Obama: Health Care Reform is No Longer a Luxury

CtC wrote:

It certainly was biased.Here is a funny thing.Perhaps not funny,but sad.I was purchasing a book about Reagan at Barnes & Noble.A customer behind me said some nasty things about him.I told him to STFU.Paid for my book.Walked out.This creep FOLLOWED me out and continued.I kicked him in the basket and then gave him a cane whipping.The clerk told the cop that showed up that HE started it.He got taken into custody.I did not LIKE Mr.Reagan.I LOVED him.Like a Father.Next to lincoln,I consider him the greatest American that ever lived.<quoted text>

I wish I'd been the guy who encountered you at Barnes & Noble. Let's just say you'd be wearing your cane in a way that makes sitting uncomfortable.

I actually voted for Reagan and some of his minions. I've regretted it ever since. While I used to pride myself on political centrism, most of our present problems can be summed up in one word: Republicans.

Reagan started this country's descent into the toilet; a journey completed by the Bushes, with a bit of help from Mr. Clinton and a heap of assistance from the long, corrupt Republican Congress. You can thank Reagan for initiating the disastrous deregulation of the financial industry, for piling up obscene debts, for making us more dependent than ever on foreign oil, for ignoring health care costs that are now killing us, and for the imperial military mindset that blundered us into Iraq.

Now, trillions of dollars in debt and disaster later, I only wish Reagan were still alive so I could bite him.

PART I

"Dr. Obama's Toughest Patient"

Partial reform isn't easy, either.


THE OBAMA administration and other advocates of comprehensive health reform knew that August was going to be a perilous month. It's turned out to be disastrous. As lawmakers return to work and President Obama ends his vacation, the health reform enterprise is in rough shape. So what is the proper course of treatment?

One approach would be to scale back the scope and cost of reform -- spending perhaps $600 billion to $700 billion over the next decade instead of the $1 trillion now under discussion. This would do less harm fiscally. But the interconnectedness of the health-care system makes a piecemeal fix more difficult than a comprehensive one. It would fall short of a cure for two major ailments of the current system: Too many people lack health insurance, and for too many others it is unreliable and, increasingly,unaffordable.

For example, consider cutting the cost of reform by reducing subsidies for purchasing insurance. Many people, unable to comply with a requirement to obtain coverage, could find themselves both without insurance and fined for that failure, while the new insurance exchange purchasing pools would be smaller and therefore less effective in reducing overall costs.

You could extend coverage only to segments of the population, hoping to add more over time. But whom to choose? Extending Medicaid to all those at or near the poverty level -- childless adults and many parents currently aren't eligible -- is expensive (about $400 billion over 10 years) and politically unpopular. Yet if you don't cover that part of the uninsured population, you don't solve hospitals' problems providing uncompensated care, the costs of which are passed on to insured patients. Those approaching Medicare age need help most, because insurance is least affordable for them -- but they are the most expensive to cover. You could start with younger adults, but it is odd public policy to extend benefits first to those who need it least.

The point isn't that piecemeal reform is impossible or ineffective. Retrenchment may yet be necessary, and it could extend coverage to perhaps 20 million currently uninsured while bringing important reforms to the dysfunctional individual insurance market. But you give up a lot if you lose comprehensiveness. So it's worth another stab at a comprehensive approach -- but one that really controls costs over time.

PART II

The financial challenge is twofold: coming up with the money to pay for the program and making certain that it is affordable going forward. The grim deficit news counsels even more strongly that funding come from within the health-care system; other revenue is going to be needed to deal with the spiraling debt. The most sensible such source is the tax-free treatment of employer-sponsored health insurance. Capping the exclusion of health benefits from taxable income would both generate revenue and help slow cost growth. As vital is dealing with Medicare costs. The best approach is giving the Medicare advisory council power to implement, not merely advocate, cost-saving measures, subject to presidential or congressional override. The Congressional Budget Office adds that the council should have "clear authority to recommend broad changes in coverage, benefit design, and payment and delivery systems" along with a fall-back mechanism, such as an automatic across-the-board reduction in payments, if cost savings are not achieved.

Finally, it is time for Dr. Obama to take charge of this difficult case. He must come up with a plan or embrace one -- perhaps the long-awaited Senate Finance Committee proposal. And he must sell it as perhaps not perfect but the best that can be achieved and far preferable to the status quo. Because right now, his patient needs some intensive care.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/...

NonBlond wrote:

<quoted text>
I wish I'd been the guy who encountered you at Barnes & Noble. Let's just say you'd be wearing your cane in a way that makes sitting uncomfortable.
I actually voted for Reagan and some of his minions. I've regretted it ever since. While I used to pride myself on political centrism, most of our present problems can be summed up in one word: Republicans.
Reagan started this country's descent into the toilet; a journey completed by the Bushes, with a bit of help from Mr. Clinton and a heap of assistance from the long, corrupt Republican Congress. You can thank Reagan for initiating the disastrous deregulation of the financial industry, for piling up obscene debts, for making us more dependent than ever on foreign oil, for ignoring health care costs that are now killing us, and for the imperial military mindset that blundered us into Iraq.
Now, trillions of dollars in debt and disaster later, I only wish Reagan were still alive so I could bite him.

