The Big ‘Doc Fix’ Flop
If it were Harry Reid’s money that the Democrats were using, I wouldn’t care so much. But I don’t think Harry and all the casinos in Nevada have the $247 billion in payola that the doctors would would have got for switching sides in the reform debate. So it would be taxpayers funding this hustle while Medicare — with costs careening out of control — got harder to save from a catastrophe that would bankrupt us all.
But this is only half the story. We’re only viewing the upper torso of Michelangelo’s David. Now we’re getting to the good bits. (Note: the following may be NSFW or not safe for those with high blood pressure and at risk of heart attack.)
When confronted by angry Republicans over this bit of budgetary legerdemain, the Democrats channeled Mr. Orwell:
The sponsor of the doc fix, Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), seemed unconcerned that the fix had put the party in one. “It really is about honest budgeting,” she said at a news conference Tuesday morning. On one side of her stood the AMA president. On the other side was a poster framed by a flag. One of its bullet points: “Honest budgeting.”
Honestly? A decade ago, Congress passed legislation designed to limit health-care costs by slowing the growth of Medicare payments to doctors. Each year, Congress passes a “patch” to prevent the cuts from taking effect. Stabenow proposed to make this system “honest” by eliminating the cuts permanently.
Medicare is hurtling toward insolvency, but Stabenow would essentially repeal past cost-cutting efforts. And even granting that it’s a good idea not to cut Medicare payments to doctors, it’s a strange interpretation of honesty to separate this $250 billion cost from the health-care bill and then claim that the other bill doesn’t raise the deficit.
“A strange interpretation of honesty”? Somehow, “lie” is too ordinary a word to use in this case. It’s like referring to Ted Bundy as a serial pickup artist.
Balloon dad is a liar. Bill Clinton is a liar. Stabenow and the Democrats have entered that exalted milieu reserved for the very biggest, the very best, the most scandalous of prevaricating dissemblers.
Burger King is naming a combo meal after them.
As it turns out, it mattered not. All the tricks, the sleight-of-hand legislating, the shell game with numbers went for naught; the standalone bill to restore the cuts failed to get the 60 votes needed to stave off a filibuster and went down to defeat 53-47.
I’m not exactly disappointed it failed, but wouldn’t you have loved to see our president signing this bill while still maintaining health care reform was on track not to add to the deficit? Even Obama’s legendary “cool” would have been sorely tested as the sheer idiocy of what he was saying hit home.
So that $247 billion remains as “savings” in the reform bills. No doubt Harry Reid and the Democrats have other rabbits they can pull out of a hat when it comes to counting expenditures as savings and finding ponies in the manure pile instead of, well, manure.
Meanwhile, it’s getting awfully thick around Capitol Hill these days, and waders appear to be making a comeback as a fashion statement.
This is the best of all worlds for the country…and some say like me say for doctors.
This will impose a 21.5% cut immediately and another twenty percent in the next five years…almost everyone will opt out of the program this first year and rationing will be in place for Medicare immediately in sharp contrast to those non-Medicare patients who will receive boutique and immediate care. Specialty care will be very scarce.
This could be the cyanide pill for the program.
It also brings to the forefront the reality of government care. Medicare and Medicaid are the organized crime of medicine failing to pay their way at every step and necessitating a cost shift the rest of the patients. Government underpayment alone adds almost forty percent to the cost of care for everyone. This will end the issue if allowed to stand…unfortunately, look for another under the table deal.
You will note that the AMA represents all doctors like Sharpton represents every American with a tan.
Hey, the best part is to come—much greater savings!!! Doctors will drop out of medicare or retire, as medicare payments will not be enough to pay for their overhead!! Presto–rationing!! And fewer doctors!! Awesome!!
What does one expect when “Dingy” Harry is involved in anything. I hope the good people of Nevada have the good sense to vote the guy out come next year.
And where is NBC? ABC? CBS? CNN? NYTImes? WashPo? HuffPO?
crickets chirping
In essence, the administration and the AMA conspired to undermine health care for seniors in this country…and not a peep out of the “guardians of the populist realm”.
The folks who were slobbering over the “Trig Palin affair”, who wanted to “dig” for the clues to the “real” Cindy McCain, who unearthed everything they could about “Joe, the Plumber”…simply have no interest in (yawn), this sort of boring and tedious story about our countrymen as taxpayers being gang raped in a party clubhouse.
The bigger story isn’t that one party attempted this…it’s that they know they will never be exposed in the mass media. Conspirators after the fact…THAT’S the story. And THAT’S the reason…it will happen again.
crickets chirping
I’m dumb or misinformed, but isn’t this the same group of guys they were
castigating 2 weeks ago for pulling out tonsils or cutting off feet to make extra bucks? Unbeeelievable!
I’m looking at the Democrats who voted for this and am thinking: Aren’t these people at all worried about keeping their job? The ordinary observer can read these tea leaves..
Mr. Moran, great article, verbage. ‘Pulp Fiction’ did come to mind when reading the names of those voting for this bill.. wow!
Though this is just the beginning. AARP, the Unions, drug companies and their lobbyists, other private insurance lobbyists, etc.,
Phew. What a bureaucratic nightmare..
They won, why isn’t old Harry Reid smiling? He seemed to smile a lot more when Bush was in office. Come-on Harry show us those old yellow dentures after all, you got hope and change coming your way. Hey!!
A good question to ask in the aftermath of this vote is:
If Harry can’t keep his own party united on a vote like this, how the heck does he expect to keep them united on a vote on the big bill?
Methinks he’s gonna have a lot of problems doing that.
Hmmm… nearly 5 hours since the last comment.
Where’s the usual lefty trolls to try and spin this as a victory for ObamaCare (or BaucusCare)?
These suits from the AMA, specialty organizations and insurance companies think they can share the trough with the pigs in Washington and not get their shoes dirty. That’s why the AMA represents fewer than a third of practicing doctors. After practicing ethical, cost-effective primary care for 43 years, I am making $50 an hour in a failed state (CA) where the failed policies of liberalism are on full display. Government can’t create a real job or treat real patients no matter how many votes they steal.
Due to a point of order in the House, the bill will not be voted on for at least three days after the bill hits the floor. This means that there is no possible way for a health care bill to reach Obama’s desk before election day. Watch out for Democrats jumping ship if they lose the New Jersey and Virginian gubernatorial races.
I’m actually disappointed the vote did not pass, it would’ve put Democrats’ hypocrisy in full view! For after passing a law that abolished Medicare doctor pay-cuts, how could they justify a healthcare reform that assumes Medicare doctor cuts?
It’s like allocating money to keep all front porch lights on, then pushing an energy bill that cuts costs by assuming we’ll save money turning off the front porch light… But wait… didn’t you… just fund that…?
The problem was never in suspending the cuts, it was how Baucus could dream up a healthcare bill (ostensibly to promote greater health security for all) that insanely assumed these unsafe cuts would go through. Cutting doctors’ already low Medicare reimbursement by 21% (and driving many to opt out of Medicare) really IS like leaving the front porch light off: it would leave Medicare patients less, not more, secure. Democrats may realize this, but not the incongruity of patching the program while assuming no patch should be placed (as it would be too expensive). Either you have your cake, or you eat it. I prefer to have doctors paid adequately. The Democrats can eat their so-called healthcare reform.
Almost all Americans suffer from severe ADD: Arithmetic Deficit Disorder.