GOP Budget’s Attack On Obama Health Care Plan Echoes 1993 Harry And Louise Ads
The House GOP’s alternative budget released today is striking in one key way: It contains an attack on the Obama health care agenda that’s eerily reminiscent of the infamous 1993 “Harry and Louise” ads targeting Bill Clinton’s approach.
The similarities will give the Dems fodder to argue that the Republicans want to rehash old debates and aren’t serious about advancing new ideas suited to the moment. The GOP attack could also undercut the party’s claim that it wants to work in good faith with Obama and Dems to fix health care. It’s also unclear what specifically the GOP is targeting, as Obama and Dems have not settled on an official plan yet.
The GOP budget slams the Obama/Dem approach as a scheme to create a “government-run health insurance plan.” It warns that the result would be that “those who like the health insurance they have now likely will not be able to keep it.” And it warns that “bureaucrats would exercise increasing control over all health care decision making.”
Here’s the text of the 16-year-old Harry and Louise ad:
Louise: But this was covered under our old plan.
Harry: Oh, yeah, that was a good one, wasn’t it?
Narrator: Things are changing, and not all for the better. The government may force us to pick from a few health care plans designed by government bureaucrats.
Louise: Having choices we don’t like is no choice at all.
Harry: They choose.
Louise: We lose.
Narrator: For reforms that protect what we have, call toll free. Know the facts. If we let the government choose, we lose.
The similarities between the two attack lines are really striking.
It’s worth pointing out again that Obama and Dems haven’t formalized a plan, so it’s unclear what the Republican criticism is a direct reference to. And Obama’s stated principles are that “government-run health care” is an “extreme” that is “wrong,” that the new plan “strengthens employer coverage,” and “ensures patient choice of doctor and care without government interference.”
Whether or not these goals will actually be accomplished is an open question, obviously. But today’s GOP budget seems to make it clear that Republicans want to argue over health care on terms very similar to those used 16 years ago.
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Just found Sevugan’s response to the Republican Proposal. This guy’s on fire this week!
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“DNC National Press Secretary Hari Sevugan, not surprisingly, took a swing at the ball that Republicans set on a tee: “I’m all for changing the way we do business in Washington, but proposing a ‘budget’ that doesn’t use numbers may be too much for me. After 27 days, the best House Republicans could come up with is a 19-page pamphlet that does not include a single real budget proposal or estimate. There are more numbers in my last sentence than there are in the entire House GOP ‘budget.’”
You know…I am starting to think that way too many Republicans and ConservaDems are stuck in 1993. It is just amazing to see the ConservaDems arguing that they want to prevent a 1994 Repub Revolution; and the Repub’s arguing that everything will be solved by going back to the same old tired “solutions” (ie. tax cuts for the wealthy)…wow, it is just unbelievable…don’t these people realize that this is not 16 years ago and George HW Bush did not completely decimate the Republican Party like George W Bush did, so the GOP had a little more credibility to base the “Revolution” on 16 years ago than they do now. Also, the health care argument is going to be a lot different this time around than 16 years ago, because business’s see health care as a major cost issue for them, the costs of health care have become astronomical and the debate is different now…nothing says explains it better than the conversation that took place over a few beers with my neighbors this weekend – 6 of us; 3 Republicans, 2 Indy’s and 1 Dem; 4 of us $40K-75K per yr and 2 of us $100K-$125K per yr; 4 of us voted for Obama and 2 of us voted for McCain – and 5 of us think that we need to have universal health care and support Obama’s agenda on health care (and renewable energy as well by the way) – those types of conversations that I just described are taking place all over America right now and the opinions in “real America” are different now than they were 16 years ago. Rep’s and ConservaDems need to realize this or they are going to find themselves on the wrong side of the majority of Americans.
Today’s GOP only ever looks backward. They just can’t seem to stop re-fighting the old wars, never seeming to notice that their perceived “enemy” is now head and shoulders above and beyond them. Sad, and a bit depressing. A less innovative, more dysfunctional and hopelessly moribund political group you’d be hard pressed to find. Time for a new schtick, boys. This isn’t 1993.
