Federal Round-up

Posted by John LaPlante in Health Care on Jun 23rd, 2009 | no responses

Here are a few federal-level items I've found of interest lately:

Obama Breaks Health Care Pledge… Before He Makes It, David Ridenour. Remember the promise that you can keep your doctor if you'd like to? Tell that to the people in Medicare Advantage.

Mark Steyn talks about how an over-reaching government deadens the soul, in Being Taken Care of Weakens Us. It's hard to pick just one quote, but here it goes: "One notes that even in Somalia, which still has high childhood mortality, not to mention a state of permanent civil war, functioning government has collapsed, and yet life expectancy has increased from 49 to 55. Maybe if government were to collapse entirely in Washington, our life expectancy would show equally remarkable gains. Just thinking outside the box here."

In what appears to be an old radio address, Ronald Reagan warned about the dangers of implementing socialism by incremental measures. It appears to predate the establishment of Medicare.

Obama's Health Care Reform: The Demise of Federalism, The Heritage Foundation. Unfortunately, the value of federalism has been lost on many people. Witness fact that "federal government" has become a synonym for "national government."

Obama's Health Care Bait and Switch, Americans for Tax Reform. My favorite line: ": the solution to runaway costs is a $635 billion subsidy of the health care industry, paid in part by a "modest" $300 billion increase in income taxes! Apparently bored of his old job as car-dealer-in-chief, the President has decided to try his hand as a huckstering insurance salesman." (Sigh. I remember when $300 billion was the entire budget for the Department of Defense.)

Public Option Is A 'Trojan Horse' For Slow-Motion Socialized Care, David Gratzer. "Mr. Obama's personal goals are beside the point. The problem is that a giant public insurance plan — a public plan option that would be the core of his health reform and included in the Democratic House bill — will be a Trojan horse whether the President wants one or not."

Taking A Razor To President's Health Reform, George F. Will. Why does the president, who says that were America 'starting from scratch' he would favor a "single payer," government-run system, insist that health care reform include a government insurance plan that competes with private insurers? The simplest answer is that such a plan will lead to a single-payer system."

Public Option To Cut Health Costs? Medicare's Record Says Dream On, Jeffrey H. Anderson. "Across nearly four decades, Medicare's costs have risen more than one-third more, per patient, than the combined costs of all health care nationwide apart from Medicare and Medicaid. This is true even when viewing Medicare's costs in a charitable light."

And finally, in the "it's good to have friends in high places" department, Susan Ferrechio says that Union workers would be exempt from Dem health care tax.