If we don’t do something immediately we are headed for a catastrophe. Do these words sound familiar? They should, that’s what we were told when the bank bailout “had” to be passed, its what we heard when the $800 billion stimulus bill “had” to be passed, its what was said when the auto makers were taken over. Now once again it is the battle cry of the president but this time its health care that is doomed to end in utter catastrophe if the government doesn’t take control of immediately.
So many catastrophies, so little time.
Take a look around at how well all the other catastrophes turned out after the government stepped in.
- AIG got big bonuses anyway because Christopher Dodd and Barrack Obama made sure they did.
- The stimulus plan fizzled after the promises of new job creation fell far short of the Presidents rantings and the publics expectations.
- The auto makers are now all bankrupt (except Ford) and selling off their bad assets while shafting their bond holders into accepting pennies on the dollar for debts legitimately owed to them in the process.
I am not saying that there isn’t a problem with the cost of health care in this country; what I am saying is that a government run health care system is not the best solution to the problem. “Socialized medicine” is the new term for it, though not all people like that name it does describe the idea well.
In a speech given today intended to garner support from the AMA-(American Medical Association) for his “Socialized Medicine” plan the president eluded to the idea of capping malpractice suits against doctors. He said “I recognize that it will be hard to make some of these changes if doctors feel like they are constantly looking over their shoulder for fear of lawsuits.” At the same time he still opposes capping malpractice damages awards on the record; meaning he has not outright proposed a cap only a recognition of the issue. Furthermore the trial lawyers who have been big supporters of democrats in the past have no intention of allowing a cap on these lawsuits without a fight and most assuredly a threat of pulling campaign contributions as retribution for such a policy. In short don’t expect it to happen, its all lip service.
The Wrong Prescription
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made sure his voice was heard as he referred to the “Socialized Medicine” plan as “the wrong prescription” as he went on to say that “Americans want change, but they don’t want changes that will make existing problems worse. And that’s exactly what a government-run system would do.”
President Obama stated that the plan would cost around $1 trillion or more over the next ten years.
“Or more” being the important words of that statement. Lets face facts his numbers crunchers haven’t done the best job at determining the costs and benefits of the administrations’ dealings. The Stimulus package will cost far more in the long run than expected because of a lack of tax revenue caused by the recession, the jobs created and saved was a delusional number that he still stands by even though its impossible to determine if a job was saved as a result of his spending of tax dollars.
Besides everyone knows that the cost of health care is steadily rising and that will not stop over night therefore his $1 trillion todaycould be $2 trillion tomorrow. Besides he already said the government is running out of money so this is more deficit spending. I guess that shouldn’t shock me.
They Say it will Fail
In his speech to the AMA in Chicago he said,
“They’ll give dire warnings about socialized medicine and government takeovers; long lines and rationed care; decisions made by bureaucrats and not doctors. We’ve heard it all before — and because
these fear tactics have worked, things have kept getting worse,” he said.
We’ve heard it all before…… Yes we have! We have heard it from Canadians who would rather travel to The U.S. for their health care because its not government ran and because there are no lines of rationed care, the same complaints are made in England and other European nations with systems of “Socialized Medicine”.
The fear tactics worked because they are fact tactics.
The fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats, in The House of Representatives, doubt that health-care reform legislation will curb rising costs of health care while maintaining current standards of care.
On Tuesday the Republicants plan to release an alternative plan to that of the presidents. Lets hope it has more substance than their alternative plan to the stimulus package which was a joke by any standard.
Hang on to your hats folks this could get nasty real soon. In any case the outcome doesn’t look good.
Its a Cracked World, but we already know that don’t we?
