The House is now on a mad dash to health care reform. And when the House rushes anything, as has been the behavior of all of Congress during this administration, you can bet your mama’s last remaining years that they’ll go bye-bye as surely as your hard-earned tax dollars are disappearing under the cloaks of stimuli and bailouts. And when what Congress is rushing is health care, your mama’s last remaining years will probably disappear even faster.
The Hill reports that House Democrats are hastily patching together what they are going to euphemistically call a bill that can be voted on in committees next week. And they intend to set a new world land record by voting on the whole, bloody mess by July 31st. They’re propping up the major players (Energy and Commerce Chair Henry Waxman, House Education and Labor Chairman George Miller, and Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel) to put on dog & pony shows starting today, complete with smoke & mirror meetings with rank-and-file members broken out by region, ostensibly to solicit their input and concerns.
Of course there will be no real determinations on how to pay for it all, including their pet “public option” and coverage for illegal immigrants.
A large portion is expected to come from reductions in Medicare and Medicaid. But that won’t pay for the full overhaul. As for raising money, ideas have included a national sales tax, taxing soda and a “surtax” on people making more than $250,000.
I fully anticipate thousands of pages that will go unread, with a “conservative CBO” estimate well in the trillions of non-existent dollars to implement. But the larger costs will come from the trashing of yet another private sector, an area that is a personal, individual responsibility and one in which the government has no place.