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Health care fight all about control
 The reception Sen. Max Baucus' health care reform bill received presumably showed us the Congress is a long way away from agreeing on legislation that could be described as one of the most important measures the Congress has entertained in decades.
Trumpeted as a compromise to please moderate Democrats and Republicans alike, Baucus' bill, which was unveiled last week, makes no mention of the Congress establishing a government-run health care insurance program, or a dramatic expansion of government. Instead, the Baucus bill calls for establishing so-called health insurance cooperatives, or outfits similar to an electric cooperative, which many Americans who live in rural areas utilize to this very day.
Baucus' decision to steer clear of the government-run option to provide health insurance for millions of Americans who don't have it didn't sit well with liberal members of the Congress, led by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. She boldly predicted the House of Representatives would pass a health care reform bill that explicitly calls for the government to get into the health insurance business. She says that's needed to not only provide health insurance for millions of Americans who don't have it but also to provide a check of some sorts on the private health insurance industry in general.
Pelosi isn't alone in demanding the Congress provide a means for people to buy health insurance from Big Brother. There are scores of liberal members of the Congress who favor it, and they all obviously believe government represents the answer for all problems society faces today. God bless them, but they're dead wrong.
However, the common denominator of it all -- whether it's Baucus' bill or the House bill or whatever -- looms a massive tax increase to pay for health care reform courtesy of so-called wealthy Americans and the business community, large and small. Taxes on private health care insurance policies have been bantered about, too.
Meanwhile, President Obama and other liberals say the government is going to clean up or clamp down on waste and fraud to help pay for their idea of health care reform. According to Obama and company, waste and fraud run rampant throughout the government's Medicare and Medicaid programs. They say they can fix it.
When was the last time the government eradicated a government program of waste and fraudulent activities?
I can't think of one instance either.
Furthermore, if waste and fraud run amok in the Medicare and Medicaid programs, as Obama and company say, why would Congress desire to create another health-care related program?
Before we go too far in blaming Democrats in general for introducing what could be described as an outright effort to socialize some 15 percent of the economy, Republicans should take heed, get off their rear ends and put forward a plan of their own to help the millions of Americans who limp along in life in fear of getting sick. After all, a serious illness can ruin you financially if you don't have health insurance because health care costs are out of control and have been out of control for years.
Yet, I'm reminded that the debate, or lack thereof, over so-called health care reform -- which we're watching unfold in our nation's capital -- represents what Washington is all about. It's about arguing and disagreeing and pointing fingers to score political points with the fringe element of one's political party. That's called gridlock, and gridlock could be exactly what the decision-makers in the Democratic and Republican parties are looking, or hoping, for some one year prior to the mid-term elections.
Gridlock equates to an all-out fight for control of the country.
Democrats currently have it; Republicans want it back.
And all of them are willing to do whatever it takes to keep it or get it. |
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