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Republicans Dithering on Health Care

The GOP is being complacent as Obama and Democrats move swiftly on health care.

Republicans are bringing notepads to a gun fight.

With the debate over the future of the nation’s health care system effectively underway, President Obama continues to show deftness in the art of political theater.

This Monday, Obama announced an agreement with unions and health care industry groups in which they pledged to reduce the projected growth of health care costs by $2 trillion over 10 years. The details about how the groups expect to achieve these savings remain a mystery. But the image of Obama flanked by the leaders of influential groups representing insurers, hospitals, doctors and pharmaceutical companies was a show of force. It was a reminder to all of those who disagree with his vision for national health care that should they stand in his way, they will be up against a juggernaut.

Obama and his Democratic allies in Congress are proceeding with a sense of urgency. Liberal activists are mobilizing. The Health Care for America Now coalition is in the midst of a $40 million campaign for national health care it launched last summer. Yet Republicans, already weak in numbers, are responding to the prospect of the most significant expansion of the role of government in the history of the United States with a whimper.

“I agree with President Obama and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who see that the time for reforming America’s health care system is now,” Republican Sen. Mike Enzi said in a talk to the Heritage Foundation on Tuesday.

Enzi has been involved in ongoing discussions about health care legislation as the ranking member of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (which is chaired by Ted Kennedy), and also as a member of the Finance and Budget Committees.

While Republicans and Democrats haven’t yet started negotiations, he said that he was encouraged by early talks.

“Let me be clear: I do want to support a bipartisan health care reform bill,” he said. “I also think it’s possible to get broad bipartisan support behind such a bill.” He suggested that health care legislation could get 80 votes in the Senate.

His comments echoed recent public remarks of other Republicans who are playing a prominent role in the health care debate, Charles Grassley and Orrin Hatch. After meeting Obama for lunch last week, Grassley also floated the possibility of achieving a compromise that would garner 80 votes. And Hatch, speaking at a Kaiser Family Foundation breakfast last Thursday, expressed confidence that ongoing bipartisan talks could yield “meaningful reform” this year.

While some issues lend themselves to bipartisan compromise — such as splitting the difference on tax and spending bills — health care is much more complicated. There are very stark differences between those who look at the problems with our health care system and see a mess caused by excessive government meddling, and those who see a dysfunctional private market that can only be fixed by more government. Democrats are in the latter camp, and given they are the majority, there is no reason to believe that they would want to make meaningful sacrifices on legislation to win passage with 80 votes when they can pass what they want with 60 (or even 50, if they resort to the process of reconciliation).

When I had the opportunity, I asked Enzi to address the obvious philosophical divide.

“I wish you could be in some of the meetings I’ve been in that are far more encouraging than what you’re reading in the papers where people are taking the outside positions so they don’t have to come as quite far to the middle,” Enzi responded.

He continued, “I’m an optimist. I think you have to be to work in this job.”

Yet while Enzi expressed confidence in his ability to strike a deal with Democrats, he was dismissive of the idea that fellow Republicans could agree amongst themselves on an alternative proposal.

“The main reason is that Republicans are very independent people,” he explained. “That’s one of the problems we have with our messaging. We’re so independent and creative that we don’t like to take the same message that somebody used on the floor and repeat it.…We prefer to be independent and have a lot of ideas, so consequently when you try to bring people together for a plan, out of the 40 of us, you’d be lucky to get 20.”

Page: 1 2  

topics:
Health Care, Republicans

About the Author

Philip Klein is The American Spectator’s Washington correspondent. You can follow him on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/Philipaklein

Letter to the Editor View all comments (60) |

Melvin| 5.13.09 @ 7:02AM

That always one thing as of late the Republican leadership has been really good at, "Dithering with themselves."

Melvin| 5.13.09 @ 7:07AM

I apologize for my earlier incoherent post. Not enough caffeine.
There is always one thing that the Republican leadership has been good at. "Dithering with themselves."
Arrrrgggg! I can't seem to get my sarcastic mojo started this morning. Where is David Mathews when I need him?

