HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius made headlines this weekend when she signaled that the Obama Administration is open to dropping the so-called “public option” from legislation to overhaul heath care in an effort to reach a compromise. Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union yesterday, Sebelius said the public option “is not an essential element” of President Obama’s plan for health care reform.
Almost immediately, the media’s attention turned its focus to “insurance cooperatives,” or co-ops, as an alternative to a public option. Don’t be fooled!
As Michael Tanner at the CATO Institute points out, “Government-run health care is government-run health care no matter what you call it.” Tanner writes:
The health care “co-op” approach now embraced by the Obama administration will still give the federal government control over one-sixth of the U.S. economy, with a government-appointed board, taxpayer funding, and with bureaucrats setting premiums, benefits, and operating rules.
The Associated Press is reporting that the “end of life counseling” provision passed in the HR 3200 will not be included in the Senate bill. According to the article:
Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement Thursday that the provision had been dropped from consideration because it could be misinterpreted or implemented incorrectly.
By now, most people have read — or at least heard about — the USA Today column in which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer labeled the protesters of Obama’s health care plan “Un-American.” But apparently the Madam Speaker used to be a big fan of those “angry mobs.”
In a January 2006 town hall event, captured in this video being circulated on the web, Pelosi applauded a group of disruptive, anti-war protesters by stating, “your advocacy is very American and very important.” She went further in stating, “There is nothing more articulate, more eloquent to a member of Congress than the voice of his or her own constituents.”
Pelosi closed by saying “I am a fan of disruptors!” I guess she is only “a fan” when it’s convenient for her agenda.
If the Waxman-Markey Cap-and-Trade bill (H.R. 2454) becomes law, U.S. economic growth could be slashed by 2.4 percent and the legislation would cost 2 million jobs by 2030. This, according to a recent study conducted by the Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) and released today.
The study, which was commissioned by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and the American Council for Capital Formation (ACCF), assesses the impact of the Waxman-Markey bill on manufacturing, jobs, energy prices and the overall U.S. economy. According to a summary of the study, “The NAM and ACCF released national data as well as the analysis for 15 industrial states that would be impacted greatly if this or similar legislation is signed into law. The full report, including the data covering the remaining 35 states will be released in the coming weeks.”
The Senate is expected to take up its version of climate change legislation in September. This latest study is yet another in a growing list of reasons why it shouldn’t.
At his town hall meeting in Portsmouth, NH yesterday, President Obama again bragged about the AARP’s support of his plan for government-run health care. The President proudly proclaimed to his hand-picked crowd of supporters:
We have the AARP on board because they know this is a good deal for our seniors.
Obama added,
AARP would not be endorsing a bill if it was undermining Medicare.
But hold the phone, folks. According to the Associated Press and Fox News, AARP’s chief operating officer Tom Nelson moved quickly to correct the record, saying, “indications that we have endorsed any of the major health care reform bills currently under consideration in Congress are inaccurate.” That forced White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs to backtrack, claiming that the President didn’t mean to mislead the American people.
AARP has been under heavy fire for appearing with Obama on numerous occasions in the last several months seemingly in support of the President’s health care plan — and by extension, the various plans being pushed by Congressional Democrats. But with support among seniors dwindling, it is no surprise the AARP is now seemingly looking for an out.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey released yesterday shows that a whopping 56% of those over age 65 are opposed, and 46% of senior citizens are strongly opposed.
The Obama Administration and so-called leaders in Congress have gone to great lengths to portray opponents of government-run health care in a negative light.
Taxpayers who have turned out in large numbers at town hall meetings across the country have been labeled AstroTurf. Senator Barbara Boxer has implied the protests are “staged” because the people doing the protesting are “well-dressed.” And in an op-ed in USA Today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer have gone so far as to call the hard-working Americans who have chosen to exercise their First Amendment rights to peaceably assemble and petition their government… “Un-American!”
So let’s get this straight, when Left of Center organizations and Big Labor Unions pay professional protesters to turn out and support their agenda, that’s the American way. But when hard-working Americans who are frustrated that their elected officials won’t listen to them speak up in opposition to a major piece of legislation, that’s un-American?
Well, here’s what the mother of government-run health care, Hillary Clinton, had have to say about such criticism of civic participation back in 2003?
To a cheering crowd in 2003, Hillary said: “I am sick and tired of people who say that if you debate and you disagree with this administration somehow you’re not patriotic. And, we should stand up and say we are Americans and we have the right to debate and disagree with any Administration.”
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