Republicans called heath care reform Obama’s Waterloo but it is their own downfall they should be wary of.
On a conference call with the same conservative group that brought us the lame tea bagging on tax day, South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint said:
“If we’re able to stop Obama on this it will be his Waterloo. It will break him,”
It is disgraceful that the main reason that conservatives are stopping health care reform is in order to “break” President Obama. Talk about cynical and looking out for…well, nobody really aside from their rich underwriters from the insurance and pharma companies. Certainly they don’t give a damn about the 50 million Americans who are living in our country without health care or with limited health care. They just are against it to score political points.
Today, RNC chair Steele said that Obama’s health care reform proposal is socialism. This is meant to be the great insult. But when it comes from Republicans who are taking their marching orders from big business and Wall Street, it is time to say that Republicans smell of like fresh, store bought capitalism in which the rich and powerful have the final word on what the rest of the country can and cannot do.
Obama’s health care reform should be passed because it gives people more options not less. For those who have a health care plan they like they can keep it. For those who don’t have any health insurance, or think that the government option might be better they can choose the government option. The last I heard, competition was good.
Of course we need to make sure that the health care reform doesn’t break the bank and time should be taken to make sure that we have the plan will serve the most people at the best price. But that is different than killing health care – which is exactly what the Republicans are trying to do.
Those Republicans and conservative Democrats should remember that this country overwhelmingly supported health care reform just 9 months ago. And we still do – and we will remember in 2010.
posted July 21, 2009 at 4:28 am
This spring, due to the demand decrease, the highest fuel price came down below $40 per barrel, though, the ‘similar’ insurance premiums still go on rising, which may imply that health care is not optional, but essential, and the inaction could bankrupt family, business, and government beyond this recession, as all across the board agree.
Earlier, the revised HELP BILL with the public option and employer mandatory has got a green light from the CBO, yet still, a new ‘incomplete’ analysis of emerging House legislation said it would increase deficits by $239 billion over a decade.
But, CBO does not score any savings from prevention / wellness and the rest, even as Prevention / Wellness is an actual and essential part of the savings, without which the reform would be meaningless.
And I think the other things such as increased productivity / consumer confidence, ‘potential stem cell effect’, ‘decreased mental stress’, and ‘massive job creation’, ‘stock price effect’ and etc considered, the reform might be within reach. Most importantly, a few years later, if the excessive war and military spending goes toward the health care program, the cost issue does not matter at all, I think.
Edward M. Kennedy argues, the perfect should not be the enemy of the good, “Everyone won’t be satisfied and no one will get everything they want. But we need to come together, just as we’ve done in other great struggles in World War II and the Cold War, in passing the great civil-rights laws of the 1960s, and in daring to send a man to the moon. If we don’t get every provision right, we can adjust and improve the program next year or in the years to come. What we can’t afford is to wait another generation.”
Thank You For Reading !
posted July 21, 2009 at 4:22 pm
My feeling is these “Republicans” fighting health care reform are doing so out of fear. They are afraid that more progressive values of inclusivism and compassion for those less fortunate may come to seem more important to people in this country than the “Big business” attitude of profit before everything else and every man for himself.
But “big business” in health care has had its chance, with disastrous result. Costs are higher than ever and fewer and fewer people can afford coverage. During all this time the extreme inefficiencies of the managed care system and the attendant extravagant managed care CEO salaries are stealing nearly four billion dollars a year from our health care system.
Imagine all the “support” these “Republicans” fighting health care reform will have to renounce if Obama succeeds and you begin to see where their “fear” might come from.
While the proposed health care reform plans don’t do nearly enough, ANY change from the current system will be a step in the right direction.
posted July 22, 2009 at 11:46 pm
Wellington didn’t defeat Napoleon simply to be his undoing. Rather he defeated him to stop his aggression.
Similarly, Obama’s socialist aggression should be stopped. Nationalized banks and car companies. Who is comfortable with that?
“Obama’s health care reform should be passed because it gives people more options not less.” Yeah, right. When Bush pushed through the Medicare part D (prescription drug coverage – a terrible unfunded mandate whose burdens will be passed on to our kids and grandkids), my mom’s drug coverage was promptly dropped and she was told to get the Medicare drug coverage. She had a choice of one.
Big business would love for there to be a government insurance plan. The workers will similarly be given a choice of one: sign up for the government plan. Medicaid for everyone!Unfortunately, Medicaid doesn’t pay enough to support our current health care system – paying ~10 cents on the dollar. Hospitals with high Medicaid populations are struggling mightily right now. They will simply close. This includes probably 90% of rural hospitals. Way to go, Obama!
posted July 30, 2009 at 2:53 am
In Canada, the government covers only a signioficant portion of medical expenses. Many things like dental care and drugs have to be covered by company or personal insurance, or else just paid for at personal expense. The thing is, some basic needs are covered for everybody. Canada has an ongoing debate over what medical costs should be covered by the government plan. But whatever the country agrees to cover is covered for all citizens.
I think the debate should be over which medical needs should be covered for everyone. Some coverage is better than none for those who have nothing. But I’m afraid the US debate is going with a different premise — that the debate starts with assumptions that many needs should be covered, and then the fight is over how many of the people the country can afford to cover at that level of service.
Maybe the starting point should be agreement to cover only a few basic needs, like vaccinations, checkups, diagnostic tests, and emergency care, with all other things to be covered by insurance or at personal expenses. Then there would be at least some expenses covered for every citizen.
posted August 12, 2009 at 9:54 am
How many trillions of dollars will be spent before we stop Congress from insane financial ideas of President Hussein Obama?
If we don’t stop Obamacare, we’ll be bankrupt. It will have one cost savings, by curtailing medical care for the elderly. Obama plans to pull the plug on grandma. The elderly who do not get their plugs pulled will be left eating dogfood after the Obama inflation. People on fixed incomes suffer the most during inflation. The elderly are on fixed incomes. The elderly are opposing Obamacare and showing up at townhall meetings. If Congress votes another trillion dollar boondoggle, like Obamacare, the elderly will be hurt the most, and many will die earlier than even Obama has planned.
But Congress will keep its own health care plans for itself. We might be able to trust Congress if it included itself in Obamacare. What they think is good enough for mere citizens is never good enough for our royalty, the Senators and Representatives.
Obama says he’s not going to pull the plug on Obamacare. That line will go down in history like Clinton’s “I did not have sex with that woman,” and Nixon’s “I am not a crook”
Euthenasia and abortion are popular among Democrats. Killing off the elderly is their goal. Obamacare will finance medical care for the illegal aliens, but not the elderly, the Americans who paid the most into the system. Obama wants to spread the wealth from Americans to Mexicans.
Democrats, with a straight face, say they won’t fund illegals, but they voted down amendments to prevent medical funds for illegals.
Obama is getting us into Obamacare the same way Bush got us into Iraq. With lies.