Bill| 5.13.09 @ 7:20AM

Melvin, Davey has been busy posting on the Fox Nation website so he has not had time to get here yet.
That being said why would we trust government to run something as larg and as important as health care. They have already trashed social security and medicare. These two government run programs are already a multi trillion dollar freight train heading toward the tax payers.
More people to vote out of office.

Pingback| 5.13.09 @ 7:48AM

The American Spectator : Republicans Dithering on Health Care | Recent Health News links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…groups in which they pledged to reduce the projected growth of health care costs by $2 trillion over 10 years. The details about how the groups expect to … More here: The American Spectator : Republicans Dithering on Health Care Blogsphere: Technorati Feedster Bloglines Bookmark: Del.icio.us Spurl Furl Simpy Blink Digg RSS feed for comments on this post    Posted in Health, News  …

Robert Rosencrans| 5.13.09 @ 8:21AM

The whole premise of health care reform is based on the myth that reform is needed. If you have the best health care system in the world, why "reform" it? This isn't about reform, it's about control.

The Republicans will go along because corporate America wants to get the health care costs off their balance sheet and onto the public ledger.

Nothing is worth fighting for anymore in Washington anymore because the city receives elected officials and polishes them into Washintonians, seemingly above the fray of everyday life, and their ears are beyond the voice the average citizen, but not beyond the wallet of the average lobbyist.

Washington has evolved into a culture with it's own systems of accepted pubic corruption. No lie is too big to tell to the public for their own good, and no amount of scandalous conduct or lack of public courage is to large to embrace.

Both parties have fallen into the money pit and enjoy it. It's really that simple.

In the meantime, prepare for the end of healthcare as you know it. All health care will fall to the level of the local DMV. You will wait for months for appointments for simple issues and if you have a serious issue, you're a walking dead man.

I also believe the concepts of Affirmative Action and enforced equality will also find it's way into the system. That means if you're a white male you'll find that you will be waiting longer then others for your government run health care.

Good luck, once this passes, you'll need it. Many of the best physicians won't accept it. Those that do will quickly tire of the never ending complaints about the service and may become automotive service men or women.

Big J| 5.13.09 @ 8:28AM

"Let me be clear: I do want to support a bipartisan health care reform bill," he said. "I also think it's possible to get broad bipartisan support behind such a bill."

Read: The Republicans will cave on yet another issue critical to the survival of our nation.

Excellent post, Rosencrans. This is another ticking time bomb, and the Republicans will just look the other way, allowing it to explode.

The notion that the federal government can run anything better than the private sector is a complete joke. The DMV, Post Office, Medicare and Social Security are all very clear examples of this.

And the march to socialism goes on....

Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 5.13.09 @ 8:36AM

Keep in mind the clean hospitals that we have now. They will soon be a distant memory as the health care system is ghettoized. That's what happens to everything run by the government, with the exception of the military.

Bram| 5.13.09 @ 8:45AM

Bill Hussein O'Stalin - Even the military is not immune to government destruction. Real training happens in deep swamps and isolated deserts out of sight of the political REMFs.

The real military doesn't emerge until we hit the ground somewhere too dangerous for political assholes to follow us.

Unfortunately medical providers can't hide from our political overlords.

jim rice| 5.13.09 @ 9:22AM

surprise, surprise... the Republican party is dicking around doing nothing!

You need to get rid of all these tired old bastards and put some people with fire in their guts on the Hill.

I agree that our health care system needs reform... I can't afford everything that I need right now... and I couldn't have afforded the preventative care when I needed it years ago either.

And yet the saddest thing about this article is just how irrelevant and useless the Republican party has become. I totally support Obama, but the pathetic whining from the do-nothing Republicans is just depressing. Come on, guys! Believe in something and stand up for it!

ucfengr| 5.13.09 @ 9:37AM

I agree that our health care system needs reform... I can't afford everything that I need right now.

