President Obama’s speech last night on health care reform was disappointing. It was a wonderfully glowing speech, not dissimilar from his campaign rhetoric, but with the usual important missing details such as how is this reform to be paid for and what tort reform is being considered beyond “studies”. The answers appear obvious. The math doesn’t add up (see below) and there is no serious tort reform consideration.
The despicable behavior of Congressman Wilson (R-NC) calling the president a “liar” deserves harsh rebuke. Likewise, Fox News talk show host Bill O’Reilly’s post-speech analysis demonstrated yet another self-important ego maniac opining with little meritorious input. Serious problems face our society and we are treated to this kind of behavior – please!
In the final analysis, the “math” is going to determine the outcome of health care reform as suggested in Philip Klein’s article entitled: “Time to Get Out the Iron“. He writes, in part,:
….As he has done before, Obama pledged to veto any bill that added to the deficit. But despite that commitment, the Congressional Budget Office has ruled that the House Democrats’ health care legislation would create $230 billion in deficits over ten years.
Obama again touted the cost-saving potential of preventive care and an independent Medicare commission, but the CBO has determined that preventive measures would actually increase health care costs and that a commission would have a negligible impact on government spending.
…he argued that he could pay for most of his proposal with cuts to Medicare that would not have any impact on benefits to seniors. The reason, he explained, is that we could save money by reducing “the hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and fraud…” in Medicare — the very government-run program he touts as a model for the creation of a new government-run program.
While acknowledging that the new plan would be run by the government, Obama tried to argue that it wouldn’t be subsidized by taxpayers, but only funded by the premiums it collects. However, any new government plan would require taxpayer money to fund start-up costs, and should it run into financial trouble, it’s hard to believe that the lawmakers would allow it to fail without pumping taxpayer money into it, just as they did in the cases of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (and those were allegedly private companies)….
#1 by Scout on September 10, 2009 - 10:00 am
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The only thing despicable was the diatribe of false information and down right lies by our president. Congressman Wilson should be applauded for at least calling it what it was, a lie from beginning to end….. Only can a Democrat can accuse others of what they are doing!!
#2 by Craig on September 10, 2009 - 3:08 pm
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My only “beef” with Wilson is not about his challenge of the veracity of the information but rather the forum in which he chose to do it – that was totally inappropriate and weakened his argument. Instead of the “buzz” being about his challenge, it is now about his impolitic and rude behavior.
Thanks Scout for the comment!
#3 by Pam on September 11, 2009 - 9:22 am
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The unfortunate thing about the whole healthcare mess is that we, the voters/public/billpayers, are largely being fed politicized garbage and not real facts about what is being proposed. Furthermore, though I have read parts of one of the bills, I find the consequences of the proposals to be a bit incomprehensible and way open to wide interpretation. There is little confidence that our Senators and Congressmen/women are even reading the bills much less comprehending them. The public seems frightened by the possibilities. I am. Most everyone I know is.
If some organization that has the public trust would analyze the entire bill, summarize it and its implications, and present it, there would be a huge reaction of gratitude. Craig, I trust your judgment and certainly you have the expertise to do it. Want a huge job?
In the meantime, everyone reading this might be interested in the perspective of a senior who put together a video, and at his own expense sent it to all Congressmen/women, Senators and some media asking them to defend the bill. He reads (I have not verified this) from the exact bill in the House. These sections are horrid if exact excerpts. Please everyone – be aware – this is not a political issue, though it has been politicized.
Complacency will get us into big trouble. Here are the links to the videos: Part 1 http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=j7sQHunYdN8 Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MJsF11PsnQ