Obama is in the process of destroying the best health care system on the planet, not perfect, but the best. If you don’t like it, leave, go to the UK and wait 6 mnths for cancer surgery…. Liberal is just another word for moron
Oh Tom you are so smart with your witty retorts.
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/snark
Yeah. The 1994 Red Tide was precipitated by congressional gridlock. Dems had the White House and both houses of Congress, but nothing got done.
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If ConservaDems want to remain in the majority after 2010, they should fight against obstruction instead of for it.
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Here is the major difference between today and 1993, a sh*tload of Americans have lost their job and thus their healthcare that never thought they would. Many of them who were secure with having a career and healthcare that seemed like they would have long term are now facing the reality of having to struggle through illnesses or make tough decisions over whether to take a child to the doctor or pay for groceries. That changes your perspective on whether we should have universal healthcare. No amount of fear mongering is going to change the mood of average americans that healthcare has to be reformed and reformed NOW. The only people resisting it now are the fringe of the Republican Party. You know this fight is over when the health care insurers are even coming to the table. All it took was the home insurance debacle in Florida over hurricane and flood insurance for the rest of the insurance industry to see what can happen when public opinion turns against you. The only way we don’t get some form of universal health care this year is if the Conservadems stop it and they will pay heavily if they try.
@Tom: Best healthcare in the world? Tell that to my Mother who is 62 years old with a heart condition, diabetes, COPD and no health insurance. She’s got it sooooo good!!
Probably one of Michelle Bachmann’s (R-Mars) staffers.
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“Recently Rush Limbaugh appeared on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show, panicking not so much about the economy but about how the political winds are blowing as a result. If we finally manage to achieve something like universal health care, Limbaugh warned, it would mean ‘the end of America as we know it.’ He’s right, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. This is the end of the world as we’ve known it. But it isn’t the end of the world.” — Kurt Anderson, Time Magazine, “The End of Excess,” Thursday, Mar. 26, 2009
Tom: how about waiting six months for an appointment with a dermatologist? That’s what I found out this morning. You worried about bureaucrats making healthcare decisions or rationing of healthcare? You’re fooling yourself if you think those things aren’t going on right now. My insurance has just informed me that they won’t be covering a medicine my doctor prescribed for me. Please tell me how I’m better off having my healthcare directed by a company who makes more money every time they deny me care.
Even those of us with OK employee coverage have seen our co-pays and deductibles rise and rise, and services provided get cut and cut. This is so not 1993.
Finally, the time has arrived to fix Americas Healthcare crisis, and Americas healthcare nightmare. Hundreds of thousands of you are killed needlessly every year by your healthcare delivery system in a rush to profit. And because of a rush to profit Hundreds of thousands more of you are needlessly dying from treatable illness that people in other developed and civilized countries don’t DIE! from. Rich, middle class, and poor alike. Insured, and uninsured. Men, women, children, and babies.
Additionally, thousands more of you are driven into financial ruin, and bankruptcy just because you, or one of your loved ones got sick or injured. And all of this is happening at a time when America spends twice as much of it’s GDP (Gross Domestic Productivity) on health care than any other country in the developed world. Individual Americans spend about ten times as much on health care as any other people in the developed world. This is a CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY. AND IT MUST END!
But before we can truly fix this healthcare crisis and disgrace, everyone needs to clearly understand what the problem is. And everyone needs to clearly understand the real enormity of the problem. The problem is that HEALTHCARE AND MEDICAL DELIVERY IN AMERICA IS SEVERELY CORRUPTED AND COMPROMISED BY GREED! AND THE PRIVATE FOR PROFIT MOTIVE. And it is corrupted, and compromised IN EVERY ASPECT, AND EVERY PLACE OF HEALTHCARE AND MEDICAL DELIVERY. Unfortunately for all Americans, compromised healthcare ALWAYS results in needless suffering, injury, disability, and or death. Which is exactly what is happening now in America in shocking numbers.