What makes you think you will get everything you "need" under a "reformed" health insurance system? Is there a health insurance system in any other country where people get all the health care they "need"?

and I couldn't have afforded the preventative care when I needed it years ago either

What does this mean? When I think of "preventative care", I think of an annual check up; total cost less than $500. What do you think it means?

Pingback| 5.13.09 @ 9:46AM

The American Spectator : Republicans Dithering on Health Care links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…groups in which they pledged to reduce the projected growth of health care costs by $2 trillion over 10 years. The details about how the groups expect to … View post: The American Spectator : Republicans Dithering on Health Care Tagged as: america, american-spectator, congress, facebook, finance, government, health, marriage, military, obama, ostracized-by-obama, republican, republicans,…

melvin polatnick| 5.13.09 @ 10:10AM

The costs of health care will stay high unless workers in the industry are not paid more than 25 dollars an hour. This can be done by fully subsidizing all medical colleges. Without student loans or medical malpractice lawsuits to pay most doctors will be glad to receive 25 dollars an hour.

jim rice| 5.13.09 @ 10:10AM

I'm thinking dental...
Was in a crash 15 years ago and needed several surgeries in addition to what I got to keep it from getting worse, but I couldn't afford it then... I was 18-ish when it mattered and paying for school. I can afford it now, but b/c I couldn't afford it then, I'm looking at multiples of thousands to try and get things fixed, when it would have been much cheaper, in the long run, to do the preventative stuff back then.

logmank| 5.13.09 @ 10:13AM

I realize this comment is decades late, but, was I out of the room when it was decided that universal healthcare is a right?
I guess my copy of the Constitution and Bill of Rights is out of date.

Pingback| 5.13.09 @ 11:04AM

THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR : REPUBLICANS DITHERING ON HEALTH CARE links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…unions as well as illness caring attention groups in that they affianced to revoke a projected expansion of illness caring costs by $2 trillion over 10 years. Original post: The American Spectator : Republicans Dithering upon Health Care Leave a Reply Click here to cancel reply. Username (required) : Email (required) : Web Site : Comment : Categories info Tags advertising archives art article automotive…

Big J| 5.13.09 @ 11:27AM

logmank:

Yes you were, but let me update you on The One's decision (so let it be written, so let it be done):

The Saddleback Church Forum is where health care became a right, according to the Messiah in Chief. McLame said it's a privilege, but no matter. Obama won.

You might recall that deciding whether or not an unborn child had the right (or privilege) to live, was a concept above The One's pay grade.

Personally, I have yet to see one issue that is NOT above his pay grade.

Think First| 5.13.09 @ 11:43AM

These lamo's called Republicans in Washington still haven't grown a spine and are attempting to play ball with people who consider them trash to be tossed on the pile and burned at the earliest opportunity.

They learned nothing from the tea parties.

Some folks keep forgetting there already is a joke of a government run medical program - The VA hospital system. Does anyone remember the trashy hallways, the scummy floors and moldy laundry at it's "best" hospital - Walter Reid?

I have went more than a few times with my brother to appointments he had to get months in advance, redone tests because they got contaminated, mixed up or improperly done and Doctors so overworked and scheduled they lived on caffeine and NoDoz.

Then when funds ran short at the end of the fiscal year, all operations and medications had to wait until stopgap funding was done or the new fiscal year started.

If this is what we're all looking forward to, gear up to go elsewhere to find any kind of health care. Oh and did I mention the only medications you get are those on the approved list by it's governing boards that listen to but ignore Doctors requests because it's all about the funding?

Good luck...

Pingback| 5.13.09 @ 11:44AM

The Obama road to serfdom and the need for nationalized health care (and unrestricted links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…of the victims of government-run health care More articles: Sweden approves gender-based abortions – by Ed Morrissey Stop Al Gore and the eco-taxers By Michelle Malkin Republicans Dithering on Health Care By Philip Klein Will Media Notice Pelosi’s Gaffe ‘Medicare Established in the ’50s’? – By Noel Sheppard Daily Gut: Janeane and Prejean by Greg Gutfeld Hero worship…

dagny taggart | 5.13.09 @ 11:51AM

If they don't make a stand here against government run health care, the Republicans will no longer be relavant to conservatives.

