We have all been treated to another show of how members are manipulated
when their vote is needed. In this case the crucial holdout was a
Senator from Louisiana. She was offered a $300 million bribe concerning
federal fund support for two of her pet projects, and she took it. I
sometimes think politicians can't live without "pork."
This is stuffed with so many bad items it is no wonder it was so close
to being defeated. Let's look at just a few of the baddies. Remember,
the whole point of revamping health care is to cut the cost to the
consumer.
Tort reform. Not included. Republicans were not invited to help in
preparing this bill. The Trial Lawyers Association supplies much needed
cash to the Democrat coffers and are therefore negatively inclined to
make any changes here that would cut that support, making our costs
higher than needed.
The "Public Option" was included. This would permit the government to
run our heath care program by being able to undercut the pricing of
private competitive insurance policies and slip the true costs over to
the "rich" to pay. In spite of the fact that the government is not
equipped to run a business and has no incentive to meet stated goals
and costs, they still want to take over control. To my knowledge the
only program that is functioning properly is the Prescription Part D of
Medicare. This success resulted from the application or free market
enterprise, something that the Dems don't want to acknowledge. Yes,
this anomaly came about because of the many competitive insurance
policies offered in each state. In my own case, my Plan D annual
deduction stayed the same, but the monthly premiums and the
prescription costs went down.
One of the big reasons the administration is insisting on passing
health "reform" with government control has to do with the SEIU
(Service Employees International Union). This outfit is headed by
Andrew Stern and enjoys "unrivaled access to the White House" (National
Review, 23 Nov. 09). His objective is to increase government spending
on health care for his union members and cost-shift the rest to us.
He's been quoted as bragging that they supplied $60.7 million to elect
Obama and therefore no doubt expects quid pro quo.
Wording preventing health care for illegal aliens resulting in keeping
our costs high, can be suspect, because Obama, like Bush, could promote
legislation accepting them as citizens and therefore eligible.
The cost estimate by the OMB for this current bill was something around
$800 billion over 10 years. As it turns out, that was just for the
first 10 years. Their plan is to start taxing in January 2010 but no
services under this Obama care until 2013. They collect the funds for
three years and use it to lower the costs for the first 10-year period.
The OMB cost projection for a fully operational 10-year period is in
the trillions. But we're supposed to look at the first number, not the
real 10-year projection.
These are just a minor part of the shenanigans that our elected
senators have put together. This bill was slapped together in order to
get something that would pass, not something to cut costs. Our needs
have been subverted for political gains in the form of payback and
greater centralized government control (socialism). Instead of
rewarding friends and trying to modify such a huge portion of our
economy in one bill, they should consider first a bill that attacks
only the cost-saving ingredients, then adjust other portions later if
necessary. In other words, take a piece at a time.
Contact Senators Leahy and Sanders and tell them to get with the
original intent of overhauling our health care system, cost reduction,
not subversion of free enterprise.
Potter lives in Waitsfield
