Saturday Morning Videos: Healthcare Endgame
March 13, 2010, Matthew Cochrane
| |
With the House agreeing to vote on health care legislation next week, I thought it best to highlight a few crucial arguments being made against the bill in this week’s Saturday Morning Videos.
First, for those confused about the obtuse parliamentary rules being used to pass the bill, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor does a good job of breaking the process down:
This next video captures rare moments when Democrats speak frankly about what exactly the bill entails:
Former Reason magazine editor Virginia Postrel talks about the weaknesses and strengths of our current system. Postrel has the vantage point of being both a kidney donor and a breast cancer survivor and uses here experiences to draw several key lessons. Most interestingly, she discusses her use of the extremely expensive, but effective, wonder drug Herceptin – and how the single-payer system in New Zealand blocks it use due to its high costs.
Finally, last week George Will cut to the crux of the argument: liberals believe people are too stupid to choose which health care options are best for them.
| |
|
| Comments |
God help us. - Todd
|
|
"God help us." - Todd
You might just be on to our last hope in this battle. When all the arguing is done and all the politicking is over with and all the battle lines have been drawn, the inescapable fact remains: the Democrats have enough bodies in both the Senate and the House to enact pretty much anything they want. It's a miracle that we have held them off as long as we have.
I am not at all suggesting we should relax our efforts in calling our Senators and Representatives and letting them know in no uncertain terms how we feel. But I am suggesting that we not neglect to pray hard for this monstrosity to be defeated. I'm seriously beginning to think prayer my be our last hope. - Verbatim
|
|
This so-called health bill gets worse in my mind every day. I have just learned that the 2,733 pages of the Senate version of the bill call for the creation of no less than 159 new administrative boards, panels and programs that never existed before. One hundred and fifty-nine!
Any way you look at it, that's a LOT of new administration to be paid for. No wonder they have been called "death panels" by some. Strangely, though, even that isn't the worst of it. It is also written into the bill that there will be no judicial review of Medicare which will take away the rights of patients to sue the government as they can under current law. Think about this . . . presently there is at least a convoluted and complicated system for appeals and suits but under this new bill there won't be. All these boards apparently become a law unto themselves. That this is happening in America is astonishing. - Just Sayin'
|
|
I don't know if you guys saw, but it looks like Pelosi has decided to push through the education reform in this bill also (under reconciliation). - Todd
|
|
According to the web, the only way to upset a reconciliation is by this method. Although, it seems it may be nothing more than a 5 minute delay...
Any senator may raise a procedural objection to a provision believed to be extraneous, which will then be ruled on by the Presiding Officer, customarily on the advice of the Senate Parliamentarian. A vote of 60 senators is required to overturn the ruling. The Presiding Officer need not necessarily follow the advice of the Parliamentarian, and the Parliamentarian can be replaced by the Senate Majority Leader.[6]. However, this hasn't been done since 1975.[7]
- Todd
|
|
|
