ÿþ<html> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1"> <title>OnlineColumnist®.com: Putin Punishes Georgia</title> <meta name="generator" content="Adobe GoLive 4"> <style type="text/css"> .style3 { height: 68px; } .MsoNormal {} h1 {margin-bottom:.0001pt; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; font-weight:normal; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; } .style4 { font-size: large; font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial; } .style5 { font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold; } </style> </head> <body bgcolor="white" vlink="black"> <center> &nbsp;<table cool width="624" height="2719" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" gridx="16" showgridx gridy="16" showgridy> <tr height="79"> <td width="133" height="118" rowspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"> <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="110" width="62" src="images/discobolos.logo.transp.gif" border="0"></a></td> <td width="7" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="482" height="79" colspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="140"><img height="75" width="450" src="images/banner.GIF"></td> <td width="1" height="118" rowspan="2"></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="300" 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> <td width="624" colspan="6" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0" class="style3"> <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="2"> <td width="133" height="2">&nbsp;</td> <td width="489" height="2576" colspan="3" rowspan="2" align="left" xpos="133" content valign="top" csheight="2573"> <p class="style4">Health Care&#39;s Nitty-Gritty</p> <p><b><font face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica">by John M. Curtis</font></b><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b><a href="books.html"><br> </a></b></font><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b> (310) 204-8700</b></font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><i>Copyright Dec. 14, 2009<br>All Rights Reserved. </i></font>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </p> <bAbout the Author</u> <p class="MsoNormal"> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="style5">T</span>hrowing a monkey wrench into Democrats health reform, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) signaled he d filibuster Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid s plan to expand Medicare.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Scheduled to go bust without major changes in 2016, Lieberman couldn t bring himself to support Reid s plan to allow 55-year-olds to buy into Medicare.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Reid hoped to have health care reform on President Barack Obama s desk by Christmas Day but faces stiff headwinds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Despite seeing no hard data from the Congressional Budget Office on the costs of expanding Medicare, Lieberman sees Reid s plan is not revenue-neutral but, in fact, would cost the U.S. treasury untold billions and accelerate the 45-year-old health program s insolvency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Lieberman views Reid s Medicare expansion as a Trojan Horse, a backdoor for a so-called  public option, or single-payer national health care program.</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>Obama and Reid haven t explained how expanding Medicare, or any version of health care reform, would reduce the whopping federal budget deficit, now exceeding $1.7 trilllion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>With the economy still reeling and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke cautioning about a double-dip recession, the Democrats couldn t have picked a worse time to push for national health care.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Throughout the debate on health reform, Lieberman has asked, much to Democrats annoyance, the right questions, especially the effect on the U.S. economy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Lieberman, and his Republican colleagues, believe more deficit spending hurts long-term growth, including jobs, in the economy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>He won t sign on to any plan that increases the budget deficit, hurts the U.S. dollar and weakens the prospects for economic recovery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Few economists believe that deficit spending helps the prospects for long-term economic growth.</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>Needing 60 votes that included Lieberman, Reid now finds himself scrambling to fix the crack in his health reform coalition, at least one vote shy of passing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Contrary to the claims of anonymous aides, Sen. Lieberman told (Majority Leader Harry) Reid on Friday that he had problems with the Medicare provision, said Marshall Wittman, Lieberman s spokesman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Liberal Democrats are especially frustrated over the GOP s defeat of the  public option, essentially ending their dream of a single-payer, national health care program.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Reid s attempt to extend Medicare to individuals over 55, essentially adds that age-group to Medicare s single-payer system.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Republicans have ranted-and-raved about the  public option as a government takeover, when they supported the biggest expansion of Medicare adding Part D in 2003, the prescription drug program.</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>Instead of negotiating with Republicans, Democrats chose to go-it-alone with party moderates, hoping to persuade progressive-minded Republicans, like Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), to support Reid s Medicare expansion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While Reid said Lieberman flip-flopped, the Connecticut independent has remained consistent with respect to reducing U.S. budget deficits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Obama and Reid have sold health care reform as a way for reducing budget deficits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Lieberman s opposition signals a major compromise for Reid, who concocted the Medicare-at-55-alternative because the  public option was dropped.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Most conservatives have problems with expanding Medicare because of the program s expected insolvency, but, more importantly, its low reimbursement rates for doctors, hospitals and clinics, reducing national participation.</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>Democrats reform plan was supposed to slow inflation in the health insurance industry, where escalating costs continue to usurp the family budget.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Recent estimates by the CBO indicate that covering millions of uninsured citizens would increase health care spending for the indefinite future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Obama hoped his plan would reduce government spending on health care.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>All indications point toward greater federal outlays for health-related services, should the government insure the 40 million Americans without health insurance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While Democrats want reform by Christmas Day, they should consider GOP proposals to allow subscribers to purchase more competitive out-of-state insurance policies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) also wants to end the current ban on purchasing Canadian or Mexican drugs. Ending the ban on across-the-border drug sales would lower drug costs nationwide.</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 s expected filibuster reminds Reid that he can t just run over Republicans or moderate Democrats seeing problems with expanding Medicare coverage to individuals over 55.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> With exploding budget deficits harming the economy, Lieberman can t see how Democrats current heath proposals does anything except make a bad situation worse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Our bottom line is the bills as they are coming through will genuinely slow the growth of health care spending, both public and private, by about 1% a year for the extended period, said Christine Romer, chair of the Council of Economic Advisors, concerned that Reid and Obama s current bill increases government spending and adds to ballooning federal budget deficits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Instead of striking backroom deals, Reid should continue negotiating in good faith, looking more seriously at cost-effective Republican proposals.</p> <h1> About the Author </h1> <p class="MsoNormal"> <b>John M. Curtis</b> writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>He s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author <i>of <a href="books.html">Dodging The Bullet</a></i> and <i><a href="books.html">Operation Charisma</a></i>.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> &nbsp;</p> </td> <td width="1" height="2576" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="2"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2"></td> </tr> <tr height="2574"> <td width="133" height="2574" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"><img height="172" width="111" src="images/johninframe3.jpg"></td> <td width="1" height="2574"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2574"></td> </tr> <tr height="1" cntrlrow> <td width="133" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="133" height="1"></td> <td width="7" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="7" height="1"></td> <td width="182" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="182" height="1"></td> <td width="300" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="300" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="1" 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> Home</strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> || <a href="articlesindex.html">Articles</a> || <a href="books.html">Books</a> || <a href="teflon.html">The Teflon Report</a> || <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com"> Reactions</a> || <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">About Discobolos</a></strong></font> <div align="left"> <p><font size="1" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">This site designed, developed and hosted by the experts at</font><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"> <a href="http://www.cmeonline.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">©1999-2005 <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"> Discobolos Consulting Services, Inc.</a><br> (310) 204-8300<br> All Rights Reserved. </font></td> </tr> </table> </center> </body> </html>