Health care is NOT! a private for profit business. Healthcare is an essential public service. Like police, and fire. And healthcare is also a human right! PRIVATE FOR PROFIT HEALTHCARE IS AN OXYMORON, AND AN IMMORAL AND UNETHICAL PERVERSION OF HEALTHCARE AND HUMAN RIGHTS.
So how do we fix this healthcare disgrace? I believe the fix for Americas healthcare disaster is essentially the same thing that every other developed country in the World has essentially done. “NOT FOR PROFIT, TAX PAYER SUPPORTED, SINGLE PAYER, AUTOMATIC, FREE UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE FOR ALL”. Essentially HR676 (enhanced, and improved medicare for all). Just like every other CIVILIZED! country in the developed World has. There is no other way to truly fix and reform our current disastrous healthcare delivery system.
All Universal health care systems work best when everyone participates. But I know that the healthcare lobby, and some politicians will try and undermine “Not For Profit, Tax payer supported, Single payer, Automatic, Free Universal Healthcare for all” by falsely claiming that it will limit your choice, and require you to participate.
So, I propose that everyone be included in the national plan unless they choose to opt out. If you opt out and need medical care the national plan will insure your provider that they will be reimbursed under the rules for members in the national plan. But those who opted out, and their insurer will be responsible for the FULL! cost to the national plan for providing your care if you or your private insurer fails to reimburse the provider or the national plan in a timely manor to at least the standards of the national plan.
Including reporting you to credit agencies, withholding of taxes, leans, and garnishment of wages for unpaid medical bills. Just like you have now under private for profit healthcare, and private for profit health insurance.
Further, people who opted out will be required to provide proof of financial responsibility for future illness or be required to participate in the national plan. And everyone with children will be required to participate in the national plan. Or provide proof of insurance coverage on each child to the standards of the national plan. It will be against the law to report anyone in the national plan to a credit agency for unpaid medical bills.
Frankly, only a dope would want to opt out of the national plan and opt to keep our current disastrous private for profit medical, and insurance plans. But they will be free to choose. The most important thing is that the vast majority of Americans that want the protection, benefits, and higher quality of a universal national plan have that choice.
You see, one of the most important aspects of a universal healthcare system is easy access, and patient protection. This is accomplished by having a single payer without a conflict of interest in patient care. And by having a payer who has the power to enforce minimum standards of excellence in healthcare delivery for everyone in the plan. This is much of what Medicare does now for senors. “Aeger Primo” (The patient comes first). Unfortunately in our healthcare system the patient comes last. We are just a peace of meat to them. Cash cows to be slaughtered for profit.
So this is IT! my fellow Americans, My fellow human beings, My fellow World Citizens. And my fellow Cyber Warriors.
The time has come. D day. H hour. HEALTHCARE REFORM THIS YEAR! Let no one stand in our way. Contact your representative and tell them you want “Not For Profit, Tax Payer Supported, Single Payer, Automatic, Free Universal healthcare for all. And tell them you want that choice now. Tell them you want President Obama’s budget passed without delay. President Obama’s budget is brilliant. And exactly what is needed now.
President Obama, and his allies will need all the support you can give them. The healthcare lobby will try to take out his people if they can, like they did with Tom Daschle and Nancy Killefer. And they will try to neutralize President Obama’s popularity, and political power. Or they will try to take him down someway. Don’t stand for it. If they attack him. Go after them ten times harder and remove them from office. We had an election. And you the people chose President Obama’s leadership, and change agenda. Let no one in government disrespect the will of the American people and remain in office.
SPREAD THE WORD! And talk it up with your families, friends, and coworkers. Keep ratcheting up the pressure until there is a ROAR! across America for “NOT FOR PROFIT, TAX PAYER SUPPORTED, SINGLE PAYER, AUTOMATIC, FREE UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE FOR ALL”.
Let’s get this healthcare reform done now my fellow Americans. This year. Take no prisoners.
God Bless All Of You
Jack Smith — Working Class
http://jacksmithworkingclass.blogspot.com/
(http://jacksmithworkingclass.blogspot.com/)