Posted by: ST on June 18, 2009 at 7:22 pm
ABC’s The Note reports:
In an attempt at bipartisanship, three former majority leaders of the U.S. Senate, Tom Daschle, Howard Baker, and Bob Dole, offered their solution today to the biggest obstacle to achieving health care reform — a public option.
“While I feel very strongly that consumers should have the choice of a national, Medicare-like plan, my colleagues do not. . . But we were concerned that the ongoing health reform debate is beginning to show signs of fracture on the public plan issue, so in order to advance the process of developing bipartisan legislation and to move it forward, it’s time to find consensus here,” Daschle said.
“We’ve come too far and gained too much momentum for our efforts to fail over disagreements on one single issue,” he said.
In a blow to President Obama and many of his Democratic allies in the health care fight, the plan recommends that there be no federal public option, but rather state or regional public-sponsored networks that would compete with private health plans, according to the summary released today by the Bipartisan Policy Center.
The lame-o response from the WH:
“This group of extraordinarily experienced legislators agree with the President that health reform must be enacted this year because the status quo — skyrocketing health care costs, rising premiums, swelling deficits – is unsustainable,” said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.
“With this report, they have demonstrated what can be achieved with bipartisan effort. The Bipartisan Policy Center has produced a significant report, and the White House applauds their efforts,” added Gibbs.
Now if that’s not the verbal equivalent of a pat on the head, I don’t know what is.
Prominent faithful supporters (mostly liberals) of healthcare reform that includes the “public option” are on record as being “worried” about whether or not the public option and other healthcare “reforms” (read: more government control) they wished for are indeed DOA. The big issue at this point is the overwhelming mega-trillion dollar price tag the CBO put on the plan earlier this week. Not only was that a buzz killer for liberal healthcare reform advocates, but the CBO’s estimate of a net decrease of in the number of people uninsured at around the 17,000,000 mark was also a heavy duty blast of cold water.
Not that any of this matters to $ grubbing Congressional “leaders” like Nancy Pelosi, who have attacked the CBO this week rather than address in detail the issues of the massive costs and loss in coverage for 17 mill. Americans:
“It’s always been a source, yes I will say frustration, for many of us in Congress that the CBO will always give you the worst case scenario on one initiative and never … any credit for anything that happens if you have early intervention, health care,” Pelosi said in her weekly news conference on Capitol Hill.
“If you have prevention, if you have wellness … you name any positive investment that we make, that we know reduces cost, brings money to the Treasury in the case of education but never scored positively by the CBO. Yes, it is frustrating,” she said.
She added, “I hope we will see them say, ‘This is what we see the cost of something. We have not accounted for the benefits’ because they don’t and they haven’t and it should not be inferred from what they do that they have.”
She’s insisting that there will still be a public option in the House version of the bill. The Senate is another matter altogether.
And here we were thinking at the beginning of the year that socialized healthcare was a done deal. What a pleasant surprise to see that maybe it’s not after all.
Nancy is amazing. First she calls the CIA serial liars, now she accuses the CBO -which works for Congress- of not giving its most objective opinion, but of having a pessimistic bias worse than Allahpundit’s
What’s next, O Speaker? Accusing your own caucus of stealing the strawberries?
What galls me is that they think people want the choice of a public health care program….what people want is a free ride on the governments medical dime. Period.
I hope this goes the way of Hillary’s inept effort in the past…people are just starting to get an idea of how much money it’s going to cost the taxpayer….they are not happy with the disgust waste ridden stimulus plan and now are starting to see the whole picture and not liking it.
Yeah folks there is no free ride on the health care train…
Of course, Daschle, Baker, Dole and Pelosi are all economic genii we should all listen to, since every one of them is a deeply-rooted socialist at heart slobbering over the prospect that ivory tower-types and the media will love them for it.
I would be surprised if Pelosi could make change at her local McDonald’s (if she even knows where it is). And, of course again, such people (the ones who make change at McDonald’s or similar entry-level jobs) are the ones who will eventually be the hardest hit by all this “free” health care. One thing’s certain, though: Pelosi and all her elected cronies won’t be stuck with the health plans and insurance they saddle the rest of us with.
Well as much of a dimwit as Tom the Daschled Hope and Change Czar is, if he gets it, how stupid are the rest? Don’t bother it was rhetorical….
All this ‘plan’ will do is benefit the so-called poor who already live off the public dole,are members of ACORN and other activist ‘get out the vote’ organizations who thrive and prosper on the notion of past oppression and rights to free public monies. Those who will suffer are, yet again, the honest, hard-working middle class Americans who play by the rules and do not accept ‘public assistance’ in lieu of self-sufficiency and education. What will it take for people to wake up to this wanna-be dictator’s agenda to destroy opportunity in America?
I beg to differ with you, Jo, but the worst affected will be the “so-called poor who already live off the public dole” because it robs them of any chance to become anything but a disgusting piece of animal lapping up the slavery waters of government servitude.
At least most in the middle class will still strive to attain some measure of self-pride (the real stuff, not the public schools’ platitudes of “close enough”), and that in itself is priceless. Too bad the welfare suckers (both the vagrant types and the professional government welfarers) couldn’t learn that.