Some Legitimate Questions About Health Care Reform

Let me play a non-partisan roll for a minute. This isn’t easy because I have some VERY strong feelings on this subject, but I am going to do my best just to lay out some evidence and ask some questions to make a point. I am not going to address the elephant of whether or not the GOVERNMENT should be involved with making healthcare decisions.

On that note…

There are some very concerning things about all of the current revisions of health care reform going through congress right now and being prodded on a daily basis by the administration and specifically by the President himself.

The first question is one of cost. The CBO estimates, and states that this is basically a guess because legislation is not hammered completely out yet, that this would add $1 TRILLION to the deficit over the next ten years. That is a shocking number especially when you consider that we are already BUDGETED to be in the red EVERY YEAR for the next ten years. How on earth can we afford to go another TRILLION down over and above that! Concerning this estimate the President actually called and asked to meet with the head of the CBO. Now the Congressional Budget Office was created in the 70s to be completely non-political. Their whole purpose is to look at bills and give a number cruncher perspective. The CBO reports to Congress, not the President. Whether it is intentional or not, how can the President summon someone to the Oval Office and NOT have some type of influence on them? I am not questioning his motives, I am just pointing out that it is a very strange and unprecedented move, regardless of the intent.

The second question is the speed and enormity of this bill. Obviously if you read this blog at all you have seen that I am completely opposed to HUGE legislation. Bills should never be in the thousand plus page range - completely unnecessary. Then to be pushing a bill of that girth, which will have a HUGE impact on 17% of the American economy, demanding that it be passed in a couple of weeks is completely outrageous. EVERY American should have plenty of time to sit down and read this behemoth and decide whether or not this is really going to be the best thing for the country. They should have time to contact their congressman and voice their concerns. We have had our current system for DECADES. Why the rush? This is not going to have an immediate impact on families struggling with medical bills. This issue is too important and too big to push through on a moments notice. It needs time to simmer. It needs scrutiny.

The last question is actually one of the big ones that is bringing many so called “blue dog” democrats to come out against these plans, and that is whether or not the government should be using tax dollars to fund abortions. Since 1976 the Hyde Amendment has made it illegal for federal tax dollars to fund abortions inside the US. These plans would basically scrap that.

Can we afford this?

Do we need this rammed through RIGHT NOW?

Are we willing to scrap over three decades of precedent and force tax payers to fund a procedure that over 50% of the citizens believe is morally wrong?

That’s the tip of the ice berg, but they are some of the questions that every American should be considering as our elected officials are on the move.


*****UPDATE : Here is the link to the current text of HR3200, which is the leading version of the bill right now. Get comfortable, it stands at 1017 pages.

*****UPDATE: The President got subpar marks for honesty from the NEW YORK TIMES in his press conference.

*****UPDATE (yes, ANOTHER one) : The AP found their own issues with the President's statements.