Excerpts From Recent Articles On Healthcare Reform

Because the meeting of the bipartisan minds on healthcare reform is scheduled for Thursday, there are a lot of comments and articles up on the internet dealing with healthcare reform.  Here are some excepts from a few.

Investor's Business Daily posted an article on Monday stating the the use of the reconcilliation process to pass healthcare would not be in keeping with the rules of the Senate.  The article states:

"New regulations on health insurance companies, to name just one aspect of the bill, have nothing to do with spending or revenues, the debt limit or any other budget-related matter. Using reconciliation on health care is as absurd as using it to send a constitutional amendment to the states for ratification, or to pass a treaty, or to confirm a Cabinet secretary or Supreme Court justice."

The article concludes:

"If the White House insists on defying the American people, the Loyal Opposition has a duty to take their side."

The Hill posted an article Monday pointing out that the healthcare reform bill proposed by President Obama is partially paid for by rescinding the "black liquor" tax break abused by paper companies that claim undeserved alternative fuel tax credits.  The jobs bill proposed by  Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) bill also rescinds this tax break.

The article also points out:

"In addition, the president's proposal also broadens the Medicare tax to unearned income that includes capital gains, business lobbyists say. The inclusion of capital gains will be highly controversial as lobbyists have already vowed to do everything in their power to keep the tax from affecting this type of investment." 

This sounds more like a tax bill than a healthcare reform bill.

The New York Post also weighed in today on the subject of healthcare reform.  The article points out:

"After months of swearing that his health legislation would lower the skyrocketing costs of insurance premiums, Obama finally acknowledged that actually it would not.

So, instead, he has included a new provision that can simply outlaw premium increases his administration deems "unreasonable and unjustified.""

The New York Post points out that if the Obama healthcare reform proposal would actually lower health insurance premiums, there would be no need to pass a law outlawing premium increases.  Those of us who were around in the 1970's remember what wage and price controls do.  This is essentially the same thing.  When you limit the profits of a company, they tend to do less of what they were doing.  To limit the right of insurance companies to raise their rates will ultimately limit the amount of healthcare available to all of us.

The only way to move forward with a healthcare plan is to scrap everything proposed so far and start over.  I posted and article yesterday on the small bill (rightwinggranny.com).  There is a way to successfully do healthcare reform in only one page.  It's time to consider that proposal.