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THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER 17. 2009 — PAGE 5A
Opinions
The truth about
health care reform
What is the truth about
President Obama’s plan for
health care reform? After
Wednesday’s speech to a
joint session of Congress,
questions still remain.
It is easy to speak banali
ties about affordable cover
age for all, "security and
stability,” etc., but, as the
saying goes, the devil is in
the details.
The President claims his
plan will cost “around” $900
billion dollars over the next
10 years and will not add
“one dime to our deficits —
either now or in the future.”
A nice sound bite to be
sure, but is it true?
The President said this
will be made possible by
reducing the wastes and
inefficiencies in Medicaid
and Medicare.
So the President is going
to pay for one multi-billion
dollar health care program
by eliminating wastes and
inefficiencies in the existing
multi-billion dollar health
care program?
Wouldn’t it be easier to
improve and repair the cur
rent bureaucratic monstros
ity rather than create a brand
new one?
Pretending for the moment
that the President is being
truthful when he claims his
plan will be deficit-neutral,
is he being truthful about
other aspects of "The Obama
Plan: Security and Stability
for All Americans?”
The President promised to
protect Medicare for seniors.
An impressive claim con
sidering he is planning to
siphon off $900 billion from
Medicare and Medicaid
to pay for his health care
reform package.
The Obama plan further
proposes to make it illegal
to deny coverage for anyone
with a pre-existing condi
tion and to eliminate higher
premiums based on age and
gender. That may be true,
but it is not the whole truth.
It follows logically that his
plan will thereby raise pre
miums for those who are
young, in good health and
have no preexisting condi
tions.
The President also con
tinues to advocate a “self-
sufficient” public option that
will “promote competition.”
Again, nice sound bite, but
how exactly does an organi
zation with the purchasing
power of the federal govern
ment promote competition?
Undercut competition, yes.
Promote competition, not so
much.
Then there is the problem
of coverage for all.
In his speech last week,
the President said his plan,
“will provide more security
and stability to those who
have health insurance. It
will provide insurance for
those who don’t.”
There are an estimated 47
million people in this coun
try without health insurance.
The Pew Hispanic Center
claims seven million of
those are in the country ille
gally. Other estimates are
considerably higher - as
many as 22 million.
The President said his
reforms would not apply to
those in the country ille
gally.
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC),
a voice for millions of con
servatives nationwide, took
issue with that statement
shouting out “You he!” in a
nationally televised moment
that has been seized upon
by liberals as demonstra
tive of the irrationality of
Republicans everywhere.
So what exactly is the
truth about that aspect of the
kreed @bar rowj our nal.com.
By Kristi Reed
President’s plan?
If you visit the White
House web site and read
“The Obama Plan: Security
and Stability for All
Americans,” you will find
no mention of illegal immi
grants.
What you have by way
of assurances on the matter
is the President’s word and
what has been documented
in the health care reform
proposals to date.
Not surprisingly, the two
are somewhat at odds.
The Congressional
Research Service (CRS), a
non-partisan organization,
analyzed H.R. 3200 to deter
mine what, if any, impact it
would have on non-citizens.
The CRS determined that
the proposed legislation had
no restrictions prohibiting
non-citizens from participat
ing in the health insurance
exchange and no mechanism
for verifying immigration
status. They also determined
that in certain circumstances
non-immigrants would be
eligible for premium credits.
Unauthorized aliens would
not receive credit, but, under
IRS rules, they might actu
ally be required to purchase
insurance if they have been
in the country long enough
to meet the substantial pres
ence test.
In other words, the
President’s reforms will not
apply to illegal immigrants
unless of course they have
been in the United States for
at least 31 days during the
current calendar year and
at least 183 days during the
previous two years. Those
unauthorized aliens would
have to purchase insurance
by law but, according to
the President, would also
be prohibited by law from
doing so. Makes perfect
sense, no?
Furthermore, we already
pay for medical services for
illegal immigrants through
emergency Medicaid.
Nothing in the current pro
posed legislation is going to
change that.
We are a compassionate
people and are not likely
to deny a person in need of
medical services treatment
regardless of their immigra
tion status. For the President
and the Democrats to refuse
to acknowledge that reality
is dissembling at best.
The President’s plan may
not have any provisions that
provide coverage for illegal
immigrants outright, but it
does not appear to have any
provisions specifically pro
hibiting coverage either.
Rep. Wilson may have
been out of order when he
said the President lied, but
he may be dead right about
the President’s veracity.
The truth about health care
reform is that no one knows
exactly what is going to be
in the plan, no one fully
understands the five sepa
rate bills that have already
been proposed and no one
has any idea how we are
going to pay for it in the
long run. Anyone who says
otherwise is lying.
Kristi Reed is a reporter
for The Barrow Journal. You
can reach her at kreed@
barrowjournal. com.
Political hatred, rhetoric at an all-time high
What is it about politics that
makes people so mad?
It’s a question I’ve been ask
ing myself in recent weeks as
we see people showing ques
tionable behavior at best at
so-called town hall meetings
and rallies. We have a split in
our country unlike anything
we have every seen.
While there a few people
like myself who are really in
the middle on issues (they call
us Libertarians) the majority
of people are either right-wing
zealots or extreme leftists. How
has such a divide in our coun
ty come about? What causes
someone to bite the finger off
another person at a rally about
health care of all things?
Even on my Facebook
account, if I dare mention any
thing political, I am often chal
lenged or downright attacked,
and this is often from people I
know, at least to some degree.
