BigGovernment: House health care bill immunizes insurance companies from lawsuits.
I thought insurers were the enemy…
Tagged: Health RSS Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
-
Jehuda
-
Jehuda
-
Jehuda
So turns out Pelosi’s Obamacare bill is designed to send jobs overseas…and – by the way – the death panel language is still in the legislation…
-
Jehuda
NYT: Democrats See Positive Side in a Bad Economy: “Democrats…say that economic insecurity and high unemployment stoke public support for their proposals to guarantee insurance for millions of Americans.”
It’s easier to sell socialism in hard times. But if Dems think people find health insurance more important than jobs and economic growth, they’re more clueless than I thought.
Actually, they’re even more clueless than that: “Democrats have hit upon a new sales pitch: To make the cost of the bill smaller, they need to make government’s role bigger.”
Fact is, if after all this time you still can’t get any traction selling Obamacare, sweetening the pot with bigger government isn’t going to get you any.
Actually, never mind me. Just keep doing what you’re doing, Dems…
UPDATE: Related content from Scott Atlas: Where’s the benefit?
-
Jehuda
Gateway Pundit: Obama declares Swine Flu National Emergency…but won’t inoculate daughters.
It’s always something incongruous with this president, isn’t it? Goes hand in hand with poor leadership. Talks the talk, but when it comes to walking…
UPDATE: Good point: As Prof. Reynolds points out, there’s no there there. The Obama girls would not qualify for the vaccine anyway. The real story is much different; and definitely the one we should focus on: the ineffectiveness of government health care.
-
Jehuda
What are they trying to hide?
-
Jehuda
WSJ: Study shows link between housework and sex.
Who knew??!!!
-
Jehuda
AP: Key senators may rebuff Obama on health care.
Watch. He’ll blame the GOP regardless….
-
Jehuda
Kathleen Sebelius in 2007 said she would like US to have single-payer health care system:
Private health care be damned, I guess. Like I said the other day: we can’t quite trust anything she says…
-
Jehuda
Berman Post: ‘Plasma Knife’ can stop bleeding.
Strangely, I was watching plasma cutters at work pretty much all week long, since they are at the center of the reality show I’m working on for NatGeo. Plasma cutters are used for cutting metal, though. And in that respect they can also be used to save lives, since some firefighters use them to extricate accident victims from cars, for example.
-
Jehuda
We’ll take Lieberman…
-
Jehuda
LAT: “Over 26 years, disabilities or deaths caused by head or spine trauma are almost double for female high school cheerleaders than for female players of all sports combined: 73 “catastrophic injuries” — including two deaths — from fall 1982 to spring 2008. Gymnasts were second, with nine injuries.”
Cheerleading, the most dangerous sport?
-
Jehuda
Wendy Williams: A Health Care Warning From Massachusetts.
-
Jehuda
AP: Obama turning to Hollywood for health reform help.
Really? After the parade of Polanski defenders and Letterman’s sex scandal? After Will Ferrell’s video and others like it were neutered by Allahpundit?
This is worse than Bush 41 not knowing the price of a carton of milk. POTUS needs to go on world tour less and stick around the home turf a little more. That is, if he wants to appear like he knows what he’s doing.
-
Jehuda
Karl Rove: ObamaCare punishes cardiology and oncology to finance GPs.
ObamaCare punishes cardiology and oncology to finance GPs.
-
Jehuda
Obama did a photo op yesterday to promote Obamacare, on the Rose Garden and surrounded by doctors supportive of the plan.
But when you go behind the scenes, it looked more like an astroturfing operation, professional edition. Especially when you compare Obama’s doctors organized in seats before a podium – to maximize the appearance of assent – with pictures of these doctors on September 10, with handmade signs; and very likely their very own white coats and scrubs.
Well, that’s because it was astroturfing: the doctors were members of Doctors for America, which was formerly known as Doctors for Obama (via LookingAtTheLeft).
UPDATE: Michelle Malkin links. Thanks! Make sure you read her syndicated column (reproduced at the link).
-
Jehuda
First, U.S. life expectancy rises across all groups. Now, three Americans have won the Nobel prize for medicine.
