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Political Hay
White House Hatchet Jobs
The Obama administration goes after the insurance industry.
The Obama White House hesitated not at all in labeling the AHIP study “an insurance industry hatchet job.” The study in question was one conducted by a policy group that is funded by the industry.
The study said that premiums on the average family would go up $4,000 if the Baucus bill — which cleared the Senate Finance Committee recently on an almost straight-line party vote — is enacted into law. The White House’s quick and dismissive response said that of course the industry will howl — their ox is being gored.
The lightning-fast reaction of the White House to the sound of oxen being gored is interesting in a number of ways. Who else would know better what the likely costs of an insurance scheme would be than the insurance industry?
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) helped the Obama administration’s case greatly by saying that the Baucus bill would actually save taxpayers $81 billion. But CBO was scoring not a bill, but a “concept.”
I’d like to try that gambit next time I buy a new car. I want to know the likely cost of a concept of comfortable, affordable, safe and portable transportation — as opposed to all those pesky line items charges for things like brakes, automatic steering, and catalytic converters. Those nasty details always seem to jack up the bottom line. The devil, as they say, is in the details.
Another reason the White House “hatchet job” comments were interesting is that they come just days after President Obama hit all five major networks’ Sunday talk shows with a sermon about “civility.” But here, when the first opportunity arises to choose civility, all the President’s men — and most of his women, too — come out with hammer and tongs.
So, Americans should all understand, if you want to keep your current insurance policies — the ones that 85% of you say you’re satisfied with — you are assured by this White House that those policies written by those hatchet-wielding policy writers are completely secure.
About your doctors: President Obama has said that pediatricians too often take their scalpels to your kids’ tonsils. They do this unnecessary surgery, he claimed, because “there’s gold in them thar tonsils.” The pediatricians protested most vigorously against this misconstruction of their practice. They do not routinely propose to take out junior’s tonsils, they said, and besides, if they do recommend tonsillectomy, pediatricians are not the ones who would do it.
Do you get the impression that every time President Obama talks specifics he gets in rhetorical trouble? Better to keep the focus of his rhetoric on the clouds of hope and change. Somewhere over the rainbow — that’s the kind of talk at which he excels.
Then there are those sawbones surgeons. The President complains that they will charge thousands for amputating the feet of suffering diabetics. Once again, he thinks they’re in it for the money. In this, he must have read the wisecrack of Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw. Shaw said he would never trust a doctor who stands to make a “quid” with the decision of whether his leg needed to come off. Shaw, of course, was also a famous socialist.
Once again, the doctors in question, the doctors who had been accused of cutting for profit, issued an anguished protest. It is not true, they said, that they are eager to amputate, and besides, the fee for such an amputation is generally a fraction of the figure the President cited.
We need to pay close attention to everything this President says about American medical practice. You can keep your chiseling, hatchet-wielding insurers if you insist. You can still go to those scalpel-slashing, sawbones physicians if you must. And we all need to be more civil.
If this is the way he speaks about those with whom he disagrees now, how will he treat them when they all work for him?
About the Author
Ken Blackwell, the former mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio is Vice Chairman of the Republican National Committee’s Platform Committee. He also serves on the boards of the Club For Growth and the National Taxpayers Union.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (64) | Leave a comment
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Robert Lewis| 10.16.09 @ 6:36AM
This figure of 85% satisfaction is a figment of active imagination. Most people are dissatisfied with current insurers.
http://blog.healthcareforameri.....ightmares/
Another Antirevolutionary| 10.16.09 @ 8:09AM
Pretty sure that 85% is for satisfaction with their health care, not with the actual insurance company or the cost of the care. It's human nature to want something for free, or at least paid for out of someone else's pocket, until you discover that the cost to all is actually way more than just paying, by the time everyone in line gets their cut.
