The Road To Health Care Serfdom

Keith Hennessey, Director of the National Economic Council under George W. Bush, has gone through the health care 'reform' bill drafted by Ted Kennedy and Chris Dodd.

Yeah, it's as bad as you might fear.

Lots of regulations? Check

Increased demands for private information? Check

New taxes? Check

And the hits keep coming, Read the whole thing and weep.

Remember when Obama savaged McCain for a plan to tax health benefits?

Yeah, now that may not be such a bad idea after all. Hey, if a God doesn't have the right to change his mind, who amongst us does?

Of course, McCain's plan came with an offsetting tax credit. Obama's? Not so much.

The best hope we have for maintaining freedom in the health care market and avoid government control of another huge swath of the economy is the details of the plan. "Health care reform" is fairly popular in a generic, non-specific sense. When you start putting plans on the table and having to make hard choices support tends to fracture.

Obama and the Democrats will try to make this a battle about 'saving the economy' (you have to spend money to save money or something) and about covering the millions of uninsured (a case which is often overstated to say the least).

Republicans and conservatives need to make this about freedom of choice (something the Democrats claim to be in favor of in other circumstances) and the ability to keep their own doctor.

Welcome to the Second Battle Of HillaryCare!

AoS gets results!* Republicans begin push back.

In a letter President Obama, key Senate Republicans say they're unwilling to support one of Obama's pillars for health-care reform: a public/government insurance program to compete against private plans. The letter was signed by all but one of the Republicans on the powerful Finance Committee, one of the panels writing the health-care bill. (The one Finance Republican who didn't sign: Olympia Snowe.)

Citing the looming financial crisis for Medicare and Medicaid, the senators said that "creating a brand new government program will not only worsen our long term financial outlook but also negatively impact American families who enjoy the private coverage of their choice."

Olympia Fucking Snowe. Who couldn't have seen that coming.

*I keed, I keed.

posted by DrewM. at 12:08 PM

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