Healthcare

Guest Post by Robert Romano 

The wheels have come off the wagon.

As reported by the Washington Post’s Ezra Klein, “The Gang of Six Appears to be Dead,” and the overall death of ObamaCare cannot be far behind.

If one recalls, the Gang of Six was the posse that had strolled through the dusty streets of the District of Columbia, promising a so-called “bipartisan” plan on health care. It was one of those grand compromises that feels just like a knife in the backs of the American people. But now the Gang has turned in their spurs—and the members have returned to their formative partisan camps.

The Gang had included Senators Max Baucus (D-MT), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Kent Conrad (D-ND), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Mike Enzi (R-WY). Said the Baucus Kid on Monday, “I talked to them, and they all want to do health care reform. But the sad part is a lot politics have crept in. They are being told by the Republican Party not to participate.”

But really, there’s a lot more to it than that. The lack of compromise in the Senate in particular is the end result of an overall public backlash to Barack Obama’s government-run health care scheme—and the “politics that crept in was the grassroots variety in total opposition to the Administration’s plans for no less than a complete takeover of the nation’s entire health system.

Remember, it was not so long ago that Barack Obama and his own grizzly gang were demanding that Congress pass socialized medicine into law before the August recess. Before anyone even had the chance to read it (including members of Congress).

Nancy Pelosi was just sure of it. “We will be on schedule to do as we have planned to vote for this legislation before we leave for the August recess,” she proclaimed breathlessly.

So was Harry Reid. “We are going to do health care before we leave,” he pronounced after being kicked in the guts by Obama at a Capitol Hill meeting.

When questioned about the rush, Obama said it was “because if you don’t set a deadline in this town, nothing happens.” This from a man who had barely been in town long enough to find his way to the Capitol men’s room.

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I got this note from Jim in Texas:

Although not a resident of New Hampshire, I have a very good friend there that keeps me informed of what is going on there and the misinformation that is flowing throughout the country.

I am a resident of Texas and have been for the past 18 years. I am a transplant from the Midwest and it was one of the best moves I have ever made.

Texas is a wonderful state in which to live and work. There is no state income tax here and it is pro business thus pro growth. Texas today is ranked at the top of the country in job creation and currently has a budget surplus even without state income taxes.

Now I have been following, through my friend, the debate in New Hampshire over healthcare reform and it is become obvious to me that your Representatives are doing their best to distort the record of Texas and anyone else opposed to Obamacare.

I read the Shea-Porter comments regarding healthcare and particularly laughed when I heard that Tort reform wasn’t working in Texas. (Click here for audio of CSP’s remark) Obviously right out of the leftwing playbook, Shea-Porter is doing her best to carry Pelosi-Obama water but Shea-Porter like the President is playing loose with the facts.

There is no question that healthcare has to be reformed but you cannot have true healthcare reform without addressing tort reform along with all other issues.

Tort reform in TX was initiated in TX by GW Bush in 1995 and was amended in 2003 by Rick Perry. It capped malpractice claims which affected the amount of insurance a Doctor has to carry thus the cost to doctors. As a result the number of doctors in Texas increased by 57% since 2003 which improved healthcare and reduced medical complaints. Here are excerpts out of an article by Willaim Tate that ran last week at the American Thinker entitled Health care reform that actually works.

Tate links to an op-ed from the San Francisco Examiner:

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Guest Post by Andrew Hemingway 

There are two things you never talk about at work- politics and religion. This  week John McKay, the CEO of Whole Foods, broke that rule is now paying the price. On Tuesday Mr. Mckay wrote into the Wall Street Journal and editorial about Obamacare–in fact the article is entitled “The Whole Foods Alternative to Obamacare”.

Mr. McKay, the founder and CEO of one of the “greenest” companies in the country, gave a perspective to the healthcare debate that has been sorely missing: that of a business owner.  Mr. McKay lays out 8 things that he would like to see done in regards to healthcare and they are fantastic. In fact I was shocked to read them, as I had wrongly assumed that the owner of such a company would have to be in the bag for Obama and his agenda. Boy was I wrong!

Here are the 8 things that McKay says need to be done:

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The focus of the national agenda this summer has clearly become reforming America’s health care system. Bring it on! There is no question that our health care system needs to be reformed to squeeze out the much inflated expenses and to assure high quality care. The American healthcare system is the most expensive in the world. And it is clear that, by any statistical measure, we are not getting value for money. Not only do these costs put proper health care out of reach for many middle class Americans, but these inflated costs are also making our products uncompetitive in the world economy, adding to our other economic problems.
 
Unfortunately however, in the proposals that have emerged, we seem to have taken our eye off the ball. The true challenge – the cost vs. quality issue – has become sidetracked. The debate has now become about health insurance, though this is only a part of the problem. Important as it is, insurance coverage is merely a way to pay for medical care. The focus should really be on the actual medical care delivery system, where the costs versus quality problems are to be found. To date, we have not touched those issues.  We are, in effect, putting the cart before the horse. And if the acrimony over insurance is any guide, the storm from that debate will be even more ferocious than today’s.
 
Since the discussion is now centered of insurance, it is worthwhile considering the merit of the existing proposal otherwise knows as HR 3200 Two questions in particular seem to be the most contentious: 1) will such a system lower patient’s medical costs 2) how would the public option impact the existing medical insurance system.  We would, of course, a ll like to see the 47 million currently uninsur ed people have access to quality health care, especially in catastrophic situations. But the stark reality is that suddenly adding such a large block of people in a total spectrum plan will cause a sharp spike in medical costs. It is a simple supply and demand calculation. Add to this the $1 trillion price tag and you get a big new shock to the system – at a time when the system can least absorb it. We should first streamline the system before we add a major new load onto it.
 
But the bigger issue is…

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