When will the discussion start to focus on the real reasons for the problems: tort, lack of responsibility, disincentives for innovation, the federal Oligarchy, and the "Fundamental Transformation" of US by world wide redistribution of our assets to provide social, racial and climate "justice"
Makes me long for the days where politicians just stole our money while shaking our hands
Viva AntiRevolution
"When people fear the goverenment, it is tyranny,
When the government fears the people, it is liberty"
Big Leo| 10.16.09 @ 1:42PM
My large extended family has not one person who is unhappy with their insurance with the exception of one person who is unhappy about everything. I hear all the horror stories about insurance, but nobody in my family or personal acquaintance, which is huge, has ever experienced any of them. I think the figure is accurate. If you don't like your insurance now, wait until the bureaucrats get at it.
alyeska| 10.16.09 @ 2:41PM
well, as long as you and yours are taken care of screw everyone else. it's probably their own fault anyway.
some day you're supposed to stand before your god and account for yourself and you can say "i, by god, did not allow anyone to get anything for nothing."
i'm sure your jesus will be very pleased with you.
health care for all is a moral issue!
LLalee| 10.16.09 @ 4:54PM
I've read the words of Jesus he didn't say anything about government paying for your healthcare. Peter did however say 1Pe 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
alyeska| 10.16.09 @ 5:06PM
"as you do to the least among you, you do unto me."
victor| 10.18.09 @ 11:10PM
Do you even know what that verse means, much less know where it is found?
Besides, I thought you librals didn't beleive in "judging" others, eh?
You libbers throw this verse around like potato chips, but you couldn't, if your life depended on it, tell me what it means or get it right.
I'll save you the trouble.
Matthew 25:45
"Then shall he answer them saying Verily I say unto you Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these ye did it not to me"
That is, if you don't give to the poor, minister to the sick and clothe the unclothed, you do not do it for Christ.
And notice, He said "YOU", not the Government or any other agency of the State.
Matthew 19:21
"Jesus said unto him If thou wilt be perfect go and sell that thou hast and give to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven and come and follow me"
Jesus commands YOU to sell what you have and give to others, NOT THE STATE!
Do you know that there are Christian Helath Plans?
No involvement with the STATE?
Of course you have to be a Christian and live by God's laws, no smoking, no drinking and of course, no lying. You wouldn't be able to join in your present condition.
PS next time you're judging someone, you need to judge righteouly.
Eric Cartman | 10.16.09 @ 10:41PM
That's right, alyesa, or e.e. cummings, or whoever you are, YOUR health care is YOUR problem! My health care and my kids health care is MY problem! That's how the world works. Take care of your own shit, please! You want to pay for some other person's health care, go ahead! You could help your friends can't you? My wife volunteers at a clinic a couple days a month - what do YOU do besides stick your hand out for freebies?!
victor | 10.18.09 @ 10:53PM
Jesus never considered empowering the state to do charitable works.
Read the Gospels sometime, it will do you a world of good.
Dagny Taggert| 10.16.09 @ 11:42PM
Healthcare is a right? Says who, you p.o.s.?
Alan Brooks| 10.18.09 @ 1:15AM
Who has dominated the post-Cold War health care dialogue? the GOP.
12 years wasted with two slippery Bushes.
now it is all sound and fury.
Alan Brooks| 10.18.09 @ 1:17AM
again, give us a Reagan--
i.e.
put up or shut up.
tailgunner| 10.20.09 @ 12:11AM
You mean the same Bush who for eight years tried to reform Social Security while Democrats fought him every inch of the way?
We know what works and what doesn't in health care reform. But Obama doesn't care what 'works'. Obama doesn't even care about 'health care'.
All Obama and Democrats want is to have 200 million Americans by the balls. He wants to watch them crawl to him and plead for medical care for their children, their grandparents and themselves.
And, since Obamacare will be the only game in town, he can deny, ration, regulate or delay care or drugs for any reason he wants.
victor| 10.18.09 @ 11:12PM
And of course, you are a fig newton in my mind. Hmm? Don't mind if I do.
Louis Jenkins| 10.16.09 @ 8:37AM
The Messiah uses a teleprompter to make his fabrications more digestible to the public. Slick talk. Regardless of how good it may sound it is still a fabrication. Those sawbones may be lopping off feet and legs left and right, or yanking tonsils like a carpenter pulls nail, but Dr. Obama is more subtle with this treatment. He is placing drainage lines in every body cavity, organ, and body system to suck the economy and tax payer of every last drop of life that they may have. Meanwhile all his assistants and medical students observe the wonderful healing powers of such a wise and knowledgable practitioner. They cheer, stoop, bow, and bask in his presence. When the patient is dead what then Mr. Messiah? The clock struck mid-night last Nov. We are being drained for what? Next Nov. will be the dawn of certain death for this nation. As a pronounced dead patient has been known to regain a pulse we can have a re-birth. It is up to us.