I do have 2 sugesstions for Obama care.
First, they will need to have offshore clinics in Bermuda and the Bahamas and even Canada for the pols and elites. GE can build and supply these clinics.

For the serfs who remain, I recommend Soylent Green care. This way we could combine rationing and recycling at the same time. We could also ensure a stable food supply. Let's try it! Costs less, tastes great!

ucfengr| 5.13.09 @ 11:54AM

Was in a crash 15 years ago and needed several surgeries in addition to what I got to keep it from getting worse, but I couldn't afford it then

So, you needed surgery after an accident? I'm not sure how that would qualify as preventative care. That said, you still haven't explained how you would be more likely to get something that sounds an awful lot like elective surgery under any of the plans proposed.

JP| 5.13.09 @ 12:27PM

Many of the current politcal points are moot. Here are 2 things that should be considered:

1)Eighty percent of people who are insured (the vast majority of citizens) are relatively happy with thier coverage.

2)The Federal goverment is in deep financial straights and cannot even begin to subsidize universal coverage that Obama wants without insisting on drastic healthcare rationing, and significant tax increases.

The end result would be much higher taxes, less coverage, and HC rationing. This is political dynamite. The Democratic leadership in Congress isn't stupid. They are the ones who will first suffer at the polls. Obama does do a mean PR campaign, but in actuality his plan has nothing to offer the country other than higher taxes and scarcity. As Obamacare comes closer into focus, the less political legs it has. Implementing Obamacare would result in a political meltdown circa 1994, or worse.

The President isn't stupid; niether are Reid and Pelosi. Implementing Universal Health Care would be political suicide. The President is attempting to juggle 2 very long sharp steak knives. One is called Energy Taxes; the other Universal Coverage. Both are show stoppers.

The GOP didn't offer a riposte to Hillary Care in 1993-1994. They don't need to come out with "thier own plan" now. The Dems will self-destruct on this.

Socialist dreamers should wake up and notice our federal goverment is beginning to drown under $12 trillion of debt (forecasted to be as high as $15 trillion by 2014). Not even the Chicoms are willing to cover our spending anymore. The 30 year Treasury is now up to 4% and climbing calculate the interest on $1.6 trillion in T-Bills over 30 years). Even if there was a 75% consenus in favor of Obamacare, we could not afford in the least.

On deck are the twin killers Social Security and Medicare.

Big J| 5.13.09 @ 1:29PM

DagneyT (maybe the same DT from Texas over at mm.com?)

LESS FILLING, costs less, tastes great.

There, fixed it for ya!
;)

logmank| 5.13.09 @ 2:37PM

JP - Affordability is the least of Chairman Zero's worries.
There is NOTHING - NOTHING that is going to stand in the way of his implementation of a single payer health plan 100% controlled by the federal government (read "him").
Look for taxes on health care benefits to the workers of this country and the eimination of the deductibility to the employer to help fund this outrageous boondoggle.

2 Guns, AZ| 5.13.09 @ 4:10PM

Barry was talking about "health care reform" today and said he was doing it because of the 30-40 million who don't have insurance (as if not having insurnce equals no health care).

The 40 million number is bogus, take out the 15 million illegals, the 18-35 year olds who opt out of insurance because they feel they really don't need it, those who make over 70K and don't buy insurance, and you end up with 3 million who don't qualify for medicare, medicaid or schip.

So, we are going to reform health care for 310 million because 3 million can't get insurance?

And this from a gov that is bankrupt now, who runs SS, which will be bankrupt in 20 years and who will run Fysler motors and Gm into the ground in 10 years.

Just freakin' brilliant.

