by Mark Silva
As the Senate nears a vote on advancing to debate over health-care, Republicans are holding ground against a bill which they insist will only grow the government and raise taxes.
They don't accept the $848-billion price tag that the Congressional Budget Office has placed on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's bill, and they don't buy the idea that it can cut the defict over 10 years by more than $120 billion.
"We are already experiencing record deficits and debt, and yet, this bill creates a massive expansion of government, growing the size of the federal government by over $2.4 trillion over ten full years of implementation,'' Sen. Mke Crapo of Idaho says in the Republican Party's weekly address today.
"When you take away the budget gimmicks used in the early years of the implementation that make the total cost look smaller, the truth is glaring and the Congressional Budget Office agrees: this plan will increase federal spending and health costs, not lower them. That means both you and the federal government will see costs go up.''
See the address above and read the text below:
"This is Senator Mike Crapo from Idaho. Americans are calling on Congress for health care reform because they can no longer tolerate its skyrocketing cost. They want us to stop the punishing increases in insurance premiums and health care costs that, year after year, are driving families across this nation to the edge. And, they want us to ensure that they have meaningful access to quality health care. But, when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid finally revealed the 2,074-page bill that has been crafted for weeks now behind closed doors, that's hardly what we got.
"This two-thousand page bill will:
Drive up the cost of health care insurance and medical care, not down; Increase taxes by hundreds of billions of dollars; cut Medicare for senior citizens by hundreds of billions of dollars; grow the federal government by over $2.4 trillion in new spending; push the needy uninsured into a failing Medicaid system; impose a damaging unfunded mandate on our struggling states; leave millions of Americans uninsured; and estaablish a massive governmental intrusion into management of our health care economy.
This is not true health care reform, and it is not what the American people want. This bill will result in higher premiums and higher health care costs for Americans - period.
"At a time when we are experiencing record double-digit unemployment, the Reid bill raises taxes by nearly half a trillion dollars. A significant number of these provisions violate President Obama's promise to the American people, namely that lower- and middle-class Americans would not see a tax increase under his proposals. And, yet, this bill clearly breaks that promise as it taxes a wide range of Americans: the uninsured and the insured; families with so-called high value insurance plans; employers who create jobs or provide retiree drug coverage; individuals who need medicines or medical devices; and many others. It also levies fines and penalties on individuals, families and businesses.
"Medicare faces cuts of nearly $500 billion to create the new government entitlement, even though Medicare is already facing enormous unfunded liabilities and looming insolvency. These cuts will reduce access to and the quality of care our seniors receive from a number of Medicare providers, including hospitals, nursing homes, home health and hospice services. And, as they see their access to and quality of care reduced, seniors enrolled in the popular Medicare Advantage plans will also lose many of the benefits that they enjoy today.
"We are already experiencing record deficits and debt, and yet, this bill creates a massive expansion of government, growing the size of the federal government by over $2.4 trillion over ten full years of implementation. When you take away the budget gimmicks used in the early years of the implementation that make the total cost look smaller, the truth is glaring and the Congressional Budget Office agrees: this plan will increase federal spending and health costs, not lower them. That means both you and the federal government will see costs go up.
"The legislation pushes 15 million people into the failing Medicaid system rather than giving them access to health insurance. And, in addition to forcing the neediest of the uninsured into a failing entitlement program, this expansion will result in $25 billion in unfunded Medicaid mandates on the states, which are already struggling financially. This mandate further jeopardizes state budgets as it forces them to drive up spending.
"The bill creates a government option insurance company and establishes unprecedented expansion of governmental control over health care. It establishes the government as the determiner of what kind of insurance Americans can purchase. It also imposes new federal mandates on all Americans. The first mandate would apply to the individual: buy insurance or the IRS will collect a fine from you. Then, on employers: face a penalty if you don't provide a government-approved health plan. The bill imposes $28 billion in new taxes on employers who don't comply. Those new taxes would be passed along to employees in the form of reduced wages and lost jobs.
"You're going to hear a lot about this bill. That's why I encourage you to read the bill yourself and form your own opinion. The bill is available on my website as well as a number of other Internet sites. Take a close look at how the bill is funded and who and what it covers and doesn't cover and how it may impact you and your family. It's a real eye-opener!
"In recent months, I've heard from many Idahoans in my home state about health care, and they echo what Americans want in health care reform--lower costs and better quality. What Americans really want is the kind of step-by-step reforms that Republicans have been advocating for years -- common-sense ideas like the ability to purchase insurance across state lines, allowing small businesses to pool together to offer more affordable health insurance to their employees; changing the incentives in our system from numbers of procedures to quality of outcomes; eliminating pre-existing condition limitations, equalizing the tax treatment of insurance; eliminating waste, fraud and abuse and promoting wellness and prevention programs that encourage people to make healthy choices. These are the kinds of reform that make sense and would really make a difference for all Americans. Thank you for listening."
