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Is It About Health Care or Partisan Gridlock?

Is It About Health Care or Partisan Gridlock?

Brian NygaardToday we introduce our newest writer at The Conservative Reader, Brian Nygaard. Brian and his wife Mary live in San Rafael, California. - Ed. As the Healthcare debate in Congress was drawing to a close, Americans were asking themselves “Why can’t we seem to make any progress on the healthcare issue?” We watch in disbelieving awe as we observe nothing getting done over seemingly very long periods of time. We covet answers, but our perception is that what we are receiving from Washington is just gridlock and petty partisan politics. We cannot even agree on such a simple notion as the need for the portability of individual insurance coverage. Amazing, isn’t it? It looks like a mess, and it is. But it is a mess for reasons completely separated from the issue of healthcare. The problem with the healthcare issue is that the issue has never been about healthcare, or insurance companies, or patient’s rights, or universal coverage. Over the course of our American history, a small number of windows of opportunity have presented themselves to the radical leftists amongst us. Andrew Jackson, FDR, Lyndon [...]
Is It About Health Care or Partisan Gridlock?

Mitch McConnell’s Speech December 21

As discussed and promised on The Conservative Reader Report on December 22, here is the full Senate Minority Leader’s speech (Mitch McConnell of Kentucky) just prior to the Monday’s Cloture vote.  If you don’t have 13 minutes, you can see a 3 minute...
Is It About Health Care or Partisan Gridlock?

The Senate’s Health Care Reform Is Abysmal

healthcare-reformWe are going to try and keep it simple on this one. The bill stinks. Put aside the fact that it expands Medicare. Put aside the fact that it establishes coverage mandates (you will be forced to buy health insurance somehow). Put aside the fact that it is a colossal power grab for an industry that has been well managed by the states for a long time. Put aside the fact that it will increase taxes. Put aside the fact that it will dramatically increase the cost of insurance for everyone (and they sold this to us originally as being needed to stop the soaring cost of insurance!). Put aside the fact that it will wreak havoc on the tax code, balloon the size of the IRS and increase the size of corporate tax management teams (which will increase consumer costs in all industries). Put aside the fact that this bill is overloaded with earmarks... in a bill that was intended to bring equality in health care. Put aside all of those issues and focus on the one true deception that will be broadcast throughout the weekend and coming weeks: that the Congressional Budget Office has determined that the bill will have a reducing impact the deficit. The lie here is that although the Federal deficit will [...]
Is It About Health Care or Partisan Gridlock?

Christian Doctors and Healthcare Reform

caring doctor We've had a number of great opportunities to interact with our Congressmen in townhalls, the President speaking anytime he gets within 50 feet of a camera, and Kathleen Sebelius criticizing a reporter for not sneezing into his elbow. What's really interesting is that none of these folks really know anything about providing medical care for, well, anybody. Here's an opportunity for those of you that are interested in the perspective of a (Christian) Physician's organization with regard to the Healthcare Reform currently being discussed in Congress. Granted, the world view of Christians in the medical field will be skewed toward Christ's admonitions to feed the poor and heal the sick, but perhaps we can put up with that kind of crazy talk (wry smile).
BRISTOL, Tenn., Sept. 28 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA, www.cmda.org), the nation's largest faith-based organization of doctors announced they will hold a free Webcast on healthcare reform, "Health Care Reform - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009 at 8:30 PM/EDT. The Webcast can be accessed by going to www.livestream.com/cmda. Freedom2Care, an ad-hoc coalition of conscience-affirming organizations is a sponsor of the event. Dr. Gene Rudd, Sr. VP for CMDA will moderate the event. New Jersey Congressman Christopher Smith; David [...]
Did Obama’s Speech Change Your Mind?

Did Obama’s Speech Change Your Mind?

The President of The United States, the Leader of The Free World, The Hope and Change for our nation, sounds tonight like a hero to some, a potential suitor to others, and a charlatan to the rest. President Barack Obama's speech (video/text) was somewhat predictable. And yet, the core principles are honorable and should be agreeable to all parties:
  1. Provide more security and stability to those who have health insurance
  2. Provide insurance to those who don’t
  3. Slow the growth of health care costs for our families, our businesses, and our government
These words are verbatim from the President. And I agree with them. Unfortunately, the President began falling flat with the very next paragraph when he stated:
"...if you are among the hundreds of millions of Americans who already have health insurance through your job, Medicare, Medicaid, or the VA, nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have. Let me repeat this: nothing in our plan requires you to change what you have."
This is a promise that Obama simply cannot keep. Why? The first principle of security and stability will require changes in the business model of insurance companies. This will quickly lead to changes in premium costs and the structure of policies. What any of us with insurance currently has will simply have to change, and to the financial disadvantage of the majority. Frankly, I'm not worried about how [...]
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