Bare with me here: There are two parts to this, but I think it's fairly easy to understand:
First, from the Associated Press today (first link below): In the dems' original House health care bill, there was a provision often referred to as the "doctor fix" or "doc fix," which would roll back "a programmed cut in Medicare fees to doctors." Put another way, the Doctor Fix would prevent doctors from suffering severe cuts in Medicare reimbursement.
The problem: The Doctor Fix would cost over $200 million and severely undermine the leading democrat allegation and talking point that their health care legislation will reduce the deficit. In short, deficit reduction has been one of (if not the most) prominent arguments that Obama & The Dems have tried to advance in favor of their massive and widely unpopular health care monstrosity (just today, for example, Obama was trumpeting the dems' health care legislation as one of the biggest deficit reduction bills in American history). So since the Doctor Fix would negate their deficit reduction claim, House dems cut that provision from their bill.
Today the Congressional Budget Office confirmed that the Doctor Fix roll back would cost $208 billion over 10 years, "wiping out all of the deficit reduction, leaving the legislation $59 billion in the red." More simply put, the deficit would
increase, not decrease, if the Doctor Fix is enacted into law. But, you might ask, what's the issue here since the provision has been eliminated by the dems?
Well, that's the kicker here and the second aspect of this. From today's Politico.com (second link below): Obama & The Dems plan to introduce a Doctor Fix provision
separately and later, after they ram through their initial health care legislation. Dems today would not deny this, and they actually admit they "are working with doctors' groups to introduce a 'doc fix' after reform is finished" (that from a Nancy Pelosi spokesperson). (BTW, it's not like I'm getting this stuff from Rush Slimebaugh or Glenn Beck -- Politico.com is as down-the-middle a news website as I've been able to find, and the Associated Press is, frankly, very left-leaning, in my opinion.)
So bottom line: It would appear that Obama & The Dems' great "deficit reduction" claim for their health care legislation is a giant fraud and shell game, since every appearance is that they have every intention of adding to that legislation with subsequent legislation that will completely wipe out any and all alleged deficit reduction (instead
adding $59 billion to the deficit).
But here's my thing: What difference did any of Obama & The Dems' apparent outright dishonesty about deficit reduction really make? Poll after poll has consistently shown for months that a clearcut majority of the American people (and a decided majority of my fellow Independents, not to mention
practicing, non-academic physicians across the country)
reject Obama & The Dems' health care legislation
even despite all the propaganda about deficit reduction.
So none of it worked!To me, as a result, this is just another example of awful, outrageous and perhaps even outright fraudulent behavior on the part of Obama & The Dems. Where's the shock? We've been watching this sort of thing over and over for the past year. And it's the reason why so many Independents are going to kick these people the curb this November. Just take me: I can't recall the last time I've ever voted for a republican. I certainly have never voted for one for President. I virtually always vote for third-party candidates as a protest vote against two parties that I feel do not represent me nor the majority of Americans. But make no mistake: If Obama & The Dems jam through this health care nightmare in the days to come, this November I will be looking for every single Republican I can find on the ballot. And I won't be alone.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Medicare-fix-would-push-apf-2700343586.html?x=0&.v=2http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/34728.html
The news today is that Daniels has announced that on Tax Day, she will reveal whether she intends to challenge incumbent republican David Vitter in this year's Louisiana Senate race. In other words, it's almost a certainty she's running. But here's the real question: Will she run as an Independent? She formed an exploratory committee about a year ago concerning this race, and so far she has not declared a party, leaving open the possibility that she'll be an Independent.
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