Archive 
Could the Health Care Reform Bill truly be President Obama’s “Waterloo” as Republican Sen. Jim DeMint seems to be predicting? This was in reference to Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo, which put an end to his rule as the French emperor. President Obama deflected this accusation by saying, “This isn’t about me. This isn’t about politics. This is about a health care system that is breaking America’s families, American businesses, and breaking America’s economy.”
However, he is rapidly losing credibility. The number of Americans who disapprove of Obama’s health care plan has risen from 28 percent in April to 43 percent according to the latest Associated Press – GfK poll. Even some of the moderate and conservative Democrats, according to the "NY Times," had reasons for concern. In order to pass this bill by summer recess they would have to barrel over Republican input and concerns, ending any hope that such a major issue could be addressed in a bipartisan manner. Also, some Democrats have expressed openly their reservations about the size, scope and cost of the legislation, the expanded role of the federal government, and the need for a raft of new taxes to pay for it all.
The size of this legislation is a whopping 1,018 pages of what many are calling an “unfunded mandate." This Health Care Reform Bill is over 10 lbs. of literary jargon, placed on the desks of Congress. It would take the average person eight to 12 hours of uninterrupted reading to complete. The pressure has been intense from President Obama and Democrats for a review and passage before congress takes their summer break on August 7.
A summary of Obama’s plan would:
1) Insure more Americans – partly through government subsidies.
2) Provide a government-run option to compete with private insurers.
3) Require employers to contribute to health coverage one way or another.
4) Control Medicaid costs by empowering an executive branch agency to set reimbursement rates for doctors and hospitals, subject to congressional veto.
The scope of this bill is to extend health insurance to the 46 million Americans who lack it, and implement changes that would slow the increase in health care costs. The Congressional Budget Office calculated the cost of the House’s plan to expand insurance coverage at $1.04 trillion over the next 10 years.
It would hit all but the smallest of businesses with a penalty equal to eight percent of payroll if they fail to provide health insurance to workers. In a recent interview with an owner of a small manufacturing company in rural America, there was some shock that President Obama could say the American businesses needed this reform. If the current reform bill were to be enacted, he would have to shut his doors after 52 years in business, because with the economy on the downturn, additional taxes coming from bills such as the “Cap and Trade" looming on the horizon, it doesn’t look promising for the small businessman.
“This bill costs too much, it covers too few and it has way too much government involvement," said Michelle Dimarob, a lobbyist with the NFIB (National Federation of Independent Business). “Small business doesn’t want any of those things."
In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Representative Jered Polis, and 20 other freshmen Democrats, voiced they were “extremely concerned that the proposed method of paying for health care reform will negatively impact small businesses, the backbone of the American economy."
Mr. Polis said these taxes, combined with the scheduled increase in tax rates resulting from the expiration of Bush-era tax cuts, would have a perverse effect. Some successful family-owned businesses would be taxed at higher rates than multinational corporations.
In a smooth response to President Obama’s use of the suffering American people as necessity for speed, a bipartisan group of six Senators, including two members of the Finance Committee, had this common-sense reply to Senate leaders pleading, “While we are committed to providing relief for American families as quickly as possible,” they wrote, “We believe taking additional time to achieve a bipartisan result is critical for legislation that affects 17 percent of our economy and every individual in the United States.”
While it is evident to all that the health care in the U.S. is sick and in need of drastic modification, rushing through legislation some are labeling as “socialistic” in nature, is not the answer or the “change” that we need. The socialistic, universal health care has not worked in countries such as Great Britain or Canada where the atrocious stories of poor medical care are common knowledge. If you were to fall sick with a grave illness here in America you are four times as likely to survive than in the countries now with a universal health care system.
While touted as the “right thing” and a noble gesture to cover all under one gigantic medical umbrella, the reality of such a plan, and the consequences to us as Americans, is anything but compassionate.
Are you ready to place your health care and the health care of your children and grandchildren into the hands of our federal government?
Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., pushed back against attempts to give government more of a role in health care, offering an alternative that would pay patients a stipend each year with which to purchase insurance. He told Fox News, “Americans don’t want more government in health care. I mean, the government is the most impersonal. It’s the most bureaucratic and wasteful aspect of our society. And healthcare is very personal and private.”
All this week Obama continued the pressure by claiming the American people want the overhaul done quickly.
Republican Party Chairman, Michael Steele, simply describes it all as an “excessive push” and strongly encouraged “Take your Time.” He further commented on the CBS’s The Early Show, “It took a year and a half for us to create the Medicare System. Now we’re going to do the entire health system in two weeks or even six weeks. It is urgent and it is indisputable. The problem that I have with it is the rush that is under way here.”
