Rebane's Ruminations
March 2010
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George Rebane

Obamacare2 I have a bad feeling about the upcoming vote on healthcare – it may pass.  The legislation is so horrific that the progressives bent on bringing the next notch of authoritarianism to America are now going to “deem” the Senate’s bill into being without actually passing it.  The sleazebags are so brazen that they make no bones about going extra-constitutional in getting some form of Obamacare signed.  And the majority of Americans don’t even know what’s happening, and half of the remainder are actually promoting it.

In my lifetime, this is by far the most putrid sausage to come out of Washington.  This left-wing Congress needs to bribe, bend, and blindside to get something resembling nationalized healthcare into law.  No one today 16 March 2010 knows what the bill will be.  Pelosi has already publicly stated that ‘we have to pass it so you can see what it is’.  This is now the new norm in the partisan legislative process.  And we’re not talking about adding little amendments to administrivial bills to flush out clogged procedural pipes in Congress.  This is the biggest of the big kahunas to hit the nation in the last two generations.

Healthcare is definitely on the blink in this country, but not for the reasons that the progressives are touting.  It is not health insurance that is the cause, but the underlying costs of delivering healthcare that are out of control.  The causes for that have nothing to do with health insurance, and Obamacare purposely avoids any remedies to that part.  The biggest hunk of wool over our eyes is foisting the belief that this is all about providing better health care.

Astounding to me is the argument given by otherwise normal people that Obamacare is just more of what this government already does and what advanced nations around the world provide for their citizens.  But none of those programs are sustainable; not Medicare/Medicaid in the US or, for example, the cited and propagandized healthcare programs in EU countries.   All around the world, the year-to-year costs of socialized healthcare are increasing so that they consume an ever greater fraction of their nations’ GDPs.  This cannot go on.

The leftwing press will not report that the only, albeit futile, efforts to slow down this process in each country is to tighten the rationing screws.  On paper it still looks like all are getting equal care, but those who can afford it are taking ‘medical vacations’ and going where they can get the treatment they need. And business in SE Asia and the Caribbean is booming.  Yet our leftwing friends simply ignore all of this as they chant ‘O-baah-mah, O-baah-mah!’  Their man on a white horse has arrived.

An example close to home has one of our friends in Britain just taken off a two year list that she was on for a knee replacement.  Due to the pain, the woman is barely mobile and has been hobbling with a cane waiting for the new knee.  One of Britain’s ‘death committees’ told her perfunctorily that she was suddenly off the list, and within two months of the scheduled operation.  She is now in a panic looking for another EU country that might serve her while wondering how she will be able to pay for it.

Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin laid it all out in ‘Health Care in a Free Society’ , a short speech given on 13 January 2010 in Washington.  As someone said, if you think health care is expensive now, wait until it’s free.  Our beloved Republic trembles.

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24 responses to “Obamacare Trainwreck is Coming”

  1. Jeff Pelline Avatar
    Jeff Pelline

    Reality

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  2. RL Crabb Avatar

    For decades, Republicans chose to look the other way and ignore the plight of those who are denied healthcare in this country. Well, now you’ll have to deal with the Frankenstein’s monster the Dems have created.
    For those of us “pre-existers” who couldn’t buy insurance at any price, I can’t imagine it will be any worse than what we have today.

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  3. Scott Obermuller Avatar

    First of all Bob, no one in this country is denied health care. Sorry – they aren’t. We see, however, that countries that do have socialized health care do, in fact, deny health care to their citizens. Why do you want to go towards that? Secondly, there have been several occasions just in my lifetime when the D’s have controlled both houses and I wonder why you only call the R’s to task for a failure to pass “health care reform”? I recall a proposal to provide health care for all under 18 and health savings accounts that would cover adults. Some R’s were behind it, as well as many other proposals to lower health care costs that R’s put forward. Just because you don’t like their solutions, please don’t make up stories that R’s don’t care about problems. As far as you not imagining anything worse than what we have, I would say that imagination is not necessary. Reality will do nicely. If this “health care” mess passes, it will become worse. I’m sorry that you have had problems with insurance companies, I have as well. The solution is to lower the cost of health care and open up the health insurance market to allow a free market solution where the insurance companies would want your business. Quite often you will find it is the D’s (as well as the R’s) that are well paid by the insurance companies to keep the status quo. It was the D’s and progressive R’s that created most of the problems we have with health care – I really don’t think they have the answer.

