What’s the Rush? Asks Moderate GOPer Snowe

*Everybody* should be asking why Obama has set this false deadline.
As I understand it, Democrats are afraid opposition will grow more the longer it takes. So what? If it is good and it is what people want, the Democrats and Obama should be able to convince people more than the opposition can.

Yeah, right Olympia. We’re only fifty years behind the rest of the industrialized world – what’s a few more years. A couple of hundred people dying because they lose insurance or have none to begin with? But, hey, you can’t make an omelet without breaking some eggs.
I’ve actually heard that callous comment from a conservative in the healthcare industry. He was serious.
Olympia must be getting some serious pressure from the conservative leadership. She usually shows more sense than this.

Team Obama knows that its political capital is going nowhere but down. So this huge, stinking pile must be wrapped up in a pretty bow and shoved under the door before it undergoes scrutiny that will lead to its failure.

Everything needs to get done yesterday. Snowe is a Liberal…she will vote with the Democrats anyways – she is probably grandstanding to see what is the maximum she can get out of it. I think the Congress should not have the power to take such far reaching measures without a national referendum…i do not trust them to take smart decisions or any decision without some vested interest. This “you scratch my back and I will scratch yours” mentality HAS to stop!! They are taking the common people for granted while they live the high life. If they pass a public option WE the people should mandate that all Fed employees and the Congress should be on the same plan. Whats good for the goose should be good for the gander too..

Every day that passes increases the likelihood the American public will figure out this game plan and begin to turn on the anointed one. Much like his stimulus bill, he is trying to push through his agenda as quickly as possible before people can read or understand what is hidden in 1500 pages of pork and socialism. His 15 minutes of fame are quickly fading and he needs to create as much socialism as he can before his adoration wanes.

So Republicans, including Olympia Snowe, think there is no need to rush. Rushing does not mean do a sloppy job. But here’s a good reason to “rush”: Forget the financial, which these Republicans who love to on bended knee, kneeling with an oversize flag, praying so all can see their piety,the reason is to take care of our neighbor, to love our neighbor. When hundreds of thousands lose their homes, go broke, lose all their savings or are simply discarded by “insurance” companies who collect when health is good and who abandon when health declines, when our loved ones suffer for want of minimal health care, that is a reason to act. But I keep forgetting, praying in the streets while keeping one eye open to see if others are fooled by Republican piety, is a Republican “virtue.” You know, the Bill Bennett kind, preach morals while gambling like the Romans at the foot of the Cross.

Maybee, the obvious factor here is that there are elections every two years for House people. If you let this process drag on into the election year, it will at best stall. You can’t take a year and a half to do things in Congress – you can either take a year or three years.
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Why?
If it is good and it’s what the people want, Congressmen will want to be able to brag about it to their constituents.
Remember the Iraq war vote that Tom Daschle scheduled at the last minute in Oct 2002? He did that so Congresspeople could go on record just before their elections.

The problem is the opposition here has deep pockets.
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The opposition has deep pockets? How much did people contribute to Barack Obama when he was running for President? There are some deep pockets on his side.
Besides, deep pockets are nothing if the health care reform is really what the people want.

“You know, I’m telling you, if you use President Johnson’s model on Medicare, for example, it took a year and a half, for good reason…” (Snowe)
The Kaiser Family Foundation’s timeline on Medicare marks the beginning of the legislative process at the outset of the 89th Congress, just after a Democratic landslide in 1964, to the signing of Medicare in July of 1965, its less time than President Obama has set out. ”
Wow. So even a so-called “RINO” is blatantly lying to push the false “rushed” party line.
Healthcare has been on the docket for almost six months now. That’s rushed? You can have a baby in less time than the Republicans insist is required to talk healthcare reform to death.

zebhead:”Much like his stimulus bill, he is trying to push through his agenda as quickly as possible before people can read or understand what is hidden in 1500 pages of pork and socialism.”
Ah yes, the terribly porky stimulus bill. Which, after months to thoroughly digest it, Republicans are bitterly complaining that it is not dispersing funds quickly enough. (And that is in great part due to the review mechanisms in place to minimize waste and fraud.)
What happened to saving that mouse in Pelosi’s district? Or that rail line to Las Vegas? Why is it that now the money is being spent we don’t hear them trying to pass off the blatant lies and innuendos they shamelessly spread over the several weeks the stimulus was beat out?
Senator Snowe is clearly shown to be lying in her attempt to claim this is rushed. The Republican party has been clearly proven by the funds actual disbursement to have been lying during the stimulus debate. I’m not sure why anyone believes a word they say at this point.

