The Right Prescription
Just Walk Away
The Medicare mess alone disqualifies the Obamacare bills from further consideration.
In his State of the Union address, the President implored Congress not to "walk away" from healthcare reform. With Scott Brown's victory in Massachusetts, and growing skepticism among Americans, passage of a "comprehensive" healthcare bill is looking less and less likely every day.
And for good reason. The House and Senate versions of healthcare reform are nearly 2,000 pages long. Some of the most expensive provisions in the bills are effectively unfunded and will indeed exacerbate our federal fiscal catastrophe.
The most egregious example of this reckless spending is the infamous "Doc Fix" provision, which determines how and how much the government will reimburse physicians for services provided to patients on Medicare and Medicaid. This provision is only a one-year patch -- with the cost offset by taxes and reduced spending elsewhere. What about the other nine years? That, it seems, is the purview of S.1776 and, according to a recent New York Times piece, "Congressional Democrats have no plans to offset the cost of S. 1776, which is why they are eager to keep it separate from the broader health care legislation and avoid breaking the president's promise."
Remember President Obama's promise? "I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits -- either now or in the future. Period." Well, it seems that many in Congress are looking at the "period" and seeing an ellipsis. The Times continues, "Congressional Democrats insist that fixing the doctor payment formula should not count toward the cost of the big health care legislation, because it is a problem they inherited." Unlike the problem of the uninsured? Unlike the problem of preexisting conditions? Unlike the problem of the donut hole? Unlike the problem of (FILL IN THE BLANK)? And from whom exactly did they inherit the problem? LBJ? Sounds like a total ellipsis of the sum.
Honestly -- a healthcare bill that doesn't include Medicare payments to physicians? As my kids would say: "Word." And to quote Representative Charlie Rangel, supporters of the pending legislation "have a serious problem." The Quinnipiac poll has only 34% of respondents approving the bill. Americans smell something fishy. And they're right. Americans are wondering just how healthcare reform is going to impact them. And now that the voting public is paying attention, they don't like what they see. Because what they're seeing is whose going to pay.
The most high profile debate is about the 40% excise tax on "Cadillac" health plans. But consider just two of the ways Democrats are suggesting the public "pay" for healthcare reform:
• 2.35% increase in Medicare payroll tax on incomes over $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples.
• $471 billion in cuts to Medicaid.
You're not hearing a lot about either of these because they tax the middle class and gut healthcare options for senior citizens. Not core Democratic Party talking points. You're not hearing about it is because Democratic lawmakers are horse trading behind closed doors. And in case you've forgotten, during the presidential campaign candidate Obama pledged that any negotiations on healthcare legislation would be broadcast on C-SPAN, "so the American people can see what the choices are," and "not conducted behind closed doors." "Such public negotiations," he said, were "the antidote" to "overcoming the special interests and the lobbyists who… will resist anything that we try to do." To quote another American media icon, Madonna -- "Not." Americans aren't stupid -- and Americans are paying attention.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (34) | Leave a comment
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justasimplepatriot| 2.2.10 @ 7:38AM
I cannot get it out of my head that in 1966, Medicare cost us $3 billion. That year, the Ways and Means committee provided an inflation-adjusted, conservative projection that 1990 Medicare costs would be $12 Billion.
Actual 1990 costs - $107 billion. They missed by nearly 900%
Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice.........
Jon B| 3.8.10 @ 11:24AM
And now we had an excellent opportunity to reform medicare and medicaid with a more advanced Public Option, But unfortunately, HMO's had that thrown out the window by spending $1 billion on lobbyists and political campaigns in the last 2 years alone. HMO's controlled this debate in both aisles, and yes it is a rip-off, not because of any one party, but because of the infusion of corporate influence on both parties.
Ret. Marine| 2.2.10 @ 8:07AM
Well during the SOTU adress, the pretender-n-thief did get one thing correct, that there is a distrust between the process and this administration, that is the center of the issue here, We the People donot trust this pretender-n-thief to keep his words, simple really and very correct. You cannot trust a man without honor, without his word, he's nothing.
Michael Smith| 2.2.10 @ 9:28AM
justasimplepatriot: Can you give us a link to a source for that Medicare cost projection? It is very valuable information and I'd love to be able to identify a source for it. Thanks.