Big J| 10.16.09 @ 8:42AM
Nice link, Robert. What an upstanding and unbiased organization HCAN is.
NAACP
Move On
Planned Parenthood
SEIU
AFL-CIO
Americans United for Change
National Council for La Raza
And the list of special interests goes on and on and on.
Might I recommend a true source you could use so maybe you MIGHT get your facts straight?
www.askheritage.org
They have just a smidgen more credibility than HCAN and their George Soros/Al Sharpton/Jesse Jackson/Union Thug ilk.
JeffT| 10.16.09 @ 10:35AM
The name of the game is demonization. It has been going on for years, aided and abetted by television programs. Crime shows, in particular, love to bash business, any kind, the bigger the better. Pharmaceuticals have been an easy target for shows like Without a Trace, CSI (all three), Law and Order, etc. ad nauseam. Years of this pounding at our basic institutions has hads the desired effect. People hate their doctors, their drug makers, their insurance companies. BIG, BIG, BIG whatever is to be despised. So, the Alinsky sycophants are just doing whast they do best-demonize. It will not stop until someone develops a spine, like Rush, and fights back. It can be done.
alyeska| 10.16.09 @ 2:57PM
perhaps you'd be interested in the piece in the "washington times" today. about an insurance company in new york state that wanted to drop coverage of a man with muscular dystrophy but couldn't because that would be discrimation. sooo, they arbitrarily dropped coverage for all people with his condition in order to save money.
In an e-mail, one Guardian Life Insurance Co. executive called high-cost patients such as Mr. Pearl "dogs" that the company could "get rid of."
that would be the "Washington Times," not exactly a bastion of lefty propaganda!
here's the link:
http://www.washingtontimes.com....._top5_read
Anastasia Mather| 10.16.09 @ 10:52AM
There is a logical oopsie in Obama's criticism of this report.
If the insurance companies were as maliciously greedy as he says they are, they should be dancing, singing and fraternizing with dancing girls at the thought of an extra $4,000 per family in their pockets.
Oldefarte| 10.16.09 @ 10:57AM
Ah yes, those 'Chicago Way' THUGS!!!!!!!
Tim| 10.16.09 @ 11:03AM
I certainly don't want any part of the federal Gov
running any part of our health care system.
That said,
The Insurance Company's did help to create some of this hatred toward them by dropping folks from the insurance rolls and not insuring people with pre existing illnesses.
The far left has just built on these two key issues and have been exploiting the matter with their own private goal to run our lives in every aspect of life from the womb to the tomb.
Ray| 10.16.09 @ 12:17PM
The insurance companies didn't "help create" that hate, the left doe that when they deliberately misstate the purpose of insurance.
Why should an insurance company offer coverage for existing conditions? That's not what insurance is for. Insurance is offered to cover the unexpected expenses, not the known once. This is why, for example your car insurance doesn't cover preexisting damage, it only covers damage that occurs after you buy a policy.
People are confused about the difference between insurance and health maintenance organizations(HMO's). The Liberals, by blaming insurance companies for not doing what insurance companies don't do, are trying to further confuse people. If you want to cover preexisting conditions, join an HMO. That's what they're for.
It's rather telling that none of the Democrats haven't even mentioned HMO's in this debate. It's all about insurance versus government coverage, isn't it?
alyeska| 10.16.09 @ 3:17PM
who do you think runs medicare or veterans' health care?
the government, that's who.
alwaysfiredup| 10.16.09 @ 4:23PM
Yes indeed. Running them right into the ground, too.
alyeska| 10.16.09 @ 5:08PM
that's just factually wrong. it may make a nice soundbite, but it's not true. can't you debate without making things up? oh, i forgot, you're a republican.
Dagny Taggert| 10.16.09 @ 11:54PM
When the gov't begins mandating every special interest disorder in the book, they can no longer provide broad coverage economically. Not enough for liberals though--cover everybody for everything--no regard for how those costs are picked up by everyone else--by higher insurance rates or higher taxes.
I don't remember the founding fathers deciding that free health care was a funndamental right of the people, moonbat.
