Posted by
Patrick Henry on Sunday, February 28, 2010 12:19:14 PM
After trying valiantly to whitewash his tarnished healthcare reform proposal at the
recent healthcare summit, Barack Obama seems hoist on his own petard. For it was
he who so famously said, "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig." He even
invited Republicans to join in the pig lip painting but, for the most part, they weren't
biting.
The fiscal truth is that this is not just your garden variety pig. It is an enormous hog
that will gobble obscenely more taxpayer dollars than the "bacon" it produces can ever
justify. Democrats say that the bill will cost one trillion dollars over ten years, but others
estimate the actual cost at over two -and-a-half trillion. Obama claims that it will save
ten billion over the first ten years, but as the CBO has clearly pinted out, that's brcause
he is using the savings from Medicare to pay for a new entitlement while also counting
it as credit against the deficit. Duh! Add ti that the fact that the bill provides five years
of backloaded benefits against ten years of front loaded revenue and the rosy fiscal picture
the Democrats try to paint quickly fades to black.
And how do they plan to slop this porker? Well, as usual, they've got their noses so far
into the public trough (taxpayers' pockets) that they'll never come up for air. Fourteen
new taxes totalling an astounding half trillion dollars will help to cure this ham. Add to
that a half billion in Medicare cuts. Obama argues that seniors won't lose any services,
but the argument is dishonest and bogus. It pretends that congress won't do the "doctor
fix" in which it adjusts Medicare and Medicaid fees to compensate physicians closer to
market rates on a regular basis, and ignores the fact that the cuts affect hospices, nursing
homes, home health providers and hospitals to the extent that one in five will operate at
a loss. Arguing that in such a case seniors will not suffer a loss of benefits insults every-
one's intelligence and shows the callousness that lurks behind the liberal do gooders'
flimsy facade. One cynical analyst has pointed out that 80% of Medicare recipients are
white and 70% of the uninsured are of color. It might not be too hard to see a wealth
redistribution specter looming in the background.
Now the president is hoping he can rescue his pet porker by dabbing on a bit of
Republican lipstick. He doesn't get it that adding a few GOP ideas doesn't obviate their
complete rejection of his government healthcare takeover. At the summit he bristled
saying, "it's not a government takeover." No? Let's see, who is going to pay the bill for it?
Why, it's the government (wioth OUR money). Who is going to set the standards for
coverage? Surprise, it's the government? Who's going to require that everyone buy insurance
whether they want it or not? Who's going to tell insurers how much they can charge? Who's
going to establish "best medical practices" (i.e., the best ways for doctors to treat patients
and what insurance will pay for)? Silly me. It's the government, but, of course, this is NOT
a government takeover. The argument falls apart like cut rate toilet paper, and with the
same result.
Neither Obama's specious sophistry. the mammoth Democratic majority in congress or
the legerdemain of reconcililation can mask the porcine nature of this sow of an entitlement.
You can slap all the lipstick you want on this critter, add some mascar and Republican
Botox, but it's still a wallowing porker, slopped by new taxes and cuts to a Medicare program
that's already in trouble. A pig by any other name smells just as bad. And this one stinks to high heaven!