Posted on 02/24/2010 3:08:40 PM PST by DB9
The President has wrestled control of the health care debate away from Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid by finally introducing his own plan. Unfortunately, the White Houses proposal includes everything we found untenable about the old Senate bill only this one is even more expensive! This is what you might call putting perfume on a pig.
Whats in this new proposal? It has the unpopular (and arguably unconstitutional) individual mandate that forces people and employers to purchase health insurance only this time with much harsher fines on employers who choose not to go along with another expensive government mandate. It has provisions that will make employers think twice before expanding their workforce. It has cuts to Medicare Advantage, a popular program which allows seniors to pay a little more money out of pocket for better coverage. And, of course, it still has sweetheart deals only this time theyve been extended even more.
We dont know what the final long-term cost of this will be because the Congressional Budget Office hasnt had a chance to calculate costs. We do know that the White House recognizes that its proposal will cost tens of billions more over the next ten years than the already-expensive $2.5 trillion Senate bill. The President promised last July that he wont sign a health care bill if it adds even one dime to our deficit over the next decade. But hes now proposing a health care bill with uncertain fiscal repercussions that could lead to endless deficits.
The rising cost of care has driven the entire health care reform debate. So how does the Presidents proposal address this central issue? Price controls. Thats right: Washington, D.C. wants to give a panel of bureaucrats the power to cap insurance premiums and prices. As Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute notes, artificially limiting premium growth allows the government to curtail spending while leaving the dirty work of withholding medical care to private insurers. This leads to rationing. Any economist worth his salt including the White Houses own Larry Summers will tell you that price controls lead to all sorts of negative unintended consequences. Its another step towards government controlled health care and away from the real solution: free market, patient-centered reform.
With a government-growing proposal this bad, its no wonder the President wants bipartisan cover for it in an election year. Thursdays health care summit is already being revealed as little more than a photo-op. The Obama administration still denies the existence of the House Republicans health care plan that offers alternative solutions to health care challenges even though the White House website links right to it.
The Presidents proposal doesnt include pro-free market ideas like allowing people to buy insurance across state lines, giving individual buyers the same tax benefits as those who get insurance through their employers, or instituting real medical liability reform. Despite the kumbaya rhetoric, Democrats are making plans to ram this bill through the Senate using a partisan procedural maneuver that will bypass the normal bipartisan debate process.
In the meantime, the White House will continue to ignore Republican reform ideas and cast the GOP as the party of no. Thats a hard sell considering that Democrats still hold the majority in the House and Senate. The only real gridlock preventing Democrats from doing what they want is the very real threat of America's voice being heard at the ballot box.
The public is clearly opposed to the Democrats health care bills. Americans want to scrap these big-government plans and start over with common-sense, incremental reform. Some on the left have urged Democrats to vote for Obamacare because its a foot in the door for universal health care. They understand whats at stake; so should the rest of us.
The President can perfume this proposal however he wants, but it still doesnt pass the smell test. Washington should listen to Americans now, or Washington will hear us in November.
- Sarah Palin
bttt
Boom!!!!!
Fire for effect, Sarah!
Go girl go!
SET THEIR LOCAL AND DC LINES ON FIRE!
Sen Scott Brown's number is 202-224-4543
Capitol Hill switchboard is 202-224-3121
Lots of local demwit phone numbers on this thread.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2408217/posts
Rename, repackage, rewrite it a tad smaller, and sell another pig in a poke.
Tennessee has joined several other states in trying to pass a Health Care Freedom Act. NO COLAs for granny, retired Military or retired fed employees. BIG NEW fees for Tricare for Life retired over 65 Military's secondary health ins. (DOD bill already passed, delayed but goes into effect 2011)
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/10/military_tricarefees_blocked_100709w/
New Dem mantra: Woof, woof eat dog food granny....ala let them eat cake.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Obama says slight fix will extend Social Security
http://townhall.com/news/us/2010/02/19/obama_says_slight_fix_will_extend_social_security
Health Care Rationing for Seniors Another Problem in New Obama Plan
http://www.lifenews.com/bio3058.html
TRI CARE FOR LIFE This from a google search:
http://economicspolitics.blogspot.com/2009/05/tricare-for-life-is-obama-trying-to.html
This option would help reduce the costs of TFL, as well as costs for Medicare, by introducing minimum out-of pocket requirements for beneficiaries. Under this option, TFL would not cover any of the first $525 of an enrollees cost-sharing liabilities for calendar year 2011 and would limit coverage to 50 percent of the next $4,725 in Medicare cost sharing that the beneficiary incurred. (Because all further cost sharing would be covered by TFL, enrollees could not pay more than $2,888 in cost sharing in that year.)
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/99xx/doc9925/12-18-HealthOptions.pdf
http://www.vawatchdog.org/09/hcva09/hcva110609-1.htm
Bill Would Restrict Veterans Health Care Options 11/06/09
Buyer and McKeon Offer Amendments to Protect Veterans and TRICARE Beneficiaries
Congress plans to block Tricare fee increases
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/10/military_tricarefees_blocked_100709w
By Rick Maze - Staff writer, Oct 7, 2009
Tricare fee increases imposed last week by the Defense Department will be repealed by a provision of the compromise 2010 defense authorization bill unveiled Wednesday by House and Senate negotiators.
Snip
The fee increases were announced on Sept. 30 and took effect on Oct. 1, but the defense bill, HR 2647, includes a provision barring any fee increases until the start of fiscal 2011.
Snip
Retired Army Maj. Gen. Bill Matz, president of the National Association for Uniformed Services, said the announcement of fee increases was shocking considering that the Obama administration promised earlier this year to hold off on any new fee Tricare fee increases until fiscal 2011.
President Obama and DoD assured NAUS and the entire military family earlier this year that there would rightly be no increases in any Tricare fees in fiscal 2010, Matz said. We took them at their word, and I cant believe that a co-pay increase like this was allowed to go forward, he added.
Bambi doesn't keep his promises...so buyer beware.
Yep! It’s the new and improved cr@p sandwich now with more ketchup! *sarcasm*
This health “care” bill is just Obama’s attempt to show what they already proved on Mythbusters. You really *can* polish a turd.
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