Plan Would Cause Insurance Premiums to Skyrocket
The Obama health care plan will raise your insurance premiums a lot! You can verify what I write about the plan here: http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/issues/HealthCareFullPlan.pdf.
Speaking for your pocketbook, the scariest sentence in the plan is that it “will require insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions…” That statement sounds wonderful for people with lots of medical problems, but if you already buy insurance now, it means that your insurance company will be forced to take all those people with very high risk medical conditions. Once added to the coverage pool, your premium will have to go up to help pay for their medical care.
The plan says “Insurers would have to issue every applicant a policy and charge fair and stable premiums that will not depend upon health status.” As it is now, your insurer does not have to issue everyone a policy. They can turn down high risk cases. And they are allowed to charge according to risk; those with lower risk pay less. While it sounds good to make insurance companies take everyone, keep in mind that if you already pay for insurance, either on your own or through your employer, you will be paying more so that those who have high risk can get insurance.
Missouri already has a program called the “High Risk Pool” Basically, it is for those people who cannot get insurance on the open market. In addition to the premiums it charges members, it is subsidized by a premium tax that insurers pay based upon their revenues. For people who cannot get health insurance otherwise, the premiums are high, but at least coverage is available.
I feel sorry for those who must pay high premiums because of their health status. But at least they have the high risk pool available, and we have Medicare and Medicaid for our disabled citizens. What I am concerned about is the coming wave of increased taxes and costs for which Obama is asking; a jump in health insurance cost will add to it.
Obama has said that taxes must rise in order to pay for everything he wants to do. The death tax elimination and income tax reductions are set to expire next year, and the democrats will certainly not stop it. The proposed “carbon tax” would add cost to literally everything we buy in proportion to the energy used in its production. And the stimulus will have to be paid back eventually, either through taxes or by the worst tax of all, inflation, caused by excessive government borrowing.
Most people would be upset if their tax bill suddenly increased by three or four thousand dollars a year. I suspect that they will be equally upset if their health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs increase by that amount or more under the Obama health plan. But I’m most worried about the dampening effect all this will have on our economy.
Last year in the Missouri House, I helped draft a plan that would have used market based reforms in order to allow competition to bring down insurance costs. More who are now uninsured would have been able to afford insurance. How? First, by requiring providers and insurance companies to estimate the cost of services in advance, consumers would have been able to make better choices. Quality rating scores would also have been required. Second, reform of the certificate of need law would have increased competition among hospitals. And third, the High Risk Pool would have been strengthened to help those who cannot qualify for insurance, the people who really need the help. Unfortunately, our House plan was killed by the hospital industry, a powerful lobby group. Hospitals desperately want to maintain their ability to operate without hammer of competition that would force them to lower costs. They lobbied against the bill and killed it.
Opening the health care market to competition and getting government out of the way would result in better, less expensive care. Unfortunately, today’s political balance won’t allow that—instead, those who think that government is the answer to all our problems will stand in the way, and will likely force government health care down our throats. But as Ronald Reagan said, government is not the answer to our problems; government IS the problem. And under Obama, I’m afraid our problems are just starting.
Read More | Email Page | Print PageWelcome To The New Senate Campaign Site
Today is the official launch of this new site, SchaafForSenate.com. This website & blog will be the central hub of info for my Missouri Senate campaign, so you might want to add the site to your favorites list or favorite RSS reader. Here's a copy of the release that was sent to the press:
Video: Dr. Schaaf's Work This Session