There have been various versions of the healthcare reform bill that have been rejected “because it is not reform."
Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., the ranking member of the budget committee explained it further,
“The two bills that have been voted on so far are the Kennedy bill coming out of the Health Committee, which . . .was a party-line bill because that bill is basically your old-fashioned expand-the-government, let’s-take-over-the-system approach, and the House bill which was even worse. And basically, both of those lead to putting the bureaucracy between you and your doctor, and I believe they lead to delay and rationing in the end.”
He went on to say that one bipartisan measure sponsored by Sen. Ron Wyden and Robert Bennett, “would get where we need to go.” That legislation would cover everybody and bend the out-year cost of health care without going down the road this massive expansion of the government role in health care and the massive increase in costs which are proposed in the two bills that have been voted on, Gregg explained further on Fox News Sunday.
Star Parker, the founder and president of CURE, the Coalition on Urban Renewal & Education, author and spokesperson for mainstream American conservative causes, had an interesting take on it in one of her townhall.com columns. . .
“Rather than moving dysfunctional America off the welfare state as we did with welfare reform in 1996, we are now moving the free, functioning, and once prosperous part of our nation onto the welfare state.” Reiterating this, The Lewin Group estimates that as many as 120 million Americans may be driven into the government plan.
President Obama is defending his bill with a relentless, somewhat infomercial-style campaign, pressuring Congress and trying to gain support of the American people using phrases such as,
“The default in Washington is inaction and inertia;"
“Let’s fight our way through the politics of the moment;"
“The last few miles of a race are the hardest to run, but I have to say, now is not the time to slow down, and now is certainly not the time to lose heart;"
“We’re going to be putting in a lot more hours;"
“There are going to be a lot more sleepless nights;"
“Time and again, we’ve heard excuses to delay and defeat reform,” Obama said. “Time and again, the American people have suffered because people in Washington played the politics of the moment instead of putting the interests of the American people first. That’s how we ended up with premiums rising three times faster than wages. That’s how we ended up with businesses choosing between shedding benefits and shutting their doors. That’s how we’ve been burdened with runaway costs and huge gaps in coverage. That’s the status quo.”
He stepped it up a notch in his us-against-them rhetoric, saying the American people need it and must overcome resistance from opponents in Washington, whom he described as naysayers and skeptics. “Reform may be coming too soon for some in Washington,” and then, “Sometimes, delay in Washington occurs because people don’t want to do anything that they think might be controversial.”
Then reaching his most frustrated yet . . . “All those folks who are out there saying, ‘We can’t afford this, this is socialism, this will lead to government-run health care,’ all of the folks who are getting ginned up on talk radio, and some of these cable news shows, you know, I have to say, they have an effect on members of Congress.”
Well, Thank God! I am glad to see that “All those folks” still have some voice and influence in our government policies. Did he ever stop to think that “All those folks” are also those “Americans” he so liberally uses in his sales speeches? Could it be possible that the members of Congress may be, in fact, listening, using their common sense, and NOT being shamed or pressured by the political panic? All the massive BILLS seem to be more about “change” for the sake of reputation and accomplishment, than true “improvement, restructuring or transformation” also known as “reform." We need reform, but not at an astronomical cost. Since when does speed matter more than content? We must continue to lobby our Congressmen and women, reminding them that “All those folks," are the ones who will decide their political futures. Make it a point to be heard. There are so many bills out there being treated in this same, rush-to-pass fashion, so we must be diligent to stop the madness that could trample our freedoms and eradicate our financial futures.
As an update, key house Democrats agreed to steps designed to cut the growth of Medicare, one of the many barriers blocking an early vote. The agreement granted that the The Institute of Medicine would complete a study recommending changes in the current fee structure by September 2011. The administration would then have 45 days to submit the report to Congress, and it would go into effect unless Congress blocked it by the end of February 2012.
This was done as a drive to counter the impression that President Barack Obama’s health care legislation is in deep trouble.
"This is just one piece of the puzzle, but we think it's an important piece," said Rep. Xavier Becerra, a Californian who played a key role in the discussions.
Maybe the puzzle metaphor is appropriate when dealing with such a complex issue, eh, Congress? Health care reform definitely has thousands of intricate pieces and unless placed perfectly, the whole puzzle is kaput. Please, take your time in putting this health care reform puzzle together because it is a puzzle we will all have to look at and live with for a very, very long time.
