Gunds and good health
The Party of No continues to lose moderates and independents. The GOP alternative budget drew more snickers than votes. But as their base shrinks, two well-heeled supporters-- the National Rifle Association and the health insurance industry--
have nowhere else to go.
These are two of the most powerful lobbies in Washington, and probably the most reviled.
No one knows who kills more in America: guns, or a dysfunctional healthcare system that allows thousands of uninsured to die every year for lack of medical care.
Guns are recession-proof. The worse things are, the more people want guns. The business is booming, literally.
In the past month there have been seven mass shootings. Average people going loony over home foreclosures and lost jobs are more likely to seek assault weapons than counseling.
GOP policies have helped create a society where it is easier to buy an AK 47 than a birth control pill. The party champions 2nd Amendment rights while strident voices on cable TV and talk radio demonize elected leadership and cry for armed rebellion. As someone said, “strong words appeal to weak minds” and that appears to be true with both guns and health care.
Democrats in Congress are trying to solve a healthcare crisis that is not only killing us but bankrupting our economy. President Obama is pushing for the biggest healthcare reform since Lyndon Johnson pushed through Medicare in 1965. LBJ did that with minimal Republican support in Congress and Obama will have to do the same this year.
Republicans appear more concerned about the welfare of the health insurance companies than the health of their constituents. Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is bitterly opposed to Obama’s idea of a public insurance option that would drive down prices and keep private insurers in check.
The good news is that Democratic chairs of five key congressional committees support it and are willing to go the reconciliation route to get it passed.
In opposition, the weakest crutch the GOP leadership has to lean on is a “citizens” campaign headed up by a guy named Rick Scott. As has been reported all over town, Scott is a charlatan. He is the best evidence we have that the health insurance industry needs reform.
Scott headed up Columbia/HCA, the largest health care company in the world, until he was ousted by his own board of directors in 1997 for over-billing state and federal Medicare and Medicaid programs. The company pled guilty and paid $1.7 billion to settle.
Would you buy a healthcare policy from this man? Congressman Mike Burgess, Republican of Texas and a member of the House health subcommittee, just might.
Burgess said in a recent interview that he had invited Scott to meet with him because he liked what he had been saying.
Strong words appeal to weak minds? Stay tuned.
have nowhere else to go.
These are two of the most powerful lobbies in Washington, and probably the most reviled.
No one knows who kills more in America: guns, or a dysfunctional healthcare system that allows thousands of uninsured to die every year for lack of medical care.
Guns are recession-proof. The worse things are, the more people want guns. The business is booming, literally.
In the past month there have been seven mass shootings. Average people going loony over home foreclosures and lost jobs are more likely to seek assault weapons than counseling.
GOP policies have helped create a society where it is easier to buy an AK 47 than a birth control pill. The party champions 2nd Amendment rights while strident voices on cable TV and talk radio demonize elected leadership and cry for armed rebellion. As someone said, “strong words appeal to weak minds” and that appears to be true with both guns and health care.
Democrats in Congress are trying to solve a healthcare crisis that is not only killing us but bankrupting our economy. President Obama is pushing for the biggest healthcare reform since Lyndon Johnson pushed through Medicare in 1965. LBJ did that with minimal Republican support in Congress and Obama will have to do the same this year.
Republicans appear more concerned about the welfare of the health insurance companies than the health of their constituents. Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is bitterly opposed to Obama’s idea of a public insurance option that would drive down prices and keep private insurers in check.
The good news is that Democratic chairs of five key congressional committees support it and are willing to go the reconciliation route to get it passed.
In opposition, the weakest crutch the GOP leadership has to lean on is a “citizens” campaign headed up by a guy named Rick Scott. As has been reported all over town, Scott is a charlatan. He is the best evidence we have that the health insurance industry needs reform.
Scott headed up Columbia/HCA, the largest health care company in the world, until he was ousted by his own board of directors in 1997 for over-billing state and federal Medicare and Medicaid programs. The company pled guilty and paid $1.7 billion to settle.
Would you buy a healthcare policy from this man? Congressman Mike Burgess, Republican of Texas and a member of the House health subcommittee, just might.
Burgess said in a recent interview that he had invited Scott to meet with him because he liked what he had been saying.
Strong words appeal to weak minds? Stay tuned.
posted by Victor Kamber | 4:33 PM
1 Comments:
Vic,
I read this blog in the "Santa Ynez Valley Journal" while on a short vacation in Buellton last week. I tore the article out so I could look up your blog site when I got back home. Your article on health care was one of the best I have read on this subject. Luntz is a master of word smithing and will have the Republican's once again convincing us how bad "socialized" medicine is. Of course they leave out the fact that in happiness polls, it is the people living in socialism that are the happiest, not us here in the U.S. who are constantly worried about how to pay for health care and education and retirement savings, services that are automtically provided in many other industrialized countries. Keep up the good blogging.
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