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All the President's Demons
The president has attacked the enemies of ObamaCare as "well-financed forces" and "those who are profiting from the status quo." So Tim Carney of The Washington Examiner put in calls to the White House and to Obama's group Organizing for America to ask who, specifically, these vaguely defined enemies are. They didn't return his calls.
So Carney went spelunking for answers on his own:
A prime suspect "profiting from the status quo" would be the industry within the medical sector with the highest profit margins, namely the drug makers, which averaged 16.5 percent profit margins last quarter.
But the drug makers have been team players. The Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Researchers of America, the largest industry lobbying group in the country, is shelling out $12 million for pro-"reform" ads this summer and fall. Obama has bragged that "even the pharmaceutical industry" is on board.
Doctors? Nope. Obama said in Portsmouth, "We have the American Medical Association on board."
The obvious culprit remaining is the health insurance industry. Why, then, don't Obama or the DNC name the insurers, and their lobby, America's Health Insurance Plans, as the "well-financed forces" profiting from the status quo. Is the president just being polite?
More likely the president doesn't want to name the health insurers as enemies because the industry is lobbying for most of the Democrats' plans -- especially the subsidies for private insurance and the proposed mandate that everybody buy insurance. The industry dissents on only one proposal: a government insurance option.
For Obama, a nameless enemy is more useful because it allows people to imagine whatever "well-financed forces" they like as the enemy....Obama, in "The Audacity of Hope," described himself as "a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views." Today, through his rhetoric, Obama has created a different blank screen, one on which he invites his allies to project not their hopes but their fears and resentments.
If you're thinking that this is exactly what the opponents of ObamaCare have been accused of doing -- whipping up public paranoia about shadowy elites while serving elite interests themselves -- then all I can say is: Yeah, I noticed that too.
|9.9.09 @ 1:46PM|#
If Stalin knew what was being done in his name, he'd put a stop to it. Stalin is on the side of the Workers and Peasants.
WWJGD|9.9.09 @ 1:59PM|#
That's the Grand Overlord Wizard of the Libertarian Party
grinning as he eyes his feast of puppies and candy stolen from
children.
Honestly, looks like a demonic Mad Hatter but doesn't look like
American McGee's style. Probably stolen from DeviantArt. Jesse, you
thug.
|9.9.09 @ 2:04PM|#
Something to remember, the AMA purports to represent all doctors, but in fact only about 25% of all doctors are members. And, then there are all the NDs, chiropractors, etc. who are also not represented by the AMA. And, many of the AMA members are only members because they are required to be by the hospitals or clinics who employ them. And, there are active movements within state medical associations to "deunify" from the AMA.
WWJGD|9.9.09 @ 2:05PM|#
I like how he finally gets a response from Organizing for America by some commenter who throws out more talking points. He signed the comment as a rep for them, that should be good enough to quote them.
|9.9.09 @ 2:12PM|#
Wait a minute. I'm supposed to be "well financed?" I'm supposed
to be making a profit on this whole deal?
Why didn't anyone tell me this?!
|9.9.09 @ 2:22PM|#
I got my check. The first thing I bought was a new top hat and monocle, and I hired a whole new staff of servants.
|9.9.09 @ 2:30PM|#
Ranilen,
Anyone know where the picture accompanying the article comes
from?
Heir. Via
the ridiculously useful Tin Eye
search engine.
|9.9.09 @ 2:47PM|#
Pro usually reserves the gold plating for important things like toilet seats, dogfood bowls and kitchen countertops.
Kevin|9.9.09 @ 2:48PM|#
My Status Quo Profit check must be lost in the mail. Maybe they don't have my new address.
|9.9.09 @ 2:50PM|#
Gold plating is so gauche and all-too typical of the urban
rabble.
Kiss my ring, boy.
|9.9.09 @ 2:50PM|#
The insurance mandate is going to kill this thing.
Mandatory auto insurance is one thing - you can live without a car,
and auto insurance isn't too expensive.
Mandatory health insurance is like a tax on living. People will
freak when they find out about it. I can't see it passsing without
a major public backlash.
|9.9.09 @ 2:54PM|#
I think you are right Hazel. Bachus wants to find people who don't buy insurance. That is not going to go over well.
Xeones|9.9.09 @ 2:56PM|#
Uh, you guys know that's just a painting of Count Warty,
right?
No it's not. Where's his conjoined twin, Episiarch?
|9.9.09 @ 3:03PM|#
"No it's not. Where's his conjoined twin, Episiarch?"
Conjoined twin? I thought it was gay lover or is that
Sugerfree?
Xeones|9.9.09 @ 3:22PM|#
Conjoined twin? I thought it was gay lover
It's both, actually. "Keeping it in the family," you know. They are
horrible people.
!|9.9.09 @ 3:23PM|#
Mandatory auto insurance is one thing -
that should not be tolerated either.
