Andrew Sullivan, writing at TimesOnline (London) notes the circus of conspiracy theories sweeping the land. He ought to know.
Sullivan goes on to argue that Obama will end up with a victory on health care restructuring, although many of the controversial aspects will be dropped:
Nonetheless, I remain convinced Obama will win this fight. Not totally; not without political cost; but win it he shall. And the strategy is really very simple. The most popular elements of the bill will be kept in and the most contentious left out.
The fundamental issue of costs will be deferred. A bill that prevents insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing illnesses; that creates healthcare exchanges, where people can buy their own insurance policy subsidised by the government; that brings agreed price reductions by the drug companies in return for all these new, previously uninsured clients: this will pass and be popular. How could it not? The option of a government-run insurance plan to compete with private ones will be either dispensed with or held in reserve. If, after a few years, health costs keep soaring and the private companies have not mended their free-spending ways, it could be brought back.
Well, yeah, if Obama drops the public plan and mandates he can get some measure of health insurance reform because most people want health insurance reforms without junking the whole system. New national and regional markets for insurance helping create the conditions for individual insurance empowerment. That is a plan that can pass.
It’s called the Republican plan, and it is as available now to Obama as it was six months ago. All Obama has to do is just say yes.
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Comments
As you clearly stated, America isn't against healthcare reform, but healthcare reform isn't socialized medicine. The two are in no way linked.
The Obama plan to restructure America, redistribute wealth, collectivize and nationalize is odious to many Americans as we have seen.
I said the same thing last week. http://rabidsanity.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-obama-could.html
Let's see if we are right. But I doubt it.
The MSM will not say this was Obama saying yes to a Republican plan. When he gets it passed, even if it is the Republican's plan, it will be touted as his. The victory will be his as well (the greatest political comeback of all time), won (they will say) in spite of the kooks and crazies on the right who opposed his efforts and were so darned disagreeable.
I heard that a plan like this would cause many liberal dems to jump ship. No public option means a no vote. I am not sure the republican plan will pass.
It's interesting how sane Sully can sound when he wants to. Not playing to the BDS/PDS crowd this time, I guess.
The kooks and crazies on the Left might go insane. I guess we'll see. The WH and state-run media will spin this as a win but we know what it is. What could and should be a win for America is a loss for Marxists.
Okay, explain something to me, here.
Pre-existing conditions. so basically the idea is this. I can say "i don't want health insurance" and go without. then one day i discover i have cancer. so then i call up an insurance company and say, "hey, i have cancer now. so can i buy coverage now? Great here's a few hundred dollars now give me $50,000 of chemo." is that really how we are proposing to make this work? Because i can tell you that it would absolutely bankrupt the insurance industry.
Yeah…so, I guess then if we're going to compromise on what the Republican plan was six months ago, then all or most Republicans are going to vote for it. Right?
Right?
(Or could it be that a bunch of vague bullet points doesn't constitute a "plan"?
Did I just read Andrew Sullivan say that Barak Obama "beat" Dick Cheney?
Andrew can honestly say that he "Beat" Sarah Palin since she lost an election for VP but unless I'm very much mistaken Cheney beat him around the head over Gitmo et/al twice in 8 months.
He might be able to get away with that in England but not here. He would be laughed out of the room if he said that.
Oh and I notice he didn't mention "death panels" in his argument either. Perhaps that's because as I've argued at the link below, he knows in England they wouldn't scoff.
http://datechguy.wordpress.com/2009/09/09/its-not-a-death-panel-its-council-guidance/