Many conservative bloggers covered yesterday's health care summit between Democrats and Republicans. We wanted to share a few of our favorite posts, as conservative bloggers have helped make the Republican case on health care online this year.
One of the problems for President Obama may have been that he had to take on all comers without much real help from his fellow Democrats. Obama is quite good at this sort of exchange, and seems to have shown it again today. But the Republicans kept throwing fresh and usually reasonably bright and/or attractive faces at him.
What good are programs if we have to essentially ration services because we don’t have the funding? What good are the tort lawyers if they raise the cost of healthcare for everyone with their skimming off the lion’s share of exorbitant damages for pain and suffering–and in the end major areas of the country are left without doctors, including obstetricians, because they can’t afford to practice there.
It’s not a competition for who has the bigger sob story. (Well, the Dems think it is.) But think about that in itself.
Thanks to Fausta for highlighting Rep. Paul Ryan's segment of yesterday's summit with a clip and this quote: "Hiding spending does not reduce spending."
The President’s Health Care Summit was an exercise in public education; it was enlightening. Particularly noteworthy was the threat of rising deficits to the nation’s future articulated by Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI).
Republicans have argued for tort reform for medical malpractice. Democrats (Dick Durbin in particular) have argued against it. McCain used the Texas model to make the point for tort reform. Texas, which has instituted tort reform has seen malpractice premiums reduced by 27% and has had a net gain of 18,000 doctors – extrapolated nationally using direct savings (malpractice insurance premium cost) and indirect savings (reduction of the “defensive medicine” practiced by doctors) the amount saved could be in the $150 billion range.
Essentially each side is trying to support their point of view. If there’s any agreement it is that Medicare is full of fraud, out of control cost wise and needs to be fixed and that both sides want to fix the pre-existing systems.
Any perceived arrogance around Obama's remarks below could serve to reinforce the notion that a government with too much power is often unpleasant and more self-serving, than what the Democrats would wantpeople to believe. In fact, as usual, they used much of their time to tell tales of woe, invoking some number of unknown citizens early on.
Seven Hours of Health Care. It was a long battle, the GOP brought facts, the Democrats brought emotional stories. The most telling part of the day was when the President was walking back to the White House at the end with his progressive colleagues , he shouted to the press, "We'll see, we will see if we changed some attitudes." That was the purpose of this exercise changing attitudes, not of the GOP legislators in the room but of the American public.
What more: “CBO says its estimates include “a substantial degree of uncertainly.” Not even the wizards at CBO can say for certain what will happen to your premiums”. But we can safely guess that their estimates are going to be lower than the eventual reality.
So the Dems have a “moment of victory” because Obama is able to lie unflinchingly? I guess congratulations are in order. He sure fooled Times Online.
Not only did Obama himself refer to the many ideas that Republicans had on health care, but it was clear that the Republicans cared deeply. They were well informed on all aspects of the bill, and voiced their concern about the costs and other provisions. It was also probably the first time that most Americans realized that all the Senators who are also Doctors, are Republican. They well defined how best to address costs and care by their own experience.
Listening to various Democrats justify the most expansive government takeover of a major sector of our economy in my lifetime, I realized there is a singular difference between conservatives and those who call themselves progressives. Woe. Democrats rely on it, instilling the idea of despair in order to deliver hope and thereby garner votes. The Democrats today are indisputably the Party of Woe.