Posted by Bobby Eberle April 27, 2009 at 7:50 am
The left-wing steamroller keeps right on rolling, squashing one American institution after another. From banks to energy to the automobile industry, Obama is squeezing the life out of the private sector and injecting government where it doesn't belong. What's next you ask? Health care.
Obama and the Democrats are now focusing on a massive health care bill that will put government in more control than ever before. Knowing that passage of such a bill would be a crowning achievement on the way to socialized medicine, the Democrats are now considering bypassing the traditional legislative process so that Republicans would not be able to mount a filibuster. Need an operation? Please take a number and get to the back of the line.
As noted in a FOXNews.com story, Obama and Congressional leaders are considering using a tactic known as "reconciliation" to push forward Obama's health care plan.
The fast-track process would protect Obama's ambitious plan to overhaul the U.S. health care system from a potential GOP filibuster and limit the Republicans' ability to get concessions. It also would give Democrats far more control over the specifics of the health care legislation.
Under typical Senate rules, 60 votes are needed to advance a bill, but reconciliation would enable Democrats to enact the health care plan with just a simple majority and only 20 hours of debate.
In case you missed the 2006 and 2008 elections, Democrats hold majorities in the Senate and the House and, using tactics such as that described above, could pass almost any legislation. Add to that a few weak-kneed Republicans, and the situation becomes even more serious.
In a story on CNSNews.com, the leading Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus, said that Obama's health care plan would not result in "government-mandated health care rationing." Obama currently says that he will pay for his health care "reform" plan by creating "efficiencies" in the medical system.
“There is no rationing of health care at all,” Baucus told CNSNews.com on Friday. “You choose your own doctor. You choose your own health insurance that you want to have. This is all a choice.
“What we are talking about is squeezing cost out of the system because of an emphasis on quality care, not quantity,” Baucus told CNSNews.com. “Today the emphasis in the reimbursement is quantity whether you are a doctor, or a medical equipment manufacturer, whatever you are. It’s quantity. You get paid for the number of units that you provide.
Baucus went on to say that this plan is a "whole new way of doing business," but then added that "there may be some cuts." Oh really!
The news story then quotes the White House's director of the National Economic Council as saying, "Look at health care, the frequency of different procedures, whether it's tonsillectomies or hysterectomies in different parts of the country -- and what you see is that in some parts of the country procedures are done three times as frequently and there's no benefit in terms of the health of the population."
No benefit to the health of the population? What in the world does that even mean? I'm sure the person getting the procedure doesn't care about the rest of the population.
Of course, the language in Obama's plan is vague, to say the least, and Republicans are questioning where the "savings" would come from.
“If you’re going to quantify [savings] with certainty, that means you feel you’re going to ration with certainty,” said Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Feb. 26.
“How do they propose to go about doing this?” asked Ryan. “Do they propose to set up a system where the government is in the nucleus of our health care system, where the government is telling providers -- physicians -- how to practice medicine?”
As he did with the bailout, Obama is appealing to the media by saying that he wants the health care plan to be "bipartisan." Give me a break. Yes, he wants to work with Republicans just as long as Republicans agree with him. As noted in the FOXNews.com story, "Democrats, including Obama, have said repeatedly that they want the health care debate to be bipartisan and that the filibuster-proof terms would be used only if the GOP obstructs." Does that sound like a bipartisan environment to you?
"Reconciliation is basically a nuclear weapon to use against the negotiators so what happens is nobody negotiates seriously because they can always go to reconciliation ... tilting the playing field unfairly," said Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, top Republican on the Budget Committee.
The Democrats do deserve credit for one thing... once given control of government (because Republicans turned away from their principles); they have absolutely no problems in pushing forward their agenda. Given the opportunity they are ramming socialism down our throats. Imagine all we could have passed with our missed opportunity.
The more government gets involved in health care, the worse the health care system becomes. That is a simple fact.
