WyBlog

Obama doesn't actually have a healthcare "plan"

We had our annual neighborhood block party on Saturday. I'm known around the hood as "that Republican guy" (New Jersey is one of the bluest of blue states). So quite a few folks sought me out to needle me about GOP resistance to Obama's health care reform plan.

One thing I noticed right away. There seems to be an unwillingness on the part of the Obama Kool-aid drinkers to operate in a reality based universe. Why do I say this? Because every single person who chided me about health care reform was working with either bad assumptions or completely erroneous information.

Let's start with "Obama's plan". Each time I voiced a specific objection to something (like coverage of illegal aliens) in either H.R. 3200 (the House plan) or one of Max Baucus's Senate bills the retort always was "that's not in Obama's plan".

There's only one small problem. Obama doesn't actually have his own plan. Don't take my word for it; get it straight from the horse's mouth:

Although Mr. Obama in his speech referred to his "plan," the White House has not developed a written legislative health care proposal and does not intend to do so, instead relying on committees in Congress, which have drafted several versions of the bill, some running more than 1,000 pages.

Got that? There is no "Obama plan".

But that didn't stop my neighbors from making assumptions as to what Obama has in "his plan". Take the infamous "death panels". One neighbor vigorously insisted that the provision authorizing "death panels" is actually a minor change to Medicare reimbursement rules so a patient can discuss a living will with his doctor and Medicare will pay for the office visit.

As if. Like doctors need another excuse to bill Medicare for an office visit. This same neighbor gleefully admitted as such, noting that doctors schedule multiple "follow-up" visits for seniors; the doctor can game Medicare to collect more money, and multiple doctor visits give lonely seniors something to occupy their time. But when I ask if there's some reason they couldn't discuss the living will during one of those follow-up visits I'm suddenly lying about "Obama's plan" again.

The discussion about "death panels" is actually about rationing. It's disingenuous to assume otherwise just to score a debating point. And Obamacare has rationing in the form of "independent decision making boards".

Then there was the fellow who got churlish when I said "show me Obama's plan". "Didn't you watch his speech?" (Which one?) "Sure," I said, "but it was short on specifics." His reply? "No it wasn't! He told us everything we need to know." Well, OK then.

One more example? Sure! The "you can keep your insurance or your doctor" canard. No you can't according to H.R. 3200, except under very limited circumstances. If your plan changes anything (co-pays, deductible, covered treatments) you have to switch to the public option (or to the "insurance exchange", depending on which bill is being discussed). Try as I might, I couldn't convince a single person that this was true. The statement was met with disbelief, then something along the lines of "the New York Times never said anything about that". Duh.

The whole day went pretty much like that. Except for the one guy who sidled up to me when he thought nobody was looking. "I read your blog every day and I agree with what you say. But I can't admit that in public because my wife would kill me and I'd lose all my friends." Your secret's safe with me pal. But seriously, grow a pair, OK?

Posted at 16:50 by Chris Wysocki   [/obama_watch]   Comments | Archived | Perm Link |
Technorati Tags: Obama Obamacare Healthcare health+care   |   Tweet