[StBernard] A trillion here, a trillion there

[Westley Annis]

A Trillion Here, A Trillion There


Politico
by Governor Bobby Jindal
July 20, 2009

"Things in Louisiana are looking up. We are announcing major economic development wins and private capital investment and reducing government spending in order to live within our means. We just completed a grueling legislative session where we all had to work together, Democrats and Republicans, to find a way to do more with less…

In the meantime, I’ve been catching up on the news in Washington. I wish I had not…

If the House Democrats’ plan were to become law, the president’s statement that “if you like your health care now, you can keep it” will not be true. This is not an opinion, this is a fact.

Businesses will, in effect, be forced to send employees into the Democrats’ government-run health care. It’s really not something to argue about, it is a fact…

The plan the House Democrats are developing is a radical restructuring of health care in America. You may like it, you may not, but it is just that; there is no denying or sugarcoating it…

Our federal government is currently just flinging stuff against the wall, in trillion-dollar chunks, to see what sticks. Congress’s own budget office has said the current “federal budget is on an unsustainable path” and that the Democrats’ health plan does not reduce “long-term health costs facing the government.”

The House Democrats’ plan would have the following consequences:

• Most Americans would end up, over time, with government-run health care.

• The only folks who would be able to stave this off are the wealthy.

• The quality of our health care would diminish.

• Someone other than patients and doctors would make decisions on the treatments and medicines we can have.

• The taxes on the rich, otherwise known as employers, would further damage the economy and potentially drive up unemployment at a time we can least afford it.

If you like those outcomes, then by all means, support the House Democrats’ health care plan.

The shame of it all is that there really is an emerging consensus among the populace that we need reform that reduces costs, improves outcomes and puts patients in control.

Imagine if the president proposed a reform package that made health insurance portable, ended frivolous lawsuits, allowed for pooling, required insurance companies to cover the sick, paid based on outcomes and not activity, used refundable tax credits to increase affordability and incentivized rather than penalized small businesses to provide coverage. Republicans would support those reforms, and the policy would benefit the entire country. True, it wouldn’t be the radical and exciting restructuring that Pelosi is pushing, but it would begin to move us toward common-sense, bottom-up solutions. Solutions! There’s an idea…"



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