Nathan Tabor
What happens in DC, doesn't stay in DC
By Nathan Tabor
The more than $2.5 trillion-per-year American health care industry accounts for about one-sixth of the country's gross domestic product. Obama's repeatedly stated rationale for government intrusion into the private sector is that rising medical costs must be controlled because they risk destroying the entire U.S. economy.
While the Democrats and their health care plan supporters believe Obamacare is a step in the right direction, a majority of Americans believe that Obama's plan is too cumbersome, too complicated, and much too expensive especially during these times of economic turmoil and uncertainty.
Various polls have revealed that a majority of Americans want the current "proposed" health care reform legislation tossed out and politicians from both major political parties should go back to the drawing board rather than salvaging the current plan piecemeal.
The proposed health care bill would shift billions of dollars of unfunded mandates onto state governments. According to the non-partisan think tank The Heritage Foundation, the Senate's bill would cost state budgets more than $32 billion over 6 years by forcing them to expand Medicaid eligibility. Even scarier, many states estimate the true cost of the bill could be even higher.
The left-wing of the Democrat Party believes they can make the case an overhaul of the system by using smoke and mirrors. For example, the supposedly non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that Obamacare will cost $940 billion over 10 years. And they claim the plan will cut the deficit by $138 billion over that same time period.
In response to what appears to be an obsession for President Barack Obama and his colleagues in both houses of the U.S. Congress, several ad hoc groups have sprung up throughout the nation in an attempt to stop politicians who appear to be oblivious to their concerns.
For example, one group calling itself "What Happens in DC..." has created a web site, is utilizing social networking media such as Facebook and Twitter, and is planning a media blitz that will include television advertising in order to educate more Americans about the dangers of Obamacare and any government-run medical programs that attempt to control and dictate medical policy within the isolated echo chamber in Washington, DC.
While the group is comprised of citizens who oppose big government health care programs, higher taxes, unfunded mandates passed on to individual states and other actions that are the hallmark of liberal and socialist public policy, the leadership and funding for the group's Internet program is paid for by the Republican Governors Public Policy Committee. The group's slogan, which appears on the web site's frontage, is: Know when it happens in DC. know how it hurts in your state.
"There has never been a worse time to impose massive unfunded mandates upon the states. Most state budgets have been greatly reduced as a result of the economy. In fact, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that states will 'have dealt with a total budget shortfall of some $375 billion for 2010 and 2011,'" claims the group's web site.
"By enacting the flawed health care bill, the federal government would deal a major blow to reforms already under way in the states. For example, Texas and Mississippi have enacted lawsuit liability reform that has curtailed rising insurance costs for doctors. Politico describes the reforms enacted in Indiana as 'expanded health insurance and prescription drug access in a market-friendly way.' The reforms taking place at the state level are better for everyone than the bloated federal bill," the group's web site states.
Even more frightening is that the Democrat-controlled White House, House of Representatives and U.S. Senate are decidedly leftist, and health care appears to be only a step in total government control of the private sector business community.
For example, President Barack Obama is already planning his next sweeping change for American society after he gets his Obamacare passed in both houses of Congress: fulfillment of his campaign promise to revamp U.S. immigration policy as part of his fundamental transformation of the United States.
On Thursday, Obama mentioned a proposal by Democrat Senator Charles Schumer and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham that features a first-ever national identification card for U.S. citizens and legal immigrants who want a job.
In a blog posted online by The Washington Post, Senators Schumer and Graham stated "our immigration system is badly broken." Graham, who has angered conservatives time and time again, and Schumer outlined a plan to revamp U.S. immigration policy.
While the proposal for state-of-the-art identification cards are a new development in the Senate, other parts of the Schumer-Graham plan are old hat including a promise to upgrade border security, creating a new process for admitting temporary workers, and implementing a "tough but fair path to legalization for those already here," a euphemism for illegal alien amnesty.
Unfortunately for us, what happens in DC, doesn't stay in DC; it is filtered into the farthest corners of United States.