-JT
|9.9.09 @ 3:26PM|#
Apparently, there's a not-quite SFW video of Episiarch having sex on the Internet.
ed|9.9.09 @ 3:33PM|#
For Obama, a nameless enemy is more useful
He and his minions have named the enemy repeatedly. Maybe you
weren't listening. They vilify "for-profit insurance companies,"
the villains here being not the companies but the profits
they make. As usual, it all boils down to altruism: the notion that
we are our brothers' keepers, and that nobody has a right to profit
on others' health-care concerns. It's standard Democrat
boilerplate.
Kevin|9.9.09 @ 3:34PM|#
The insurance mandate is going to kill this
thing.
Would there be a contientious objector clause for Amish people? I'd
like to see you force them to get insurance, English.
Gilbert Martin|9.9.09 @ 3:41PM|#
"Mandatory auto insurance is one thing - you can live without a
car, and auto insurance isn't too expensive."
Auto insurance is also what REAL insurance is supposed to be about
- insurance against the risk of some future catastrophic
event.
Auto insurance is not about pooling the costs of ordinary
maintainence and operating costs. It does not cover oil changes and
gasoline bills, ect.
It also does not penalize low risk drivers by forcing them into the
same risk pool at the same rates as applies to those who drive like
they are participating in a demoliton derby.
Nor does it allow individuals to call up Allstate or Geico AFTER
they've had a wreck, demand they be sold a policy that
retroactively covers the cost of fixing their car.
The health "insurance reform" the Dems are trying to jam down
everyone's throat does the equivalent of all those things.
Gilbert Martin|9.9.09 @ 3:44PM|#
"He and his minions have named the enemy repeatedly. Maybe you
weren't listening. They vilify "for-profit insurance companies,"
the villains here being not the companies but the profits they
make. As usual, it all boils down to altruism: the notion that we
are our brothers' keepers, and that nobody has a right to profit on
others' health-care concerns."
Yet strangely, none of them seem willing to operate their personal
lives on a non-profit basis.
|9.9.09 @ 3:45PM|#
What Gilbert Martin just said is exactly right. All of it.
I think that demon just ate a Javan Mohawk Pelosi Bird. It could be
a rough night for him, what with all the wretching.
ed|9.9.09 @ 3:51PM|#
none of them seem willing to operate their personal lives on
a non-profit basis
Behold the Limousine Liberal.
ed|9.9.09 @ 3:54PM|#
I think that demon just ate a Javan Mohawk Pelosi
Bird
The Botox will kill it for sure.
|9.9.09 @ 4:18PM|#
What a load of bullshit. The people who are profiting from the
status quo paid shitloads of money into Obama and Hillary's
campaign coffers because they're licking their chops at the
prospect of health insurance being made mandatory.
-jcr
|9.9.09 @ 4:22PM|#
Mandatory health insurance is like a tax on
living.
Complete with the IRS policing whether you're buying medical
insurance or not. Seriously, the proposal on the table is pretty
goddamned evil.
-jcr
|9.9.09 @ 4:30PM|#
It also does not penalize low risk drivers by forcing them
into the same risk pool at the same rates as applies to those who
drive like they are participating in a demoliton derby.
I was going to add that the progressive young hipsters who voted
for Obama are likely the very same people as the young, healthy,
and uninsured, who are now going to be forced to shell out money to
pay for private health insurance they never wanted.
|9.9.09 @ 4:44PM|#
"I was going to add that the progressive young hipsters who
voted for Obama are likely the very same people as the young,
healthy, and uninsured, who are now going to be forced to shell out
money to pay for private health insurance they never wanted."
Uh huh. That is the funny thing about this. Everyone talks about
how they want to help the "uninsured" and how they also want to
control costs. Well, the uninsured are not the cost drivers. Old
people are the cost drivers. And the uninsured tend to be
young.
So, when they mandate that people buy insurance, what they are
doing is mandating that the young and healthy pony up to pay for
the health costs of the old and sick.
Now that isn't necessarily a bad idea. I mean the young and healthy
will be the old and sick some day. But, good idea or not, that is
not what the hippster doofuses with their Hope posters thought they
were signing up for.
|9.9.09 @ 4:59PM|#
Obama, in "The Audacity of Hope," described himself as "a
blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes
project their own views."
::double take::
He really described himself as a blank screen? I mean, I
think that's spot-on, but can't believe anyone but a moron would
say it about himself.
Gilbert Martin|9.9.09 @ 5:02PM|#
When you cut through all the crap about "healthcare reform", the
bottom line is that what it's really all about is stealing money
from people who earned it to give it to people who didn't.
Just like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, SCHIP, welfare, food
stamps, farm price supports, etc. etc.
T|9.9.09 @ 5:04PM|#
But, good idea or not, that is not what the hippster
doofuses with their Hope posters thought they were signing up
for.
Caveat emptor, bitches. Too late for buyer's remorse now.
|9.9.09 @ 5:09PM|#
Auto insurance is also what REAL insurance is supposed to be about - insurance against the risk of some future catastrophic event.
Auto insurance is not about pooling the costs of ordinary maintainence and operating costs. It does not cover oil changes and gasoline bills, ect.
