Tag Archives: Health Care Reform

Rollback?

Posted on by
7

In the previous post on this site Andrew made the point that the Conservative Party of Canada’s new budget is anything but conservative. Now there are a plethora of reasons for the size and scope of the budget that could be debated from here to kingdom come, but the unavoidable fact is that Canada’s ‘conservative’ government has not been conservative. Under the Conservative Party of Canada there has not been a rollback of the welfare state. Canada still has state-run medical care and there is no discussion over abolishing or even really reforming the system coming from the Conservative Party, as health care is seen as a political third rail. The question that arises is “is it even possible for a government to be conservative in a welfare state?” In 1955 William F. Buckley Jr, said the goal of National Review, and the conservative movement he would lead was to “stand athwart history, yelling Stop…” What do we do if we don’t stop the left?

The left has followed Norman Thomas’ plan and implemented socialism incrementally. Once an entitlement is entrenched it is all but impossible to have it repealed. In a country like Canada even a nominally conservative government will not touch the enormous welfare state. Rather, the political debate rages over who can most effectively manage the welfare state. This is not so much an indictment of the Conservative Party as it is a realistic view of  government. Most people do not have the courage to dismantle an unsustainable welfare state because they fear the political backlash. Instead, governments pile on debts, put on band aides and kick the can down the road. This can work as a quick fix, but eventually countries have to face a day of reckoning. In order to make this eventuality less painful it would behoove  conservative governments to start scaling back the government while it is still our choice. The question is, is there the political will to rollback the state? In the United States, if Obamacare passes and Democrats lose in 2010 and 2012 will the GOP have the intestinal fortitude to scrap Obamacare? Will Social Security be reformed to make it solvent? Will the precious entitlements in the budget actually be cut? One can only hope that it is still possible not just to run on a conservative platform, but to actually implement conservative solutions once in power.

George Will Undresses Robert Reich

Posted on by
5

George Will represented common sense as usual in the latest edition of ABC’s This Week. In the debate, Will essentially reenacted Tyson vs. Spinks in his back-and-forth with former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich. Reich trotted out the old canard that medical insurance companies are making “huge profits.” However, the facts tell a different story. In fact, medical insurance is one the LEAST profitable industries in the United States. However, the highlight of the exchange came just a bit later. Will said that in order to lower premiums and increase customer satisfaction medical insurance companies should be permitted to compete accross state lines , like……. every other industry. Reich’s retort was

…[T]he recipients of health insurance don’t know what they are buying very often. Until there are common standards, minimal standards, then people are going to be taken.

To which George Will said:

There you have the premise of this legislation and the core of today’s liberalism: the American people are such dopes they can’t be counted upon to buy their own insurance.

And that is the ballgame folks. Democrats look down on ordinary people from their ivory towers. They think that all the rubes in ‘flyover country’ are know-nothing hayseeds that need Ivy League educated brats to oversee every facet of their lives. That’s why liberals come out with books like What’s the Matter With Kansas? (you can practically feel the sneering from the cutting-room floor) It is also the reason they fear and hate people like Sarah Palin – they see her as a regular person who has lived a life in line with reality – unlike them.

Here is the video followed by a transcript:

ROBERT REICH, AMERICAN PROSPECT: The health insurers are not, George, you said they’re popular and everybody likes their health insurer. They like their doctor. They hate their health insurer. And health insurance is going up in terms of rates 20, 30, 40, 50 percent in many states. In fact, Goldman Sachs just this past week has said to its many of its investors, “Invest in some insurance companies because they don’t have competition, and they have, are exhibiting huge profits.” That is money directly out of the pockets of Americans.

GEORGE WILL, ABC: A, you say they have huge profits. As you know, confiscate all the profits of all the health insurance companies, with those profits you could finance our healthcare for 48 hours. What you do for the next 363 days I don’t know. Second, you say there’s not enough competition? Fine, let them compete in a national market across state lines.

REICH: Yes, let them compete across state lines, fine. But not a race to the bottom. Set minimum federal standards because we’ve seen over and over again that the recipients of health insurance don’t know what they are buying very often. Until there are common standards, minimal standards, then people are going to be taken. And that is what’s happened over and over again.

WILL: There you have the premise of this legislation and the core of today’s liberalism: the American people are such dopes they can’t be counted upon to buy their own insurance.

Obama's Going Nuclear

Posted on by
6

Remember all the way back in 2008 when Barack Obama promised ‘no more politics as usual’? Today, the president plans to nuke that promise. President Obama is going to pursue the nuclear option (so derided by Democrats when they were in the minority) on health care (which would require 51 votes in the Senate as opposed to 60). His reasoning? Everyone does it! Guess who Obama is going to blame for this one….. you nailed it! None other than George W. Bush. It’s so nice to be living in the era of hope and change, with the new politics of Obamalot. The man of hope, who was going to end the practice of ‘politics as usual’ is using ‘politics as usual’ as his justification to ram through a bill anywhere between 58% and 52% of Americans do not want.

How else does The One plan on ramming this bill through? If you guessed scare tactics you’re today’s lucky winner. President Obama plans on painting a picture of the world where health care premiums skyrocket and everyone is at the mercy of evil insurance companies, unless his health care plan is nuked through the Senate immediately. Where else have we heard this chicken-little story that if a bill is not passed immediately the sky is going to fall? The o so necessary TARP and Porkulus bills. How have those two gems worked out? Everything is an emergency. Everything needs to be passed NOW! before anyone can read it. If legislation is not passed we’re always supposed to believe that the sky in fact will fall.

The President and his Congress have an ever expanding credibility gap. They make promises they have no intention of keeping and they are trying to enact some of the most unpopular legislation in American history. The American people do not want government-run health care, which is what any Democrat health care bill will lead to. Not now, not ever

Dems=Hypocrites, Part 2

Posted on by
3

As I wrote yesterday, when it comes to passing Obamacare through reconciliation the Democrats hypocrisy is truly astounding. The video below  documents what the ‘purist’ Democrats thought about reconciliation when they were in the minority. Be sure to listen to our interview with Ann Coulter under the radio tab, where we talk with the queen of conservatism about this issue.