Obama's Health Care Demands
Obama, at this late and critical hour, has come out basically demanding no watered down compromise but the full bill that he asked for. And he wants it for free.
You have to give one thing to him, he is determined to do what he sees as best. I think he has finally realized that this nation faces a very difficult time ahead if we dont get spending under control. So he is demanding that the bill does not add to the deficit. Actually demanding it. On top of that he is demanding that there is immediate coverage provided to those with preexisting conditions. Of course, this is basically saying that people who have never paid for car insurance have the right to demand coverage for a crash, after the crash occured. Make sense to anyone else? Regardless, Obama is demanding that too.
He actually went out on a limb and said he would not pass unless it did not cost taxpayers. And it is quite a limb, because most Washington oddsmakers were thinking this would be settled by some kind of co-op compromise with more protections phasing in by 2013. Dems are already looking for wiggle room in el Omabaismo's statements, thinking "well, it wont add to the deficit in the first year" etc.
I have to give the pres props for standing up for what he thinks is right. The issue is, he's wrong. And he is simply ignoring the facts.
Lets start with what we should do. There are a lot of good suggestions out there to fix healthcare in this country. Revamp medicare: shift from reimbursing set rates for single proceedings to tackling the overall long-term health of the patient and emphasizing preventative measures. In that vein, make the standard corporate health insurance contract 3-5 years, so that insurers have long-term cost savings (read "healthier patients") at heart. Lets also do tort reform as lawsuits are a massive tumor feeding on the health insurance industry and bringing everyone's costs up. Finally, lets link health care coverage to real costs for the insured. Why will this help? Because every patient does not need 500 cat scans and isotope imaging tests which the current healthcare system supports as the consumer does not see any cost to themselves. It results in atrocities like Lahey up here in Boston, whose first answer to any problem is run 15 different $1,000 tests and bill the insurance company.
The result is that the well insured are far over-treated because it is in the medical establishment's best interest to do so. And who would be the best to reign in costs? The current bill says the government, which is idiotic because a) the government is arbitrary and is generally useless at effectively cutting costs and b) because it takes away the fundamental right to chose coverage for your self, hence all the talk of "death panels" which in reality be more like "what level of care makes sense for us to provide" panels. The individuals should decide, the government should have nothing whatsoever to do with it.
But beyond simply being wrong, he is lying to the American people.
He says that the bill will not make you change the coverage you already have. But it will, because it mandates that you have certain benefits in your health insurance, as you are too dumb to know what is best for you. He said you would not be "forced" into the govt. run health care plans, but as they are subsidized many employers would shift over, forcing a large part of the population into the government plans.
He says he wants to help working class American families. Fine. The version of the bill in the house right now? It has an 8% income tax. 8% is a lot. The 2007 US Median household income was $50,233, which means that you will be paying a little over $4,000 a year in new taxes. Want to keep you old healthcare plan? You get screwed.
But the biggest lie (or stupidity) of all, and as it usually has been with this president, is when it gets down to money. Obama is grandstanding on how he demands it to be free. Currently, the bill is expected to add $240 billion over the next 10 years, and that already includes the exchange of a lot of funny money "savings" for real tax-payer dollar costs. His demands for no denial of service for pre-existing conditions will simply add to the cost.
What he wants, what Obama really seeks, is a better world where magically socialism works and the benign government ruled by philosopher kings (or King) doles out justice, healthcare, social welfare, and a big helping of righteousness. The goverment will not "force" you to do anything, just offer lots of good things to within your reach, where before they would have cost something. They refer to this as "paternal libertarianism." And it is the biggest crock ever foisted on the American people. It is a sham, a phony Hollywood American store-front with a dead empty concrete lot behind it. Paternalism and libertarianism are two diametrically opposed ideologies. Paternal libertarianism does not and cannot exist. It is simply the lifeless soulless catch 22 slime mold of paternalism dressed up in the bright, individual, and American colors of libertarianism.
In some screwed up way I actually believe Obama thinks his sham "paternal libertarianism" represents the ultimate American conception of freedom, freemarkets, and justice. I know he sees the American lower and middle classes the victims of long-standing oppression and injustice at the hands of corporations and the upper class. This most likely was born of his time in Chicago, where there surely were many disadvantaged. But it was after that he took the wrong turn. It is socialism, paternalism, and a belief in the weakness and inability of the individual which creates unfair and unjust situations. It is the arbitrary decisions of the government that lead to hatred, jealousy and a chip on the shoulder, to a sense of "having a right" to things where you have no rights, only the ability to work towards those goals. The fundamental human rights of the individual are in the pursuit not the achievement.