My Facebook community con
sists of friends, current and past
co-workers and people that I at
least know presently or have
had some sort of association in
the past. And I thought sports
arguments got heated.
chris@mainsdeetnews.com
By Chris Bridges
Mention something political
and the venom begins to spew.
If I don’t agree with someone’s
opinion I am called everything
from a Communist, a terrorist
supporter, an enemy of this
country, against the troops,
a Communist, an idiot, a
moron, a traitor, a Communist,
crazy, nuts, a loon, and on
and on and on. Did I mention
Communist?
I get the biggest laugh out
of being called a Communist
because I value personal free
dom so much I would never
be confused with anything
associated with Communism.
However, people, in their
quick attempts to insult, try
to fire off the first thing that
comes to mind and I guess
that is one of the terms still
used today.
Through the years, my
newspaper columns have been
attacked by those on both the
left and right. I am attacked
by right-wing zealots for sim
ply not supporting everything
the Republicans do. Since I
questioned why we went to
war with a country that had
nothing to do with 9-11,1 am
deemed unpatriotic by talk
show hosts employed by FOX
News.
The right also gets on my
case for not believing the most
recent President Bush was
right for signing the Patriot
Act, which violates civil lib
erties of honest Americans.
I also never had any use
for Dick "Five Deferment”
Cheney who freely sent our
servicemen and service-
women in harm’s way while
never doing so when it was
his time.
I am attacked by the left
on issues such as gun rights,
fighting taxes and the like. I
criticized Democrats heavily
for not standing up to bills like
the Patriot Act and for being
afraid to challenge Bush on
his unconstitutional war in
Iraq. A Democrat is now in
the White House, yet our ser
vicemen and servicewomen
are still in harm’s way. You
can hear of them dying in the
line of duty on a daily basis
if you care to listen, but who
really pays attention any more
outside of veteran groups.
Speaking of which, I criti
cize both parties for not doing
more for our veterans once
they return home and for bog
ging them down in enough red
tape to choke a horse when it
comes to receiving the bene
fits they deserve. I wish every
one who is fired up about
health care would get as fired
up about benefits for veterans
once they return home.
As our nation continues
to split politically down the
middle, it’s nice to actually be
in the middle. It’s where our
forefathers would have been.
Chris Bridges is editor of
The Barrow Journal. E-mail
comments about this column
to chris @ mainstreetnews.
com.
Time to start electing independents
It will be interesting to see
if President Obama’s Sept. 10
speech changes the playing
field in the debate over health
care reform, but I hope he
holds to his threat to “call
out” those who have blatantly
lied about what is in or out of
the plan.
That works both ways, of
course. A “call out” may be
a big lie itself, and it would
be naive to suggest that all of
the misinformation rests with
one side or the other in this
debate.
But the health care system
is broken. The problem in fix
ing it is that too many people
are more interested in seeing
Obama fail, some for political
reasons and others because
they profit from a broken sys
tem.
It’s almost impossible to
filter through the informa
tion put forth by those for or
against health care legislation
to decide whether ideas in
reform legislation are benefi
cial or harmful.
Obama’s speech was an
The
Gospel
according
to Mark
By Mark Beardsley
attempt to re-frame the debate,
which has been framed by the
anti-reform movement led by
the insurance industry. (It is
discouraging to realize how
much of the rhetoric in any
major debate is crafted by one
group — as if our politicians
cannot think for themselves or
are totally corrupted by lob
byists. When you see virtually
everyone on one side using
the same words and phrases
— "death panels,” "govern
ment takeover,” "rationing”
— you realize someone has
scripted the debate.) Given
our highly politicized soci
ety, we’re all too willing to
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parrot what we hear as if it
were gospel. We’re suckers
for snake oil salesmen if what
they sell appears to match our
ideology.
I am fortunate enough to
work for a company that pro
vides health insurance, but it
is easy to see a day coming
when, if there is no meaning
ful change, small companies
will not be able to offer that
benefit, or when employ
ees will not be able to afford
their part of the cost or ever
increasing deductibles. What
good is insurance if you can’t
afford it?
We can’t reform the indus
try unless there’s good-faith
negotiation among Democrats
and Republicans and a genuine
desire for reform, and I’m not
seeing that. Voters have del
egated critical thinking to the
talking heads, and members
of Congress have outsourced
study of the issues to the lob
byists.
We’re not going to make
meaningful progress on health
care reform, fiscal reform,
global warming or any of the
many critical issues before
us until both parties sober up
and cease their scorched-earth
practices against each other
and quit relying on corporate
lobbyists for their information,
position papers and rhetoric.
It’s going to get worse before
it gets better. Maybe it’s time
to begin electing independent
candidates and leave both
political parties to their own
destructive devices.
Mark Beardsley is editor of
The Commerce News. He can
be reached at mark@main-
streetnews.com
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It’s been a year since God called you
away, but someone is missing here
today. Someone our hearts still hold
so dear. Someone who made life so
special for all of us still here. Someone who won’t be
forgotten but cherished from year to year. And as we
pause to remember you we fondly do recall how dearly
each of us loved you and how you loved us all.
Forever in our hearts always
DAVID PARKER
7-15-51
In Memory of
9-22-08
Gus & Pat Johnson
Celebrate Their
50th Wedding Anniversary
September 13, 2009
They have one son, Jody Johnson and one grandson Joseph
Johnson. They were married in Jackson County. They
reside in Jefferson.