Scott A Joseph, MD| 5.13.09 @ 4:16PM

Simple ways to fix the health care mess:

1) allow Medical savings accounts to be saved from year to year.
2) Loser pays tort reform.
3)Tort immunity for MDs following specified protocols.
4)Eliminate pre-existing condition clauses.
5) Allow self-insured to claim insurance costs as untaxed income (if it's a right, why are we taxing people to make it less accessable?). Allow people insured through work to do the same for their families and themselves, if necessary. We don't tax milk in most places, why should we tax another staple?
6) Stop paying for illegal alien care, except for immunizations.
7) Pay the university med schools for indigent care. The patients, in turn, must agree to be seen by residents and med students.

That's all. None of these proposals require a huge bureaucracy to deliver. All would be easy to implement, except the illegal alien one.

somnolence| 5.13.09 @ 4:52PM

If this culmination of a Winston Smith nightmare develops into its full fruition, I'm going to take a cue from Aldous Huxley: either morphia from the street or starvation, or incoherence from shock . That is my death watch scenario for the future. It's not the way I planned it, but then again, I refuse to let Big Brother or a cloned Kevorkian implement my demise.

Trackback| 5.13.09 @ 6:30PM

The American Spectator : Republicans Dithering on ..., on health, links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

Bookmarked your post over at Blog Bookmarker.com!

Old Texican| 5.13.09 @ 7:16PM

Doctor Joseph
There you go again...writing good sense. (painful smile).
May I try to say this in a PC way?
"If you grab them by their sexual appendages...THEIR HEARTS AND MINDS WILL FOLLOW!"
Please people! This healthcare bs is all about controlling your lives...and your votes...and your deaths.
Submit to WHATEVER government whoopee or die. It is truly no more complicated than that.

Rush Limbaugh singlehandedly defeated Hilary care by reminding us of these realities. I am afraid this time, the murderers have the votes in our so-called Congress.
"Obey or die" is Obama's healthcare plan.

kaydee| 5.13.09 @ 7:42PM

HELP! Get government out of our hair! This can't happen. It's a lie, like all the rest. Yes, all about control and no substance. What does the government know about healthcare? Just look at how they've run Medicare and Medicaid into the ground, not to mention Social (In)Security. Who says healthcare needs reforming? Just another mantra that if repeated enough times, we just might believe it. Not I.

TJK| 5.13.09 @ 9:30PM

Dr. Joseph, you're making incredibly coherent arguments. The press loves to find doctors who somehow think a single-payer system is the way to go. There is one other idea I have heard from a friend of mine. Cap insurer's insurers liability at $250,000, and all claims above that are covered by reinsurance carriers. This will drastically the premiums of health insurance, getting many more folks on the insurance rolls. And reinsurance carriers already have the reserves and the expertise to handle the claims above $250k. No one then has to ration health care. And this becomes a far more sustainable proposition while keeping the government out. It amazes me how the simplest solutions often elude us. What scares the crap out of me is the lawmakers are talking about limiting, or entirely eliminating, the tax-free status of employer-based benefits. You think not enough employers are offering insurance now? Just wait! This is one of the dumbest ideas ever to come out of Washington. I only hope the business community rises up en masse to block this proposal. I don't care how many people flanked The Annointed One when he delivered his latest Sermon On The 'Prompter. They cannot all speak for the thousands of employers nation-wide. We have to hope for a miracle from Minnesota, otherwise we can all kiss our health good-bye. Why is health care so expensive in the USA? Because it's the best in the world. Statistically, we have the highest cancer-survival rate of any industrialized nation (including the ones with socialized medicine), the highest percentage of diabetics who have access to comprehensive care, and the statistics go on and on. If you want the luxury car, you're not going to spend Yugo prices. Mr. President, do not take my freedom of choice away.

TJK| 5.13.09 @ 9:31PM

Yikes, sorry for the poor grammar early on. Cap insurer's liability. This will drastically reduce....
Now I will sit in the penalty box for two minutes and feel shame.

