It’s been a crazy-busy day for me today, one that followed by an even crazier day for the folks in our nation’s capital, and that one word title kinda sums up my reaction to the day.
Crap.
As in what I said when I heard Obama’s poorly named “Health Care Reform” bill barely got the votes needed to pass it.
Crap.
As in what the politicians supporting this bill are full of and are spreading around thick. Example: Our Glorious President said last week that this bill will add “almost a decade of solvency to Medicare;” wonderful, but what happens after that? And does anybody else notice the irony in a statement like that being used to defend a program that will make Medicare look like a first-aid box by comparison? How long will Obamacare program stay solvent? And what new and bigger-still program will be proposed to extend Obamacare’s solvency when it’s suffered a few decades of expansion and three card monte at the hands of politicians?
They say it will ‘only’ cost just shy of a trillion dollars, but it will reduce the deficit by hundreds of billions in the first ten years. Bull crap. What they don’t tell us is that “$53 billion of the $118 billion “lower” deficit over the next 10 years comes from Social Security payroll tax revenues that result from the increase in wages that employers will offer employees instead of health insurance.” Horse hockey. But what about the burgeoning number of Social Security recipients that will be on the government dole in the next ten years? Seems like the CBO might have missed that little detail.
There’s also the matter of some $463 billion in cuts to the Medicare program over the next decade. While Obamacare essentially adds how many millions of people to the Medicare rolls? The cost to run Medicare isn’t going to magically shrink in the coming years; it seems like every day you hear something about some pharmacy chain or hospital or group of doctors that refuse to see any new Medicare patients because when they bill Medicare for services rendered, they either don’t get paid or get paid a fraction of the bill. It also looks like the Feds will just push some of those costs off to the states and make them worry about where it comes from. Can you say “unfunded mandate”? Last I heard there were already eleven states lining up to bring suit against the Federal Government once Obama signs this thing into law. (and what do you wanna bet that nobody in Congress or the CBO took legal costs into consideration.)
Crap.
As in what this bill is worth.
If you listen to the Democrats and the mainstream media, this bill is full of Sunshine and Rainbows and Puppy Dogs. It’s passage is important not only for the President’s Legacy, but it will also reduce the deficit, be revenue-neutral, cure blindness, eliminate hunger, cool the climate, slow the rise of the oceans, heal the planet… (sorry; different speech.) Meanwhile the Republicans counter with their own version of what this bill will accomplish, and paints a somewhat less rosy picture. Somehow I think the reality of the thing be somewhere in between, but as trustworthy as the Democrats have proven to be since taking control of Washington, I’d say the Republican version is closer to reality. The good that’s in it is more than outweighed by the bad in it. Like a pan of brownies made with all the best ingredients, but has had a half cup of dog crap mixed in. I don’t care how great the other ingredients are, you won’t catch me eating one.
Yup. Crap is the word.
Tags: health care reform, obamacare
I think the future of this bill is the same as the ADA that Clinton passed when he was in office. It will slowly get dismantled over the next half-decade as lawsuits make their way through the courts and the Republicans regain power in Congress and likely the White House in 2012. The ADA is a shadow today of what it original legislated, and this bill will likely fare the same.