Comments
I sure didn't hear any of this nonsense, when we lied our way into a war and occupation in Iraq. Now, all of a sudden, we are worried about the size of our government, when America is in most need of helping its citizens out of the economic and moral crater, the Bush&Cheney regime left us. Come on, boys and girls of the Party of NO, you, Republican-Libertarians, who have consistently, been quiet when Bush&Cheney, that draft-dodging team, sunk our economy, and our morale, to new lows !! Try as you might, the Bush&Cheney millstone, is here to stay. You voted them in, twice, and I think the least we can do, for you, is to constantly remind you, of your selfishness, if not your stupidity !! Those two draft-dodgers deserved to be our leaders, as much as Ronnie Raygun, and his Arms-for-Hostages appeasement, did !! After 35 years and you are still entertaining clowns to lead our nation !!! Can we get any more ludicrous than that !!? You Betcha !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, IL | November 21, 2009 8:32 AM
"...and they don't buy the idea that it can cut the defict over 10 years by more than $120 billion." Nor should they, since it won't This "balancing" uses seven years of expenditures against 10 years of revenues and also the cuts to the doctor's medicare included in this bill will be funded in another bill - in other words, the ose savings will never occur.
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
We just passed 12 trillion this past week and are already 16 billion over that.
Hey, Ho, Way to Go, Obamo
Posted by: Terry | November 21, 2009 9:22 AM
The GOP would rather grow government with war and fear.
Posted by: lochnessmonster | November 21, 2009 10:34 AM
I believe the name says it!
Posted by: bill r. | November 21, 2009 10:55 AM
blah blah death panel blah blah kill grandma blah blah worse then al qaeda attack blah blah destroy our country blah blah socialist blah blah best health care in the world c.b.o lied blah blah c.b.o says our plan is better blah blah. They all have absolutely no credibility on whatever they say about health care. The republicans will only support a plan that is pro corporate insurance and screw the people. Come to think of it Have the republicans ever supported a plan or law that didn't put the corporations first above the people. Lets see if someone can come up with some examples of legislation that was not pro corporation above all else. Over and over again. After the last administration facilitated trained and gave tax breaks to send our jobs over seas all at tax payers ex pence why would we ever listen to the republican party about jobs.
Posted by: no spin | November 21, 2009 11:07 AM
"Terry", you're correct of course. I'd only add that with the Republican address the Swamp writer injected his own words in to try and refute the Republicans, but let the Democrat address speak for itself.
Posted by: Bruce | November 21, 2009 11:53 AM
I say they give up on the health care bill. This country is in crisis and it is just making this worse and worse. It is too much contraversy...
Posted by: Jsianez | November 21, 2009 11:58 AM
The new talking point from the republican party is that Obama is raping the country. I'm just waiting for the bloggers to pick that up. All you have to do is look at the state of the country when Busch took office and then look at the state of the country when he left and follow the money who profited. Now that is what you call raping the country.
Posted by: no spin | November 21, 2009 12:42 PM
You know who started the race to have everything American made in China? Your friendly neighborhood WAL-MART. After I saw this Frontline I quit shopping there.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/china/
Sam Walton must be spinning in his grave.
Posted by: lochnessmonster | November 21, 2009 1:07 PM
DUMB FITZ,
Do you mean quotes like this from the President about "lying" are way into war with Iraq?:
"Earlier today, I ordered America's armed forces to strike military and security targets in Iraq. They are joined by British forces. Their mission is to attack Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs and its military capacity to threaten its neighbors."
http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/12/16/transcripts/clinton.html
Remember, President Bush had lots of support from the dems:
http://www.davidstuff.com/political/wmdquotes.htm
As for the growth of the gov't, President Bush was not good, but BO is growing thsi gov't at warp speed. The debt clock has increased over $1.3 Trillion in BO's 11 months in office.
We will see how much this health care bill, that still does not cover everyone, cost this country. We just saw the second Lousiana Purchase when $100 million aid addition was added for Lousiana so they could buy Landreau's vote. A whore is a whors by any other name.
Posted by: Terry | November 21, 2009 1:10 PM
It is unfortunate that the Republicans as a whole, didn't really come to the table in August and instead tried to evoke images of "death panels" rather than working with the Democrats to reform health care in a way that would be palatable with far more Americans. Bringing up ideas at this stage is not helpful because really good and even unfeasible ideas can be raised with full awareness that nothing will happen with them given that the Democrats are no longer listening.
Its too bad that political posturing took precedence over public well being and we are left only what the Democrats can work through amongst themselves.
Posted by: Wellescent Health Blog | November 21, 2009 1:45 PM
The GOP: Growing the pentagon with two BS "wars".
Posted by: Vivian | November 21, 2009 2:32 PM
"I believe the name says it!"
Billy,
Weren't you the one that posted a few days ago:
"More literary works from the 'adults'." ?
He who lives in glass houses...
Posted by: Terry | November 21, 2009 2:42 PM
This is not reform its a take over. Can anyone name how this is reform and back it up? Can anyone name a program out of DC that has not cost two or three times more then the crooks in DC said it would?
For real reform it takes a pair and I do not think any in DC has what it takes.
