Obamacare Speech

So the president spoke for 48 minutes. Hmmm. Well, I have to say that I was not all that impressed. This man had a great opportunity to try and bring two sides together, instead, he dictated terms. Instead of listening to the American people, he has chosen to listen to the astroturf few who had to be professionally organized by unions and his own Organizing for America. This is a sad state of affairs.

I could break this speech down and write column inches on what was wrong with it, but honestly, I am in a fairly good mood and will break down some points, both good and bad.

Let's start with the good:

1. It appears that the blatant public option is gone. True, they are going to try and back door it in using the co-op plan, but for now it is gone as far as the president is concerned. This was mainly done for political points and to take the LBJ approach of "having a half a loaf instead of no loaf at all"
2. It appears that the administration is at least thinking about some sort of tort reform. OK, I know he never came out and said it, but it is my belief, and it could be my good me blurring me, that he knows this has to happen and he is gently entering into this. He knows he can get some big points on this one and look like he is crossing the isle if he enacts it. Believe me, Obama wants to be re-elected and what better way to tell a cynical public that he has then point to a win here down the line.
3. He stood up to the progressives and told them they cannot have everything. Believe it or not, this is big. As long as he continues to take this stance in private as well as public, good things could happen.

Now for the bad

1. The speech was way to damn long. This should have been cut by at least 15 minutes. As O'Reilly says, there was a lot of bloviating going on here. There was no need for the Ted Kennedy reference nor the Bush bashing. I saw that as nothing more than a way to temper any bad feelings that the progressives may feel for being told behave.
2. Great, you are going to have a co-op, but why not let it be private co-ops. A government run co-op can come to no good. Take a look at the mess that was created with Medicare D and implementing that. Even though private insurance is handing the plans, it is all part of Medicare D and was/is confusing as hell. This could be done much easier by allowing private groups meeting certain Federal guidelines to create regional or state co-ops that can do the same thing.
3. Why no cross state insurance competition. This does not make any sense. Axelrod goes on Fox and says that the Federal government cannot do this because it would contradict with state policies but the Federal government does this kind of stuff all of the time.
4. The numbers just do not add up. Obama states that they are going to cut fraud and waste in Medicare and that will save money. Why hasn't this been done already. Also, he is going to fine companies 8% of their payroll costs if they do not offer health insurance. It is obvious that Obama has never run a business as decent health insurance costs are way more than 8%. Most companies could make a profit by dropping healthcare benefits and pay the fine. Obama states that he is not going to pay for care for illegals, yet illegals make up part of the 47 million that do not have health insurance.
5. I know people in the healthcare industry who KNOW how healthcare plans work. I picked up the phone and called each of them separately after the speech and asked if they had watched. They had. I asked them if there is any way that an insurance company would drop someone for not stating they had gall stones if they did not know about it. The answer across the board was emphatically no. There had to be much more to this than what Obama states. I also asked them about the claim regarding acne keeping a woman from getting a mastectomy. They both said no, the only thing that may have caused a delay is if this woman was on some sort of medication that would have caused irreparable harm in conjunction with a chemo treatment that would be performed after the mastectomy. Other than that, no one could think of any reason this woman would have been delayed or refused. One of these professionals flat out said that this was BS and probably something made up by a astroturfer at a pro healthcare rally. I do not know if that is the truth, but it would not surprise me.
6. Why hasn't Obama listened to any of the GOP's proposed plans. He mentioned taking on McCain's proposal for a "hardship insurance" and that is great. There are a lot of others out there. He failed to mention anything they have offered or retort any of it. By doing so he is hurting himself among the informed independents that voted for him.
7. Obama lied during the speech. Not any overt lie, but the kind of lie where you omit the opposing facts or state only the facts that meet your needs. As a parent, these are the type of things we tell our kids not to do. Kudos go to rep Joe Wilson R-SC for calling him on it. publicly.

I could say more, but I really do not think I need to. I came up with this in about 15 minutes and God knows I could go on much longer if need be.

I would love to hear more from you.

Also, on a seperate note. No big surprise but no update from Lacy Clay. Since I am in a good mood, I am going to give him through the night. If nothing, I have a few new things to say.