-
Jehuda
“Aetna is the real death panel!”
Someone’s miscalculating here, and is overreaching…
-
Jehuda
Congressman John Fleming, M.D. (R – LA) has sponsored a resolution urging members of Congress who vote for Obamacare to enroll in the same public plan and drop their existing Capitol Hill health plans.
There’s a survey at the link.
-
Jehuda
Freedomworks.org: Democrats have taken more campaign donations from the health insurance industry than Republicans.
UPDATE: Related: MoveOn gets millionaire celebrities to…rally against the millions in profits generated by the health insurance industry. And those figures don’t even include Ferrell’s SAG residuals or any proceeds from profit-sharing – if any – as provided by contract. Soros sure ain’t getting his money’s worth, is he?
Plus, looks like “insurers are the enemy” is Soros & Co.’s meme of the week (via Instapundit).
I wonder how many celebrities own insurance stocks? Heck, do the Obamas own any?
MORE: So who do you think Congress will find more persuasive? HCAN/MoveOn’s histrionics or this poll? (via @moelane)
ANOTHER ONE: Related: Snark and Boobs tries to snark some self-awareness into Hollywood.
-
Jehuda
Self-care guide for Influenza.
-
Jehuda
Obama is on a media blitz, but does he know that Obamacare is in bad shape and looking worse by the minute?
-
Jehuda
But little Hope: Politico: “Some of the most influential aides in the closed-door Senate Finance Committee negotiations over health care reform have ties to interests that would be directly affected by the legislation.”
They sure sound like some very special interests…
-
Jehuda
It follows then that passing a health care bill that polls well won’t necessarily quell the Mob in 2010.
Ross Douthat: The Ghosts of 1994:
This August’s town-hall fury wasn’t just about the details of health care. Neither were the anti-Obama protests that crowded Washington over the weekend. They were about the Wall Street bailout, the G.M. takeover, the A.I.G. bonuses, and countless smaller examples of middle-income Americans’ “playing by the rules…and having someone else benefit.”
The bad news for Democrats is that actually passing a health care bill could further enflame these anxieties.
-
Jehuda
-
Jehuda
Rasmussen: Obamacare support back to pre-speech levels (via Insty, where there’s more).
So much for the “bounce” hype.
UPDATE: More at Hot Air: “It wasn’t even a nine-day wonder”. Ouch.
MORE: Ace has a fever and a link to Gallup.
ANOTHER ONE: You could even say it was like the speech never happened. Joe Wilson’s outburst was the only news made that evening. The rest was Obama doing more of the same; and the result was – as the polls show – more of the same.
Maybe that’s why Ray Edroso concluded that the conservative blogosphere made the speech all about Joe Wilson…
-
Jehuda
The WaPo attempts to boost the spirits of Obamacare enthusiasts everywhere claiming opposition to it is easing, although still high. This is based on a poll they conducted with ABC News.
I guess they feel this way because their survey found opposition has gone from a 50-45 margin in mid-August to a 48-46 margin now. Hardly impressive, as Mickey Kaus points out (via Insty). Especially since the new spread is within the poll’s +/-3% margin of error.
Co-pollster ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos was a little more to the point: “Bottom line: right now, voters are almost exactly where they were before the speech.”
UPDATE: Related: Jonah Goldberg: So what’s Plan B? “At some point this White House is going to have to realize that ‘more Obama’ isn’t the answer to every problem.”
I hope they never do. I’m willing to put up with the irritating overexposure. It’s worth watching O’s agenda go nowhere.
-
Jehuda
Scientists report adulthood body size associated with cancer risk.
-
Jehuda
The Hill: Not a likely game changer for Obama (via Instapundit, where there’s more). The stock market seems to agree. And Karl Rove sees Dems taking a big gamble if they try to ram Obamacare down our collective throat. I’d say.
Also, what’s with Obama eliminating 17 million people or so from the ranks of the uninsured? Trying to make the whole effort seem less expensive, perhaps? Like Rep. Joe Wilson said…
Journalism is hard: NYT sees speech as a momentum-giving turning point. That’s pretty generous for a speech that amounted to a big “Screw you. We’re doing it. And we’re doing it my way.” Especially since more people watched So You Think You Can Dance instead (only on Fox).
