President Obama
Posted by Mike Sylvester - 9/8/09 @ 11:01 pm - Filed Under National Politics
President Obama is giving an address to both houses of Congress tomorrow. He is doing this because his “signature” health care reform legislation is in serious danger of failing this year.
This debate has been interesting to watch. The Democrats have handled this so badly that President Obama’s approval rating has dropped below 50% and the “pundits” are all of the sudden predicting large Republican gains in 2010.
There is a lot of speculation about what kind of speech President Obama is gong to give.
Some people think he will try to take the middle ground and pass bi-partisan legislation. Others think he will try to push health care reform with a public option and go for the whole enchilada…
I am in the latter group.
I think President Obama will do the following tomorrow:
- I think he will re-iterate his support for a public option.
- I think he will continue to demonize the health insurance industry.
- I think he will decide NOT to lay out his own legislation; I think this is a big mistake.
- I think he will be less vague than he has to date; however, I think he will continue the vague generalities he used on the campaign trail and that he has used to date.
I do NOT think he health care reform legislation the President wants will be passed this year. The Democratic Party is in complete disarray and their timing is terrible. Americans are concerned about the economy and not so concerned about health care reform.
Mike Sylvester
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11 Responses to “President Obama”
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The left will somehow get some kind of reform which gets their foot in the door.Eventually leading to the public option.Have you noticed “Public Option” is Orwellian doublespeak?It is obviously “government option”. But I hope you have it right Mike.
What is the definition of a RIGHT? A right is anything that does not require a sacrifice from another person or places a burden on another person to fulfill. Is Healthcare a right, no? It requires sacrifice by others and places a burden on others for it to take place.
Is healthcare a moral obligation? If it is a moral obligation, then what are food, shelter and water? Are these moral obligations and if so are they more important or imminent than healthcare? What we have never created as a nation is a set of priorities. We have many programs that are failures such as Medicaid, Medicare, Fannie May, Freddie Mac, the U.S. Treasury, Federal Pension Guaranty program, Social Security and more.
Now the nation is debating healthcare, another program. The first question that should be asked is, is this a function of government? If it is, then we should look at Medicare, Medicaid and Veterans Healthcare as teachable lessons. Both Medicare and Medicaid have shifted trillions of dollars of costs from a few to everyone else. The payroll tax of Medicare is inadequate and the trust fund will be exhausted in 2017, then what? What about those born after 1952? Do we raise the payroll tax even more; do we charge those born prior to 1952 a higher premium to recoup what congress failed to charge them?
As a parent I am responsible for my families well being FIRST! My first priority is to take care and provide for my family FIRST. However, the government believes my first priority is to support Medicare and Medicaid and takes without asking dollars out of my paycheck. I then compete against those on Medicare and Medicaid for healthcare using my own dollars! Because Medicare and Medicaid cost shift, I pay more for my healthcare. In addition I compete against employer subsidized healthcare insurance when they negotiate rates nearly as low as Medicare again shifting cost to all others.
Government has artificially stimulated the healthcare industry: pharmaceuticals, medical implants, technology, procedures, diagnostics and more. Individuals who work in the healthcare industry are engineers, janitors, maintenance, data processors, nurses, doctors, specialists and more. They are neighbors, parents, brothers and sisters. They all provide labor and as such want raises like everyone else. Healthcare is labor intensive and there is no force multiplier, a doctor treats one person at a time. This makes healthcare costs rise at wage rates, not inflation. In addition the US has primarily private hospital rooms instead of four to a room increasing costs by 300% and decreasing efficiency. The US has the highest ratio of MRI, CT, diagnostic equipment, hospital rooms than any other country. The US System is based on “waiting for a patient to arrive” rather than other countries based on “patients waiting to be treated.” The US has lower utilization rates, yet this technology must be paid for, resulting in higher per service costs.
Medicare began with good intentions. Medicaid began with good intentions. Social Security was begun with good intentions, yet good intentions have never produced a single government program that did not become costly.
The U.S. has not had budget surplus since 1957. Every single stimulus package, tax reduction or fix to government programs that borrowed money to do so has never been repaid. In fact the interest paid on these borrowed funds was in fact borrowed, compounding the problem.
Employers are allowed to provide health insurance to employees in lieu of paying higher wages. This is nothing more than a tax subsidy. The government does this with IRA’s, education credits, charitable deductions, child tax credits, mortgage interest and 401-k’s. The government has been so good at doling out special tax breaks to groups that everyone has a hand out. Who is paying the cost of all these hand outs, the economy? We all want lower taxes and more benefits. The only question is how much are you willing to pay for a new program, or should I say how much are you willing to saddle your children with?
The solution is simple. No healthcare provider can charge different entities, that it sees, different prices for the exact same service (CPT code). This would eliminate the cost shifting of Medicare, Medicaid and insurance (both private and company sponsored) to all others.
