The euphoria that swept through the House Saturday night when Pelosi’s version of the health care bill narrowly passed a vote didn’t last very long.
It’s up to the Senate now to come up with a bill to merge with the House version so Barack Obama can sign it. The Democrats control the exact number of votes needed to pass the Senate bill (60). But according to several key Democrats (who are opposed to government-run health care), the bill is already dead on the Senate floor.
“They know they don’t have 60 votes,” said former Senator John Breaux, who now heads a lobbying firm that represents the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the drug industry’s Washington trade group. “They have to go back to the drawing board” on the plan to set up a government-run insurer, he said. (Source)
The notion of government-run health care should cause Americans to break out in a nervous sweat. Anyone who has ever dealt with the bureaucracy and red tape involved in getting even the most basic services approved for one patient knows what I mean.
Now multiply that red tape times 300 million Americans.
Where is the goernment going to get the money to pay for universal healthcare? That question has never been answered truthfully.
Even though the bill won’t pass this year, there’s always next year. Which means we have to keep up the fight to prevent universal health care from destroying our economy and our livelihoods.
Universal healthcare is not about providing free healthcare to 300 million people — because that’s impossible. It has always been about feeding Obama’s enormously oversized ego.
