Susie thinks Mrs. Obama looked angry and speculated they'd had a fight.
Biden-Pelosi jumping jacks? Again.
 
Not a Republican stood. Eventually, President Barack Obama managed to say a few things they were willing to applaud.

President Barack Obama stated that we were the world's only wealthy democracy that didn't provide universal health care. 

My answer? We're also the only surviving democracy that is still producing innovative advances in medicine. Once the healthcare system is wrecked and the free market no longer exists for medical care, then all that research and innovation will cease.  In a very few years, we will no longer have the capacity to restart that research without considerable lead-time.  When students aren't motivated to enter medicine, we get no new doctors or researchers.

He claims that healthcare is THE deficit problem? The mind boggles. He forces through the largest spending bill in the world's history, let alone ours, and he thinks healthcare is causing his deficit?  He's completely disconnected from our Universe.

So, what is his plan?

Asks everyone to take part, to take responsibility.  I assume that means to shoulder the costs.

There's the same old "nothing in this plan" nonsense.  His words, taken literally, are true.  The bill does not force you off whatever plan you have.  It just makes it impossibly expensive for your employer to remain with your current carrier.  I can just imagine how quickly the state of Texas will be on the "public option."
 
What is going on here is instance after instance of set-ups that permit these things we fear by not forbidding them.  Nothing says they'll pay for abortions.  Nothing says they won't either.  Nothing says this committee will determine what and how much.  But the "Secretary" will act on those NON-MANDATORY recommendations and make them mandatory. I want to know which alternate reality permits the government to dictate which procedures will be provided and then claim that they won't be interfering with our relationship with our doctors?

We make police officers show cause when they make a traffic stop. Because we've given them the power and authority to make those stops—we want to be certain that power isn't abused.  This bill is one massive flight of unrestrained power.

These are the things he wants: pre-existing conditions must be covered, they can't drop you when sick, no caps on payouts (blink!) and caps on out-of-pocket charges.
Let's get real here.  No one likes these things.  They should not be capricious.  But, face it, insurance companies are in business to (gasp!) make money.  That's what a free market is all about.  Covering pre-existing conditions means they must accept people they know are going to cost more than they are paying in premiums. Forbidding the company from dropping patients once they are sick means that they are left open for massive fraud from patients with un-provable illnesses that are expensive but have no real basis in medicine.

(The single most common employee comp fraud is back pain.  That's because it's easy to fake and impossible to disprove.)

No caps on payouts? Same argument.  Caps on oop charges? Still the same argument.  In addition, ordinary people are then ill-motivated to reconsider an emergency room visit for the common cold. 

No extra charge for testing? Where did that come from?  I've my share of health issues and I've never seen any sign of being charged "extra" for testing.

I don't have the answers for these problems.  I really don't.  I'm caught in the pre-existing condition trap.  It's not fun.  Real people come down with real illnesses that can cost millions of dollars to treat.  Every one is a tragedy.  Dropping a person who entered into the contract in good faith and then became ill is morally wrong, contractually wrong and damned well should be illegal. My argument would be the same for caps on total payouts.  My guess is that it's fairly rare, but I can easily imagine a person with chronic health problems running up a multi-million dollar bill.  That's the whole point in spreading the risk and allowing the insurance companies to compete nationally would seem likely to fix that. 

Capping oop? Well, with some protection against fraud, I'd be willing to force that one down their throats.  My point being, if you force the insurance industry into these conditions without some protection built in for their profit, they will soon be out of business...which I maintain is what the liberal left wants in the first place.

What the devil is this insurance exchange? I've read most of the bill and I have no idea what he means.  It looks to me like he's expecting a consortium of insurance companies to band together to provide a risk pool pro bono, i.e. at no charge.

For the really poor, the ones who can't afford the basic coverage, he wants tax credits "according to your need."  Shudder.  To each according to their needs... Where have we heard that before?

He wants to immediately offer low cost coverage? Really? Who will do that? My guess is we will. 

If you choose not to buy coverage, he wants to fine you. Everyone will be required to carry basic coverage. Excuse me.  If the government wants a check and they won't take no for an answer, that is a tax. So, you have a choice.  Buy the government supplied, inexpensive insurance, or buy the publicly offered, higher cost insurance.  Hmmm... let me think about that a minute. The carrot or the semi-auto pistol in the U.S. Marshall's fist? I think Barack Obama's got this financial incentive thing down pat.  Too bad he won't apply the idea to taxes.

Then the demonization began. His evil opponents, spreading lies and using scare tactics.  My God, they even read the bill!  How dare they!  About here he made some comment about it being a lie that the bill would cover illegal aliens. South Carolina Republican Rep. Joe Wilson shouted "You lie!"  Nancy Pelosi was apoplectic! That glare was worth the entire forty-eight minutes of rerun!  I understand he later apologized.  Frankly, I would have apologized for interrupting, but not for the accusation.