JNH| 5.13.09 @ 9:38PM

The Republicans had a chance to provide good market based reform when they had the White House and Congress. The GOP didn't offer up any alternatives until 2008. The GOP ceded this issue to the Dems a long time ago, by pretending the uninsured didn't exist. No sense crying over spilled milk or dumping on Republicans who also know they lost the health care fight.

kaydee| 5.14.09 @ 11:44AM

There is no argument. Federal government needs to keep its hands off the private lives and medical records of individual citizens. This is not about Democrat vs. Republican, it is about pandering to get votes. And they will screw it up, like everything else. Government- get out of our lives!

SATAN is here.| 5.14.09 @ 11:57AM

Don't worry the RAT infested, and cockroaches are coming, to a Hospital near you.

Social Hospitals is not there to save lives it's there to help you to die, do you get the message.

Politicans are in Business to help themselves, you need a policy to help yourselves.

By the time people in America wake up to the fact they had an Independent Republic, now they speak about a Democracy, has it occured to anyone why People left England 400 years ago, if you are not sure look it up.

People were trying to escape poverty, slavery hardship, how did politicans both Republicans and Democrats have delivered you back in the same hands you were trying to escape from?.

Yea social health care, on a waiting list for 2 years or more, by the time you get treated you are dead.

What America needed was reform of the health service they already have. People who lose health care due to unemployment, should get health care along with their social security.

A perfectly good country destroyed by a bunch of theives. And no one said boo to a goose and turn up on here giving it large.

Spending their lives filling the pockets of a bunch of FRAUDSTERS under the name of the Church.
Most of whom have become millionares while the people they steal from have nothing.

Many people die and leave them whole estates, stolen from children and loved ones. Church and Politics should have nothing in common as they don't. Christ spent his life with the Poor these Fundamentalist Church Pastors spend their times with Politicans to fool the public into voting to give away their country to communism and socialism and Nazism. As long as they are TAX exempt.

They give it large about abortions none would help poor families who can't cope due to the down turn in the economy, have the children it does not matter if they starve to death. Or they are homless on the streets of America. They are full of Socfield Bible most of which is to promote the new world order to see the people putting money in their pockets lose their homes under Socialism and Nazism.

People don't need to worship anyones false God, but remember what Christ said to watch out for.
Christ said I have fore warned you. He even said even the elected will be decieved, why because the false Christ will seem real to many, forgetting what Christ said, these counterfiet Churches are like Counterfiet Money, look real till you investigate the details. That is why people think they are going to be Raptured, though no where in the Bible say a thing about people being Raptured anywhere.

Christ speaks about this PHONY CHRIST, and Christ said if they say he is here there or where ever DO NOT BELIEVE IT, because the sign of his presence will be significant.

It will not be some PHONY guy posing in Israel using tricks to fool the public, in some Temple that is built on the Blood of the Palestinian people.

Anything that has a foundation built on eveil is evil, it does not become good because some one calles it a Temple, it's a Temple for SATAN. And his one world order run and controled by him, to kill more than a half of the human population, and claim it's Christ idea. Christ raised the dead, so he knows the value of life. SATAN knows one thing and that is to deceive, the whole of America believe in these False Churches promoted by Scofield a crooked Jew, who did it for money like Judas. You have to return to the Original Church, and the Gospel of Christ.

None of the nonsense in Israel is real it is a Zionist plot to deceive the entire world, for money and power. And even Judas threw away his 30 bits of Silver, when he realized what he had done, he did not do anything that Christ did not expect him to do. The Israeli lie is close to the truth like the FAKE BANK NOTE, it takes the wise to know what to look for.

Remember the fig tree| 5.14.09 @ 2:05PM

Obama will go down in history as Judas, with his bi-partasan rubbish so he doen not take the blame alone. A man who knew the truth but failed to warn the people.

He speaks of SriLanka, but afraid to speak of the mass murders in Israel, there is no man in his right mind that does not wonder why, and does not wonder why Europe says nothing, and the UK says nothing.

Health Care for Americans, a country on the verge of Bankrupcy, 2017 Social Security is finished, 2037 it's said Medicare is finished.

