Redstate

Posted at 2:15pm on May 19, 2008 Status Quo You Can Believe In

Is Obama scared of the free market or does he just not like it?

By Erick

Obama claims to be the "change" candidate this year, but on healthcare he's offering more of the same failed policies voters have previously rejected while slamming McCain for bold initiatives that would actually, you know, reduce health care costs and improve health insurance portability in this country.

Obama said that McCain "wants to give you the failed Bush health care policies for another four years." He added that McCain would "shred" the employer-sponsored health care system and leave U.S. residents to "fend for yourself" in the free market.

More and more, I think, the GOP probably ought to just scrap the "small government" rhetoric that it so clearly does not believe in and voters no longer trust them on and make this an election about choices. They'll still be advocating smaller government, but with different language.

Obama wants you to have no choice in your healthcare and John McCain wants to provide you ample opportunity to chose your own healthcare. Obama does not want you to have the freedom to leave an employer because you are shackled to your health insurance. McCain wants to give you the freedom to leave one job for another.

Oh, and let's not forget this bit:

Pharmaceutical industry employees and PACs contributed $339,729 to Obama, $262,870 to Clinton and $74,850 to McCain during the same period.

Obama is not the candidate of hope and change. He's the candidate of the liberal status quo dressed up in PMS 285. And if you think you have problems with your health insurance now, just wait for President Obama.

Post Office + Passport Division = Obama Healthcare Plan.

Posted in 2008 | Barack Obama | Healthcare | John McCain — Comments (23)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 8:39am on Apr. 15, 2008 Are We Getting Our Money’s Worth for What We Spend on Healthcare?

Wasteful spending, and not just by the government

By blackhedd

This is a story about how difficult it is to measure economic output in ways that are actually useful, both from a policy perspective and for understanding the real economy.

In raw numbers, the US economy has been growing consistently since the 2001 recession, but it doesn’t seem that way if you look at evidence like the stock market’s performance, and the decline in consumer balance sheets. And if you look at the political mood of the country as expressed in opinion polling, forget about it.

So why does economic growth feel so much like malaise?

Part of the answer may lie in the mix of things we choose to produce. Specifically, healthcare.

More…

Posted in Economy | Health insurance | Healthcare — Comments (26)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 8:11pm on Oct. 27, 2007 The already nasty fight over S-CHIP isn't over -- and it won’t be any time soon

Thank goodness for Pete Stark!

By Jeff Emanuel

The fight in Congress over the State Children's Health Insurance Program (or “SCHIP”) continued this week, with Congressional Democrats hastily forcing another vote on their once-vetoed proposal to expand government-funded healthcare. Democrats have been fighting for weeks to pass this SCHIP expansion. First, an initial bill was passed, and was vetoed by President Bush for being fiscally irresponsible. This was followed up by an unsuccessful attempt to override that veto; then, on Thursday, when several of the bill’s opponents were at home in their scorched California districts, looking after their constituents during a time of emergency, Democrats attempted to execute a ‘power play’ against their shorthanded opponents by bringing a barely changed SCHIP-expansion bill back to the House floor, after allowing Republicans barely 24 hours to read its contents and prepare for debate.

Read on . . .

Posted in Democrats | Healthcare | Policy — Comments (26)/ Email this page » / Read More »