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  4. Michael Anderson Avatar
    Michael Anderson

    Good observation Bob. I think you are correct. The Republicans had plenty of opportunity, starting with Reagan even, to do something about our failing health care system. But they sat on their hands–choosing instead to tilt at windmills like privatized Social Security–and now here we are. Elections have consequences.

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  5. Michael Anderson Avatar
    Michael Anderson

    I don’t know too many Republicans who now think George Bush was the best choice back in 2000, and there is no question that Obama was largely elected because of a protest vote against Bush. Obama’s rapidly declining approval numbers show the fickleness of support for his first-year initiatives such as the stimulus package and national health care reform.
    Personally, I believe that the Bush bailout of the big investment banks was necessary, but I had to hold my nose for a couple of consecutive months last fall. The stimulus package in the spring of 2009 was politically necessary to quell a revolt on Main Street. Health care in this country is a disaster of exploding costs, mostly due to great inefficiencies, and I am convinced at this point that doing something rather than nothing is the best approach, though this health care bill is an awful hodgepodge.
    But it does two things that are absolutely essential: almost everyone will be in the pool and preexisting conditions will not keep you out of that pool.
    I wish such a messy bill wasn’t how this goal is going to be achieved, but I hold Bush I, Clinton, and Bush II responsible for this bill, not Obama.

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  6. George Rebane Avatar

    Michael, doesn’t such an assignment of past ‘guilt’ for exonerating present policy makers make for a bizarre electoral process AND the fashioning of public policy – ‘We have to now shoot ourselves in the head because someone else first shot us in the foot.’?

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  7. RL Crabb Avatar

    No one is denied healthcare, but they will squeeze every dime you have until you go bankrupt. Those who are out of dimes are subsidized by higher insurance rates. Healthcare accounts are a joke. Maybe they work for people who pull in $100K-plus a year and have no kids. Try telling that one to those who make $30K a year.
    All I’m hearing is the same old elitist conservative BS.

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  8. Scott Obermuller Avatar

    Michael – Obama has been pushing this health care monstrosity since he started running for president and you don’t hold him responsible? Doing nothing is a straw man argument. You invent a phoney argument that no one is advancing so you can easily knock it down by saying that this bill is better than nothing. There are all manner of things we can do, but your approach is really just to throw up your hands and say to Obama and the Dems – “go ahead and do anything you want as long as the title of the bill is ‘health care reform’”. Have you actually seen what kinds of things are in this bill? This will lead to complete govt take over of health care – Obama is on video telling an audience that is his eventual goal and this is the start. And it will end up being the same crappy health care that folks from Europe and Canada come here to get away from.

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  9. Michael Anderson Avatar
    Michael Anderson

    Scott, I have to believe that passing this bill will just be the beginning of the next round of a debate that has been going on for many decades. Pass the bill, and then start fixing it. I don’t think this country will ever tolerate a completely gov’t-run health care system, it’s just not in our DNA. But what is in our DNA is trust-busting, and we have some evil cabals out there taking more than there fair share. We also have a complete disassociation of cost from procedure, and there are some pilot programs in this bill that might begin to address that huge problem.
    I don’t agree with you that my argument is a phony one–a large portion of my client base is in the medical community and I see with my own eyes on a daily basis the complete waste and failure of our current system. It’s a bit reductionist to say that health care is a utility, but it certainly is as far as universal care is concerned. If I were to use the electrical grid as an analogy, what we have now are 30 different electrical companies competing for our business, all with their own power poles, wires and cables, and power plants.
    It’s a disaster and it needs to be shocked. This bill will do that.

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  10. Michael Anderson Avatar
    Michael Anderson

    “Michael, doesn’t such an assignment of past ‘guilt’ for exonerating present policy makers make for a bizarre electoral process AND the fashioning of public policy – ‘We have to now shoot ourselves in the head because someone else first shot us in the foot.’?”
    George, I am not condoning the situation, just describing it. I think this is a cautionary tale for the Republicans, and hope they now realize that putting people on their ticket like George Bush or Sarah Palin is not in the country’s best interest (it’s kind of like eating ice cream for dinner 7 days a week–it tastes great and feels good at first, but eventually you’ll get sick).
    Mitt Romney or Mike Huckabee would be great, we could have good debate with those guys. (Please don’t anyone compare Obama’s intellectual skills with Palin’s, just read Halperin’s “Game Change” to dispel that myth.)