As I’ve said before, it doesn’t matter what Obama says. What matters is what’s in the bill. That’s been the focus of the Mobs and their “bickering” all this time. And it’s worked.
We should keep doing what we’re doing, so that all those Dems sitting on the fence – the ones Karl Rove wrote about today – get it through their heads that this is a bet they don’t want to make.
Last night’s reax links are here, including the CNN post-speech poll of speech-watchers that sure is generating a lot of buzz on Memeorandum (this blog is also featured in some threads, btw). Much ado about nothing. 5% margin of error. Less than 500 people polled; and most of them were Democrats. Even TPM didn’t drink the Kool Aid.
UPDATE: That Obama could not beat Fox’s Dance is more embarassing than you might think, since Dance‘s ratings last night were down 21% from its summer debut.
MORE: The WaPo is not very satisfied with Obama’s speech. And here’s a nice summary of editorial reaction, from Politics Daily.
ANOTHER ONE: POWIP: All wee wee’d up and no place to go. Lots of links. Thanks also for linking to me here, Dan.
-
Jehuda
Prof. Reynolds has a round-up here.
Really, after 8 years of the way Dems and their allies treated Bush, did they not expect an erosion of civility to carry over into Obama’s term? A little silly to be pointing fingers now, whether you are on Joe Wilson’s side or not.
I sympathize with Mr. Wilson. He merely had the temerity to say in front of a national audience what many in that national audience were thinking anyway. And whether he intended or not, he’ll end up forcing discussion of Obamacare and illegal aliens, thus keeping the White House on the defensive on that issue.
UPDATE: Incidentally, I don’t think he should have apologized. Ordinarily, I’m all for apologies when someone crosses a line. But if you’re going to go all out like this, you need to go all out, all the way. It’s politics, not polite society.
-
Jehuda
A short round-up of “Obamacare Push” news at Instapundit. To sum up, this is not the triumphalism Obama used to know.
And the picture just keeps getting grimmer for him: “An Associated Press-GfK poll says that public disapproval of President Barack Obama’s handling of health care has jumped to 52 percent.”
I think it all comes down to trust – or lack of to be more precise. And also to the fact that the 2008 electorate was largely sold a unique media product in Obama – (this Politico piece couldn’t make that plainer) – a sort of human version of the 2006 Time Magazine Person of the Year award – designed to emit a reflection of the electorate’s own aspirations.
Obama was a promise of whatever you wanted him to be. Unfortunately for him, he is who he is. And the people now feel cheated. You don’t follow people who make you feel cheated, no matter which way your politics tilt.
UPDATE: Ace links with lots of related content. Thanks!
MORE: Ed Driscoll as well. Thanks!
ANOTHER ONE: Related: From the minds that brought you ‘Funemployment’: Mediaite: Losing the Press is a Win for Obama.
Whatever makes you feel better guys. I recommend you become aware of your feelings and work through them.
AND ANOTHER ONE: Related: Doctor Zero on The Crisis of Confidence.
STILL MORE: ‘Disarray’ is the word. Moe Lane on the new NRSC ad. Moe likes! I do too. It’s very visual, and the visuals are compelling. Good job, even if the NRSC has its head up its ass of late.
AND YET ANOTHER ONE: Made Joshuapundit‘s ‘Must Reads’ of the day, too. Thanks!
-
Jehuda
Mark Tapscott: Congress has already exempted itself from Public Option.
But you knew that would happen. Why, Obama himself was quite clear about his preference for private medicine not too long ago.
The whole effort has been so riddled with similar instances of poor salesmanship, you wonder why “Mobs” and “Racists” get blamed for the failure that has been the Obamacare push.
Via @EdDriscoll.
UPDATE: WSJ: Obama to endorse public option.