He pushes competition. There's the public option. He claims it would have to be self-supporting by premiums. Only 5% of the population would sign up. He didn't tell us that works out to fifteen million people.  Only 15,000,000 people.  Doesn't sound so hot, does it? Oh, and everyone else stays with their current, now more expensive, insurance.

There comes a flurry of claims and comments.  I had some trouble keeping up.  It would apply only to targeted areas or co-ops...of some kind. He wants Americans to have a choice. No bureaucrat will get between you and your doctor. He will not sign it if it adds to deficit. He will pay for it with savings from inside the current system, I presume he means Medicare and Medicaid.  That would be the $650 billion in cuts to Medicare? Sorry, Mom, Dad. Cut back on those pain meds to save money. Sorry you can't breathe. Don't worry. It'll be over soon.

At that point, I'm thinking, "You're going to have to re-write HR3200."

He goes on. None of Medicare trust to be spent. Commission to find waste and fraud. Prescription drug coverage. What are these changes? Why are we supposed to believe the government can effectively cure itself? He can't even start thhis speech on time. Wasn't AlGore supposed to root out waste and fraud during the Clinton Administration?  He did, didn't he? I mean between inventing the Internet and stuff.

Barack Obama wants to charge a surtax for Cadillac coverage. Suddenly, he skips over the problems of medical malpractice and, although he doesn't use the word, tort reform. Oh, we might let you experiment with it, but nothing serious.  No need to anger all those nice trial lawyers.

He claims the CBO comes in with $900 billion over 10 years. Much of it will be paid for by the wealthiest Americans. I had no idea I'd become wealthy.

Then he flips back and forth a couple of times, from good cop to bad cop and back again.  He wants to seek common ground. Strange...he won't meet with the Republican leadership.  Perhaps the ground is only common if he owns it? Then, he promises that if you indulge in more lying and fear-mongering, he'll call us out.  Say what?  Like, "C'mon, let's take this outside?"  A common bar brawl?  Or maybe IRS audits?  Visits from the ATF? More "fishy" data collection efforts?  What, precisely, is he going to do to me for telling the truth about his bill?

Back to good cop.  He tries to call this a moral issue. Doing this is a part of the character of America.  He sniffles a bit as he drags Ted Kennedy's poor wife back over the grief-coals.  The poor woman is actually crying.  What kind of man would put a grieving widow on national TV so soon after her husband dies?  He may have been a creep, but she obviously loved him.  Is that the character of America? Cruelty to widows?

They can't claim moral high ground on this. It is insane to accuse our side of wishing hardship on our fellow citizens.  We want these problems fixed too. In fact, we actually, really do want these things fixed, as opposed to an attempt to grab control of another eighteen percent of the economy and clear up this baby-boomer problem by encouraging them to die!

Barack Obama tells us that hard work should be rewarded.  That must be why they're going to tax the wealthiest Americans and charge them extra for having really good health insurance.  I wonder—is he going to pay that surcharge too? They want to have it both ways.

Back to bad cop.  He begins whining about the angry words.  He must mean the American citizens with the brazen nerve to disagree with him.  You know, the 1.3+ million citizens who signed that petition. Why, things have gotten so bad they can't even talk!  I guess that's why they won't even talk to the Republicans, or admit that our side has offered real suggestions that don't involve destroying an entire industry.

He just wants to proceed without acrimony.  "Stop fighting with me. Give up and let me do it to you!"

Afterward, I had to listen to Bill O'Reilly discuss the speech.  A couple of things occurred to me, or were mentioned during the discussion.  One thing comes to mind, and one of the Congressmen mentioned it as well.  Which section of the Constitution permits the Federal government to require its citizens to carry some basic minimum of insurance?  The states get to do this.  Their constitutions (or equivalent) permit this for things like auto insurance. 

And...it finally dawned on me why the "end of life" stuff is in the bill, and why it's added to the Social Security Act.  When last I wrote about that, it seemed benign.  Now, it's possibly the most insidious part of the entire thousand page monstrosity.  They want to pay doctors to do this counseling.  They want to encourage doctors to encourage us to die without putting up too much of a fuss!

When O'Reilly challenged Axelrod to allow interstate competition, he tried to blame Bush for not doing it and when that didn't work, he tried to claim the rules preventing it are a state issue. So, Bush is evil for not doing what Axelrod thinks the federal government can't do? I wonder what Rod Serling from the "Twilight Zone" would have thought of that logic? The government can force every insurance company to cover pre-existing conditions but can't insist on states allowing inter-region competition?

Nothing has changed, folks.  President Barack Obama just spent forty-eight minutes telling us that the fight isn't over.