Obama’s Great Society
[Guest post by DRJ]
At a George Mason University rally with “young and raucous” supporters, President Obama compared health care reform to two other favorite programs of modern progressives — Medicare and Social Security:
“The president reminded the crowd of apocalyptic warnings and once-unpopular legislation of the past. “You know, the naysayers said that Social Security would lead to socialism,” he said to laughter. “But the men and women of Congress stood fast and created that program that lifted millions out of poverty.”
Other cynics, he said, “warned that Medicare would lead to a government takeover of our entire health care system, and that it didn’t have much support in the polls. But Democrats and Republicans refused to back down, and they made sure that our seniors had the health care that they needed and could have some basic peace of mind.” He added that “previous generations, those who came before us, made the decision that our seniors and our poor, through Medicaid, should not be forced to go without health care just because they couldn’t afford it. Today it falls to this generation to decide whether we will make that same promise to hardworking middle-class families and small businesses all across America, and to young Americans like yourselves who are just starting out.”
Medicare and many state Medicaid programs are going broke and they have led to socialized medicine. But I’m glad these young people are enthusiastic, and I hope their enthusiasm lasts for the next 80 years while they pay for this.
— DRJ
and yet one is always reading or watching news stories about how hard it is for people to live on the Social Security checks alone… that sure sounds like poverty to me.
Ear Leader is a lying POS, and so is everyone who supports him.
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 3/19/2010 @ 12:24 pmWell, I’m pushing 70, so all they have to do is be enthusiastic for another 15-20 years to pay for me.
AD - RtR/OS! (b083e4) — 3/19/2010 @ 12:27 pmI’ll settle for 20 years of enthusiasm.
DRJ (daa62a) — 3/19/2010 @ 12:31 pmi hope the little bastards wail, moan, biatch and complain every day of their miserable existence.
it serves them right for voting for Ear Leader.
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 3/19/2010 @ 12:37 pmif they want sympathy, it’s in the dictionary, right between sh1t and syphilis.
Once upon a time people went to college to become educated, the primary task being that of critical thinking,
MD in Philly (59a3ad) — 3/19/2010 @ 1:38 pmtoo bad that changed.
You mean Medicare, the socialized medical program that all seniors now rely on that the Democrats just came out and said they were going to slaxh because they found something else to spend the cash on? You mean the system which rejects more claims than any other health plan in the country? You mean the plan that a majority of Doctors will no longer accept?
That wonderful plan?
Have Blue (854a6e) — 3/19/2010 @ 2:00 pmMy son, who is a fairly successful trial lawyer, is an enthusiastic Obama supporter. He is convinced he will never see a dime of Social Security. I think he is probably right but I do wonder a bit at his politics. The rest of the family thinks I could turn him into a Republican by registering as a Democrat. He has been competing with me since he was 13. It might be an interesting experiment but I don’t think I could make my hand actually write the word Democrat, not any more.
Mike K (2cf494) — 3/19/2010 @ 2:50 pmMedicare and many state Medicaid programs are going broke
This is true. The problem is that it’s also irrelevant since there is currently no real support among any bloc, including those who oppose Obamacare, for getting rid or even “fixing” these programs to keep them from going broke.
It’s ridiculous. The ship is already taking on water faster than we can bail. To argue against making the hole bigger while simultaneously opposing plugging it up doesn’t make sense. Of course, in a scenario like that it’s hard to imagine someone benefiting from the leak as-is. In healthcare, there are lots of people who benefit from these doomed programs and, for all their concerns for fiscal sanity, are not at all willing to forgoe their own benefit.
That’s where we are at and so it looks like we’re going broke regardless.
Well, I’m pushing 70, so all they have to do is be enthusiastic for another 15-20 years to pay for me. — AD – RtR/OS!
libarbarian (90bd00) — 3/19/2010 @ 3:54 pmThank you, young America. Tote that barge, life that bale!
Patricia (e1047e) — 3/19/2010 @ 4:06 pmThank you, young America. Tote that barge, lift that bale!
Patricia (e1047e) — 3/19/2010 @ 4:06 pmGood thing Obama plans on spending that $500 billion of Medicare savings two or three times, like closing the doughnut hole and other stuff, and at the same time use the money to shore up the future of the Medicare system for the future. Heh!
That’s what he told Bret Baier. Watch the replay. Obamanomics, spend the same dollar an infinite number of times unless somebody catches on.
daleyrocks (718861) — 3/19/2010 @ 4:20 pm[…] for laughter) and A Day in the Life of a Protest Sign Request Patterico’s Pontifications: Obama’s Great Society and House Republican Claims Senate Won’t Pass Reconciliation and CBO Health Care Report: $138 […]
Abortion Is Not Healthcare: New Anti-ObamaCare Ad to Pro-Life Democrat Leaders, from Susan B. Anthony List… “The Baby” (video) « Frugal Café Blog Zone (a66042) — 3/19/2010 @ 4:51 pmI could tell them how to solve a lot of the Medicare problem with cost. Increase the retirement age by one year each year until 72.
Change the Medicare rules to allow balance billing by doctors and hospitals so that patients could choose more services or specialized doctors and pay more. By fixing the reimbursement at a fixed amount, the inflation that is a big part of the problem would stop.
Third, create funds to pay for catastrophic care, like cancer, that is paid out of general funds.
They could even offer a deal to young doctors. Accept the lower fee schedule and have one year of student loans forgiven for each year it is accepted. young doctors come out of training with $250,000 in loans and many despair they will ever be able to repay them. For $25,000 in loan forgiveness each year, a lot of doctors would limit fees.
Mike K (2cf494) — 3/19/2010 @ 6:41 pmNo matter how smart your suggestions, Mike K, targeted changes will never be enough for people who want universal health care.
DRJ (daa62a) — 3/19/2010 @ 6:50 pmMeanwhile, Obama does in 14 months what it took G.W. Bush 8 years …
and it ain’t good.
SPQR (26be8b) — 3/19/2010 @ 7:32 pmComment by Mike K — 3/19/2010 @ 2:50 pm
You don’t have to write the word, Mike; just fill in the box.
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