Just like I said the other day. You just have to expect an expiration date on anything this President says. Can’t trust him…
-
Jehuda
NYT: As Obama’s speech nears, details on a compromise emerge:
The proposal from…Senator Max Baucus…would impose new fees on some sectors of the health care industry, but none on individuals, to help offset initial costs estimated at $880 billion over 10 years, according to officials familiar with the outline.
The plan…would also offer the option of lower-cost insurance, with protection only against the costs of catastrophic illnesses, to those 25 and younger. In addition, it would provide basic Medicaid coverage to millions of low-income people who are currently ineligible for the program, but the benefits would be less comprehensive than standard Medicaid.
Mr. Baucus, Democrat of Montana, will try on Tuesday to win support from the three Republicans and two other Democrats on his committee with whom he has been deliberating for months.
Sounds nice and reasonable? That may be, but since we don’t know what the rest of the bill will say – and since we can’t quite trust this White House and this Congress – I say they can keep their compromise. A bill that is “less bad” is still bad. After all, this compromise is probably just one more degree of heat in a Boiling Frog Scenario.
I’m still pushing for Waterloo. I’m still with the Mob. And I know I’m not alone.
No compromise – and no sleep till Waterloo.
No sleep for the Left, that is. They’re losing sleep over this…
-
Jehuda
The Van Jones resignation is not Waterloo. The real battle is not about czars. Obama may be weakened, but he’s not defeated. Even without the strength he’s lost by squandering our trust he still holds the considerable power and prominence of his Office.
So don’t get cocky or complacent. This is not over till we clean up Congress in 2010 and do away with the Dem majority which gives Obama the legislative free hand to change America for the worse (which includes passing Obamacare into law).
Let’s be smart: Czars are for a Presidential term. Obamacare is for a lifetime: a lifetime of misery; of reduced control over our own bodies and health; of a monstrously intrusive federal government; of being hounded by the IRS to make sure you are taking your government prescribed medicine.
Keep pushing back!
(H/T: Instapundit)
-
Jehuda
Politico: Under fire, Obama shifts strategy:
Obama is considering detailing his health-care demands in a major speech as soon as next week, when Congress returns from the August recess. And although House leaders have said their members will demand the inclusion of a public insurance option, Obama has no plans to insist on it himself, the officials said.
This is a nice chess move from Obama and his team. It softens the picture a bit. He doesn’t want the unpopular Public Option, so now we can all like Obamacare a little better. Is that it?
But there’s no reason for the Mob to change its feelings towards Obamacare because this overture from Obama is empty and meaningless. Who cares if he has no plans to insist on the Public Option? He doesn’t decide what goes into the bill. That’s up to both houses of Congress. If Obama said “I will veto any bill that includes a public option”, that would be something else entirely. But he hasn’t and he won’t.
-
Jehuda
It’s in the House bill.
-
Jehuda
I’m a Democrat, and have long been concerned about America’s lack of a health safety net. But based on my own work experience, I also believe that unless we fix the problems at the foundation of our health system—largely problems of incentives—our reforms won’t do much good, and may do harm. To achieve maximum coverage at acceptable cost with acceptable quality, health care will need to become subject to the same forces that have boosted efficiency and value throughout the economy.
Is it just me or did I just read a Democrat advocating for a free market approach? Did Waterloo come and go and nobody told us?
The funniest – or perhaps saddest – thing about all this is that this is being described as a “radical solution”.
-
Jehuda
Hmm. A pro-Obamacare site is pushing depraved racist imagery.
Wow. Do you want to pass Obamacare or do you want to humiliate African-Americans? What’s next? Setting crosses on fire at the next town hall?
Wait. Did a Senate Democrat tell you it was ok to use that cartoon? (yuk, yuk)
Hey, don’t point fingers at me. My family name ends in a vowel and my ancestors wore sombreros, so save the guilt trip. I’m just worried you Democrats might fall back into old ways. But since you’re digging into Democratic Party history, here’s a short list of stuff you omitted from your nasty artwork, just in case you haven’t done your homework (emphasis mine):
* There is no reference to the number of Democratic Party platforms supporting slavery. There were six from 1840 through 1860.