Nope, the decent of this country started with Hamilton and all of those who placed federal government above states rights.
Then Wilson the racist democrat, FDR the democrat socialist traitor to the Constitution (he stacked the supreme court and overreached with his use of presidential orders), JFK the 'golden boy' democrat who tried and failed with the Bay of Pigs and then went on to start US involvement in Vietnam, LBJ the democrat perpetrator of the 'great society', Jimmy Carter the inept democrat who gave the US the Iranian Hostage mess, Bill Clinton the perverted democrat who lobbed missiles into the Sudan based on the original lie of WMD and now Barack Obama the communist dictator democrat who may very well turn out to be the personification of the harbinger of the United States doom.

The liberal left has only one purpose, to destroy all that is good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch...

watefer wrote:

<quoted text>
Nope, the decent of this country started with Hamilton and all of those who placed federal government above states rights.
Then Wilson the racist democrat, FDR the democrat socialist traitor to the Constitution (he stacked the supreme court and overreached with his use of presidential orders), JFK the 'golden boy' democrat who tried and failed with the Bay of Pigs and then went on to start US involvement in Vietnam, LBJ the democrat perpetrator of the 'great society', Jimmy Carter the inept democrat who gave the US the Iranian Hostage mess, Bill Clinton the perverted democrat who lobbed missiles into the Sudan based on the original lie of WMD and now Barack Obama the communist dictator democrat who may very well turn out to be the personification of the harbinger of the United States doom.
The liberal left has only one purpose, to destroy all that is good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch...

Ignorance on wheels. The liberal left is the only thing that will pull this country out of its current mess, nearly all of which is due to thirty years of Reagan-inspired reckless corruption. I'd vote for communists right now, just to move the political center a little faster.

I want my country back--pensions, job security, affordable health care and all.

Think it'd help to start a national Kick a Conservative Day?

NonBlond wrote:

<quoted text>
Ignorance on wheels. The liberal left is the only thing that will pull this country out of its current mess, nearly all of which is due to thirty years of Reagan-inspired reckless corruption. I'd vote for communists right now, just to move the political center a little faster.
I want my country back--pensions, job security, affordable health care and all.
Think it'd help to start a national Kick a Conservative Day?

You're drinkin' bong water and reek of patchouli.

NonBlond wrote:

<quoted text>
Ignorance on wheels. The liberal left is the only thing that will pull this country out of its current mess, nearly all of which is due to thirty years of Reagan-inspired reckless corruption. I'd vote for communists right now, just to move the political center a little faster.
I want my country back--pensions, job security, affordable health care and all.
Think it'd help to start a national Kick a Conservative Day?

Your collective head has been up your ass so long
you've got the brain of a rectal polyp.........

NonBlond wrote:

<quoted text>
Ignorance on wheels. The liberal left is the only thing that will pull this country out of its current mess, nearly all of which is due to thirty years of Reagan-inspired reckless corruption. I'd vote for communists right now, just to move the political center a little faster.
I want my country back--pensions, job security, affordable health care and all.
Think it'd help to start a national Kick a Conservative Day?

How do you know that it's your country? Nancy Reagan fought dope use with the phrase with "Just say no." Now when people want other people to pay for another person's well being,I have jusy came up with a new phrase. It is, "Just say no to moochers."

Remember, "Just say no to moochers."

NonBlond wrote:

<quoted text>
I wish I'd been the guy who encountered you at Barnes & Noble. Let's just say you'd be wearing your cane in a way that makes sitting uncomfortable.
I actually voted for Reagan and some of his minions. I've regretted it ever since. While I used to pride myself on political centrism, most of our present problems can be summed up in one word: Republicans.
Reagan started this country's descent into the toilet; a journey completed by the Bushes, with a bit of help from Mr. Clinton and a heap of assistance from the long, corrupt Republican Congress. You can thank Reagan for initiating the disastrous deregulation of the financial industry, for piling up obscene debts, for making us more dependent than ever on foreign oil, for ignoring health care costs that are now killing us, and for the imperial military mindset that blundered us into Iraq.
Now, trillions of dollars in debt and disaster later, I only wish Reagan were still alive so I could bite him.

Would he get rabies?

freedom from socialism wrote:

<quoted text> Would he get rabies?

Not if he cuts the offending limb off soon enough.

You are a worm with wants.The liberals are already wrecking this country.Reagan saved us once.What did he cut?TAXES.What did he cut?ENTITLEMENTS!Move to Cuba.THEN you will have your country back.Besides,you are to yellow to kick anyone.As are all libs.

NonBlond wrote:

<quoted text>
Ignorance on wheels. The liberal left is the only thing that will pull this country out of its current mess, nearly all of which is due to thirty years of Reagan-inspired reckless corruption. I'd vote for communists right now, just to move the political center a little faster.
I want my country back--pensions, job security, affordable health care and all.
Think it'd help to start a national Kick a Conservative Day?