“A couple of hundred people dying because they lose insurance or have none to begin with?”
And you have facts to prove that these people would live except for not having health INSURANCE?
Stupid. Health insurance is not health care. No one is turned away from an ER! We are simply talking about how to pay for it. THAT should be very, very carefully looked at and studied before making any lasting decisions.
All you have is vague claims to try to scare people into making rash decisions before they get a chance to think about it.

Rockymtnpatriot, their might be 47 mil in America with no insurance but their are not 47million American citizens without it. If you want to subsidize Mexico, use Western Union. The reason the push is because the dems don’t want taxpayers to realize what the bill for all this liberal crap will cost. They hurried on TARP for a reason.

If you are an older person dependent on Social Security and Medicare, you have a lot to fear from the Democrats in Congress and The President.
There is no way they can afford the programs they are proposing to pass. There is just simply not enough money in potential taxes to pay for them.
You will be asked to sacrifice. Since they won’t be able to afford your medicare or your social security, you will be asked to step aside. It will be your patriotic duty!

Like every other move made so far by this administration the tactic is to ram legislation through under the guise of “emergency”. They don’t want saner minds to have the time to work out better alternatives, and they damned sure don’t want the ‘sheeple’ to have time to realize that there is no such thing as ‘free’ anything and that this boondoggle will in fact cost them dearly – as will all the other leftist boondoggles being rammed down our throats.
You lefties may now resume your drivel.
TXPatriot512

The ‘rush’ is that the President’s poll numbers are slipping, and have no where to go but south.
Even Rahm knows that if it doesn’t happen this year, it doesn’t happen in this admin. They have already lost on the CO2 bill…this will be 2 strikes, and a sour economy in 2010 will be 3.
The President should start planning now for a ‘habitat for humanity’ position with Jimmy Carter.

Hi Watching,
Did you miss the fact that there were 17 firefighters including two Hispanics involved? It is a usual Democrat tactic to find one minor issues and make it seem like some major flaw.

Hi MNM
No need for Tort Reform. Once the government is running things, no suits will be allowed under Sovereign immunity.

What freakin RUSH!
Health care reform has been on and off the table a very long time… It was on the table back when Clinton was in so that has been almost a decade…
Fear and scare tactics are exactly what the insurance giants want and they have the money to use their influence to manipulate politicians, the media and the public…
Come one people… There are moments in life when it becomes more important to do the right thing rather than just always making a profit…
And,,,There is nothing wrong with making a profit if it is done responsibly and in good conscious…
But, you know what we all get exactly what we deserve, whatever goes around, sooner or later comes around… and we all end up pay in one way or another…
Without health care reform… we will all still end up paying… more

Mike_C:” I dont care how long it has been on the docket, the only thing that is matters is that coverages Vs Premiums cost card I have told you about several times.”
Setting an impossibly high bar is just another petulant way of saying no. There is no possible way the entire system’s administration down to the cost of wart removal can be defined by
Congress. And clearly you haven’t used insurance much or had any loved on who has if you think such a comprehensive ‘card’ exists for any insurance coverage.
The fact is every other first world nation spends an average of half as much per person for health care. Documented fact.
They achieve equivalent levels of health (part of being a first world country really). You have never offered why the US government is so uniquely incompetent and corrupt that it cannot offer an option as effectively as France, or Belgium, or even Canada. Rather you insist that they offer a fully completed, operating company before even being voted on (the data you demand is the final, completed, continuously maintained product of an operating insurance company – the only other thing they do is billing).

They achieve equivalent levels of health (part of being a first world country really). You have never offered why the US government is so uniquely incompetent and corrupt that it cannot offer an option as effectively as France, or Belgium, or even Canada
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Then let’s see them offer that.
I don’t think the US government is so incompetent it can’t offer such an option. They aren’t doing it, though.
And they certainly aren’t detailing how they will get to the lower cost portion of the program.