You have to give one thing to him, he is determined to do what he sees as best. I think he has finally realized that this nation faces a very difficult time ahead if we dont get spending under control. So he is demanding that the bill does not add to the deficit. Actually demanding it. On top of that he is demanding that there is immediate coverage provided to those with preexisting conditions. Of course, this is basically saying that people who have never paid for car insurance have the right to demand coverage for a crash, after the crash occured. Make sense to anyone else? Regardless, Obama is demanding that too.
He actually went out on a limb and said he would not pass unless it did not cost taxpayers. And it is quite a limb, because most Washington oddsmakers were thinking this would be settled by some kind of co-op compromise with more protections phasing in by 2013. Dems are already looking for wiggle room in el Omabaismo's statements, thinking "well, it wont add to the deficit in the first year" etc.
I have to give the pres props for standing up for what he thinks is right. The issue is, he's wrong. And he is simply ignoring the facts.
Lets start with what we should do. There are a lot of good suggestions out there to fix healthcare in this country. Revamp medicare: shift from reimbursing set rates for single proceedings to tackling the overall long-term health of the patient and emphasizing preventative measures. In that vein, make the standard corporate health insurance contract 3-5 years, so that insurers have long-term cost savings (read "healthier patients") at heart. Lets also do tort reform as lawsuits are a massive tumor feeding on the health insurance industry and bringing everyone's costs up. Finally, lets link health care coverage to real costs for the insured. Why will this help? Because every patient does not need 500 cat scans and isotope imaging tests which the current healthcare system supports as the consumer does not see any cost to themselves. It results in atrocities like Lahey up here in Boston, whose first answer to any problem is run 15 different $1,000 tests and bill the insurance company.
The result is that the well insured are far over-treated because it is in the medical establishment's best interest to do so. And who would be the best to reign in costs? The current bill says the government, which is idiotic because a) the government is arbitrary and is generally useless at effectively cutting costs and b) because it takes away the fundamental right to chose coverage for your self, hence all the talk of "death panels" which in reality be more like "what level of care makes sense for us to provide" panels. The individuals should decide, the government should have nothing whatsoever to do with it.
But beyond simply being wrong, he is lying to the American people.
He says that the bill will not make you change the coverage you already have. But it will, because it mandates that you have certain benefits in your health insurance, as you are too dumb to know what is best for you. He said you would not be "forced" into the govt. run health care plans, but as they are subsidized many employers would shift over, forcing a large part of the population into the government plans.
He says he wants to help working class American families. Fine. The version of the bill in the house right now? It has an 8% income tax. 8% is a lot. The 2007 US Median household income was $50,233, which means that you will be paying a little over $4,000 a year in new taxes. Want to keep you old healthcare plan? You get screwed.
But the biggest lie (or stupidity) of all, and as it usually has been with this president, is when it gets down to money. Obama is grandstanding on how he demands it to be free. Currently, the bill is expected to add $240 billion over the next 10 years, and that already includes the exchange of a lot of funny money "savings" for real tax-payer dollar costs. His demands for no denial of service for pre-existing conditions will simply add to the cost.
What he wants, what Obama really seeks, is a better world where magically socialism works and the benign government ruled by philosopher kings (or King) doles out justice, healthcare, social welfare, and a big helping of righteousness. The goverment will not "force" you to do anything, just offer lots of good things to within your reach, where before they would have cost something. They refer to this as "paternal libertarianism." And it is the biggest crock ever foisted on the American people. It is a sham, a phony Hollywood American store-front with a dead empty concrete lot behind it. Paternalism and libertarianism are two diametrically opposed ideologies. Paternal libertarianism does not and cannot exist. It is simply the lifeless soulless catch 22 slime mold of paternalism dressed up in the bright, individual, and American colors of libertarianism.
In some screwed up way I actually believe Obama thinks his sham "paternal libertarianism" represents the ultimate American conception of freedom, freemarkets, and justice. I know he sees the American lower and middle classes the victims of long-standing oppression and injustice at the hands of corporations and the upper class. This most likely was born of his time in Chicago, where there surely were many disadvantaged. But it was after that he took the wrong turn. It is socialism, paternalism, and a belief in the weakness and inability of the individual which creates unfair and unjust situations. It is the arbitrary decisions of the government that lead to hatred, jealousy and a chip on the shoulder, to a sense of "having a right" to things where you have no rights, only the ability to work towards those goals. The fundamental human rights of the individual are in the pursuit not the achievement.
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