Schizo In DC | 10.16.09 @ 11:07AM
Every week its a new demon. If I were Big Insurance, I wouldn't take too kindly to being called "villians." JeffT is correct. Doctors, nurses, inurance companies, drug companies, medical supply companies, and so forth need to stop trying to look cool and be down with The Hope and The Change and tell BIG GOVERNMENT to get off their damn backs!!!
alyeska| 10.16.09 @ 3:18PM
perhaps you'd be interested in the piece in the "washington times" today. about an insurance company in new york state that wanted to drop coverage of a man with muscular dystrophy but couldn't because that would be discrimation. sooo, they arbitrarily dropped coverage for all people with his condition in order to save money.
In an e-mail, one Guardian Life Insurance Co. executive called high-cost patients such as Mr. Pearl "dogs" that the company could "get rid of."
that would be the "Washington Times," not exactly a bastion of lefty propaganda!
here's the link:
http://www.washingtontimes.com....._top5_read
Bram| 10.16.09 @ 3:30PM
alyeska -
1. Your link doesn't work.
2. Guardian is a LIFE Insurance company. I thought we were talking health insurance.
alyeska| 10.16.09 @ 5:14PM
guardian life does adminster health care. i would have thought the washington times was on your bookmarks! it's easy to find. bram seems to have found it.
they just disqualified this category of patients, accross the board, because they couldn't, legally, just deny mr pearl.
and they seem to agree with you that is just too expensive to take care of these people (excuse me, dogs):
In an e-mail, one Guardian Life Insurance Co. executive called high-cost patients such as Mr. Pearl "dogs" that the company could "get rid of."
are you really trying to defend that, bram?
Bram| 10.16.09 @ 3:42PM
I found the article. Guardian Life is a benefit administrator to businesses. The offer their own and other carriers products to businesses and their employees. They are no longer offering the long-term disability product in question because it is too expensive - actuarial tables, unlike politicians, don't lie.
alwaysfiredup| 10.16.09 @ 4:27PM
And the Senate legislation will certainly keep those LTD insurers in line, won't it!
...no, wait, it won't, because LTD isn't health insurance. Opps.
alyeska| 10.16.09 @ 5:22PM
it never ceases to amaze me how meanspirited you people are! what are you so filled with hatred and cynicism. why is it so difficult for you to agree that we are all in this together and try to add something positive to the debate rather than gleefully putting everything down.
let me guess, you're a christian, right?
good lord, jesus must just be spinning in his grave right now. WWJD
Margie| 10.17.09 @ 2:34PM
Jesus isn't in the grave, idiot. Hasn't anyone ever told you the truth? He was crucified on your behalf, and on the third day God rose Him from the Dead. He sits at the Right hand of the Father in Heaven, and is wherever two or more are gathered in His name. He is coming back soon to judge the living and the dead, who will all be resurrected and judged to go to Heaven or Hell. Maybe if you took that seriously, you'd have a different attitude.
Louis Jenkins| 10.17.09 @ 4:05PM
Jesus also said he would send his disciples forth as sheep among wolves. And if they did not have a sword, to sell their cloak and buy one. If those two comments are taken for their actual meaning then we must give pause and reflect. I'm sure that doesn't sit well does it?
Wolves cannot be dealt with in a civilized manner or by compromise, for they will soon return to their mis-begotten ways. As for your thoughts on Christianity, it is not what goes into man that defiles him, but what comes out!! You are not saved by works, which our earthly Messiah Obama seems intent on and the whole world worships him for, but by faith and repentence. I fear not the man who can destroy the body, but God who can destroy my soul.
Pingback| 10.16.09 @ 5:52PM
Twitter Trackbacks for The American Spectator : White House Hatchet Jobs [spectator. links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Bydand76| 10.16.09 @ 9:26PM
Aleyska,
Dont talk about things which you know nothing about young one.
The VA ia a nightmare to deal with, I know because I have dealt with it before and are you seriously going to suggest that Medicare is a bastion of what Govt Run Healthcare should be the model of? I sure you must enjoy your visits to the DMV as well.
Your misguided faith in the Govt reveals you to be nothing more than a little obnoxious twerp who is incapable of formulating an original thought outside reading what other people post on the daily beast or whatever liberal post you happen to be reading at the time.
