Obama was on the bully pulpit again yesterday attacking his predecessor for poor fiscal management and telling us that he is saving the US and the world. He had nothing but praise for the senate in their fleecing of America state by state with bribes for socialized health-care for all. His words are almost laughable if he were not the president of the US.
He also was promoting his SAVE program and the award of the first winner. Below is the text from the portion of his self congratulatory talk on health care yesterday related to the program. Note they had 38,000 ideas submitted from Government employees and they voted on them and narrowed it down to 4 and finally this one great idea.
DRUM ROLL PLEASE:
The winning idea:
Nancy Fichtner from Colorado thinks that veterans leaving VA hospitals should be able to take the medicine they've been using home with them instead of it being thrown away when they're discharged.
As is the case in most hospitals all across the country, medicine that is used in the hospital is not given to patients to be brought home; instead, it is thrown out. "Currently the inpatient medications such as ointments, inhalers, eye drops, and other bulk items are being disposed of upon patient discharge." Nancy proposes ending this waste and finding a way to allow this medicine to be used by those who need it.
Agency: Department of Veterans Affairs
What a genius idea, I am sure glad this was voted on among 38,000 ideas and deemed the best and that the President of the United States was able to give the award. Glad we were able to fly her and her family across the country for the presentation. This was an award that shows the lack of empowerment in our federal government. This idea should never have had to go beyond the shift supervisor on the floor of the hospital but instead had to be submitted, reviewed at probably every level of the VA then voted on and then given an award at the white house. And these are the people who have come up with the idea to save our entire health care system. Should make you feel better after you read the transcript or perhaps even watch the whole video of his praise for the fleecing of the taxpayers by the the Senate.
Entire transcript in case you can't get enough:
Time Transcript of speach
Link to White House Video
Otherwise here is the portion related to this earth shattering idea:
" Now, embracing this kind of responsibility in Washington is what also brings us here today. I am pleased to be joined this morning by my Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Ric Shinseki; my budget director, Peter Orszag; and our special guest, last but not least, the winner of the first annual SAVE Award -- and that's Nancy Fichtner of Loma, Colorado.
Having met with Nancy a few minutes ago, I can tell you Nancy means business. She is a single working mom; she's a clerk with the VA; she's an artist; she's an outdoorswoman; and she is an avid hunter. In fact, somewhere in the western United States, there is an elk that is breathing a sigh of relief because Nancy is here instead of where she would have been: hunting with her kids. (Laughter.) And I believe her children are here -- where's Nancy's kids? There they are right there. It's great to see you guys. Nancy's daughter -- she skins and guts her elk, so don't mess with her either. (Laughter.)
We're all here for a simple reason. At a time when we face not only a fiscal crisis, but also a host of difficult challenges as a nation, business as usual in Washington just won't cut it. We need a government that's more efficient, that's more effective, and far more fiscally responsible.
When my administration walked through the door, the country faced a growing economic downturn as well as a deepening fiscal hole. Washington had passed massive tax cuts for the wealthy and an expensive new entitlement program without paying for any of it. Health care costs continued to rise, year after year. And little effort was made to cut wasteful spending. As a result, over the previous eight years, the national debt doubled -- doubled. In January, the deficit stood at $1.3 trillion. And we had to make the difficult decision to add to the deficit in the short term to prevent the potential collapse of our economy."
..........
"Finally, I've issued a challenge to every man and woman who works for the federal government: If you see a way that government could do its job better, or do the same job for less money, I want to know about it. That's why we started the SAVE Award, to draw on those who know government best to improve how government works. We asked federal employees to submit reform proposals based on their experiences. And in a testament to the seriousness with which these folks are taking their jobs, we received more than 38,000 proposals in just three weeks.
From these submissions, four finalists were selected and put to an online vote. Nancy is here because she won. Her idea stems from her experience at the VA Medical Center where she works. She noticed that whenever patients left the hospital, leftover medications like eye drops or inhalers were just thrown away. And often, veterans would have to go right back to the pharmacy to refill what was discarded. So the VA is paying twice -- it's waste, plain and simple. And thanks to Nancy -- and to Secretary Shinseki and the folks at Veterans Affairs -- we're putting a stop to it. The change is already underway.
Of course, Nancy's proposal was just one of many great ideas that came to us. We've already begun to implement a host of suggestions made through the SAVE contest. And while promoting electronic paystubs or scheduling Social Security appointments online or re-purposing unused government supplies may not be the most glamorous reforms in history, when taken together, these small changes can add up; they add up to a transformation of how government works.
And that's why we're going to turn the SAVE Award into an annual event. That's why we're holding a forum at the White House next month to seek more ideas from the private sector, specifically about how we can better use technology to reform our government for the 21st century.
After years of irresponsibility, we are once again taking responsibility for every dollar we spend, the same way families do. It's true that what I've described today will not be enough to get us out of our fiscal mess by itself. We face a deficit that will take some tough decisions in the next year's budget and in years to come to get under control. But these changes will save the American people billions of dollars. And they'll help to put in place a government that's more efficient and effective, that wastes less money on no-bid contracts, that's cutting bureaucracy and harnessing technology, that's more fiscally responsible, and that better serve the American taxpayer. That's the government we need. That's the government I intend to implement. That's the kind of government that the American people deserve. And that's the kind of government that people like Nancy are helping to build each and every day.
So, Nancy, congratulations. We're proud of you. Thank you so much. Thank you. We're very proud of your mom. (Laughter.) That's great."
Now don't you feel better about our federal government getting spending under control.
No comments:
Post a Comment