Amid the frantic efforts of liberal Democrats to wrestle the health care industry under bureaucratic government control, reports are surfacing that a bipartisan deal may be reached in the Senate:
In the Senate, Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D., Mont.) pushed ahead with efforts to forge a bipartisan bill, and appeared close to sealing a deal that would expand health insurance coverage, but by creating a network of nonprofit cooperatives, not by establishing a new public health plan as favored by senior House Democrats.
“We’re going to have some type of public option, call it ‘co-op’, call it what you want,” Reid said...
The co-op plan, authored by Sen Kent Conrad, D-ND, is still being tinkered with, but, working with Sen Chuck Schumer, D-NY, and other Democrats, some changes have been agreed to — like a major infusion of federal dollars at the beginning and an initial governing board set up by the feds with federal involvement. One point of contention, however, has been how long government officials remain on the board. Conrad has contended that the board should eventually be run solely by participants. Schumer and others have sought a continued government presence, trying to create a quasi-public option.
[Said Schumer,] “We don’t care what it’s called."
Sen. DeMint exposed the cooperative initiative on Sunday in an appearance on ABC's 'This Week' for what it is: a Fannie Mae-style health insurance arbiter in each state.
The Associated Press reports on a possible health plan "compromise" from Senate Finance that relies on federally-backed insurance cooperatives (co-ops).
But just a few weeks ago, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) declared that Democrats view fed co-ops the same as a public option, government-run health care:
“We’re going to have some type of public option, call it ‘co-op’, call it what you want,” Reid said...
An article in today's Washington Post highlights Sen. DeMint's opposition to President Obama's planned government takeover of health care. It also shines the spotlight on South Carolinians concerned about the government getting more involved with their health care than they already are. Here's an excerpt:
DeMint, 57, who before entering politics owned a small marketing business and struggled to negotiate affordable health-care coverage for his dozen or so employees, said fixing the system has been one of the main causes of his career. But he considers Democratic plans a threat to freedoms Americans treasure.
Since arriving in Washington in 1999 as a House member, DeMint has been on a crusade against the bureaucracy of the federal city. He sought to abolish the federal tax code and once staged a rally in his home town of Greenville, where he tossed all 17,000 pages of the Internal Revenue Service tax code from a hot-air balloon.
"I'm working with a lot of people up here [in Washington] who don't really understand the health insurance market," he said. "I don't think anyone in his Cabinet, or Obama himself, understands the business. I've been around doctors all my life.
"We need some real health-care reform," he added. "So, Mr. President, get your hands off of my health care and let's make health insurance work better."
Sen. DeMint appeared on CNN's "Situation Room" today, saying that a national health insurance market is a better solution than Obama's government controlled public option and that if the Democrats get their wish, at least 80 million Americans will lose their private insurance.
Sen. DeMint appeared on FOX News today, saying that proven, better options than socialized health care are available for those truly interested in reforming the system to meet Americans' health care needs.
Today, U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) appeared on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos. The following are excerpts from the discussion on today’s program:
On Democrat health care promises, and Republican principles of real reform:
DEMINT: “Well, they gave a similar numbers with the stimulus and promised our unemployment wouldn't go above 8 percent. And now in South Carolina, it's over 12. So the numbers are hard to trust, George. This is not personal against the president. I like the president, but he is out of control and he has been leading a stampede of more spending and debt and taxes and government takeovers. He has taken a bad economy and made it worse. He used a lot of false promises and bogus numbers and panic to push through the stimulus. And the promises have not panned out. And now he's trying to use the same strategy on health care. And what I'm trying to do and I think even Kent has had reservations, let's slow down and get this right. My goal is to protect the right of every American to make their own health care decisions. And if we can do that, we can come up with a bill.”
“Republicans want to protect the right of Americans to make their own health care decisions, to pick their own doctors and their own plans. We can do that and… we could have a plan in a few weeks, George, if the goal is not a government takeover. We've never seen the government operate a plan of any kind effectively and at the budgets we talked about. This is about the most personal service that Americans have. We don't want to put a bureaucrat -- as the president talked about the other night, he was talking about taking a red plan, a red pill or a blue pill. He was accusing doctors of taking out children's tonsils just to make a profit. He doesn't have the right respect for doctors and how the industry works.”
On Republican health care reform solutions:
DEMINT: “Republicans, including me, have introduced lots of health care reform proposals. I introduced a tax equity, which would allow people to deduct the cost of their health insurance. The president and Senator Conrad voted against it. I had a proposal that would allow people to buy health insurance in any state, not just a single state monopoly. The president and the Democrats voted it down. I had a proposal that would allow individuals to use their health savings account to pay for a premium. They voted it down. They even voted against allowing small businesses to come together and buy their health insurance...
On FOX News' 'Your World with Neil Cavuto' yesterday, Senator DeMint pointed out that he has introduced more health care reform legislation than any other current Senator and that President Obama voted against all of it when he was in the Senate. Calling the current health care debate a "showdown between the principles of freedom" and "government control of our economy," DeMint says he's ready for a real discussion of health care solutions, instead of the risky plan Obama is attempting to ram through Congress.
DeMint recently stated that "Americans are making their voices heard and beginning to win the health care debate for true reform, not a government takeover. No one should be forced into a one-size-fits-all government plan that lets bureaucrats tell seniors what pills they can take or tells moms and dads what procedures their child can have. Americans are calling our offices with a simple message: 'keep your hands off my health care.' That’s why I have introduced the Health Care Freedom Plan that allows every American to own a health care plan they control and keep the plan they have if they like it.”
Senator DeMint promoted his 80-page health care reform bill, the Health Care Freedom Plan, yesterday on FOX Business' 'Happy Hour' and said that President Obama's radical spending and ballooning debt is out of control.
Sen. DeMint made multiple media appearances this morning. On Fox and Friends, DeMint said Americans need the right kind of health care reform, not President Obama's radical government takeover.
On CNBC, DeMint questioned whether Obama wants insurance for every American or just a government takeover of the industry:
This morning on the Fox Business channel, Sen. DeMint reiterated his commitment to oppose President Obama's government takeover of health care and instead enact real reform that gives Americans the freedom to choose an affordable health care plan for their own families that allows them to get the treatment they need and deserve and see the doctors that they want to.
More and more Americans are saying 'Keep your hands off of my health care!"
