Obama on ABC

[bga1]

I thought Charlie Gibson did a good job and asked good questions. The questions from the audience were baby soft but Charlie were very respectable.

Obama himself was his usual personable self and a fantastic salesperson. He operates with great certainty that his new national health care solution is the answer. For the casual listener it had to be soothing. It sounds as though everything will be all right. Here's the fantasy plan:

1. The government is going to make health care more efficient. Lot's less paperwork and no needless rabbit trails will occur in Obamacare.

2. The government option will be introduced as a competitor on "equal playing ground." Never mind that they will not operate for a profit, they will be subsidized and they will be able to mandate the pricing they receive for medical services (Obama says that they will pay at an "adequate rate").

3. Obama has not yet figured out yet how to allocate care but he is certain that we do 30% too many procedures. He is pretty sure that panels of experts will be able to wisely ration procedures as the government sees fit.

4. The plan will not increase the deficit -regardless of what anyone, including the CBO or any independent analysis says. If you are in the top 2-3 % you will get taxed some more - but no large important body of voters will see any costs.

5. We'll have 46,000,000 more insured people. But we should not expect to have to wait in lines.
Care will be great. Everyone is going to want to be a doctor or nurse under this new plan because the government will be paying adequately. So over the next several years there will be plenty of doctors and nurses to see everyone promptly.

Nevermind that there were absolutely no real numbers or facts tonight. Nevermind that almost every question was answered with the a long- "we'll have to figure that out" answer. Just focus on the fact that we can trust Barack and that the answers were given very smoothly.

[UpnorthGo4]

The Republican Party has had at least 15 years to come up with their own plan for fixing what is wrong with health care in the U.S.
After all that time we are still waiting for The Party of New Ideas to figure out what to do. If anyone thinks it is ok that 47 million people do not have health insurance, then there really is nothing more to talk about. That is a vastly different vision for America than Democrats have. There is usually a price to be paid for losing a Presidential election. Republicans are going to pay that price in spades over the course of the next 7 1/2 years.

[Gopher4Life]

Upnorth,

>>The Republican Party has had at least 15 years to come up with their own plan for fixing what is wrong with health care in the U.S.<<

You are correct. Same with border control, energy policy, and several other critical issues. The GOP and especially its leadership blew it big time. That's what paved the way for a novice to serve as messiah.

>>If anyone thinks it is ok that 47 million people do not have health insurance, then there really is nothing more to talk about.<<

Serious question: why do they need health insurance if they have access to medical care? Are you aware that many of that 47 million can walk into any emergency room and gain free care? Are you aware that over 10 mil of those 47 mil are illegal residents. To what extent exactly do you wish to rape the American taxpayer?

I favor providing decent care at more reasonable cost to as many citizens as possible. I don't favor expanding the insurance scam (middlemen) and I don't favor providing for illegals.

>>There is usually a price to be paid for losing a Presidential election. Republicans are going to pay that price in spades over the course of the next 7 1/2 years.<<

We're all going to pay a steep price...unless we wake up fairly soon. That means you, me, our children, and their children.

[monk10]

Can't we all agree that we are already paying for those who can walk up and get free medical care at a Emergency Room?

Can't we all agree that it would be more cost effective if those people didn't have to wait until there was an emergency before getting help?

Aren't these just fundamental common sense practices that everyone knows about our current system?

[bga1]

Can't we all agree that we are already paying for those who can walk up and get free medical care at a Emergency Room?

Can't we all agree that it would be more cost effective if those people didn't have to wait until there was an emergency before getting help?

Aren't these just fundamental common sense practices that everyone knows about our current system?

Monk- I think we can and should agree that those things are true. I think we can also agree that government as our health care provider is not an efficient solution to that. That should be equally obvious. Government will compound every problem we currently have. I think McCain's proposal would have been great. Use current money spend to allow tax credits for people such that everyone has an incentive to get insured and do it privately. Open up the competition across state lines and let individuals bargain for their health care. There are great market proposals out there than can accomplish what you want done without the government taking over.

The government will ration care.
The government will get between you and your doctor.
The government will explode the overall costs to the taxpapyers through traditional government ineffciency.
The government will inhibit medical discoveries dramatically reducing drug company profitability.
The government will provide care for everyone but it will be a lesser care across the board- including long waiting times, rationing and fewer good doctors.
Doctors will be paid less meaning you will have less of them over time.

Recently Canadians were polled: they are much less happy than Americans are with their health care. When they really get unhappy with their health care is when they get sick. On the other hand Americans are most satisfied with their health care when the ARE sick. Canadians polled were aksed if private health care owuld be better, worse or the same. About 50% said "the same" 28% said private would be better and 14% thought government care was better.

[bga1]

Upnorth,

>>The Republican Party has had at least 15 years to come up with their own plan for fixing what is wrong with health care in the U.S.<<

You are correct. Same with border control, energy policy, and several other critical issues. The GOP and especially its leadership blew it big time. That's what paved the way for a novice to serve as messiah.

>>If anyone thinks it is ok that 47 million people do not have health insurance, then there really is nothing more to talk about.<<

Serious question: why do they need health insurance if they have access to medical care? Are you aware that many of that 47 million can walk into any emergency room and gain free care? Are you aware that over 10 mil of those 47 mil are illegal residents. To what extent exactly do you wish to rape the American taxpayer?

I favor providing decent care at more reasonable cost to as many citizens as possible. I don't favor expanding the insurance scam (middlemen) and I don't favor providing for illegals.

>>There is usually a price to be paid for losing a Presidential election. Republicans are going to pay that price in spades over the course of the next 7 1/2 years.<<

We're all going to pay a steep price...unless we wake up fairly soon. That means you, me, our children, and their children.

Adding to that:

-8.3 million uninsured make $50 to $75K
-another 8.7 million uninsured make over $75K
-45% of all uninsured Americans are uninsured for less than 4 months at a time
So when you add together groups that can afford it but don't buy it to the group of illegals you get a much, much smaller group of uninsureds.