HC Reform Voting Begins
NOTE:
After this article was posted, the U.S. Senate rejected Reid and Stabenow’s attempt to decouple Medicare Reimbursements from health care reform legislation. [4] Twelve Democrats and one Independent joined all forty Republicans in opposing the measure handing Reid and Pres. Obama the first major defeat in the administrations health care reform strategy. This vote is the first real vote on health care reform and signals to the White House and the Democratic congressional leadership that overwhelming voter opposition to the proposed means of implementing health care reform is having an effect on Democrats who are in more conservative districts. (It’s my hope that this blog contributed in some small way to this defeat)
This vote should energize the conservative base and their grassroots efforts to keep the pressure on their legislators to achieve health care reform while sticking to the principles stated by the President – specifically by not adding “one dime to our deficits – either now or in the future”, with transparency, and real impact on the uninsured.
It’s time for the President to get serious about his promise of transparency and bipartisanship. When Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson (D) worked on Civil Rights legislation, he had a Democratic majority in both the House and the Senate. He could have had the Democratic leadership craft and pass Civil Rights legislation without a single vote from Republicans. Instead, he demonstrated his commitment to bipartisanship by asking the Republican leadership to manage the legislation. The result was the Civil Rights Act that pasted with bipartisan support and brought about long-overdue change in America.
Pres. Obama and the Democratic leadership have given nothing but lip-service to bipartisanship. Republicans for the most part have been locked out of the process. I think it’s time for the President to take a weekend at Camp David to do a little soul searching and consider that his political advisers are giving him bad advice on both strategy and tactics. If he really wants the “change” he so eloquently spoke of in his campaign, he needs to stop the antagonistic tactics (i.e. attacks on media, legislative threats to the insurance industry, calling out individual legislators and private citizens) and replace them with real leadership. Conservatives can and will join their liberal contemporaries in achieving real health care reform – we do want every American to have access to affordable health care and affordable health care insurance. However, we believe this can be achieved without mortgaging our children’s future and the economic future of our nation.
There is both time and opportunity to come to consensus on a way forward for health care reform, but consensus can not be achieved through antagonism.
Continue reading below the original article
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This week, Heritage posted an article that explained the latest Capitol Hill shenanigans that is representative of the out-of-control deficit spending that has become the norm in Washington.
Pres. Obama made it clear in his Joint Session of Congress address on health care reform that he would not accept deficit spending as part of this legislation. Specifically he said, “I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits – either now or in the future. Period.” The problem is, no matter how the hard the Senate has tries, they cannot fashion a deficit neutral bill. It’s simple math really. Why? Well, you can’t implement a $1 trillion entitlement program without adding to the Federal Deficit.
So, now the democratic controlled legislature has a problem. They hold opposing positions on the same issue at the same time and are trying to call them both true – in other words, they hold the position “A” and “not A” simultaneously. Anywhere else in the universe the law of non-contradiction would apply; that is anywhere in the universe but Washington.
Here is how White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel worked with Senate leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and Finance Committee member Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) to suspend the “law of non-contradiction”. Under the direction of Emanuel, Reid carved Medicare Reimbursement formulas out of the Senate version of the hybrid health care reform legislation and set it aside [1]. That particular part of the legislation would have added $247 billion to the deficit [2]. Then Sen. Stabenow introduced S. 1776, legislation that specifically deals with Medicare Reimbursement and Reid moved that legislation into the agenda so that it will be debated and voted on this week effectively sweeping $247 billion dollars in deficit spending under the proverbial rug – out of sight, out of mind.
Throughout history, the this shell game has been a staple politics at local, state, and federal levels. So it would be easy to simply resign ourselves, shrug our shoulders and chalk it up to “politics as usual”. But there is a reality we need to contend with. That reality is that in every con-game there is a victim. In this case, the victim is our children and grand-children who will have to foot the bill for both this Potomac Two-Step and our unwillingness to stand-up to these legislators and tell them “NO! We cannot sustain this kind of deficit spending”.
The appearance of deficit neutral legislation is not the only incentive for Reid & Co. to carve up the legislation. According to Alexander Bolton of The Hill, Sen. Reid met with a number of physician organizations to offer them a “deal” for their support of his version of health care reform legislation [3]. The issue is this; since 1997 Medicare reimbursement rates were supposed to be tied something called the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) [2]. The SGR links Medicare Reimbursement rates to the overall growth of the economy. If Medicare costs rise at a faster rate than the economy, the Medicare reimbursement rates are supposed to drop. However, each year since 1997, congress has voted to forgo the downward rate adjustment to the following year. The end result has been that each year, the downward adjustment has accumulated. Without another extension this year, physician reimbursement would be a whopping 21.5% [1] and 40% by 2016 [3]. So, this is the proverbial “carrot and stick” shtick – and it’s a pretty big “stick” at that. In fact, it’s down-right extortion. Either support us and get the extensions you need or risk losing 21% of your Medicare Reimbursement in 2010.
If you had a loved one who was in denial of an addiction, would you not take the necessary steps to help them understand that the path they are on is leading to personal destruction? Well, our legislators are addicted to spending money they – and we – don’t have. They are addicted to our children’s and grand-children’s money. They are spending it like a bunch of drunken sailors on liberty after months at sea. The path they are putting us on is leading to destruction – destruction of our economy, destruction of our nation’s credit worthiness, destruction of our global position, and destruction of our liberty.
Footnotes:
[1] The Heritage Foundation: Exposing the Obamacare Shell Game, Oct. 19, 2009, by Conn Carroll
[3] The Hill: Reid Offers Doctors a Deal, Oct. 20, 2009 by Alexander Bolton