I’ve been blogging the emotion card-playing from desperate Obamacare advocates all week.
Now, Florida’s favorite Democrat potty mouth has jumped on stage (hat tip – William Amos):
Democratic Congressman Alan Grayson is making headlines again Thursday
morning for his comments on health care reform. But this time it’s for a very
different reason.
The Central Florida lawmaker broke down Wednesday as he spoke to
Congress about why he’s fighting for reform.
Grayson read letter after letter from people across the country who
wrote to him about their problems with the current health care system.
“I lost my mother and I’m only 23 years old. I have no other family. I
spend Christmas alone. I would do anything to ensure this never happens again to
anyone,” Grayson read.
I watched the video at the link and was indeed a tearjerker. Yet, for all these sad stories of people too poor to afford health care there was no mention of Medicaid although surely anyone with no income or minimal income would qualify.
Although I doubt it was Grayson's intent, my takeaway from his emo stunt is that we already have a government run health care program, Medicaid, that doesn't work. Why is Congress screwing up the existing health care of the eighty-five percent of the population that is happy with their current care instead of fixing their own existing program? If we have people who are eligible for coverage under Medicaid who are receiving it, let's fix it. If we have people who are not eligible for Medicaid but cannot find affordable health care because of a pre-existing condition, fix that. Instead of a program that is targeted, Congress has given us a (nearly) two thousand page unfocused takeover of one sixth of our economy.
Let's face it, the government doesn't have a stellar record when it comes to fixing things. In fact, their fixes have an uncanny way of making things worse. Prof. William Jacobson only needed a few minutes to find a flaw in the Pelosi's plan:
The bill defines which businesses are subject to the health care tax based
upon the dollar amount of employee payroll. There even is a sliding scale right
in the bill (section 501, at page 276) which tops out at 8% for businesses with
$750,000 of annual payroll. Annual payroll is defined as the "aggregate wages"
paid by the employer.
This provision creates incentives for businesses to keep down payroll. One
way would be not to hire anyone whose compensation would fall under the
definition of payroll under the bill.
We won't be seeing full employment anytime soon, if ever. Does anybody think it is smart to have a provision in the health care bill that would make our current employment situation worse? How many other provisions hidden in those 1,990 pages will be enacted in haste and regretted for decades to come?
Further, Pelosi is not being honest about the cost. That 800 billion dollar price tag doesn't include the quarter trillion dollar 'doctor fix' that the Speaker is hoping will go unnoticed. We'll notice when our income taxes sky rocket to pay for this.
Rep. Grayson should dry his crocodile tears and start looking targeted solutions that will fix the current problems without making things worse.
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