I hear this argument all the time in conservative circles and it's
wrong, wrong, wrong. The reason auto insurance doesn't cover oil
changes is because it is extremely unlikely that failing to get an
oil change will lead to an accident or damage that the insurance
will have to pay for. Auto insurance does pay for
preventative repairs such as windshield chip removal, which allows
them to pay less than they would to replace the entire windshield
when the chip grows into a crack.
Also note that the health care equivalent of car washes and
gasoline (two other favorite citations of zombie righties) would be
soap and food, which health insurance doesn't cover. So *fail* on
basically every level.
|9.9.09 @ 5:13PM|#
Tulpa,
You can see it in context
here. I don't think it's that bad of a statement--he seems to
be just saying that he's going to catch hell from someone by
putting down specific positions in the book, since as a "blank
screen" he's been heretofore all things to all people.
On the other hand, I think that's exactly all he brought to the
table in his campaign. He coveted the blank screen position and
played as evasively as possible with where he'd really try to go as
president.
Jesse Walker|9.9.09 @ 5:13PM|#
He really described himself as a blank screen?
He said that he appeared as such when he came onto the national
scene. It was in the context of saying, essentially, "Now I'm going
to tell you some of my positions, and it might alienate some people
who assumed I was on their side."
|9.9.09 @ 5:15PM|#
On the other hand, I think that's exactly all he brought to
the table in his campaign. He coveted the blank screen position and
played as evasively as possible with where he'd really try to go as
president.
Like constantly voting 'present'.....
|9.9.09 @ 5:18PM|#
OK, I understand. I could see saying that in an off-the-top-of-your-head response to a question, but putting it in a book that you have every opportunity to reflect on how it will be interpreted, quoted out of context, etc, before publishing it? He seriously needed to calibrate his words better, methinks.
Gilbert Martin|9.9.09 @ 9:27PM|#
"I hear this argument all the time in conservative circles and
it's wrong, wrong, wrong. The reason auto insurance doesn't cover
oil changes is because it is extremely unlikely that failing to get
an oil change will lead to an accident or damage that the insurance
will have to pay for. Auto insurance does pay for preventative
repairs such as windshield chip removal, which allows them to pay
less than they would to replace the entire windshield when the chip
grows into a crack."
No auto insurance doesn't cover oil changes or gas because there
aren't enough people (or any people) who are voluntary willing to
collectivize those costs and therefore there isn't any company
offering such a product.
Auto insurance only pays for windshield repair IF the insured
purchased the particular component of auto insurance that covers
that - which costs extra. Auto insurance consists of liabilty
coverage, collision and comprehensive (the windshield repair part).
No one has to purchase either collision or comprehensive unless
they choose to do so.
A free market for heatlh insurance would not offer only policies
that did cover all that "maintainence". People who are healthy and
have the financial means to cover the routine health "maintainence"
type costs on their own could purchase a high-deductable
catastrophic coverage only policy and save money because they would
not be lumped in with all the high maitainence people.
Just as some drivers are higher maintainence, some people are as
well. People who put 100 K miles a year on their truck towing motor
homes are going to have a lot higher gas an maintainence costs that
somebody who most just drives 10 miles a day back and forth to
work.
In the same way someone who has a chronic illness such as diabetes
is going to have a lot higher maitainence costs than someone who is
perfectly healthy. It behoves the healthy person to NOT get into
the same group and same type policy as the people with chronic
illnesses.
Garth Strait|9.9.09 @ 9:32PM|#
Hey, Tulpa:
Where'd you find auto insurance that covers brake shoe replacement?
And don't tell me that failing to maintain one's brakes isn't
likely to directly result in an insurance covered incident.
|9.9.09 @ 10:00PM|#
A free market for heatlh insurance would not offer only
policies that did cover all that "maintainence". People who are
healthy and have the financial means to cover the routine health
"maintainence" type costs on their own could purchase a
high-deductable catastrophic coverage only policy and save money
because they would not be lumped in with all the high maitainence
people.
That may well be true -- what I was responding to was the belief
that health insurance somehow isn't really insurance, which is
poppycock. When it's profitable to do so, both auto and health
insurers pay for things that reduce the chances of a larger payment
in the future. This is not just evident in direct payment for some
service but also in auto insurance discounts for attending
defensive driving classes, etc.
Party on Garth,
I'd be willing to bet that less than 1% of auto accidents are
caused by lack of maintenance. That's simply a risk calculation
made by auto insurers that more money will be lost by paying for
maintenance (or forcing customers to have maintenance done) than
will be saved.
You'll note that health insurance also doesn't cover many things
the whose lack can lead to coverable health problems: sunscreen,
vitamins, gym memberships, well-fitting shoes, etc.
Gilbert Martin|9.9.09 @ 11:06PM|#
"That may well be true -- what I was responding to was the
belief that health insurance somehow isn't really insurance, which
is poppycock."
Free market health insurance is real insurance.
A system where people are forced to buy insurance against their
will or insurance companies are forced to provide coverage for all
sorts of things mandated by politicans or forced to take people
with pre-existing conditions whether they want to or not and not
charge them any higher rates for doing so is not real insurance. It
is a welfare entitlemnt program.
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