Health Care: The Fight’s Not Over

I said in an earlier post that I found these town hall meetings to be refreshing. It’s not the mere existence of town hall meetings I find encouraging, but the actual questions being raised and the disarray occurring in Democratic circles. Let’s be honest: the GOP can’t stop this health care plan by itself. Let’s visit the current Health Care conversations swirling around the country and the American public’s hesitancy to the government’s unveiling plans.

Here is what we know:

1. Barack Obama campaigned on transparency. Specifically, having bills posted online for at least 5 days prior to his signature on a bill so that all Americans “know what their government is doing.” To date, this campaign promise has not materialized. If you think I made up this promise, watch the clip below:

2. There isn’t a single bill the President is referring to in his town hall meetings. The House had several committees writing versions of the bill. I downloaded mine while streaming CSPAN during the House Energy and Commerce Committee mark-up meetings but you can view a version here, thanks to govtrack.us. As soon as the 1000+ page bill was introduced, it was immediately followed by a 300 page amendment by the same health care proponents that authored the first 1000+ pages. The only requirement of the 300 page amendment and the dozens of amendments that followed (both for and against) had to be made available to committee members for at least 2 hours. As I listened to the committee mark-up session, it was pretty clear that each Representative and their staff had just a handful of hours to read everything I’ve just mentioned.

The Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee has a 615 page bill that you can download here as well as an outline by the House Ways and Means Committee (thanks to Ezra Klein at the Washington Post).

I’m a pretty fast reader. Granted, it isn’t what I would consider heavy reading, but I read the 2,444 pages of the Twilight series in 5 days, while not on vacation. It took me a little longer than that to read this bill, especially since it’s not exactly a page-turner. Okay, so vampires don’t exist but neither do the government agencies referenced in the House bill, unless it’s signed into law. I did my share of heavy reading in grad school and I’d like to think I honed my speed-reading skills. However, in reading these pieces of legislation, I stopped in my tracks more often than not, flabbergasted by what these bills contain.

3. Just what narcissistic politicians need: to create their own in-crowds. In Congress, those revolving in-crowds are called Gangs (how proud their Moms and Dads would be). There is a Gang of 6 in the Senate. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said the end-of-life provision had been removed from their bi-partisan effort. Kent Conrad (D-ND) confirmed this on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace (transcript here). We can’t see what they’re working on and they won’t have cameras in the room when the bill goes to conference so how can we know what we’re for and what we’re against? That pretty much explains why Rasmussen found 54% of Americans surveyed said they’d prefer nothing over the current proposals. Can you say lack of trust?

4. Now it’s been floated out there by Kathleen Sebelius, Health and Human Services Secretary, and the President himself that there may not be a single-payer option on the table. White House spokespeople are saying Sebelius misspoke on the Sunday morning talk shows, but they aren’t saying why Obama recently said it is not the most important part of health care reform (now health insurance reform) but only “a slice.” (What exactly does that mean? Interesting visual, but a slice is still part of the pie, is it not?) Liberal democrats have reacted saying the bill better have single-payer or they’re not voting for it. Now they’re talking about cooperatives. You could also call a coop a slippery slope. A very steep slippery slope that will quickly lead to a government-run system.

5. Don’t be misled by the word “option.” Even Kathleen Sebelius is using free-market words like “choice and competition” but free-market words do not a free-market make. Let’s use the example of federal student loans. I’ll keep it simple. Federal student loans are either backed directly by the federal government or by private banks. It is up to each school to determine which type of program they would like to participate in for their students. If the government-backed program, students have to use the government, obviously. If the private bank program, students (not the school) get to choose which bank: large and national, small and local or a non-bank lending organization. A year ago, 80% of schools chose the private bank program. Each bank had different benefits and students chose which benefits they liked best. It was a win-win situation, for the student. Then came October and many banks and lending organizations pulled out of the student loan program. As a result, a few schools switched to the government-backed program but they are still in the minority. Now, the Obama Administration wants to rid the federal loan program of the bank-backed version entirely. (Hillary held the same position.) I use this illustration to say: the government does not participate in competition. When it cannot win, it simply eliminates the competition through legislative means. How will health care be any different than the student loan program, except in its vast reach to every American?

6. Several Congressional members are on record for saying they did not read the Stimulus bill, the Omnibus spending bill, the Economic Recovery bill, the Cap and Trade bill (which passed the House when 8 members of the GOP voted for it) or even this Health Care bill. Why, then, are members of Congress surprised with the public’s lack of trust? Why are they confused when the public chants “Read the Bill”?

Why do Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer call opponents of the current Health Care bill “un-American” when Pelosi told the anti-war protesters of Code Pink who interrupted one of her meetings in 2006 that “there is nothing more articulate, more eloquent, to a member of Congress than the voice of his or her constituent.” She goes on to say she likes dissenters. Listen to it here. Did Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer think they could quiet the American people by referring to us as un-American? If their goal was to douse the enthusiasm against the bill or to assuage the doubts we the people have towards our government’s ability to run anything well, it’s obvious they have only managed to add fuel to the fire.

Well, don’t let the disarray distract you, or cause you to celebrate too early. Stay involved in what’s happening and don’t let up, either in pressure or in hope. Continue to call, fax and e-mail your Senators and Representatives. During this August recess, find out if they are holding a town hall meeting and if not, demand one. Otherwise, see if locals in your area are hosting a town hall without the elected official. A group in Oklahoma did just that, with an empty chair and a placard “sitting in” for the missing official. Record it. Place it on Youtube. Send me the link and I’ll publish it here and on Twitter.

Before you attend a town hall meeting on health care, check out these tactics being propogated to “fight against right-wing disrupters.” But don’t worry, we’re on to their real tactics. Click here for the American Thinker article that lays out the current tactics employed by the Obama Administration. Turn it into a game. Shout the number of the tactic when you see it in action. Or, if you’re the creative type, turn it into a Bingo card or, even better, get your friends involved and see who can reach 100 points first, then 500, then 1000!

There are good ideas out there about how to insure pre-existing conditions, what to do about taking your health insurance with you when you change jobs and how to reduce unnecessary tests and costs through tort reform. These are worthwhile discussions, but we’ll never get serious about them if we ignore the obvious and specific issues and instead turn to the government for our well-being. Wow. Government and our well-being. I can’t picture those words making much sense next to each other, can you?