Another thing Why do you continue to try and inject religion into every other post? Do you feel that by baiting people on their faith you have somehow scored a brownie point of sorts?
Try educating yourself for once instead of simply spewing a nonsensical diatribe aimed at nothing more than getting people angry.
Your arguments are flawed and with out reason.
You speak out of the corner of your mouth but yet rail against anyone who tries to debate you.
for example:
it never ceases to amaze me how meanspirited you people are! what are you so filled with hatred and cynicism.
and then you turn around and say this:
"let me guess, you're a christian, right?"
What does that even mean??
How does being a Christian have anything to do with the debate? I think you need to turn your hate meter inwards little girl because your hypocrite slip is showing.
I know just as many "Christian Liberals" as I do "Christian Conservatives". Faith has nothing more to do with it other than being a moral guide, to which you apply your own conviction. It helps formulate your opinion on the subject.
I think most of the people who post here deal in factual intelligent based debate gained by researching a subject and formulating a opinion.
If someone adds an opinion to a debate then isnt that a positive? Or is it only a positive when you happen to agree with the opinion that is stated?
Quit trying to be so confrontational and maybe you will learn something for a change. e.g. The difference between life and health insurance?
BTW? Jesus was risen from the dead after he was put into a tomb. He was'nt buried. Just... thought.. I might point that out for your benefit . Kind of a glaring error on your part. Education is a wonderful thing though isnt it?
Bydand76| 10.16.09 @ 9:48PM
One more thing Alyeska,
A quick google search on guardian insurance, would have educated you. Its Ok though, you must have been busy or something.
www.guardianlife.com
You said:
"guardian life does adminster health care"
Sorry. But, no I don't think they do. They are an insurance company not a medical health care provider.
Hey! This is getting kind of fun, don't you agree?
alyeska| 10.16.09 @ 9:49PM
"young one?" i think i love you :)
Dagny Taggert| 10.17.09 @ 12:03AM
Out of bullets, alyeska the moonbat? Try grounding your arguments in facts and you'll soon find your side of the argument don't got game.
Pingback| 10.17.09 @ 12:04PM
Obama, Shaka Zulu and The Planet of the Apes; Socialism 101 « VotingFemale Friends Sp links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Larry Disney| 10.17.09 @ 4:25PM
A quick question for all the ignoramuses out there who think that politicians and bureaucrats are more “compassionate” than the private insurers. Have you checked to see who disallows the highest percentage of medical claims? It’s Medicare you dolts! And who reimburses at the lowest percentage of the true cost of care? Medicare! Now you want to put them in charge of Everyones health care?
I’m guessing you are betting on the Raiders and the Lions getting to the superbowl too.
Larry Disney| 10.17.09 @ 4:32PM
Perhaps all of you who find a “Christian” mandate for government healthcare can point out the biblical authority for sending tax collectors out to forcibly take the wealth of your neighbors to pay for other peoples healthcare. I’ve looked in vain for a verse that calls on me to use the coercive power of government to extract the wealth of others so that I can give it to those who did not earn it. Please direct me to the proper verse.
Jim O'Brien| 10.17.09 @ 6:01PM
Today Obama said that insurance companies are "deceptive" and "dishonest". He was actually describing himself and Congress. I trust the major insurance companies far, far more. To a great extent, they are simply trying to cope with existing federal legislation, which hinders free enterprise and limits our choices.
FDR waged war on business too, helping to extend the depression for several years. Brilliant idea, Barack. Keep up the good work. Raise taxes. Jack up our electric costs with cap & trade. Penalize seniors for living too long. Start a trade war with China.
Paul Ashley| 10.17.09 @ 7:41PM
While those on the Left constantly rail against "big" insurance companies, I find it curious that they don't realize that a single-payer government-run program will be the biggest monopoly ever imagined. And unlike any "regular" monoploy, they have the power of the the state behind them, including coercion at gunpoint. Offhand I can't think of any business monoploies that have armies. With multiple insurance companies allowed to sell across state lines, and disconnected from employment, if your insurance company is indeed "evil", you can always take you business elsewhere. When the State is the sole "provider" there is no recompense. It'll be the biggest, nastiest HMO you've ever seen.
The Quadfather| 10.19.09 @ 4:40AM
Hey Larry:
I believe the proper verse is "Thou shalt not steal".