As someone who has been following the health care bills, I read Steve’s recent post with interest. All along in this process President Obama has pledged to the American people that if they wanted to keep their current health insurance they could, as nothing in any of the proposed bills would prohibit that, or make it difficult.
Last Friday, however, the President said,
…stray cats and dogs…got in there… And I think that some of the provisions that got snuck in might have violated that pledge.
Let’s examine that statement. The first incarnation of Obamacare was what we refer to as the Kennedy/Dodd bill. At page 103 we are told that whether you like your plan or not, unless you have a ‘qualified plan” you will pay a tax.
Next we had the Waxman bill. At pages 15-16 and page 167 we are told the same thing.
Then came the Pelosi bill… your insurance is “grandfathered in (i.e. no tax) as long as your insurer makes absolutely no changes in coverage and doesn’t accept one more insured. If that happens, you will pay a tax. (see page 91).
And finally we got the Reid bill. At pages 97 and 100, we were told that there was no need to leave your present coverage, but, unless it was a “qualified” plan, you would have to pay a tax.
Bottom line in all bills, the government made it virtually impossible to keep the insurance you had, whether you liked it or not, unless you were willing to pay a tax, or increased premiums to obtain a “qualified” plan.
Believing the president, the provisions that violated his pledge to the American public were “snuck” in by Sen. Kennedy (D-Mass.), Sen. Dodd (D-Conn.), Rep. Waxman (D-Calif.), House Speaker Pelosi (D-Calif.), and Sen. Reid (D-Nev.).
What part of all of these proposed bills did the president either fail to read, or fail to comprehend?
UPDATE (Jim): Here’s the video one more time courtesy of Steve’s post.
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Stray cats and dogs is freudian slip language that does not belong in the discussion of healthcare. Stray cats and dogs tend to be euthanized. The real stray cats and dogs in this bill are grandma and the genetically handicapped. As for the taxes , this bill has always been designed as a power grab . After taking over the car companies, banks, and insurance companies there just isn’t the same kind of money around to finance the status quo. The government needs to wring more cash out of the healthcare economy while cutting down on the outflow expenditures through a reduction in the quality of care services.
“Stray cats and dogs” aren’t the problem, it was the stampeding jackasses from the jackass party that were running around unimpeded.
Thank you again, Mr., I mean SENATOR, Brown!
Why invoke stray dogs and cats, many of whom are rescued everyday by no-kill shelters in the healthcare debate? What is wrong with this picture is that too many things that many Americans are opposed to are being “sneaked into this bill”.
This little speech really got to me. He says it as if it’s some funny little comment when in fact it is our lives and our future access to healthcare.
Obama is very scary. He has no common sense and he has no clue what he is doing.
I can’t imagine how he ever got elected. How could that many people have possibly believed anything he said? Are there that many uneducated, niave, idiots who were mesmerized by him? I guess I know the answer to my own question.
I made my own cartoon photo related to the subject of this topic. I will send it to you Jim. I think it came out pretty good, stray cats and dogs and all.