Posted on 12/24/2008 5:06:22 PM PST by reaganaut1
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Pete Stark, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee's health panel, will be an important player as Washington tackles health care next year. But his blunt criticism of opponents and his positions to the left of many other Democrats promise to make the process bumpier.
The California Democrat delivered his latest zinger last week, saying he wouldn't negotiate with insurance companies on a health-care overhaul. "I think their intention is to see the Democrats fail, regardless of what it does for health care in this country," Rep. Stark told reporters. The industry, he said, has "been trying to destroy Medicare for the last eight or 10 years." Other Democrats who are leading the effort to revamp health care, including Sens. Max Baucus and Edward Kennedy, are considering the industry's proposals.
Rep. Stark, 77 years old, has pushed for expanding health-care coverage during his 36 years in Congress representing the east side of the San Francisco Bay area. His longtime vision for revamping health care remains somewhat to the left of President-elect Barack Obama, but in the new Congress, Rep. Stark said, he will wait for Mr. Obama to spell out his priorities, so lawmakers can get to work and "accomplish his goals."
Rep. Stark has shown a willingness to compromise. Last year, he was pushing a plan that would let all Americans who aren't covered by employers' plans buy insurance from a Medicare-like program, but he has since embraced a framework endorsed by Messrs. Obama and Baucus. That blueprint would also keep employer-based insurance, which now covers 160 million people, but the government would set up a national marketplace through which individuals and small businesses could buy coverage, with subsidies based on income.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
This guy is one of the vilest characters in the Congress.
Representative Stark has his logic backwards here - anything that stops the Democrats will actually save health care. As much as I hate insurance companies of all types, I might have to change my opinion a bit here. Too bad the insurance companies don't have a reason to fight for gun rights as well.
I've been brutally cheated by many of the insurance companies I've done business with, in case anyone wonders why I hate them. I have several good, concrete, indisputable reasons.
He has never, ever done one single thing for a sick person, and if he had his way, many who are now sick would die.
"Leader"?
Sick, sick, sick.
The problem with health care is not insurance (demand), but supply. Produce more doctors and nurses, and the problem is solved.
Have you ever seen what medicare gives Doctors under “allowable charges” vs what they ask for?
Why should a person go into debt to make these trivial fees?
The honeymoon, the period of euphoria, with thrills running up millions of legs, will come an end soon after the inauguration and the sitting of the new Congress. It will not soon be noted by the MSM, but the public will quickly get wind of the fact that Zero’s promises are falling by the wayside in big heaps.
As more people go on Medicare those with private insurance will have to subsidize the system even more leading to higher premiums. At some point the private system will collapse and all that will be left is Medicare with no private insurance left to rob.
All that will be left to do is either ration health care, let the quality of service decline, or both. The rationing won’t be overt. It will be a matter of long waiting times that let the sicker among us die before we can get expensive treatment.
Welcome to third world socialism, and anyone who wants to argue that Britain and Canada have workable systems, it should be known that American private insurance and pharma companies subsidize them too. As bad as they are now, they will get worse.
This tells you all you need to know about liberals in general and Starke in particular.
We are so screwed.
“Why should a person go into debt to make these trivial fees?”
People do, and still make a very nice living. In any event, I am in favor of letting the market make the decisions, not government. If the fees are too low, they won’t go into debt to become a doctor. But as it is, these medical schools turn a lot of qualified students away for no reason other than the fact that the Committee that accredits medical schools also limits the number of med students they can accept.
Ifhe kills Medicare advantage, he places himself in danger. Revolution wil be in order.
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