Obamacare Daily Round-Up 08-19

(There is so much today, I can't guarantee I've read them all the way through. Sorry.)

Progressive, Black, Hispanic caucuses pledge more than 120 "no" votes on health co-op plan This is gonna trap Obama and the Democrats. If they put in a public option, there will be a huge political price to pay. If they go with co-ops, there will be an equally huge political price to pay. Actually possibly even bigger.

How Free Health Care Got So Expensive Good explanation.

It's a state thing says John Stossel in "Drug Legalization: Let the States Decide"

John Podhoretz has an article up in Commentary titled "The ObamaCare Bluff"

This USA Today article points out that autism isn't really dealt with in Obamacare. What else will fall through the cracks? Read all about it in "Kids with autism deserve better".

CNSNews.com is stating "Obamacare Puts Families Making $192,920 on Welfare." That can't be good.

"ObamaCare Is All About Rationing" is the title of this Wall Street Journal op-ed by Martin Feldstein. Sure the your personal pocketbook will act as a "rationing agent" on your ability to go to get expensive eyeglass frames or afford plastic surgery. But do you want the government to be the rationing agent for ALL your healthcare?

Another newspaper, The Washington Times, pointing out that "'Death panels' exist already"

A rare sensible op-ed from The New York Times titled "Keep Off the Astroturf".

Newt has something to say about the end of our lives over at HumanEvents.com titled "Keeping End-of-Life Decisions, Our Decision"By the way, could you imagine the movie Steel Magnolias but instead of it being a family decision to end Julia Robert's character, they had to put in a scene of the husband and family in front of a government ethics panel?

"Over 45,000 NHS staff call in sick each day" according to this UK Telegraph article here. Wow, working for the NHS looks almost as sucky as being treated by the NHS.

If Axelrod has been negotiating any part of any deal involving any of these players which are funneling money to the firm that owes him money, or if he is advising the president on the deals with any of these groups, that's a conflict of interest. Laundering the money through a "coalition" doesn't remove the conflict much less the appearance of impropriety. The coalition is in effect partially funding David Axelrod's severance package though its members might have done so unknowingly.

That's a very serious allegation being made over at Townhall.com by Hugh Hewitt here. As Mr. Hewitt says, this "conflict of interest" (if true) is far more significant than any Cheney-Halliburton connection. YIKES!

"Democratic investigators target health insurers" is an article from Politico.com, here.Is it just me or does Waxman's nose look positively rat-like?

Letters sent to 52 insurance companies by Democratic leaders demand extensive documents for an examination of ‘extensive compensation and other business practices in the health insurance industry.” The letters set a deadline of Sept. 14 for the documents.
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, signed the three-page letter dated Monday.

An industry source replied when asked for comment: “This is nothing more than a taxpayer-funded fishing expedition designed to silence health plans."

These are private companies that Waxman is trying to bully. If this behavior is not challenged and destroyed, these illiberal liberals will not hesitate to demand this kind of information from any and all businesses operating in the United States. How would your business fare under such scrutiny? And remember, your doctor, your dentist, your therapists could all be next because they are all small business owners.

As Mark Steyn said over at NRO about the above, "You first. How come the compensations and perks of a vice-president in a private company are to be subject to greater public forensic examination than those of Dodd or Rangel?

They're supposed to be representatives not rulers. George III couldn't have got away with a letter like that."

"August Anniversaries Fans of government-run health care seem eager to forget the French heatwave of 2003." is the title and subtitle of this little slice of history and EU-style government-run hell.