Posted by: Crooks_In_DC | November 21, 2009 2:45 PM
As the healthcare debate is coming to a procedural head on the floor of the U.S. Senate tonight, news this week that the U.S. Postal Service lost money for the third year in a row—a staggering $3.8 billion, versus a loss of $2.8 billion last year—should give Middle America real concerns about government’s ability to effectively insert itself into individuals’ lives and deliver quality, affordable healthcare.
Government is not a bad thing. For those who think differently, view government as a necessary evil, whose purpose is to serve the people, not vice versa. As we were reminded by Abraham Lincoln in the Gettysburg Address in 1863, “. . . this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. . .” Like it or not, government belongs to the people and it is here to stay.
The speed with which politicians are moving to rush a 2074 page healthcare bill through Congress with little debate leads Middle America to ask the obvious question, “What’s the hurry on an issue of such great importance?”
Well, the hurry is that this week Middle America picked up the scent of the rationing of healthcare with confusion over when and what women should get mammograms and pap smears. As time drags on, Americans are becoming increasingly concerned about how healthcare might be rationed, which has Democrats are as nervous as long-tailed cats in a room full of rocking chairs.
If ever there was an issue that touched every American personally, healthcare is it. Clearly, something has to give—there has to be some sort of healthcare reform, like the ability to shop for healthcare across state lines, a prohibition against rejecting pre-existing conditions, a requirement that every American have health insurance, etc. However, the need to get healthcare reform right greatly exceeds the political demands to just get “something” done and declare victory.
Middle America has been betrayed in a way, since every word of every page of the 2074 page bill isn’t being discussed and publicly debated in great detail by this administration, which campaigned on “transparency.” Sound public policy requires a lucid and thorough examination of this legislation, but it appears that once again, sound public policy is being traded for political expediency.
Obama’s advisors and Democratic consultants know that time is their enemy—the longer Congress takes to pass healthcare legislation, the less political capital they have to pass anything at all, and the more likely Middle America will thoughtfully consider how it might impact its own mammograms, pap smears, and healthcare needs.
The honeymoon period typically extended to new presidents is now coming to an end, if it hasn’t already come and gone. Unfortunately for President Obama and Democrats, they campaigned on delivering “healthcare reform” and staked their political future on it.
Middle America is not naïve, and will not allow itself to be played like a Stradivarius violin. Making healthcare reform their lynchpin issue was a very calculated decision by Democrats, not done hastily, but after much polling and many focus groups. Democrats have made healthcare a political football and Middle America is increasingly concerned about it.
Understandably, Democrats exploited the issue of healthcare reform for maximum political value during the campaign, but now the campaign is over and the wolf is almost at the door. Democrats know they have to deliver something, and this “something” really needs to be thought through with great deliberation and debate. If given a choice, Middle America would be better served with nothing, rather than “something” hastily rammed through Congress.
A. Muser
http://americanmuser.wordpress.com
Posted by: AmericanMuser | November 21, 2009 3:15 PM
The American public knows this is a budget buster and even David Broder is writing about it.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/20/AR2009112002618_pf.html
Posted by: Terry | November 21, 2009 5:40 PM
bill r., knowing the general tenor of your comments, I'm surprised that you didn't get that in earlier than fourth.
I thought that calling people out of their name ended about fourth grade. That's when I grew out of it.
HEY HEY, HO HO, BHO HAS GOTTA GO!
Posted by: DaveB | November 21, 2009 6:30 PM
Literally, typical half-truths from the Party of NO, the Republican-Libertarian Party. Those 2074 pages you refer to, are actually 2074 pages of double-spaced, single-sided, printed pages, but what's wrong with just presenting half of the picture !!! "A. Muser" should speak truth to power, in stead of untruths to power !! Will the Republican-Libertarians ever learn !?? You Betcha !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, IL | November 21, 2009 8:22 PM
terry of teabaggerville:
We just saw the second Lousiana Purchase when $100 million aid addition was added for Lousiana so they could buy Landreau's vote. A whore is a whors by any other name.
At least she held out for more benjamins, unlike the paltry campaign contributions the medical lobby makes to the other whores in congress.
Posted by: writerofwrongs | November 21, 2009 10:49 PM
DUMB FITZ,
All legislation is typed that way. In this case, the Party of No is better than the Party of Taking the Country over the Cliff.
Posted by: Terry | November 21, 2009 11:02 PM
That's when I grew out of it.
HEY HEY, HO HO, BHO HAS GOTTA GO!
Posted by: DaveB | November 21, 2009 6:30 PM
Priceless!!!!!
Posted by: bill r. | November 22, 2009 9:18 AM
I believe the name says it!
Posted by: bill r. | November 21, 2009 10:55 AM
Reminds me of the time on the Andy Griffith Show when Andy was trying to teach Opie about Romeo and Juliet.
Andy said: "You can change the name of a rose, but you can't do nothing about the smell."
Posted by: Davey S | November 23, 2009 9:57 AM
Why is house bill HR2520 not being looked at? Why has the MSM not reported about this bill? Why have the democrats stopped this from coming up for debate?
I know WHY; because its only 300 pages, its an republican bill, and its a real reform bill.
Posted by: Crooks_In_DC | November 23, 2009 11:54 AM