“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try, try again.
With Plans A, B and C hav ing failed miserably, President Obama yesterday unveiled his latest “new and improved” version of health-care reform. He says that this incarnation “incorporates the best ideas from Democrats and Republicans — including some of the ideas that Republicans offered during the health-care summit.” Unfortunately, its fundamental premise remains exactly the same — a government takeover of the health-care system.
Start with those “Republican ideas”: Though mostly not bad, they’re hardly game changing.
* Increase the financial incentives for states to experiment with malpractice reform by $50 million. Wow — a million dollars per state! That undoubtedly has the trial lawyers quaking in their boots.
* Undercover stings to help root out Medicare and Medicaid fraud. Fine — but when fighting fraud in government programs becomes a major concession, it shows just how out of touch Washington has become.
* Increase Medicare reimbursements. OK, higher spending for a program that’s already going broke may well be a Republican idea, but it doesn’t exactly make Obama’s better.
…All in all, saying that these changes represent a “compromise” with Republicans is a bit like saying that Yankee speedster Brett Gardner is a home-run hitter. It’s technically true (he hit three dingers last year), but no one’s going to mistake him for Babe Ruth.
The president has also touted the new plan as “smaller” and “leaner.” Smaller and leaner than what? This version may actually cost more than the last one — breaking the $1 trillion mark even under the White House’s rosy assumptions.
At its heart, ObamaCare hasn’t changed. It still represents a top-down, centralized, command-and-control approach to reform.
The government would require everyone to have health insurance, would determine what benefits that insurance must include, would regulate insurance prices and physician reimbursement and would micromanage how medicine is practiced.
All this would be accompanied by higher taxes and, most likely, higher insurance premiums.
It is a plan that says the government knows best — when it comes to a sixth of the US economy and some of the most important, personal and private decisions in people’s lives. A few cosmetic concessions can’t fix that basic premise.
…Reportedly, as many as nine House Democrats who once voted against ObamaCare, including Rep. Scott Murphy of upstate New York, are now open to supporting the latest version. If they do, in the face of overwhelming public opposition, this new version of health reform could turn out to be Plan L — for “loser.”
Source: HERE
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!