Vacation's over

On Tuesday, Congress will come back to work after having six weeks off to mull over the future of the healthcare overhaul that is still hanging fire in their hallowed halls. One thing is certain, after hearing the people's concerns at the Town Hall meetings all over the country, they will not be able to push through the 1100+ page monstrosity they were considering before the break. The people have spoken loud and clear that they do not like this bill as it is written. And if the Democrats try to railroad it through on a strictly partisan vote, their political careers will be in serious jeopardy. Even the densest among them should know that it is not wise to vote against the will of their constituents. Even Obama should realize that the "mandate" he thought he had regarding healthcare reform no longer exists. I heard that he now wants to sit down and propose his own version of "reform" and submit it for consideration. This will probably really tick off Nancy and Harry, who thought that they were the ones that were supposed to write the bill. At any rate, it promises to be an uncomfortable situation, because they should have all been on the same page in the first place.

OK, here is how I would handle healthcare reform. First, I would potty-can the bill they are considering now. It is too big, has too many components that the people don't like, and is written in incomprehensible language. Then, I would include the items that the people said they want to see in a bill; namely, tort reform, ability to buy insurance across state lines, eliminate the pre-existing illness provisions in current policies, and attack fraud and waste that costs billions of dollars. I don't know all the ramifications, but it seems to me that electronic records would be a good thing. My Lady Love and I both deal with the VA system, and both also have doctors in the private system (for our own good reasons). I would like them to have full access to both sets of records for obvious reasons. And I would write the bill in plain language that is easy to understand, probably in a couple of hundred pages. At this time, I would take a minimalist attitude to the bill, knowing that our country doesn't have any money, and we can't do the whole hog and go broke. If we can do a couple of things that aren't expensive, let's do them and leave the expensive stuff until the economy improves, then have another look at it. As far as the government option plan goes, I can understand that there are people out there that would find it attractive, but I know that with the government price controls and mandates, private insurance would not be able to compete and would cease to exist, leaving only the government plan. The people are scared to death of this scenario, so I don't think it should be a part of this plan.

You have probably noticed that this proposal is pretty much in line with what the Republicans have wanted all along, but it is also what the grass rooters have been talking about at the Town Hall meetings this summer. If Obama were smart, he would adopt the measures that I have laid out, he would have bipartisan support and he would get a bill passed, and he might just have a ghost of a chance at a second term. But he won't - mark my words - because he is more worried about crossing his special interest groups than serving the people he has sworn to represent.