ÿþ<html> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1"> <title>OnlineColumnist®.com: Duke's Damage Control</title> <meta name="generator" content="Adobe GoLive 4"> <style type="text/css"> .style1 { font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold; } .style2 { width: 42px; } </style> </head> <body bgcolor="white" vlink="black"> <center> <table cool width="624" height="2719" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" gridx="16" showgridx gridy="16" showgridy> <tr height="79"> <td width="116" height="118" rowspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"> <a href="081609.html"><img height="110" width="62" src="images/discobolos.logo.transp.gif" border="0"></a></td> <td width="24" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="465" height="79" colspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="140"><img height="75" width="450" src="images/banner.GIF"></td> <td height="118" rowspan="2" class="style2"></td> <td width="1" height="79"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="79"></td> </tr> <tr height="39"> <td width="182" height="39"></td> <td width="283" height="39" valign="top" align="left" xpos="322"><a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="14" width="267" src="images/divisionofNEW.GIF" border="0"></a></td> <td width="1" height="39"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="39"></td> </tr> <tr height="26"> <td width="624" height="26" colspan="6" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="black" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="#99ffcc" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4"> <tr> <td align="center"> <div align="left"> <a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> HOME</strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> &#8226; <a href="articlesindex.html">ARTICLES</a> &#8226; <a href="books.html">BOOKS</a> &#8226; <a href="teflon.html"> THE </a><a href="teflon.html">TEFLON</a><a href="teflon.html"> REPORT</a> &#8226; <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com"> REACTIONS</a> &#8226; <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">ABOUT DISCOBOLOS</a></strong></font></div> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> <tr height="1"> <td width="116" height="2574" rowspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"><img height="172" width="111" src="images/johninframe3.jpg"></td> <td width="489" height="1" colspan="3"></td> <td height="2574" rowspan="2" class="style2"></td> <td width="1" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="1"></td> </tr> <tr height="2573"> <td width="489" height="2573" colspan="3" align="left" xpos="116" content valign="top" csheight="2573"> <font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="5"><b> <br /> <br /> One-sided Health Care</b></font><p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b> by John M. Curtis<br> (310) 204-8700</b><br> </font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><i>Copyright Nov. 23, 2009<br> All Rights Reserved.</i></font></p> <p><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span class="style1">G</span>etting his 60 filibuster-proof votes Nov. 20 to continue debating health care reform, Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), barely squeaked by, capturing not one Republican vote, including Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Republicans maintained nearly unanimous oppositions to Senate Democrats version of health care reform.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Estimated at $884 billion, the Senate plan, if passed, would have to be reconciled with the House $1.2 billion version, extending insurance coverage to nearly 50 million uninsured U.S. citizens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Senate and House version included a so-called public option, where the government would foot the bill for insuring the nation s uninsured.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Heading the group of centrist Democrats and independents, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) signaled his support for health care but opposition to passing legislation that harms the long-term growth of the U.S. economy. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Reid s Nov. 20 victory makes it more difficult for Republicans to oppose the legislation for opposition sakes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> In the end, I don t want four Democratic Senators dictating to the other 56 of us and to the country, when the public option has this much support, that is not going to be in it, said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) on CNN s  State of the Union with John King.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Brown refers to Lieberman, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-Lo.), Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>All four senators have problems with the public option, where the government foots the bill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>All support health care reform as long as it doesn t add to already astronomical federal budget deficits and doesn t pay for abortions or illegal immigrants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>President Barack Obama has placed health care reform at the top of his domestic agenda, prompting a sharp opposition from GOP Senate colleagues.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Congressional Democrats have drowned out open debate, blasting Republicans for not acquiescing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> While the GOP has been less than forthcoming, their proposals center on increasing competition in the private sector by (a) ending the insurance industry s antitrust exemption, (b) allowing insurance purchases across state lines and (c) banning exclusions for preexisting conditions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Republicans generally oppose allowing the government to compete in the private insurance market.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>There are real concerns about hurting insurance industry profits, driving down share prices and contributing to more unemployment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Democrats, zealous to get health care reform passed, haven t considered the potentially adverse consequences to the U.S. economy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>With the federal government running a revised $1.7 trillion deficit, some GOP and centrist Democrats expressed more concerns.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Neither House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) nor Reid have explained how they intend to pay for the nearly $1 trillion price tag over 10 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Pelosi and Reid have urged taxing the rich and their  Cadillac insurance policies to account for the missing revenue, estimated at two-to-five times the original estimate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Medicare, which was launched in 1964, turned out nine times more costly than the original figure<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Other discussions have urged slashing Medicare subsides to insurance companies and hospitals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> I believe there are a number of Democratic Senators who do care what the American people think and are not interested in this sort of arrogant approach that everybody sort of shut up and sit down, get out of the way, we know what s best for you, said Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kt.), setting the battle lines before the expected up-or-down vote by Christmas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> McConnell currently has the GOP caucus in lockstep opposing the legislation.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Lieberman, who Democrats now count on for a crucial 60-vote filibuster-proof majority, is the only U.S. senator talking about repercussions on the U.S. economy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> We have health care system that has real troubles, but we have an economic system that is in real crisis, Joe said on NBC s  Meet the Press with David Gregory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> I don t want to fix the problems in health care in a way that creates more of an economic crisis, raising the real sticking point with health care reform.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Obama, Pelosi and Reid have talked about real savings in preventive care but they haven t addressed the consequences of adding to the federal budget deficit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>With Barack considering a major escalation in Afghanistan, it s going to be difficult to allocate the resources for health care.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Adding $100 billion to the military and another $100 to health care, could push the deficit to over $2 trillion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Republicans in Congress will be hard-pressed to play obstructionist or ignore the health care debate currently raging in Congress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Elected officials choosing obstruct do so at their own reelection peril.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Real issues related to spiraling costs, poor quality and diminished access require some sort of practical fix.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Democrats shouldn t expect well-intentioned Republicans, as McConnell put it, to roll over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Expecting Republicans to overlook potentially serious consequences would be equally negligent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Centrist Democrats, looking to negotiate in good faith, must consider Lieberman s worry about more damage to the U.S. economy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> The one option which is not present in my judgment is the option of doing nothing, said newly minted Democrat Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Penn.).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Instead of railroading the GOP, Democrats should reconsider real GOP proposals before the final vote.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><b>John M. Curtis</b> writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.&nbsp; He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of <a href="books.html">Dodging The Bullet </a>and <a href="books.html">Operation Charisma.</a></p> </td> <td width="1" height="2573"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2573"></td> </tr> <tr height="1" cntrlrow> <td width="116" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="116" height="1"></td> <td width="24" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="24" height="1"></td> <td width="182" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="182" height="1"></td> <td width="283" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="283" height="1"></td> <td height="1" class="style2"><spacer type="block" width="18" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"></td> </tr> </table> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" width="597"> <tr> <td><font size="1" face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica"> <hr noshade size="1"> </font><a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> Homene.net" target="_blank">img height="30" width="138" src="images/cmelogoANIM.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"></a></font></p> </div> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">&copy;1999-2002 <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">Discobolos Consulting Services, Inc.</a><br> (310) 204-8300<br> All Rights Reserved. </font></td> </tr> </table> </center> </body> </html>