President Obama said this week, "Every idea has been put on the table, every argument has been made, everything there is to say about Healthcare has been said, and just about everybody has said it." ifty-eight percent of the people don't want the bill: The Democrats are not following the will of the people, and the Republicans warn of a dangerous, 'nuclear,' option of reconciliation in the Senate to get the bill through. The only pertinent question now is when will it come to a vote. And here we are this week speaking with Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
We consider Ms. Sebelius to be a weak HHS Secretary, and therefore to avoid her talking points and anecdotes, we take on the aforementioned points. For example, she and Mr. Gregory had a telling exchange with regard to costs. Ms. Sebelius said that one of the top priorities of the bill is to contain costs, to which the moderator cited examples that it didn't.
First, it is unrealistic to say that costs will not increase in the short term, they will. In passing the bill, implementation costs money. However, over time, it is going to save money and if the Senate is miraculously successful in pushing through a public option, then you'll see some real change in the insurance cost structures. Mr. Gregory said that the Mayo and Cleveland Clinics respectively said that there is only the potential for savings. Do businesses hire an individual because they have no potential, it's exactly the opposite. So why not go with the plan with potential instead of none at all?
Fear is a cheap, easy, and expedient sell and the Republicans consistently capitalize on this emotion, and with the assistance from the media scrutinizing the minutia, 58% doesn't seem too outrageous. Nevermind that the Republicans do not have a legitimate counter argument on a way forward to healthcare reform so they attack the process - reconciliation. It is in the Republicans' best political interest to delay the vote as long as possible - if it doesn't get passed by the mid-term, which would be obscene, the GOP will get some great seat pick-ups in November. It would be a political success for sure, but ultimately (in the longer term) a disaster for the American people, but Republicans, frankly, just want to maintain the current trajectory of the country.
So to answer Mr. Gregory's question, which Secretary Sebelius did not, Healthcare will not be passed before the Easter break - March 18th. (We hope we're wrong.)
And Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) during the panel discussion (a lively one!) said that if Democrats pass Healthcare with reconciliation, it's 'Katy bar the door,' they'll be no stopping Democrats on other pieces of legislation. And this is where the slight change in the roundtable format is beneficial because points can be challenged on the spot by an individual who isn't dependent on the ways and means of winning an election, in this week's case it was E.J. Dionne, Columnist for The Washington Post.
Mr. Dionne pointed out many instances, in which the Republicans used reconciliation, namely for the Bush tax cuts (twice) and that it added $1.7 trillion to the debt. He also rightly pointed out that insurance companies are raising rates because they can get away with it, because there is no competition in states. Senator Hatch framed it as the Democrats vs. the American people because of the aforementioned poll. That's psychologically disingenuous. Americans are frustrated with the debate and the Republicans, and stupid Democrats - yes, we called them simply 'stupid' like Mr. Ben Nelson of Nebraska - watering down the bill enough that the American people are disgusted. If the public option is reinstalled, then that poll number would be the exact reverse.
If worth noting the other panel members - Fmr. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (D-TN) and the National Review's Rich Lowry - in as much as that they were both useless for this discussion. Mr. Ford tried to be the voice of reason and came up short. For Mr. Lowry of the National Review, he contributed this statement, "Speaker Pelosi is saying I 'don't order you to attack, I order you to die,'" meaning that Democrats should risk their seats to pass Healthcare reform. So don't stand up for your principals? Sounds like a Republican notion to us. Conservative writers like to intellectualize Republican positions, but as evidenced, it always rings hollow.
So yeah, Katy bar the door, from the outside, and don't let them out until they get something real done.
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