A Letter to Senator Webb on Healthcare “Reform”
I just sent this letter to my Senator, Jim Webb, a few minutes ago:
Dear Senator Webb,
I am writing to you regarding the impending vote on Harry Reid's health reform bill. If you do not vote against this bill, I WILL VOTE AGAINST YOU IN THE NEXT ELECTION.
We are witnessing the complete destruction of deliberative democracy with this bill. The fact that the text of the bill has been held secret for so long is an outrage. Further, the revelation that Senators are now voting for the bill not on substance, but because of payouts and exemptions for their states, is even more outrageous. How can we call a law validly (and constitutionally) enacted by the legislature when key votes needed for passage are based on peculiar payoffs for the state and exemptions from some of the bill's key provisions? This is not lawful!
Substantively, this bill will be a disaster. While I've heard the President and Senator Reid repeatedly make the same stale assertions - that the bill will cut premiums and lower the deficit - I have yet to see any evidence. How can a bill that places taxes on insurance, medical devices, and requires non-discriminatory coverage possibly decrease premiums, when all those things add new costs? And how can this bill lower the deficit (beyond the use of an accounting gimmick), when it creates a new entitlement and a massive new bureaucracy?
I will be honest, Senator Webb. I am not a Democrat. I consider myself a conservative libertarian, which means that I will usually vote for Republicans or third-party candidates on the right. That said, I have given this issue a lot of thought, and I have come to the following conclusion: if you help kill this bill, I will have a lot of reason to vote for you and to encourage my friends to do the same. If, on the other hand, you help this monstrosity pass, I will do everything in my power to make sure that you do not win reelection.
Sincerely,
Andrew P. Connors
We still have time to kill this horrible bill. Senator Webb is viewed as a possible swing vote. Contact him now by visiting his website.
Update: Read more about the special favors and exemptions dolled out to Nebraska and Vermont here.
Update II: Read this great letter from a primary care physician in Nebraska commenting on the perverse payment scheme imposed on her by government medicine.
Update III: The Senate GOP has a summary of the shenanigans called "Let's Make a Deal...With Your Money."
Final Update: Well, the letter failed. Senator Webb confirms that he will vote for an atrocious bill.
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Remember, Remember the Seventh of November
In honor of the passing of H.R. 3962, a poem:
Remember, remember the Seventh of November,
The Socialist Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why the Socialist Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Pelosi, Pelosi, t'was her intent
To take all our freedom and every last cent.
A two-thousand page bill passed in the wee hours,
To solidify the government’s ever-expanding powers;
Freedom be damned for a sympathetic cause,
We’ll simply ignore age-old constitutional law.
Oh well, oh hell, the State is the master.
Oh well, oh hell, what an unmitigated disaster!
Here's hoping we can defeat this monstrosity in the Senate.
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Politicians and the Promise of Free Healthcare
Thomas Sowell, the brilliant economist, has some important things to say in his latest article. He especially well-explained something I've tried to get advocates of socialized medicine to understand for quite some time now, stating that:
[t]he big political crusade today is for "affordable" medical care through the government. No one believes that government is just going to be more efficient, and thereby have lower costs that will be reflected in lower prices for medications and medical treatment.
It might seem as if adding the costs of government bureaucracies to the costs of medications and medical treatment would make it impossible for the total costs to go down. But again, the impossible is no problem in politics.
Many countries around the world already have government-run medical care. People who get sick in these countries usually wait much longer to get treatment, including months on waiting lists for surgery, often paying in pain or debilitation, rather than money.
High-tech medical devices like MRIs are also far less common in these countries than in the United States. With medical care as with anything else, you can always get poorer quality at a lower price, though that is no bargain, especially when you are sick.
What you may have in mind are lower prices with no reduction in quality. While that may be impossible, don't expect that fact to stop politicians from offering it, even if they can't deliver.
Possibly Related Posts:
- A Letter to Senator Webb on Healthcare “Reform”
- Remember, Remember the Seventh of November
- Republicans Resurgent in Elections
- Conservative Authoritarianism
- David Frum Is Wrong