The U.S. Health Care Debate

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Damn you... damn you all... have you no regard for proper form?

The official name of the program, which according to Rham Emmanuel must be used in its entirety is:

THE WILDLY POPULAR Cash for Clunkers Program.

Get it right, people.

Why do you hate hope?

[Tribesman]

THE WILDLY POPULAR Cash for Clunkers Program.

Get it right, people.

Not as wildly popular as Irelands version.
At least America put restrictions on what you could trade in, just imagine what the uptake would have been if you had been allowed to just dump a rusted pile of scrap metal on the forecourt and call it a car.

[Ariovistus Maximus]

Why do you hate hope?

Perhaps he hates it when it collides violently with reality. Because excessively unrealstic hope is actually counter-productive. You will pass up what you CAN accomplish in hopes that you can accomplish the impossible.

Or such is the possibility.

Not as wildly popular as Irelands version.
At least America put restrictions on what you could trade in, just imagine what the uptake would have been if you had been allowed to just dump a rusted pile of scrap metal on the forecourt and call it a car.

Wow! How's that been working for them?

I can see how that would be popular though.

[Lemur]

GOP releases "Seniors' Bill of Rights."

The Republican Party issued a new salvo in the health debate Monday with a "seniors' health care bill of rights" that opposed any moves to trim Medicare spending or limit end-of-life care to seniors.

Intended as a political shot at President Barack Obama, the Republican National Committee manifesto marks a remarkable turnaround for a party that had once fought to trim the health program for the elderly and disabled, which last year cost taxpayers over $330 billion. [...]

The country's largest lobbying group for seniors, AARP, said it welcomed the RNC's commitment to protect Medicare. But the group, which supports efforts to overhaul the health-care system, also dismissed the RNC statement as misleading and alarmist.

"Change by itself is anxiety producing, but as we have analyzed the various bills [before Congress], the proposed Medicare savings do not limit benefits, they do not impose rationing and they do not put the government between patients and their doctors," said John Rother, AARP's executive vice president.

Mr. Rother said that AARP was frustrated by the lack of concrete proposals being put forward on the Republican side of the debate. "The debate as I see it doesn't even focus on health care," Mr. Rother said. "It is all about the role of government and the importance of the federal deficit."

The Republican statement highlights an irony in the health debate, as illustrated during some of the emotional town-hall meetings this month: Many Americans say they fear a government takeover of health care, even as they resist any cuts to Medicare, the federal government's largest health program.

[Xiahou]

I just read a column on the Washington Post that raises a Constitutional issue I hadn't considered in regards to individual insurance mandates. That being- does the federal government have the authority to mandate individuals to purchase health insurance? After skimming through their argument, I would agree that, no, it does not. It'd certainly make for an interesting Supreme Court Case.

Edit:For Lemur: Steele Today: "Don't Cut Medicare!" Steele in 2006: "Cut Medicare!"

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

So RNC chairman Michael Steele took to the pages of the Washington Post to warn seniors, "we need to protect Medicare and not cut it in the name of 'health-insurance reform.'" A convenient refrain for the current political climate, but, in bad news for Michael Steele, a complete departure from GOP business as usual. Here, for instance, is an October, 2006 exchange on cutting Medicare between Tim Russert and--wait for it--Michael Steele.

MR. RUSSERT: What programs would you cut?

LT. GOV. STEELE: Well, what I would like to do is something that we did in Maryland. We -- Governor Ehrlich and I came into office, we had a $2.2 billion deficit staring us in the face and a bloated government to contend with. And so we stepped back and evaluated exactly what the priorities of our government should be. Seventy-eight percent of our spending is in two areas: education and health care.

MR. RUSSERT: It's the same in the federal government.

LT. GOV. STEELE: It's the same. And my point...

MR. RUSSERT: Seventy percent is Social Security, Medicare and Defense.

LT. GOV. STEELE: Absolutely. Absolutely.

MR. RUSSERT: Would you touch those?

LT. GOV. STEELE: Abso -- Tim, everything has...

MR. RUSSERT: Everything's on the table.

LT. GOV. STEELE: Everything has to be on the table, my friend. We are living in a time -- we have to -- government has to act like the rest of, the rest of the world and sit back and look at your budget. If you don't have enough money in any given month, what do you do? You've got to reprioritize. You've got to take care of the business at hand.


So much for that, I guess.

I, for one, am relieved that we don't have a bunch of incompetent opportunists in the opposition...

[Xiahou]

doh

[Beskar]

I saw this and it made me think of this thread:

[Ariovistus Maximus]

Inmates Receive Stimulus Checks

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Stimul....html?x=0&.v=2

Sorry hyperlink's not working for me. Will fix soon.