No pension, no health care for Seniors, no Social Security. People who had private pension the stock market saw to it that it's over for them too.

Open your eyes and look at what you have left in America, what sort of future do you or your children think they will have, either under Republicans, or Democrats. America is no longer a Republic anyway.

No Jobs no money, how do you people expect to live? how do you get from a, to b?. This is in the future, how will people pay their Housing Tax?.

Those who don't think America is finished had better give up the DOPE, and start to think.

My information says you people 60 to 70 % will not be alive. Because a whole Nation with no jobs no money, no housing, no food, can't live.

They speak about a recovery, that is a load of RUBBISH, there will be no recovery. Month after Month Unemployment will continue to rise, and Commercial Properties will be the next scale of the collapse. And the US dollars & the Pound will decline.

People will want to leave America and no one will want them. When your 500'000 house end up being worth 10'000 if that, you will know what Christ meant when he said get out of her my people unless you want to shair in her plauges.

Christ used the fig tree example when you see blossoms on the fig tree you know it's spring.
People had ample time to leave America and thnk they are going to be fine. Things will get so bad that not even Planes will be flying in or out of America.

When they attack Iran, the whole of Europe will grind to Zero, when oil reserves runs out, that is it. If you live in a cold part of America you will freez to death, if you have no fuel you can't leave a cold state to go to a warm state, the people in the warm state will have no air conditioning, so the heat will kill them.

Either way America is about to sign it's own death warrant.

JP| 5.14.09 @ 3:20PM

My point yesterday was that Obama will not be able to borrow the hundreds of billions of dollars annually (probably well over a trillion) to fund shortfalls. Huge new taxes would have to be implemented, and many services and procedures rationed. Every American would see drastic changes in everything from doctor availabilty to the availability of procedures. Like Europe, doctor's pay would be capped (leading to less doctors), patients with terminal illness would die before they could get a simple Catscan, and a mindless bureaucracy would determine who should live and who should die. It will be all about cost-benefit analysis.

No American would tolerate this. Implementing it alone would be a giant nightmare.

Politically, it would be the end of Obama and the Dems in Congress. Yes, they would survive, but the backlash would be severe and quick. The short term damage to our healthcare system would be so bad that any talk of reform would be wasted for a generation.

Obama and Pelosi are directing Obamacare behind closed doors. When the details are released, the GOP must be ready to publicize them loud and clear.

Oldefarte| 5.14.09 @ 3:45PM

Any [repeat ANY] Republican who gets into political bed with these Democrats [no matter what their seniority or power] SHOULD BE DEFEATED at the time of their re-election. Conservatives should ensure that CONSERVATIVE CANDIDATES are run against these current Benedict Arnold Republicans and cooperating with Democrats; supported and ELECTED. This is the only way conservatives can rebuild the RP for future success!!!!!!!!

Richard Baker| 5.14.09 @ 6:25PM

The Republican party will go the way of the Whigs. These clowns are more concerned with their careers and being loved by their enemies. Hopefully, the country can survive this and the Baby Boomers. Only time will tell, now won't it?

Weight Loss Tips | 5.15.09 @ 8:04AM

Obama is trying everything now to come out from recession. But who knows what going in. Hope reduction health care costs by $2 trillion over 10 years, just goes fine.

Jeff| 5.28.09 @ 5:20AM

Well the Democrats and a number of Republicans recognize the need to change America's health care system. When will TAS? Probably never, but no matter, their are only so many angry old white men to block meaningful reform.

Pingback| 5.29.09 @ 12:24AM

The Paragraph » Blog Archive » Public v. Corps in National Health Care Debate links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…to form a “coalition of like-minded centrists opposed to the creation of a public plan, as a counterweight to Democrats pushing for it.” 7 ‘Republicans Dithering on Health Care’ By Philip Klein, The American Spectator, 5.13.09 The major fault line that is emerging between Republicans and Democrats is over the creation of a new government-run plan modeled after Medicare that would…

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blackberry | 5.9.10 @ 3:02AM

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