The definition of insurance is where a group of people pool resources together where the risk of occurrence is low, yet the loss could be great if it occurred. Insurance does not work when the risk of a loss is great. The risk that people go to the doctors for flue, vaccinations, broken bones and other ailments are frequent. Do you really want to pay an extra fee to cover the cost of administration in paying for these? The simple truth is healthcare costs money and each of us needs to face the fact we are responsible for the basic costs. With that said, the deductible should be about $2,000 per person. This provides incentive not to over use the system, reduced processing and puts controlling cost in the hands of the consumer. It would also provide catastrophic coverage for the low risk occurrences that if they did happen could bankrupt you.
It will pass- with or without Republicans in support.
Kevin,
After listening to tonights speech I would be willing to make a bet with you!
I do not think it will pass…
Mike
It won’t pass Mike and Kevin.
Drudge Report
Bottom line? A right is what society says it is at a particular time in history.
If we decide that health care is a right just as education is a right, then health care will be reformed, one way or another.
Rights have evolved over the centuries that this country has existed. In case many of you don’t remember or haven’t paid attention, voting is now a right for segments that did not originally have that right to vote - such as women and blacks.
Slavery was considered a right to southerners for most of the South for decades - and, by the way, the slave trade was protected in the Constitution until 1808. The right of owning other human beings was eliminated - theoretically with the Emancipation Proclamation and constitutionally by the 13th amendment.
So get ready to change your opinion of exactly just what is a right. I think health insurance reform or health care reform (whatever you want to call it) will pass.
I agree with Kevin - it will pass; no doubt in my mind…
Bill,
Why not rail against the VA system that you benefit from? That too costs a tremendous amount of money. The vast majority of those that benefit from that system made the conscious decision to join the military knowing the potential consequences. Your arguments would seem to be against that system as well
“If we decide that health care is a right just as education is a right, then health care will be reformed, one way or another.”
I think you have confused benefits/entitlements with Rights. The bill of rights are not benefits, they place no burden on another. Slaver was not viewed as a right, but property and was legislated by states, not the U.S. Constitution.
Jeff, I am 100% against the VA system. Based on my injuries (skull fracture, concussion, 2nd and 3rd degree burns, too the bone lacerations and more) they have miss diagnosed my problem so badly that I could right a book about it.
In 2006 I went back to the VA for treatment for injuries. Based on my symptoms and their tests, I needed to see a cardiologist. A request was made in July 2006. Not known to me until July 2009, that there were only two cardiologists in the State of Indiana for the VA, the request was canceled in August 2006. The problems got worse. A combination of seizure disorder, paralysis, head trauma and undiagnosed mono for two years in the Navy led to a combination of factors that individually are easily treated. Then two idiots assaulted me and created a cascade of problems that now cannot be treated without aggravating the other problems.
The VA was twenty steps behind in 1981. They did improve, but in 2006 were still ten steps behind. Now they understand the problem (most likely due to those who survived Iraq and Afghanistan with very traumatic injuries who otherwise would have died in Vietnam). My problem is, it is too little, too late.
In summary the VA disregarded the symptoms, missed diagnosed, did the tests, but decided things were not quite right, cancelled tests and services because of availability and in the end it was Parkview who had to correct the problem. However, in correcting the problem that was there since 1979, they created a much larger and serious problem.
As I was told in my third hospitalization in the past eight weeks, I am between a rock and a hard place.
For those who think the VA is the ideal model for healthcare, please talk to a service connected Vet, not a veteran who receives treatment because he qualifies based on income.
They will pass something. The public option will not be included, and the president even though he doesn’t want it and the american people do, will blame the senate as to why it didn’t pass. So Obama will get what he wants in the end. The american people will get another medicare and medicaid mess and most of the americans who don’t have insurance, still won’t have insurance.
If a Healthcare Bill is passed, it will certainly aggrivate the situation. The Social Security Administration’s web site has recently added information on different solutions to increase solvency for 45 cohorts paid by 75 cohorts of working people.
“Proposed Provision: Provide for OASDI payroll tax coverage of employer provided group health insurance cost, starting in 2010. Specifically, any cost toward such group health insurance borne by employees would cease to be deductible, and the cost borne by employers would now be allocated to employees as if it had been wages, for the purpose of payroll tax (and later, benefit) calculations. Both employee and employer OASDI payroll taxes would be affected by this proposal.”
In simple terms this would now cause the company to pay FICA taxes on employer based health insurance, the first step to actually making healthcare fair. By doing this, there is little incentive to having the employer pay for insurance. The employer does not save 7.65% and the employee now must pay 7.65% for their share of healthcare costs. When this happens, people will use less, shop around and doctors will compete for business instead of cherry pick.