Friday, July 17, 2009

If Obamacare is so swell, why do Members of Congress get their own separate plan?

I don't know about you, but I'm plenty excited by the prospect of an Obama designed Health Administration Bureau:

The only puzzling thing is why the Democrat party is trying to ram Obamacare through Congress with a separate healthcare plan for Members of Congress attached. Republican Rep. John Fleming is puzzled too and has introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives to change it:

Under the current draft of the Democrat healthcare legislation, members of Congress are curiously exempt from the government-run health care option, keeping their existing health plans and services on Capitol Hill. If Members of Congress believe so strongly that government-run health care is the best solution for hard working American families, I think it only fitting that Americans see them lead the way. Public servants should always be accountable and responsible for what they are advocating, and I challenge the American people to demand this from their representatives.

Together we will work to ensure that any plan that is good enough is for American families is good enough for every member of Congress.

View Resolution

Meanwhile over in the Senate, Tom Coburn had a little fun too:

Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma called bluff on the Democrats' support for their own health care bill by challenging his colleagues on the Senate health committee to vote in favor of joining the program once enacted.

Mr. Coburn said, "what's good for the goose is good for the gander," and that "if Congress thinks a government-run plan is safe and effective for Americans, they should prove it with enrolling."

All the Republicans on the committee, except for New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg, voted for the amendment, but only three of the panel's 13 Democratic caucus member joined them. The 10 others voted "nay," though the amendment thus passed by a 12-11 vote.

The Democratic senators who voted against it were Sens. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Patty Murray of Washington, Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island. Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont, an independent but a member of the Democratic caucus, also opposed the bill.

Democrats who voted in favor of the amendment were: Sens. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut and Barbara A. Mikulski of Maryland.

Gosh, why would those 10 Democrat Senators turn down a chance to participate in Obamacare? Maybe it's because they are older than dirt and don't want their medical care rationed along with the rest of the senior citizens? As for the 3 Donks who voted for it, I'd like to think it was the courage of their convictions, but since we are talking Kennedy, Dodd, and Mikulski I suspect it was their conviction that the amendment will get dropped in the House-Senate conference committee plus enough liquid assets to buy whatever medical care they need.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Hold on Granny! Your medical care has to first be approved by Obamacare

But don't worry, Obamacare is a streamlined government program:

Obamacare flowchart (click for full details on the processing of your Obamacare claim)

So don't worry, Granny. With any luck you will be scheduled to see a doctor within a year. And if not, well you are old and really aren't going to live that long anyhow.

Obamacare means shortchanging the elderly but they'll be dead soon anyway

Obamacare grave diggers

Mickey Kaus spots my favorite shortcoming of the Obamacare plan to spend a trillion dollars to screw up US medical care:

Dick Morris is right twice a day, and this could be one of those times: If I were a Hill Democrat, I'd be very worried about this possible line of attack. ... It's a proven killer, and Obaman Dems, with all their talk of bending cost curves and denying treatments and  reducing Medicare spending by 30%, have rendered themselves wide open to it.

I tend to agree with Kaus about Dick Morris, but this time he is right on the money:

Obama’s health care proposal is, in effect, the repeal of the Medicare program as we know it. The elderly will go from being the group with the most access to free medical care to the one with the least access. Indeed, the principal impact of the Obama health care program will be to reduce sharply the medical services the elderly can use. No longer will their every medical need be met, their every medication prescribed, their every need to improve their quality of life answered.

It is so ironic that the elderly - who were so vigilant when Bush proposed to change Social Security - are so relaxed about the Obama health care proposals. Bush’s Social Security plan, which did not cut their benefits at all, aroused the strongest opposition among the elderly. But Obama’s plan, which will totally gut Medicare and replace it with government-managed care and rationing, has elicited little more than a yawn from most senior citizens.

I expect most of the senior citizens can't really believe it is happening and their favorite news sources on the TV networks sure aren't telling them nor are the erstwhile watchdogs at the AARP who are busy giving Obama a tongue bath. Besides senior citizens tend to vote Republican so killing them off is a double win for Obama because ACORN and the local Democrat machine will have them voting Democrat as soon as they die.

(Shovel ready graphics from The People's Cube)