© Nathan Tabor
March 23, 2010
The more than $2.5 trillion-per-year American health care industry accounts for about one-sixth of the country's gross domestic product. Obama's repeatedly stated rationale for government intrusion into the private sector is that rising medical costs must be controlled because they risk destroying the entire U.S. economy.
While the Democrats and their health care plan supporters believe Obamacare is a step in the right direction, a majority of Americans believe that Obama's plan is too cumbersome, too complicated, and much too expensive especially during these times of economic turmoil and uncertainty.
Various polls have revealed that a majority of Americans want the current "proposed" health care reform legislation tossed out and politicians from both major political parties should go back to the drawing board rather than salvaging the current plan piecemeal.
The proposed health care bill would shift billions of dollars of unfunded mandates onto state governments. According to the non-partisan think tank The Heritage Foundation, the Senate's bill would cost state budgets more than $32 billion over 6 years by forcing them to expand Medicaid eligibility. Even scarier, many states estimate the true cost of the bill could be even higher.
The left-wing of the Democrat Party believes they can make the case an overhaul of the system by using smoke and mirrors. For example, the supposedly non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that Obamacare will cost $940 billion over 10 years. And they claim the plan will cut the deficit by $138 billion over that same time period.
In response to what appears to be an obsession for President Barack Obama and his colleagues in both houses of the U.S. Congress, several ad hoc groups have sprung up throughout the nation in an attempt to stop politicians who appear to be oblivious to their concerns.
For example, one group calling itself "What Happens in DC..." has created a web site, is utilizing social networking media such as Facebook and Twitter, and is planning a media blitz that will include television advertising in order to educate more Americans about the dangers of Obamacare and any government-run medical programs that attempt to control and dictate medical policy within the isolated echo chamber in Washington, DC.
While the group is comprised of citizens who oppose big government health care programs, higher taxes, unfunded mandates passed on to individual states and other actions that are the hallmark of liberal and socialist public policy, the leadership and funding for the group's Internet program is paid for by the Republican Governors Public Policy Committee. The group's slogan, which appears on the web site's frontage, is: Know when it happens in DC. know how it hurts in your state.
"There has never been a worse time to impose massive unfunded mandates upon the states. Most state budgets have been greatly reduced as a result of the economy. In fact, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that states will 'have dealt with a total budget shortfall of some $375 billion for 2010 and 2011,'" claims the group's web site.
"By enacting the flawed health care bill, the federal government would deal a major blow to reforms already under way in the states. For example, Texas and Mississippi have enacted lawsuit liability reform that has curtailed rising insurance costs for doctors. Politico describes the reforms enacted in Indiana as 'expanded health insurance and prescription drug access in a market-friendly way.' The reforms taking place at the state level are better for everyone than the bloated federal bill," the group's web site states.
Even more frightening is that the Democrat-controlled White House, House of Representatives and U.S. Senate are decidedly leftist, and health care appears to be only a step in total government control of the private sector business community.
For example, President Barack Obama is already planning his next sweeping change for American society after he gets his Obamacare passed in both houses of Congress: fulfillment of his campaign promise to revamp U.S. immigration policy as part of his fundamental transformation of the United States.
On Thursday, Obama mentioned a proposal by Democrat Senator Charles Schumer and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham that features a first-ever national identification card for U.S. citizens and legal immigrants who want a job.
In a blog posted online by The Washington Post, Senators Schumer and Graham stated "our immigration system is badly broken." Graham, who has angered conservatives time and time again, and Schumer outlined a plan to revamp U.S. immigration policy.
While the proposal for state-of-the-art identification cards are a new development in the Senate, other parts of the Schumer-Graham plan are old hat including a promise to upgrade border security, creating a new process for admitting temporary workers, and implementing a "tough but fair path to legalization for those already here," a euphemism for illegal alien amnesty.
Unfortunately for us, what happens in DC, doesn't stay in DC; it is filtered into the farthest corners of United States.
© Nathan Tabor
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
