RSS 2.0 Follow Us!

Related Posts

Healthcare Reform – The Battle Begins
  • John and I will be posting a series of articles in the coming weeks/months to highlight key aspects of the healthcare reform debate that is going on in Congress. In reality, the battle for the future of our healthcare system began with the last election. And given the outcome in November, it is pretty much a foregone conclusion that major healthcare reform legislation will be signed into law later this [...]
    • The Heart of ObamaCare
  • Nat Hentoff says be afraid, be very afraid: To call the dangers of this legislation “death panels” obscures the real-life consequences to Americans, not only the elderly, of a federal government-run health care bureaucracy. In the Senate bill, for instance, Medicare doctors whose treatments each year of certain, mostly elderly, patients costs more than a set government figure will be punished by losing part of their own incomes. Not only [...]
    • Mayo Clinic on Medicare for All
  • Hot Air is on a roll this morning. First Allah notices this blockbuster reaction to the new Senate Health Reform compromise from the Mayo Clinic: The current Medicare payment system is financially unsustainable. Any plan to expand Medicare, which is the government’s largest public plan, beyond its current scope does not solve the nation’s health care crisis, but compounds it. We need to fix Medicare by moving it to a [...]
    • Time: Cadillac Health Plans Not What You Think
  • They could have headlined this: Government tries to outsmart markets; fails again: [S]ome lawmakers have proposed capping the amount of employer-sponsored health insurance that could be provided tax-free — leaving only workers with pricey, so-called Cadillac health plans worth north of $25,000 a year subject to new taxation… [T]he powerful Senate Finance Committee has reportedly pivoted from taxing workers to embracing a plan to tax the insurers who offer the [...]
    • Dems Out on a Limb: Health Reform Must Pass
  • That’s the sense you get reading this new piece on the behind the scenes action in the health reform debate. The piece begins and ends with the political necessity of passing…something, anything: Having bet the farm, President Barack Obama needs a win and is willing to settle for a cheaper bill and a weaker public insurance option… “I believe we’re getting a bill,” he [Rep. Miller] continued. “I believe we’re [...]
    • Public Loves ObamaCare…NOT!
  • From the Washington Post: A bare majority of Americans still believe government action is needed to control runaway health-care costs and expand coverage to the roughly 46 million people without insurance. But after a year of exhortation by President Obama and Democratic leaders and a high-octane national debate, there is minimal public enthusiasm for the kind of comprehensive changes in health care now under consideration. There are also signs the [...]
    • Laffer on ObamaCare
  • I recommend reading the whole thing, but here’s a sample: [W]hen the government spends money on health care, the patient does not. The patient is then separated from the transaction in the sense that costs are no longer his concern. And when the patient doesn’t care about costs, only those who want higher costs—like doctors and drug companies—care. Thus, health-care reform should be based on policies that diminish the health-care [...]
    • R.J. Samuelson: ObamaCare is Malpractice
  • Robert J. Samuelson writing in today’s Washington Post: There is an air of absurdity to what is mistakenly called “health-care reform.” Everyone knows that the United States faces massive governmental budget deficits as far as calculators can project, driven heavily by an aging population and uncontrolled health costs. As we recover slowly from a devastating recession, it’s widely agreed that, though deficits should not be cut abruptly (lest the economy [...]
    • Success in Iraq
  • No garuntees it will last of course, but we saw some real success this weekend in Iraq: The weekend’s elections in Iraq were a huge success for the Iraqi people. The remarkably peaceful day of voting on Saturday – and the interim results – give good reason to hope Iraq really is on the way to building a decent society. These provincial elections were held in 14 of the country’s [...]

    • Catastrophic Success

    John on December 17, 2009 at 7:38 am

    Matthew Dowd writes in today’s Washington Post:

    Congressional Democrats and Obama are headed toward a “catastrophic success” politically if they pass health-care reform in its current legislative form. And catastrophic success was a term then-President Bush used on Iraq when he acknowledged the great initial victory but didn’t take into account the long-term calamity and costs.

    [...]

    At present, a majority of Americans are against the effort, the legislation lacks bipartisan support, the costs of the reforms are upfront, and the benefits won’t kick in until after the 2012 elections. When has that ever been a formula for political success?

    If this legislation passes, Democrats will be held accountable for any failures or problems in the system. So if Americans’ insurance premiums rise, they will blame the Democrats. If patients have to wait in line at emergency rooms, it will be seen as the Democrats’ fault. If health-care costs don’t drop, the Democrats will face the wrath of the electorate.

    Like I was saying…Pyrrhic victory.

    Category: Health & Education |

    3 Comments

    1. ChrisB

      “If this legislation passes, Democrats will be held accountable for any failures or problems in the system.”

      This seems a bit optimistic. They’ll find a way to spin it so that the GOP is at least partly responsible (e.g., they didn’t engage with us), and the GOP will probably flub the defense.

      December 17, 2009 @ 7:58 am
    2. Geoffrey Britain

      In the run-up to the 2010 elections, all the republicans have to do is run commercials with video of the many times when Obama made assurance after assurance that costs wouldn’t go up, etc., etc. Then show clips of the many republican and conservative warnings as to what would happen if the dems passed their legislation.

      When the dems try to spin it, with the only line of manure possible; “well, costs would have gone higher, if we hadn’t passed reform” it will ring hollow. Independents and moderates will rightly feel that all the dems managed to do is make things much worse.

      By 2012, they’ll have hoisted themselves upon their own ‘petard’ so high that not even the MSM will be able to pull their bacon out of the fire of public opinion.

      December 17, 2009 @ 9:34 am
    3. Tweets that mention Catastrophic Success | Verum Serum -- Topsy.com

      [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Verum Serum, Bad Mayo. Bad Mayo said: Catastrophic Success – HealthCare passing will be pyrrhic victory for dems http://bit.ly/6X8SSY #tcot #ocra [...]

      December 17, 2009 @ 10:31 am

    Leave a reply

    1. You will post the following soon.
      Go ahead and start typing.

    More articles

    Previous:
    Next: