It's been a while since I've posted about the health care takeover by the Democrats. Quite frankly, I got really tired of talking about it and needed a break. But, there are still many notable things happening on that front, so I feel I should provide another big update. Tons of links here, so dig in.
In the rush to pass the bill without reading it or understanding what was in it, Congressional Dems somehow missed the fact that kids with pre-existing conditions weren't covered as promised. Oops. But don't worry, they're on top of all the rest of those 2,000+ pages of bill that they haven't read. Trust them, they've totally got it covered...
Isn't it interesting that, now that DemCare has been signed into law, Obama is embarking on a major tour around the country to sell it to America? Um...after an extremely contentious debate for the past year, I think that America has a really good grasp of what's in it already, and that's why we rejected it! And if it's such a great thing, why are they still trying to sell it at all? I find it quite ironic that the New York Times ran a story recently on one of the most odious parts of DemCare - there are death panels in there, after all! Might have been nice for them to do their jobs before the vote took place, rather than blasting conservatives for raising the issue while there was still time to do something about it. But hey, it's the NYT...what do you expect from Obama's front-line cheerleading squad?
To persuade reluctant Congress members to support them, Democrat leadership used the argument that Americans would accept (and maybe even love) DemCare after it was passed, promising a great poll bump after the dust settled...but that hasn't happened. If anything, the opposition has grown even more. So why did Bart 'Sell-out' Stupak and the inaccurately named pro-life Dems who supported DemCare change their minds at the last minute? It's as we have observed is always true of elected Democrats: they sold their so-called principles for some political favors and cash. And now Stupak knows his political career is over, so he's joined the stampede of Dems 'retiring' before they get thrown out on their faces by furious voters. Democrats know what DemCare is, at least in part: a massive redistribution of wealth (the other part is control, of course). They also know they over-promised. All of these things are leading up to a massive blood-letting in the next election. In fact, the Indiana Right to Life has officially stated that they will no longer support any Democrats because they folded on their 'pro-life' 'principles'.
Remember all those companies coming out to claim major losses because of the coming costs of DemCare? They're legally required to do so, but even more have now added their losses to the list, including ski resorts, Prudential, Aetna, and Boeing. How many billions of dollars -- which could instead be used to create jobs -- are going to be sucked out of the private sector due to DemCare? Of course, the reality of having to remain profitable doesn't stop the Dems in Congress from bullying these companies for complying with their own laws. We can also expect to see hospitals join the list of companies being bailed out in the future.
Do you recall who will be the enforcement arm of the DemCare mandate? The IRS, which is now in the process of hiring thousands more enforcement troops. Do you get a tax refund each year? Stop doing that, because the government is going to start taking your DemCare payment out of your refund. And, by the way, you still face penalties or jail time if you don't participate. Freedom is sooooo 20th century, apparently.
Another fun part of this is that a lot of Americans were confused, and thought that as soon as DemCare was signed into law, they'd have all the free health care they could dream of. It was life-saving utopia, remember. But, when they descended upon doctor's offices and clinics demanding free procedures and medicine, they were rudely turned away. You see, the dirty little secret (to them, not to anyone with a thinking brain and open eyes) is that most of the 'benefits' won't kick in until 2014, after several years of excessive taxation to 'pay for' DemCare. How's that hope-n-change working out now?
Oh, and do you remember that doc fix thing, where they were going to cut the rates of reimbursement for doctors who accept Medicare patients? You know, the same doc fix that the Dems had to hide in a separate bill so it didn't count against the bottom line cost of DemCare? Yeah, they need another one of those. But pay no attention to that.
But let's come back to the cost. What will be more expensive as a result of DemCare? How about medical devices, any restaurant with a menu, insurance (until they go out of business, that is), Medicaid payments for over half of all states (and Texas claims it will be 20 times more expensive than the federal government estimates), and pretty much everything for young people, who face the prospect of paying down this monster-sized debt mountain. And while being more expensive, we'll all get blessed with longer lines, too, which will only get worse because of the inevitable doctor shortage that will come along shortly. It won't reduce hidden costs, or any costs at all, and most Americans know it. In short, it will be an utter disaster for America, not only in terms of health care, but also in terms of the economy. And, as predicted, there is so much debt rolling downhill toward us that the idiot liberals in Congress are starting to talk about raising taxes...big time. Chuck that no-taxes-if-you-earn-over-$250k promise right out the window!
But there is hope: the number of states formally suing the federal government over the mandate to buy insurance has risen to 18. Several thousand doctors are suing, too. The mandate is, as we've discussed before, brazenly unconstitutional.
So, that's where we are now. DemCare is law, and the early effects are:
- private companies taking massive losses which will lead to lost jobs (or the prevention of new hiring)
- no actual 'benefits'
- tax increases
Funny, it sure seems like all of this stuff was predicted by conservatives on the Right -- and echoed by Americans of all political stripes at Tea Parties and town halls, and in millions of angry phone calls and e-mails -- for the past several months.
Obama and the Democrats in Congress are governing against the will of the people, and the anger is rising. This isn't over yet...not by a long shot.
There's my two cents.
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