- There is no reference to the number of Democratic presidents who owned slaves. There were seven from 1800 through 1861
- There is no reference to the number of Democratic Party platforms that either supported segregation outright or were silent on the subject. There were 20, from 1868 through 1948.
- There is no reference to “Jim Crow” as in “Jim Crow laws,” nor is there reference to the role Democrats played in creating them. These were the post-Civil War laws passed enthusiastically by Democrats in that pesky 52-year part of the DNC’s missing years. These laws segregated public schools, public transportation, restaurants, rest rooms and public places in general (everything from water coolers to beaches). The reason Rosa Parks became famous is that she sat in the “whites only” front section of a bus, the “whites only” designation the direct result of Democrats.
- There is no reference to the formation of the Ku Klux Klan, which, according to Columbia University historian Eric Foner, became “a military force serving the interests of the Democratic Party.” Nor is there reference to University of North Carolina historian Allen Trelease’s description of the Klan as the “terrorist arm of the Democratic Party.” [presumably, the SEIU has taken on this mantle in modern times --ed]
- There is no reference to the fact Democrats opposed the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution. The 13th banned slavery. The 14th effectively overturned the infamous 1857 Dred Scott decision (made by Democratic pro-slavery Supreme Court justices) by guaranteeing due process and equal protection to former slaves. The 15th gave black Americans the right to vote.
- There is no reference to the fact that Democrats opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1866. It was passed by the Republican Congress over the veto of President Andrew Johnson, who had been a Democrat before joining Lincoln’s ticket in 1864. The law was designed to provide blacks with the right to own private property, sign contracts, sue and serve as witnesses in a legal proceeding.
- There is no reference to the Democrats’ opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1875. It was passed by a Republican Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses Grant. The law prohibited racial discrimination in public places and public accommodations.
- There is no reference to the Democrats’ 1904 platform, which devotes a section to “Sectional and Racial Agitation,” claiming the GOP’s protests against segregation and the denial of voting rights to blacks sought to “revive the dead and hateful race and sectional animosities in any part of our common country,” which in turn “means confusion, distraction of business, and the reopening of wounds now happily healed.”
- There is no reference to four Democratic platforms, 1908-20, that are silent on blacks, segregation, lynching and voting rights as racial problems in the country mount. By contrast the GOP platforms of those years specifically address “Rights of the Negro” (1908), oppose lynching (in 1912, 1920, 1924, 1928) and, as the New Deal kicks in, speak out about the dangers of making blacks “wards of the state.”
- There is no reference to the Democratic Convention of 1924, known to history as the “Klanbake.” The 103-ballot convention was held in Madison Square Garden. Hundreds of delegates were members of the Ku Klux Klan, the Klan so powerful that a plank condemning Klan violence was defeated outright. To celebrate, the Klan staged a rally with 10,000 hooded Klansmen in a field in New Jersey directly across the Hudson from the site of the convention. Attended by hundreds of cheering convention delegates, the rally featured burning crosses and calls for violence against African-Americans and Catholics.
- There is no reference to the fact that it was Democrats who segregated the federal government, at the direction of President Woodrow Wilson upon taking office in 1913. There is a reference to the fact that President Harry Truman integrated the military after World War II.
- There is reference to the fact that Democrats created the Federal Reserve Board, passed labor and child welfare laws, and created Social Security with Wilson’s New Freedom and FDR’s New Deal. There is no mention that these programs were created as the result of an agreement to ignore segregation and the lynching of blacks. Neither is there a reference to the thousands of local officials, state legislators, state governors, U.S. congressmen and U.S. senators who were elected as supporters of slavery and then segregation between 1800 and 1965. Nor is there reference to the deal with the devil that left segregation and lynching as a way of life in return for election support for three post-Civil War Democratic presidents, Grover Cleveland, Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt.
- There is no reference that three-fourths of the opposition to the 1964 Civil Rights Bill in the U.S. House came from Democrats, or that 80% of the “nay” vote in the Senate came from Democrats. Certainly there is no reference to the fact that the opposition included future Democratic Senate leader Robert Byrd of West Virginia (a former Klan member) and Tennessee Senator Albert Gore Sr., father of Vice President Al Gore.