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  11. George Rebane Avatar

    Agreed and good points Michael. Am also a big fan of Romney and Huckabee. And I counter with a symmetrical cautionary tale about Obama – this ice cream cone started sticking to the craws of many of his supporters fairly quickly after the election. And I know that this might sound like lese majeste, but my assessment of Obama’s intellect is very low. He (or his handlers) are probably very wise in not releasing any of his past academic or political writings. I can change my mind after reading some of those works. From the videos and other evidence that I have seen of his extemporaneous gaffes, that guy can go head to head with W any day of the week. The MSM does a good job maintaining his image.

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  12. Scott Obermuller Avatar

    Michael, the “doing nothing” argument is phoney, because no one is advocating that. Folks of all political stripes have been advancing all sorts of fixes for decades. So saying that we have to pass this or do nothing is a baloney argument. We can throw this trash out and start back at the beginning. But that would mean looking at the true causes of the too-high cost of health care. That cause is mostly the govt. I agree there is waste and duplication, but what free market business wants waste and duplication? This bill sets up a whole host of new agencies. It will drive up costs. It only looks good if you look at the first few years where it mainly sucks up a lot of new taxes and provides very little of the goodies it promises. Once it gets rolling, it’s a deficit nightmare. Your analogy of electric companies all having to have different poles is no good here. There can be one delivery line, but many different places that produce the power. You would get to choose the company you want to make the juice and pay them. The same works with health care. The delivery is the doctor you choose to go to and then either you pay for it yourself or have your insurance company pay. Where is the duplication? I agree there are costs that are out of line with what is provided, but that is largely the govts. fault for forcing providers and hospitals to provide service for medicare patients at unreasonably low rates. They have to recoup the costs anywhere they can just to stay in business. We need to get rid of this idiot idea of free health care. It costs a lot of money to provide the services Americans expect. For the most part they never see or consider the costs of what they are asking the medical community to provide them. If folks all get the idea that they have a right to free automobiles, who’s going to choose a Chevy? No one. They will all want Mercedes. It’s the govt and liberals and progressives that push this idea that you shouldn’t have to worry about the costs. Why not? You should always be aware of the cost of what you are using. And you should be involved in making decisions about what level of care you want. A semi-private room or a ward? Send for a specialist from across the country or go with the local guy? What kind of tests do you want? The Obama bill will end up taking that decision away from you and your doctor. The only evil cabal is the house and senate leadership ramming through a bill that they know has not been properly debated and vetted.

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  13. Michael Anderson Avatar
    Michael Anderson

    Just to be clear, I am not necessarily a fan of Romney and Huckabee, but I do believe that both of these potential 2012 candidates have the gravitas for the office. Having been a governor of a state with more than a million people (and hence, someone who has actually had to work for a living, as opposed to a Senator, or a governor of a state filled mostly with caribou, or a state where the governor is mostly a figurehead, like Texas) is a great able-to-get-things-done litmus test.
    I agree that O is a bit in over his head at the moment. And I also agree that his CV is overstated (though I am not sure we would agree on a definitive MSM in the USA). But I give O an A+ on moxie, whereas W gets a C- (his behavior was not moxie, mostly just privileged swagger).
    I feel bad for W actually, being a silver spoon is not all that it’s cracked up to be. I was raised amongst silver spoons, and tossed my own patronage by the wayside to enjoy the school of hard knocks before I returned to sanity. Bad feelings aside, I think many of the financial silver spoons in Westchester County should be wearing ankle chains at the present time, quite frankly.
    I would like to see W’s National Guard record as much as you would like to understand what the heck O actually did at Harvard. Bottom line: one kid had a dad who was POTUS, and the other kid had a dad who shined him on. I have a particular distaste for silver spoons, and I acknowledge my predilection. I am sure your Estonian upbringing also presents you with certain belief variables that give you pause.
    Your move.

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  14. Michael Anderson Avatar
    Michael Anderson

    Scott,
    Addressing your various points:
    1. If we “throw the trash out” we will have to wait another decade or more to even ramp up the argument again. Why didn’t Bush address the health crisis during his 8 years? Because he was in the pocket of the Military Industrial Complex and didn’t dare deal with the Medical Industrial Complex at the same time. A missed opportunity that we are now paying for, dearly.
    2. The delivery line is duplicated 30-fold in the present system and must be abandoned. We’ll have to agree to disagree on this one. I totally understand your analogy that the juice comes from anywhere but it goes over a single line; isn’t that what single-payer is all about? Single-payer is the single set of utility poles, but anyone with an array of solar panels gets to dump their juice into the grid. Free markets.
    3. I totally agree with you that health care consumers are no longer aware of what they are purchasing. Most people go to the doctor or the hospital, sign on the dotted line, write their check for a ridiculously low co-pay, and then choke when they read the bill a month later. This is the inefficient health care system that I am describing.
    4. I hate gov’t meddling as much as you do. They don’t know how to run a lean/mean business. They have terrible customer service. But they have the ability to set up quasi-gov’t agencies that act like businesses, and are subject to free market checks and balances. Perhaps that is what we are trying to invent here.
    Scott, this dialog has been going on for 75 years. The Clintons failed in 1993, after many others failed before them. I think this country has had too many failures on this single subject. This bill went through a rigorous process in our legislative body for most of last year. I hated watching it as much as you did, I am sure. It was like watching a daily vivisection. I want to honor that torture by passing the dang bill and moving on to the next phase. Pass the bill, then toss out all the Dems and start over. That is fine with me.
    But if we do not pass this bill, I fear for this country. It will indicate that elections don’t have consequences, and it will mean we are a one party nation, with fascist implications.

