The politics of healthcare reform
Kofi Ogbujiagba
Issue date: 10/28/09 Section: News
republicans argue that the government's position is fraught with dangers for the citizens as well as the growth of the healthcare industry. According to them, the government-run option will stifle the growth of the private insurance companies, thereby limiting private initiative. Furthermore, they argue that the public option would allow "the government to stand between the patients and their physicians;" by micro-managing the affairs of patients and interfering in the ways doctors traditionally take care of their patients - consequently undermining patient/physician confidentiality - an important ingredient in medical practice.
Ideologically, republicans see the public option as a democrat-led crusade to socialize healthcare. They see it as another attempt by the Obama administration to extend its "hidden socialist agenda" to healthcare. They denounce the public option as fiscally irresponsible, adding that it would grow the deficit to an unacceptable level.
One of the most vocal opponents of the public option is former Alaska governor and republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. She released a statement in which she made scathing remarks about the President's plan. "The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of healthcare. Such a system is downright evil," said Palin.
In a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, Palin was unstinting in her criticism of the administration over the issue of public option. In vintage Palinesque style, she derided the administration's plan as nonsensical, saying, "common sense tells us that a top-down, one-size-fits-all plan will not improve the workings of a nationwide health care system that accounts for one-sixth of our economy."
republican heavyweights -Senators John McCain of Arizona and Orrin Hatch of Utah intensified the debate by criticizing the plan. Apart from the general republican criticism of the high cost of the plan, McCain predicted that because of the partisan warfare surrounding the issue, democrats would push the reform bill through congress without republican input. He warned that if that happens, it could end up moving the country to "a new political era." Orrin Hatch, a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee urged the Obama administration and senate democrats to "step back, take a deep breath and start over on a truly bipartisan bill" that all senators could support.
Ideologically, republicans see the public option as a democrat-led crusade to socialize healthcare. They see it as another attempt by the Obama administration to extend its "hidden socialist agenda" to healthcare. They denounce the public option as fiscally irresponsible, adding that it would grow the deficit to an unacceptable level.
One of the most vocal opponents of the public option is former Alaska governor and republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. She released a statement in which she made scathing remarks about the President's plan. "The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of healthcare. Such a system is downright evil," said Palin.
In a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, Palin was unstinting in her criticism of the administration over the issue of public option. In vintage Palinesque style, she derided the administration's plan as nonsensical, saying, "common sense tells us that a top-down, one-size-fits-all plan will not improve the workings of a nationwide health care system that accounts for one-sixth of our economy."
republican heavyweights -Senators John McCain of Arizona and Orrin Hatch of Utah intensified the debate by criticizing the plan. Apart from the general republican criticism of the high cost of the plan, McCain predicted that because of the partisan warfare surrounding the issue, democrats would push the reform bill through congress without republican input. He warned that if that happens, it could end up moving the country to "a new political era." Orrin Hatch, a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee urged the Obama administration and senate democrats to "step back, take a deep breath and start over on a truly bipartisan bill" that all senators could support.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
Duane Stegall
posted 11/09/09 @ 5:30 PM CST
Here we have an administration that promised 120 million does of swine flu shots and delivered 30 million. And these are distributed to the banks that got us in trouble in the first place. (Continued…)
dissertation writing services
posted 12/25/09 @ 9:12 PM CST
Public option as defined by democrats is the provision of an alternative that will protect public interest by creating competition and serving as a counterweight to the private insurance companies in the marketplace for health insurance. (Continued…)
Insurance Quotes Comments
posted 2/08/10 @ 5:06 PM CST
What will the White House and democrats call "public option" ? The republicans refer to as "government-controlled" or "socialized" healthcare.
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