Posted by
Bill Crawford on Saturday, March 20, 2010 8:43:43 AM
Myth #1: "You can keep your doctor, and your health plan". Thanks, Mr. President. The question is, after you set new mandates and price controls on them, will they want to keep us? Or will they look at a world in which they have their premiums set by Uncle Sam, but are now required to insure children to age 26 and take on all pre-existing conditions and decide they are out of the business- leaving us to pick which option?
Myth #2: This is not a universal health care program. The hell it isn't. Obama has been saying publicly for a decade now that it would be hard to wean us all off employer based health care, and there would be a "transition period". Welcome to the transition, folks. If the government sets the rules and the prices, they can push anybody out of the market they choose to. It's just a matter of time.
Myth #3: It will reduce the deficit. This is a possibility, but only if all the patients in America follow along and allow the industry to enact a draconian world of rationing. Think about it, folks: we're already having trouble graduating doctors. Technology is expensive. And we're about to insure over 30 million new patients, many of whom can't afford it. In that world, if the costs are going down, where is that coming from?
Myth #4: There is no wording about abortion in this bill. That is the tag line answer that was attempted at the raucous town hall meetings last year. That is the point, though: if Roe V. Wade is set Federal law, then if there is no wording in the bill, then nothing stands in the way of taxpayer subsidy, no? That is why Rep. Stupak wanted an amendment to the bill, and wants one today.
Myth #5: Whatever deals are left in the bill are for all the states. So the Louisiana Purchase is still there because it applies to Hawaii, too? How? And if student loans are a funtion of the federal government now, when one bank in North Dakota is allowed to breach that monopoly, that is a service to which other states? By the way, if federalizing that program saves us $19B in stipends, that is now included in the CBO health care "deficit reduction" estimates?
Myth #6: Republicans don't want reform, they want the status quo. Obama loves this one, and evidently his chosen audiences do, too. Unfortunately, most of usconservatives, if asked, can reel off about five or six things we would like to see reform include, and acknowledging that we have the best health care system on the planet does not necessarily entail that it has no problems to address.
Myth #7: We tried getting bi-partisan support, but they didn't want to help. You know, I was awake earlier this year, when Obama met with the GOP caucus. He listened to their ideas, and at the end, he said: "But remember, we won the election". And soon after that, it became obvious that not only were none of them going to be included, their amendments would not be allowed, either.
What is happening this weekend is the end result of the most arrogant use of parliamentary power I've ever seen here in my lifetime. I understand I am a partisan, but I am a historian as well. There will be a response to all this, one way or another, and it certainly doesn't end here. I will watch the events of Sunday carefully, and we will move on.
But I can tell you right now, there will be hell to pay for all this.