Posted on 09/29/2009 7:11:41 PM PDT by St. Louis Conservative
Someday this country will have a health-care debate that's not abject in its idiocy.
It will involve a term used by Congressional Budge Office chief Doug Elmendorf, who has become a notoriety for harping on the word "incentives." The same word was used the other day by Warren Buffett, about what's missing from the health-care plan on Capitol Hill.
We actually prefer the formulation of Duke University's Clark Havighurst, who speaks of restoring the "price tags" to health care.
Now that's a concept that the public could actually make sense of.
President Barack Obama made a "public option" his centerpiece not because it's the answer to what's broken in the U.S. system, but because it's a halfway house to a single-payer setup that liberal Democrats have always wanted. Team Obama also knew the public is concerned about rising costs, so they jammed together a hooey-filled argument that the public option was somehow the solution to rising costs.
The public is not as dumb as it's made out to be, and Mr. Obama's public option died a bipartisan death yesterday in the Senate Finance Committee. What's left is a package of "reforms" that are mere trite extensions of what we've been doing for decades. That is, piling up mandates on private insurers and then lying that this somehow isn't driving up the cost of health insurance; piling up subsidies for health consumption and then lying that this somehow isn't responsible for runaway health-care spending.
Yes, the politics are difficult when it comes to restoring price tags. Voters would have to understand how a tax code that allowed them to choose for themselves how much of their incomes to devote to health care would serve their interests.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Americans, as a general rule, don’t like to be told what to do?
There's a disconnect somewhere because more than half of them voted for the current a-hole in chief.
Yep...nothing to do with helping anyone but just another attempt to control and gain power - Democratic power. Once this is accepted, it becomes only a matter of who controls. The Republicans would be hard pressed to remove another government mandate - heck, just what program has ever been killed once started? None that I can think of...and that is a fundamental problem with government - hello Republicans!
Can we actually get rid of government bureaucracies that do nothing to promote the general welfare? Geez, we could limit government by ridding ourselves of so many agencies that do nothing but suck at the government teat. While they are doing that, they are usually against the Constitution - ie., they are not provided for in the Constitution and could be disbanded immediately! Do I really have to name them...all of you know the answers...
Well, don’t look for the Republicans to do that since that would decrease their power when in office. Just another of those ho-humm examples of the difference between parties - no difference!
Put in place more regs that raise health care costs, to foment a new crisis. Might take a year, 2 years, 5 years or 10... but they wan't to drive it to the point of crisis again so that they can produce a "solution".
This article says that's what went on in '94; just repeating the process.
Doesn’t mean they like being told what to do … they just didn’t listen to the warnings and voted for this POS anyway.
Yet Americans love to have Democrat politicians confiscate stuff from their friends, neighbors, and strangers and hand it over to them in exchange for their votes.
Obama failed because he thought he could shove it down our throats. He managed to do the same thing earlier with his ‘stimulus bill’ He thought he had the momentum.
It is still ongoing, but ZERO made this a political bill, having unions involved and panels, etc. This is not a healthcare bill for all, but the lessers among us. Else, the politicians and unions would want it and be included. It smacks of elitism towards the masses. His group of radicals forgot there is a middle class—and they want better than this. The IRS should not be involved.
I’ve argued for days with a FB friend about ObamaCare. Of course, she is a brainwashed headless heart extreme lib, so nothing sinks in. It’s like talking to a wall. So, that is why I think this is NOT over. Libs just don’t understand logic, and will keep hammering until they ram something through.
If corporations want to provide their employees with health care coverage ... even if it means paying lower salaries ... then in a free market they should be.
And if those companies use some of their profits to lobby congress to get tax breaks on the health benefits they provide, then that is OK too.
And if insurance companies want to offer insurance plans that cover everything including relatively inexpensive maintenance tasks such as regular teeth cleaning, then that should be OK as well.
Just because all of these activities have isolated people from the true cost of health care, and have created an environment where price is not a major consideration for most people, that's no reason to "destroy the free market".
We need to allow insurance companies and all of those middlemen paper-pushing companies to do whatever they can get away with ... or bribe our congressmen to look the other way on.
Then we will truly have a free market in health care! (/sarc)
This might be a little ahead of reality ... but I do believe Obama has botched his opportunity. On paper, this should have been a piece of cake. Completely controlled the executive branch and both houses of Congress including a 60 vote majority in the senate and a lapdog media that never criticized or analyzed any of his ridiculous claims or outlandish examples. Yet all he could do was focus on a few talk-show hosts and one television network he couldn’t control.
Right now he looks incredibly inept with his lack of results under this setup. The August town halls and tea parties shocked him and his minions and they had no answer. Over-exposure and hype have turned even his luke-warm supporters from last fall into opponents today. Hopefully, both Obamahealthcare and Obamacapandtrade are “thrown under the bus”. And with the majorities he had in congress, there is no reasonable excuse. He can blame Republicans but most people know that is lame and dishonest.
It couldn’t happen to a more deserving Muslim Marxist.
I see that as good news, because I don't see them being able to ram anything through.
Our side has hardened, and is really passionate. I hope this issue is still on the burner right up to November 2010.
He “bombed” because his issue is an absolute loser. He’s just too arrogant and stupid to realize it.
I’m always surprised when people are surprised by Obama’s incompetence.
His record as a State senator and US senator reveal a do-nothing. A person who wasn’t willing to go on record as taking on a stand on much of anything.
His current job appears to be his first “real” job where he’s being asked to be accountable, and he is bristling.
LOL - I love your last line there.
Some prolifers won’t buy Obama/Pelosicare, even if they have to go to jail, because it mandates abortion.
Obama/Pelosicare is a back door to FOCA, and that’s what I told my congresscritter and U.S. senators today.
Yes!!! I want this fresh in 2010...
It is still ongoing, but ZERO made this a political bill, having unions involved and panels, etc. This is not a healthcare bill for all, but the lessers among us. Else, the politicians and unions would want it and be included. It smacks of elitism towards the masses.
************************************
If they were really so concerned about people dying from not being able to afford care, they’d open up Medicare or Medicaid to accommodate those who have fallen on hard times. As I understand it, sometimes the state restrictions are very harsh and people fall through the cracks.
The question during every debate should be: If it’s that much of a problem - and people are dying - why not open up Medicare and/or Medicaid immediately to all who can prove real need and stop the madness? Otherwise the debating back and forth only exacerbates the problem, rendering the Democrats just as guilty as everyone they point the finger to.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.