From my latest column...

When it comes to legislation, there’s a general rule of thumb that the number of details someone doesn’t want you to see is directly related to how quickly they try to pass it.  The so-called health care “reform” bill is a text-book example.

The reason Obama and liberal Democrats are pushing so fast and furious is because the details, (where the Devil usually hides), are beginning to get out.  And as the details start to sink in, they’re cutting through all of the “yes we can” rhetoric and leading more Americans to say “no you don’t”.

So what’s getting them worked up?  Let’s take a look at some of the details of this “reform”.

Despite Obama’s best efforts, the financial implications are finally becoming more widely appreciated, (so to speak).  According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the proposed legislation would not reduce the overall amount of money spent on health care in America, which undermines Obama's rationale for the massive overhaul in the first place.

They estimate that the “reform” would add between one and one and a half trillion dollars to our national debt, just over the next decade alone.  The result will be a call for massive tax increases and the eventual rationing of care to cover and reduce costs.  And of course this is before we find out how much more it will really cost once it becomes law, as every federal program eventually costs more than initially advertised.

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While our fearless leaders in Washington are doing their best to give us what they call national health care "reform" (despite the protests of the "mobs"), which seeks to lay the foundation to a one-size-fits-all, single payer system that that have in more enlightened European countries like France, the french are trying to be more like us.

France claims it long ago achieved much of what today's U.S. health-care overhaul is seeking: It covers everyone, and provides what supporters say is high-quality care. But soaring costs are pushing the system into crisis. The result: As Congress fights over whether America should be more like France, the French government is trying to borrow U.S. tactics.

In recent months, France imposed American-style "co-pays" on patients to try to throttle back prescription-drug costs and forced state hospitals to crack down on expenses. "A hospital doesn't need to be money-losing to provide good-quality treatment," President Nicolas Sarkozy thundered in a recent speech to doctors.

And service cuts...are prompting complaints from patients, doctors and nurses that care is being rationed. That concern echos worries among some Americans that the U.S. changes could lead to rationing. ...

The french have a bigger problem in that, they know the system is financially unsustainable but, thanks to the a government that has given people the impression that 100% free and full coverage health care is some sort of human right, they can't muster the political support to make necessary changes.  read more »

Imagecolumn: 

When it comes to legislation, there’s a general rule of thumb that the number of details someone doesn’t want you to see is directly related to how quickly they try to pass it.  The so-called health care “reform” bill is a text-book example.

The reason Obama and liberal Democrats are pushing so fast and furious is because the details, (where the Devil usually hides), are beginning to get out.  And as the details start to sink in, they’re cutting through all of the “yes we can” rhetoric and leading more Americans to say “no you don’t”.

So what’s getting them worked up?  Let’s take a look at some of the details of this “reform”.

Despite Obama’s best efforts, the financial implications are finally becoming more widely appreciated, (so to speak).  According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the proposed legislation would not reduce the overall amount of money spent on health care in America, which undermines Obama's rationale for the massive overhaul in the first place.  read more »

Just to show that the people who want to force a government takeover of our healthcare system will miss no opportunity...

Below is an email I received from the Obama campaign today (Yes, I'm on their email list...it pays to know what the other guys are up to).  In it, they're asking supporters to commit to giving them one dollar each day we don't have a health care "reform" bill signed into law by Obama.  The email subject line was "Somthing unusual".  I'll say.

Friend --

You've probably seen the headlines: Opponents of change are doing everything they can to delay health insurance reform. As a Republican strategy memo concluded, "If we slow this sausage-making process down, we can defeat it."

They're betting that as time goes by, our energy will flag, our movement will weaken, and they'll ultimately be able to block any change.

But they just don't get it -- thanks to the regular Americans who are reaching out in neighborhoods nationwide, our movement is expanding every day. In fact, over the weekend, we surpassed our big goal of 1 million people taking action for health insurance reform. And with your help, we'll keep growing and prove that our opponents' strategy of "delay, delay, delay" simply won't work.

So I want to ask you for something unusual: Can you chip in $1 each day until we pass real health insurance reform? A huge response will show the insurance companies and their allies in Congress that their delay tactics will only make our movement stronger. ...  read more »

Help spread the word about our campaign to pressure Congress into saying "NO" to Obama's prescription for a government takeover of our nation's healthcare system.

We've recently moved our campaign's home to a different platform that offers more tools to help spread the word. Tools such as custom posting to your Twitter or Facebook account, plus the newest tool, our campaign widget.

It's the widget that provides our best opportunity to make this campaign truly viral!

You can click the "Get this widget" link to get the html code that will allow you to embed this widget on any website, just like you would a YouTube video.

People can then sign the petition, fax their members of Congress, or promote the campaign via email, Twitter or Facebook from right there - without ever leaving the site you place the widget on!

If you haven't joined the campaign yet,click here and let your voice be heard now.  Sign the petition and speak out to your members of Congress.

If you have already, click here anyway and take a moment to make use of our new promotional tools and help spread the word to others.

Help us say NO to socialized medicine and a government takeover of our healthcare system!  read more »

I came across this article in the Wall Street Journal about Obama's Congressional Budget Office Director, Peter Orszag, and how he's basically becoming one of the key point men to help "sell" Obamacare, since everyone (including many Democrats) wants to know where the money is coming from.

Understandable enough.  But that wasn't what was interesting.

What jumped out at me was this sentence:

...he sent a letter to Capitol Hill detailing a proposal he had been more quietly pitching for weeks -- creating a new agency with power to cut spending and implement changes in Medicare, the giant health program for the elderly. He also attached proposed legislative language. It was the most specific that the White House, which has tried to articulate principles and leave details to lawmakers, has been on any aspect of the legislation.

OK, now how many of you out there can just imagine the howls of protest we would be hearing from Democrats if something like this had been proposed by the Bush administration - or any Republican. 

"They're cutting Medicare!  They're cutting Medicare!", they would scream.  We wouldn't be able to have rational conversations about anything else.  AARP would be staging protest in front of lawmakers' offices.  The evening news would be leading off with stories about how proposed Republican cuts to Medicare would kill old people.  We'd be treated to the "personal" stories of someone being forced to choose between pills and food, etc., etc..  read more »

Some very good points made here…:

In Washington, it seems history always repeats itself. That’s what’s happening now with health-care reform. This is an unfortunate turn of events for Americans who are legitimately concerned about the skyrocketing cost of a basic human need.

In 1993 and 1994, Hillary Clinton’s health-care reform proposal failed because it was concocted in secret without the guiding hand of public consensus-building, and because it was a philosophical over-reach. Today President Barack Obama is repeating these mistakes.

The reason is plain: The left in Washington has concluded that honesty will not yield its desired policy result. So it resorts to a fundamentally dishonest approach to reform. I say this because the marketing of the Democrats’ plans as presented in the House of Representatives and endorsed heartily by President Obama rests on three falsehoods.

First, Mr. Obama doggedly promises that if you like your (private) health-care coverage now, you can keep it. That promise is hollow, because the Democrats’ reforms are designed to push an ever-increasing number of Americans into a government-run health-care plan.

If a so-called public option is part of health-care reform, the Lewin Group study estimates over 100 million Americans may leave private plans for government-run health care. Any government plan will benefit from taxpayer subsidies and be able to operate at a financial loss—competing unfairly in the marketplace until private plans are driven out of business. The government plan will become so large that it will set, rather than negotiate, prices. This will inevitably lead to monopoly, with a resulting threat to the quality of our health care