“And, do you think the city would have scrapped the results if the majority of the high scorers were ‘minorities’?”
We know EXACTLY what would have happened….NOTHING.
Hi Watching,
Did you miss the fact that there were 17 firefighters including two Hispanics involved? It is a usual Democrat tactic to find one minor issues and make it seem like some major flaw.
since u brought up minor issues. She ruled on over 3,000 cases and they (the disadvantaged threatened senators)spent 75% of their time on one case.
And she was on a panel of 3 judges (2 white & 1 republican) which upheld a ruling of a majority of 21 judges. supreme ruling was 5-4. A minor majority loss does not make her a racist.
It’s good to see you guys come out and fight so hard for equality.

“Do you followers of BO even read what this health care fiasco means… In the end, the middle class will be carrying the load.”
As opposed to now, when they get the most expensive healthcare in the world by about a factor of two for… free? Who is paying now?

jhw,
Exactly when & how then will you be able to actually purchase this plan?
How will you KNOW what your coverages are?
“There is no possible way the entire system’s administration down to the cost of wart removal can be defined by
Congress. And clearly you haven’t used insurance much or had any loved on who has if you think such a comprehensive ‘card’ exists for any insurance coverage.”
(By the way, even though that is not the “card” I was talking about, Every insurance plan DOES actually have that. Try looking at how your treatments are coded and then compare that code to the detailed billing statement. You will see the cost that was billed along with what yuor insurance paid. For most of these things its usually 100%, but not always!- Guess what son, someone is going to have to create that for whatever govt plan comes out of this thing!)
jhw – as usual, now that your arguements are used up and its time for the rubber to hit the road, you resort to this. I have stated here before of having one of my kids into the ER for ankle injury last month. We have had our fair share of athletic injuries and other broken bones, etc.
So, No problem – take your shots.
I am not talking about a card with every possible illness and YOU KNOW IT!
I am talking about the summary card that ACTUALLY does come with your package when you sign up for a plan.
It goes over things like office visits, hospitals stays (ie, private/semi-private rooms) Xray coverage, etc.
Anyone who has ever actualyl purchased insurance knows exactly what I am talking about! Or did you just check a box and not even care what you were getting? Every single offering I have seen has had 2 or more levels of coverage plans. Obviously the higher the premium, the better the coverage (i.e. a lower co-pay, or lower decuctibles…etc)
They ALL tell you what your premium payments are, what your co-pays are, what deductibles you have, and any possible maximum payouts! If you have not seen this “card”, you either have never bought insurance, you were too foolish to look through the information!
You can call it “petulant ” all you want. The FACT is until we have those details, the is no healthcare plan.
Until the day I can make those comparisons, I can’t even buy the “gov’t plan”. All that exisits is an outline that can go in a thousand different directions in its implementation.
If that is what gets passed in August, then WHO do you want to be in charge of taking the outline and making the REAL plan?

‘watch’, you don’t know me…
I am all for equality, and live by Martin Luther King’s creed-not to judge by the color of one’s skin, but by the content of their character’.
I only wish Judge Soto agreed.

I cannot believe that people talk about current insurance coverage denying a treatment or service, and you really, really think that a government health plan would never, ever deny treatment or service. That’s just thick. You base this on what? Words of a politician? You deserve what you get.
Oh, and WITH health care reform, WE still end up paying…more. Money, freedom, choice. Guess the getting is worth the giving up for you.
Not for me. What’s making ME “sick” is being dragged along in your wonderfully constructed delusion. I’ll be fined, taxed, punished and pressured to obey (this isn’t a choice that’s being offered, but perhaps you missed that in all your drooling and hand-rubbing), just so you can get your little delusions shattered in the end.

I think Senator Snowe is right on the mark. Making sure you do it right the first time is the most effective way to reform anything this large and complex. It may take 6 months to come up with a plan that the American people (yes, WE elect our representatives) approve of. We don’t need any further ‘shotgun wedding’ legislation.

“Also, why do illegal aliens get to participate in Soc Sec?”
Right wing lies live 9ong after they are debunked.
Is that because right wingers are gullible?
“Republicans are tagging Democratic opponents across the country for wanting to “give Social Security benefits to illegal immigrants.” But nobody’s proposing paying benefits to illegals, not until and unless they become US citizens or are granted legal status.”

There is no sane logical reason to rush something this big, this important, that represents 17% of our economy. This needs to be done correctly from the start.
A mistake could be devasting to the economy or could cost lives. It’s impact needs to be completely understood before enacting such a massive overhaul.
The more they try to rush and push it through, I have to ask why? Why the pressure to move fast? If it’s a good solid plan what’s the harm in due dilligence? None. So why the rush??? Let’s get it right.