Two of the best sources for health care reform news and information are the Center for Consumer Choices at the Heartland Institute and the Galen Institute. Both organizations weighed in during the past week with excellent points that concern next week’s election.
Greg Scandlen wrote the following in the Consumer Power Report #245 (which will soon be posted on this page):
Wow, hard to imagine that the election is only a week away. Whatever the final outcome it is certain to be a very big gain for the Republicans, not only in Congress but in the states and local governments as well. All of the credit — all of it — goes to the great awakening and mobilization of ordinary Americans under the Tea Party banner. The Republican brand is still held in low esteem by most voters. The ONLY reason these voters are willing to vote Republican is in the hope that the party has been fundamentally changed by this awakening.
And this:
Folks, the election is only the beginning. The fact that the free market people walked away in 1995 is exactly what allowed the Congressional Republicans to go astray. It is not enough to elect good people. All that gets you is a hearing – a chance to make your case. This is especially true in health care.
I cannot emphasize this strongly enough – REPUBLICANS DON’T CARE ABOUT HEALTH CARE! They don’t understand it and they aren’t interested in it. What they are proposing today are just the warmed-over ideas of the last eight years (tort reform, association health plans, interstate purchase, etc.) They don’t understand the pernicious role of third-party payment, or the importance of patient empowerment, or the distortions of the tax laws. Even the best of them, like Bobby Jindahl, are still tilting towards managed care.
If you want something positive done about health care, you can’t stop at the elections. This is the time to plan for 2011 and budget for substantial contributions to the organizations that can make the case with the new Congress and the new governors.
The ball is now in your court. If you fail to deliver now you will have no one but yourself to blame for the outcome.
The Galen Institute’s Grace-Marie Turner wrote an op ed titled “Top 10 Reasons ObamaCare is Unraveling.” Here is just her list – but it is well worth reading the entire article.
Here are the top 10 reasons the health law is unraveling:
State pushback- Voter rejection
- Lawsuits
- Rising costs
- Towering deficits
- Seniors hit hard
- Millions losing coverage
- Job-killing mandates
- Companies searching for the exits
- Reduced quality, higher costs
