Boy, do I feel sorry for smokers these days.

Tom Patterson: A California physician tells of a patient who came in for a checkup. She appeared to be in good health, so he ordered a few routine tests from a page of laboratory procedures. The patient had other ideas. She demanded that every test on the menu be performed.

I read with interest Jon Beydler's commentary (Sept. 24) about how well Obamacare is going to work for him. Beydler talked about how his health care costs would go down and the level of care would increase. But the selfish Republicans were trying to stop it and we should take the money out of their hands and put it into ours -- typical liberal thinking.

For the past several years I had been denied access to the same health care coverage benefits as my wife and children due to a pre-existing condition.

This is hard to believe, but Obamacare is already turning out to be much worse than originally thought. The lies they used to sell this perverse transformation of our economy are collapsing right and left.

I see that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has decided to reject the Medicaid expansion in Wisconsin because it is too expensive. The next part of Gov. Walker’s plan is for Wisconsin to tighten eligibility for Medicaid, lift a cap on childless adults and — get this — force people to buy insurance through a government-run marketplace known as an exchange. That’s wonderful, Scott. By the way, I couldn’t help noticing that your program is the same as Obamacare, so I’m not sure what the advantage would be. Maybe we could call it “Walkercare” instead of “Obamacare” and that would make Gov Walker feel better.

I find the opposition to Obamacare a gross, contradictory, and hypocritical position held by certain elected officials who represent the citizens of this great country.

Just days after giving governors more time to declare whether states would commit to running online marketplace for subsidized health coverage, the Obama administration released hundreds of pages of proposed rules on required benefits and other aspects of implementing the federal health law.

Gov. Jan Brewer is being pulled one way by major business groups and another by fellow conservatives as she faces a fast-approaching deadline to decide whether to implement a key part of the federal health care law.

WASHINGTON — For critical Senate races, Republicans are turning to the playbook that served them so well in the 2010 elections. They're saturating the airwaves with political ads detailing the perils of "Obamacare" and the nation's growing debt.

WASHINGTON — Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, who promised early in his campaign to repeal President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, says he would keep several important parts of the overhaul.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Don't look now: The feds may be gaining on GOP governors who've balked at carrying out a key part of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law.

Legalization of something does not necessarily make it a good idea. It was once legal to own a slave. Democrats who voted against abolishing slavery in 1864, have been doing their part ever since to enslave Americans to one social program or another. Obamacare is just the latest example.

Legalization of something does not necessarily make it a good idea. It was once legal to own a slave. Democrats who voted against abolishing slavery in 1864, have been doing their part ever since to enslave Americans to one social program or another. Obamacare is just the latest example.

WASHINGTON — If the Supreme Court strikes down President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, don’t look to government for what comes next.

John Blundell, the English writer and biographer of Margaret Thatcher, was asked what advice the Iron Lady would have had for today’s presidential candidates. She would have been concerned with mounting debt, he said, but her first priority would have been to avoid, at all costs, a government takeover of health care. She knew that once you have a government-run system, you can never get rid of it, no matter how ruinous it is.

John Blundell, the English writer and biographer of Margaret Thatcher, was asked what advice the Iron Lady would have had for today’s presidential candidates. She would have been concerned with mounting debt, he said, but her first priority would have been to avoid, at all costs, a government takeover of health care. She knew that once you have a government-run system, you can never get rid of it, no matter how ruinous it is.

This week marks the second anniversary for Obamacare (PPACA)! Studies just published say it will cost more than DOUBLE of what originally thought. 67 percent of Americans don’t like the Health Care Bill. The midterm 2010 election results, with the democrats losing 63 seats in a House election, were based on a citizen uprising, a true revolt against Obamacare and the huge national debt. Voters know that if Obama is reelected, Obamacare is here to stay! I grew up in Canada where my Father was a heart surgeon.

As we mark the second anniversary of President Obama’s new healthcare law, there’s not much to celebrate. Obamacare has already inflicted heavy consequences on the economy, doctors, patients, businesses, and taxpayers — and there’s much more to come. It has yet to even take full effect.

Tom Patterson

Susan Stamper Brown, guest commentary