{"id":408753,"date":"2010-03-08T19:53:28","date_gmt":"2010-03-09T00:53:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seattletimes.nwsource.com\/html\/northwestvoices\/2011292007_healthcareroundupkrauthammerstirsthepot.html?syndication=rss"},"modified":"2010-03-08T19:53:28","modified_gmt":"2010-03-09T00:53:28","slug":"health-care-roundup-krauthammer-stirs-the-pot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/408753","title":{"rendered":"Health-care roundup: Krauthammer stirs the pot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Democrats aren\u2019t ramming health-care reform through<\/strong><\/p>\n

In his March 6 column, Charles Krauthammer tries to muddy the waters by airing the latest Republican talking points [\u201cRamming Obamacare through,\u201d Opinion]. You can spot their message discipline by now: How many times have you heard the phrase \u201cramming through\u201d recently?<\/p>\n

The Democrats are not trying to \u201cram through\u201d health-care reform by some undemocratic process. They already passed it by the regular process when both houses of Congress passed health-care bills recently.<\/p>\n

Two bills passed by regular rules and with minor differences. In the Senate, it got 60 votes \u2014 a huge margin in Senate terms. That\u2019s bigger than the Bush tax cuts or Medicare Part D \u2014 all of which were passed using \u201creconciliation,\u201d which Republicans then called \u201cmajority rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

Krauthammer trotted out other familiar obfuscations. But the facts are: Of the majority opposed to the current bill, almost half are opposed because it doesn\u2019t go far enough. The public option still polls in the high 60s, despite all the lies told about it. This is not a \u201cgovernment takeover\u201d \u2014 can Krauthammer remember how long the idea of Medicare For All lasted?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s just call out the hypocrisies and misdirections for what they are.<\/p>\n

\u2014 David Brooks, Redmond<\/em><\/p>\n

No effective Republican solution<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Republicans did make a few worthwhile suggestions in the \u201csummit\u201d debate, but they were really only minor. They suggested no effective way to reduce the number of people without health insurance, which \u2014 for anyone who has even a modicum of sympathy for individuals who through no fault of their own don\u2019t have coverage \u2014 is the crux of the matter.<\/p>\n

In fact, what the Republicans have suggested would probably increase the number of uninsured. Charles Krauthammer\u2019s statement that the \u201cRepublicans did so well\u201d can only be viewed as truthful if one compares their performance with what we had every reason to expect: a continuation of their mindless obstructionism.<\/p>\n

Krauthammer goes on to talk about the cost of Obama\u2019s scheme and quotes Warren Buffett. Since when was Buffett an expert on the country\u2019s health program? In all the talk about cost, the projected amount is not compared with what it will cost us over the next 10 years if we don\u2019t rein in the current annual rate of increase.<\/p>\n

Moreover, the mess we\u2019re in wouldn\u2019t be half as bad if the Republicans hadn\u2019t spent billions on an unnecessary war and cut taxes for the wealthy \u2014 and both came about through \u201cbudget reconciliation\u201d \u2014 and was gently done, of course, unlike Krauthammer\u2019s description of the ramming by Obama.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Philip S. Spiers, Bellevue<\/em><\/p>\n

Let them eat ice cream<\/strong><\/p>\n

Charles Krauthammer likens providing access to basic health care for all Americans to the government giving free ice cream, steak and flowers to its citizens. Last I heard, no one died prematurely because of lack of flowers or declared bankruptcy because of the inadequacy of their ice-cream allotment.<\/p>\n

Following Krauthammer\u2019s thinking, I suppose educating children of families who cannot afford private school is akin to giving free chocolate bars to the masses. Let\u2019s not forget police protection for neighborhoods that don\u2019t have gates and private guards \u2014 that\u2019s just like providing free Champagne!<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want free ice cream, steak or flowers. I just want a basic health-care system that doesn\u2019t disappear when I change jobs, is affordable to the average worker and isn\u2019t canceled because I get sick. It\u2019s time for a change.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Karen N. Gielen, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Democrats aren\u2019t ramming health-care reform through In his March 6 column, Charles Krauthammer tries to muddy the waters by airing the latest Republican talking points [\u201cRamming Obamacare through,\u201d Opinion]. You can spot their message discipline by now: How many times have you heard the phrase \u201cramming through\u201d recently? The Democrats are not trying to \u201cram […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2861,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-408753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2861"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408753\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}