John Dingell worked 50 years to nationalize health care and ‘control the people’

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 5:00 pm, April 2, 2010

John Dingell says ObamaCare will allow Democrats to “control the people.” The video is here.

Health reconciliation bill summarized

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 5:06 am, March 26, 2010

Politico summarized the health deform reconciliation bill here.

Health reconciliation bill HR 4872 summarized

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 5:06 am, March 26, 2010

Politico summarized the health deform reconciliation bill here. The bill, HR 4872, is here. The main bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), HR 3590, is here.

Pelosi’s betting she can pass ObamaCare; if she can’t, she wants to be done with it

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 11:20 pm, March 12, 2010

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is betting against heavy odds that she can get House Democrats to commit political suicide and pass the Senate’s version of Obamacare. Mike Barone and others are predicting she won’t have the votes. That means only one thing. She wants to get Obamacare off her plate one way or another. It’s just too big of a political liability to carry into November.  

Obama uses his time to show his arrogance, bad manners, win-at-any-cost mindset; he was the prop

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 9:57 am, February 26, 2010

President Obama used more time than all of the Republicans combined at his latest prop, the seven-hour health talking points show that was on TV until the news channels got bored with it. And how did Obama use his time? He showed Republicans are correct when they call him arrogant, uninformed about health markets and, as Peggy Noonan says, boorish. As expected, Republicans came prepared to show their expertise on health and to tell America that they believe consumers can make better decisions about their health insurance and health care than Obama, Harry Reid, Henry Waxman, and Nancy Pelosi can. The Democrats showed not only that they are clueless about health markets, but also that they rule by anecdotes and for themselves. The best coverage of the health standoff at Blair House is at Politico.com. The best commentary is at wsj.com. And the Democrats’ talking points are at nytimes.com and washingtonpost.com. 

Obama wants to impose price controls on health insurance; price controls won’t work

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 11:49 pm, February 21, 2010

President Obama wants to impose price controls on health insurance, according to Politico and the AP. What this would do is further distort the health insurance markets that have long been distorted by state and government regulations. Obama continues to show that all he cares about is passing his highly flawed spend and tax health bill. He doesn’t care about the providers or patients who will pay the painful price of living under price controls, which always fail. The unintended consequences will be huge.

Medical specialists save lives; politicians want to deny access to people who can save your lives

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 11:44 pm, February 21, 2010

Medical specialists save lives, but that’s not what’s important to politicians who are trying to control state and federal spending on health care services.
Nicholas D. Kristof is a lefty columnist for the New York Times. And in his column, “I 

Republicans should not publish health plan; make Obama sell them on his health deform bill

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 8:50 pm, February 13, 2010

Republicans have offered many health reform ideas over the last several years.
Democrats blocked the GOP’s reforms when the GOP controlled the WH and Congress. Democrats have ignored the GOP’s plans since taking Congress. Republicans should not publish a new plan prior to President Obama’s scheduled White House health deform summit.
They should say their role is not to write a plan that everyone knows Obama will reject out of hand. Their role is to critique and negotiate about the sections of ObamaCare that keep them from supporting the plan. It’s Obama’s job to sell his bill to Republicans, not the other way around.
Republicans should list the key sections of ObamaCare bills passed by the House and Senate that they think both they and the Democrats are ready to negotiate. They should list the sections they think are non negotiable for both parties. The non negotiable sections should be dropped from the bill.
In any case, the idea that the crowd attending the Feb. 25 televised summit can negotiate anything in three hours is ludicrous.

Senators Bob Corker, Chuck Grassley, Judd Gregg show Republicans ready to deal; will Obama?

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 3:29 pm, February 11, 2010

It must be a cold day in Washington because three Republican Senators today agreed to help break logjams on Democrats’ major legislative efforts to enact health, finance and jobs bills.
Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) agreed to try to negotiate a bipartisan deal with Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) on financial reform. Sen Judd Gregg is ready to deal with President Obama on a health deform bill. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) agreed to negotiate with Max Baucus (D-MT) on a jobs bill, but Sen. Majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) immediately killed their bill. So the Republicans showed bipatisanship. Reid showed partisanship. And what’s your bet on Obama?

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