Do Our Politicians Really Think We Are That Stupid?

Our elected officials on both sides of the political aisle must really think we, their constitutes, are dumber than dirt. That is how we are being treated. The congressional political process seems to be filled with more and more "corruption" in each new session - regardless if Republicans or Democrats are in the majority. The Health Care Reform Act (HCRA) is just the latest program to highlight the self-serving, narcissistic practices of our Senators and Congressmen - doing the American public a gross disservice.

First, I do not believe anyone can legitimately argue against the fact that our health care system needs to be reformed. Too many people are left without coverage, astronomical cost increases are passed along to consumers who can ill afford it each year by insurance companies, and malpractice insurance premiums are driving doctors out of business.

Senator Harry Reid's vote bribe to win Senator Ben Nelson's support of the HCRA is a travesty of the political process. To think that citizens of other states are not going to object to Reid's little $100,000,000 gimme to Nebraska, another $100,000,000 for Louisiana, other gifts and a hospital to Connecticut, Montana, and Texas. And for North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Utah - retaining higher payments to rural doctors because they know small towns will lose doctors when medicare payments are cut. Lose doctors serving medicare patients?

It is interesting that supposedly one of the big savings that is going to pay for the HCRA is a $270,000,000 reduction in payments to doctors of medicare patients contained in the bill. Tell us Congress and Mr. President, to our dumber than dirt faces, that doctors in ultra expensive markets like San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, etc. are going to keep medicare recipients as patients when they are forced to take a large reduction in their payments. This will never happen. So once again, what the government is proposing is a massive entitlement program - that the country has NO money to pay for. Shall we just ask Beijing for a check right now rather than waiting a year of two? That is the only way we will be funding it, with foreign government/citizen loans. And the sad part, loans to the US are looking more and more like a suckers bet than sound investments.

One of doctor's largest (and escalating) costs-of-doing-business is malpractice insurance because of frivolous malpractice lawsuits and huge jury awards. The HCRA contains a generic statement, with no teeth in it, to give states additional funding if they bring parties together to form a review panel administered by the HHS Secretary. The review panel is structured to ensure that trial lawyers are amply represented, with seats specifically reserved for "patient advocates," "attorneys with expertise in representing patients," and "patient safety experts." Again, most interested parties believe no saving will be attained - only escalating costs as we have seen for decades.

Another example, of the fraud perpetrated on us, is the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. This was to create 3.5 million jobs in the first year but we actually lost 2.6 million jobs. Now Congress and Mr. President are going to follow up on this success (sic) with throwing more good money (which we do not have) at this lackluster program. Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested that we had new-found money available from unspent TARP funds, just like she found money at the end of the rainbow - when in fact that money is borrowed from foreign investors as well. Just what was she thinking (or not). Just how stupid does she think we are?

The Republicans are really no better in the "pork barrel" department - voting for anything and everything to get themselves re-elected - looking out after the good of the country only as an afterthought. Their obstructionist tactics have not helped the health care debate nor have they presented a viable plan of their own.

This insanity must come to a halt. We are technically a bankrupt country, if any of our major creditors decided to call in their notes. We have already caused irrefutable damage to our nation's well-being that our children and grandchildren will be paying for for decades. To use a phrase from "Chicago politics" throw da bums out!