Pingback| 2.2.10 @ 2:02PM
The American Spectator : Just Walk Away Information links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Roy| 2.2.10 @ 5:13PM
"2.35% increase in Medicare payroll tax on incomes over $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples. "
I'd rather see them either raise premiums or cut benefits for high-income seniors.
I really hate Medicare and think that along with Social Security, it's transformed the elderly, who should be nagging us young whippersnappers to save more and spend less, into the most thoroughgoing class of government dependents other than federal workers. And if Obama has his way, the rest of us will get the same "benefit".
Hydraulic Tools| 2.3.10 @ 10:35AM
Manufacture Hydraulic Tools, offer from hydraulic crimping tool, cable cutter, pipe bender, gear puller, hole digger and hand pumps.
journey home| 2.3.10 @ 12:42PM
“Use Senate reconciliation and expand Medicare via the Senate’s buy-in provisions. The CBO has already signed off on this as a means of saving money.
More importantly, if more Americans can do a buy-in with Medicare, it creates more cost control (because there’s a genuine “public option” competitor).
It also helps to solve the problems of pre-existing conditions, because Medicare does not deny coverage on this basis.
Allowing a Medicare buy-in to Americans under 65 would give people a genuine alternative to private insurance and thereby render the pre-existing question moot.
It would also lower Medicare costs by expanding the risk pool of patients (the great bulk of medical expenses are accounted for by a small number of people, mostly the elderly, requiring very expensive treatment).
And it would substantially enhance the global competitiveness of American corporations. After all, in what other country in the world is health care a marginal cost of production for business?” - Roosevelt Institute Marshall Auerback
eRtwngr| 2.3.10 @ 1:40PM
Nancy Pelosi said she'll break through the gate, pole vault the fence and other nonsense to describe her determination to bypass the will of the people to pass this bad law. She may find voters just as determined to get to the polling booth to vote her and her crooked cronies out if this bill passes.
Read more at http://bit.ly/aEobsS
John3| 2.3.10 @ 7:25PM
In the history of man, all totalitarian regimes fail and in the agony of trying to enforce their regimes, all of them have killed and persecuted their citizens. With the abundance of supposedly learned and Ivy-League taught politicians in our present administration, isn't it quite obvious that this health care bill is not the right thing? Or is the intellectual elite, like the founders of the French Revolution, in league with each other? What will it take? Mass murders, execution by the people, for the people, of the people?
John3| 2.3.10 @ 7:41PM
My suggestions: 1) Open state lines for Health Insurers to compete. A New Yorker can buy insurance from another state for less money. These insurance companies will proper and drive the more expensive ones out of business, 2) Offer subsidies to people who have preexisting conditions so that they are able to purchase insurance, 3) Exert some control on what preexisting conditions can be used, 4) Reasonable tort reform, 5) Hospitals should be asked to publish their fees, especially emergency room fees so that the people will have viable choice in this regard, 6) Doctors should be asked to publish their fees especially for procedures, 7) Lawyers should be asked to pay a fee for each malpractice filing, and if awards are made, majority of the awards should go to the patient, not the lawyer. 8) Each town should support the presence of excellent urgent care clinics 24 hours a day so that unnecessary ER visits are reduced, if not eliminated entirely. Medicaid and Medicare providers should emphasize preventative care and compliance with regular follow ups which will decrease the rates of hospitalization and complications. And do all this, without violation of healthcare workers' conscience rights, without mandatory end-of-life discussions and without funding for abortions.
John3| 2.3.10 @ 7:42PM
I don't think these will cost trillions.
Pingback| 2.13.10 @ 9:06AM
Walk Away From The Problem links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Alicevivi| 3.1.10 @ 10:44PM
Here are many Chinese special products sold online, you can choose them for your friend as the Birthday present or send to your parents. They must feel very surprise.
CRHOME| 7.17.10 @ 10:26PM
Fannie Mae now says that if borrowers default on their mortgage while they can afford the payments, they will be ineligible to get another mortgage for 7 years.
explosion proof light| 11.15.10 @ 9:17AM
Actually, Abraham Lincoln was just as radical but in a different way. Ditto FDR.
Converse| 8.12.11 @ 4:13AM
is good