- Last but certainly not least, there is no reference to the fact that Birmingham, Ala., Public Safety Commissioner Bull Connor, who infamously unleashed dogs and fire hoses on civil rights protestors, was in fact–yes indeed–a member of both the Democratic National Committee and the Ku Klux Klan.
Oh and no doubt you will be glad to learn that you are not the only one willing to oppress African-Americans for the sake of socialized medicine. Ask the SEIU. They know!
UPDATE: Related content from Ed Driscoll. Thanks for the link!
MORE: American Power uncovers an enemies list and more.
-
Jehuda
Mediaite’s Jeffrey Feldman laments that a clip of a tearful woman - desperate for health care for her husband - at Tom Coburn’s recent town hall got drowned out of the news cycle by Ted Kennedy’s passing:
In reply to the desperate plea for help from a constituent, Coburn serves up a cold spoonful of Republican ideology.
The story captured in the CNN clip is so fundamental, so understandable, so penetrating that it will likely tip the balance of the news coverage in favor of reform from this point forward [That's right. The guy is complaining that there is not enough news coverage in favor of reform. But let's indulge him for the sake of argument].
In the long struggle to cover the healthcare debate, cable news has been caught by its own choice to consider even the most outlandish claims offered at the town halls. But up to this point, the networks have not shown what many believe is the most critical side of the healthcare reform story: the fear tens of millions of Americans experience when they are stripped of or denied health insurance at the most desperate moments of their lives. Now CNN has shown this exact dynamic.
Amidst all the talk of paying tribute to Senator Kennedy, perhaps now is the time for CNN to bring this powerful clip back into the headlines.
It’s a powerful moment indeed. And it’s great TV. It should make for great news packages on the “heartlessness” of the opposition, of the Mob, of Republicans.
But would it tip the balance of news coverage in favor of reform (you mean there isn’t enough news coverage favoring anything Obama does or stands for? Seriously?)? Maybe. Would that eventually tip the scales in favor of passage? Unlikely, because the fact that desperate, sad, heart-wrenching instances of dire need for health care exist are not sufficient to support any conclusion that Americans should want socialized medicine. There are several reasons why.
First, we know that the aim of Obamacare is not to provide all Americans with the care they need. Obamacare will only provide you with the sort and level of care that the government thinks you should get. It’s not universal, unlimited care, as there is no such thing. Certainly not in a country of 300+ million people such as ours. Obamacare is – by definition – rationed, limited care.
And if you are living in a nursing home, like the husband of the poor lady on the video, odds are that when you are in real, desperate need for care – as in life or death – the government will do no more for you than the “evil” health insurance company that won’t help this poor couple.
Don’t take my word for it. Take Obama’s. In fact apply Obama’s own words to this couple’s situation and see if Obamacare would make a difference in their lives. Odds are it won’t. As the President has made clear, many people in similar extreme situations would also be out of luck under Obamacare.
Oh, they wouldn’t be left with nothing to hang on to. Obama is too merciful for that. They’d be handed a pill, maybe. But probably not much more.
Second, Republican ideology is not standing in the way of Obamacare’s passing. It can’t. Republicans are a minority in both houses of Congress. There’s nothing they can do to stop it if in fact Democrats really want it. The main reason why Obamacare is not a reality is because Democrats are not making it one.
UPDATE: Related content at Gateway Pundit: State Run Media refuses to air ads critical of Obamacare.
You heard the man. Need more favorable coverage of Obamacare. If they can’t find it, then they’ll have to “tip the scales” by reducing the unfavorable coverage.
-
Jehuda
HuffPo: Gang of Six Repulican Admit’s He’s Simply Blocking Obamacare.
I don’t understand why a liberal would allow a Republican Senator to entertain such delusions of grandeur. No Republican can stop Obamacare from passing. Democrats control both houses of Congress and the White House. If Obamacare never becomes a reality, Democrats will have no one to blame but themselves.
UPDATE: Related content from Forbes‘s Dan Gerstein: Democrats are their own worst enemy and have no one to blame for health care debacle but themselves.