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  15. RL Crabb Avatar

    As I recall, the last Repub Prez to put forth comprehensive healthcare reform was the hated liberal Nixon. I think I’ve made it pretty clear that I don’t think much of the monstrosity being foisted upon us even as we speak, but this free market mantra I hear from you fellows gets monotonous.
    The system won’t work without a mandate that everyone must contribute to the pool. Like the bill that Romney signed in Mass.

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  16. Michael Anderson Avatar
    Michael Anderson

    “Like the bill that Romney signed in Mass.”
    Once again, spot on Bob.
    Never thought I’d pine for Nixon. )-:

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  17. Scott Obermuller Avatar

    Michael, I am really having a hard time understanding any sort of logic system in your thinking. Not trying to be rude, just can’t get a handle on it.Advocating passing the bill and then throwing out the folks that pass it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Can you tell me why we have to wait to lower costs of health care if this doesn’t pass? Have you seen the results of the last elections? These are the elections that took place after the public saw what Obama actually wanted to pass versus what he had promised. Bob doesn’t like free market cost lowering because it’s monotonous and you want govt controlled health care to avoid fascist implications? How is free market fascistic? The more I listen to folks like you and Bob, the more I’m convinced that people want govt to sort out their emotional issues and even old scores for you. You will get that kind of govt and it isn’t pretty.
    Happy St Patrick’s Day!

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  18. Mikey McD Avatar

    Scott, spot on. Silver lining of the bill passing = Obama a 1 term president. Instead of helping the economy he is kicking it while it is on the ground.
    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704131404575117623860083574.html?mod=WSJ_newsreel_opinion

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  19. RL Crabb Avatar

    The number of uninsured goes up every day. This morning’s Sac Bee says there are 45,000 more in that county alone. Many of those jobs will never come back and it will take years to create new ones. I guess in the meantime those folks should avoid getting sick.
    Sorry to sound so monotonous.

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  20. Scott Obermuller Avatar

    “I guess in the meantime those folks should avoid getting sick.”
    What, in the above posts leads you to believe that is what I or anyone else is advocating that we use as public policy? And there is no need to apologize – it was you who complained about monotonous “free market” talk. Keep up the great work with the cartoons, I do enjoy them!

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  21. George Rebane Avatar

    Michael, Bob – I’m having trouble finding any precedence for entitlement legislation being ‘fixed in post’. I think Team Obama is spot on in their assessment that the country will just hunker down accept it, get used to it, and then scream bloody murder if someone wants to fix/change it. And it’s cost ratio to GDP will continue to grow along with those of the other goodies already in place.
    And until we hit bottom, everything will feel fine for the people on the receiving end.

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  22. Russ Avatar

    Legal Plunder
    It is impossible to introduce into society a greater change and a greater evil than this: the conversion of the law into an instrument of plunder.
    What are the consequences of such a perversion? It would require volumes to describe them all. Thus we must content ourselves with pointing out the most striking.
    In the first place, it erases from everyone’s conscience the distinction between justice and injustice.
    No society can exist unless the laws are respected to a certain degree. The safest way to make laws respected is to make them respectable. When law and morality contradict each other, the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense or losing his respect for the law. These two evils are of equal consequence, and it would be difficult for a person to choose between them.
    The nature of law is to maintain justice. This is so much the case that, in the minds of the people, law and justice are one and the same thing.
    There is in all of us a strong disposition to believe that anything lawful is also legitimate. This belief is so widespread that many persons have erroneously held that things are “just” because law makes them so.
    Thus, in order to make plunder appear just and sacred to many consciences, it is only necessary for the law to decree and sanction it.
    The Law, Frédéric Bastiat, 1850.

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