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About a month ago I penned a column as to why our Governor and our Attorney General failed to join 28 other states in an attempt to repeal Obamacare. As reported the Governor’s office told me directly the reason they didn’t is that it wouldn’t make any difference on the outcome of the lawsuit.
Subsequent developments indicate the response from the Governor’s right-hand man might have been not only misleading but purposefully false. After hobnobbing with Kathleen Sebelius, one of the honchos behind Obamacare and President Obama himself, it comes out Governor Beebe has now decided to make Arkansas the model experiment for implementing Obamacare. Please note this information was not released by the Governor’s office but by reporters digging into meetings between our Governor and Obama.
Is our Governor representing the people of Arkansas? That question comes to the forefront because on a percentage basis more Arkansans voted against Obama than any other state.
Carrying this point down to the local level only 26 percent of Cleburne County voters voted for Obama. How do you square all this with the obligation of our Governor to represent the views of Arkansans?
In researching the Obamacare mess I have read another important point that could drastically affect us as fellow Arkansans.
If this law suit against Obamacare is successful, it is quite possible the courts could rule this would affect only the 28 states bringing this litigation. That would certainly debunk the Governor’s position that joining or not joining in this litigation would make no difference.
To quote Debbie Pelley in the Arkansas Dem-Gaz, “Many of us knew Beebe was dancing to Obama’s tune on every issue, but the general public, even most Republicans, did not realize the degree of the dance. Now that his plan for Obamacare in Arkansas is revealed, everyone will know how liberal Beebe really is.”
The good news, as of this writing, Beebe’s grand surrender and promotion of the Obamacare plan has been stalled. It was voted down in committee. Will it come up again or will Beebe try to implement it through executive order? Let’s hope not.
Let’s review for a moment why so many of us are so strongly opposed to this nightmarish program. The overwhelming reason is “we can’t afford it”. Any claim that this will break even over any period of time is absolute nonsense. Even the not so non-bias Congressional Budget Office (CBO) admits Obamacare will cost us in the trillions.
Governor Beebe authored a column in the March 23rd issue of The Sun Times. His generalized statements indicate he wants to be a leader in health care.
That motive is noble but he is completely off-base when he thinks this leadership should encompass Obama’s plans. The Governor says he is talking to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius because he says whatever we do must have federal approval. In my opinion that is an erroneous approach.
First of all if the courts follow the judge’s ruling in Florida, Obamacare will be dead and we won’t need federal approval on every step we take in Arkansas.
Secondly and probably most important, our Governor and other leaders in Arkansas should be taking steps to take us away from the federal government’s domination of health care.
One example would be to promote health savings accounts. This brings an incentive to the individual to help control his own medical costs. Another important step would be work with the insurance companies to offer bare bones coverage with large deductibles. It is ridiculous to have states mandate that insurance companies cover such items as physical therapy, psychiatric care and dental care.
There should be interstate competition and not create a climate where one or two large insurance companies have a monopoly on the market.
Some of these concepts could be integrated with existing Medicare coverage. When I first became eligible for Medicare, I shopped around trying to buy a health insurance policy with a high deductible and not enter the Medicare program.
I couldn’t do it. The federal government will not allow insurance companies to sell medical insurance to those over 65 years of age. Further, those over 65 can no longer purchase health savings accounts.
To solve our health care crises and the looming Medicare crises there must be some innovation and experimentation, not the same old stuff about raising the Social Security eligibility age or increasing taxes on wages and earned income.
In summary the current solution prescribed by Obamacare misses the mark. As Ed Lacy, Administrator for Baptist Health Heber Springs, so patiently explains – there are three legs to health care: 1) cost, 2) quality of care, 3) accessibility. It is impossible to have the utmost in all three. When doctors are scarce and you add 40 million people to the free health care roles, cost and quality will suffer greatly.
(Jerry Jackson of Heber Springs writes his “conservative viewpoint” column each Wednesday)
About a month ago I penned a column as to why our Governor and our Attorney General failed to join 28 other states in an attempt to repeal Obamacare. As reported the Governor’s office told me directly the reason they didn’t is that it wouldn’t make any difference on the outcome of the lawsuit.
Subsequent developments indicate the response from the Governor’s right-hand man might have been not only misleading but purposefully false. After hobnobbing with Kathleen Sebelius, one of the honchos behind Obamacare and President Obama himself, it comes out Governor Beebe has now decided to make Arkansas the model experiment for implementing Obamacare. Please note this information was not released by the Governor’s office but by reporters digging into meetings between our Governor and Obama.
Is our Governor representing the people of Arkansas? That question comes to the forefront because on a percentage basis more Arkansans voted against Obama than any other state.
Carrying this point down to the local level only 26 percent of Cleburne County voters voted for Obama. How do you square all this with the obligation of our Governor to represent the views of Arkansans?
In researching the Obamacare mess I have read another important point that could drastically affect us as fellow Arkansans.
If this law suit against Obamacare is successful, it is quite possible the courts could rule this would affect only the 28 states bringing this litigation. That would certainly debunk the Governor’s position that joining or not joining in this litigation would make no difference.
To quote Debbie Pelley in the Arkansas Dem-Gaz, “Many of us knew Beebe was dancing to Obama’s tune on every issue, but the general public, even most Republicans, did not realize the degree of the dance. Now that his plan for Obamacare in Arkansas is revealed, everyone will know how liberal Beebe really is.”
The good news, as of this writing, Beebe’s grand surrender and promotion of the Obamacare plan has been stalled. It was voted down in committee. Will it come up again or will Beebe try to implement it through executive order? Let’s hope not.
Let’s review for a moment why so many of us are so strongly opposed to this nightmarish program. The overwhelming reason is “we can’t afford it”. Any claim that this will break even over any period of time is absolute nonsense. Even the not so non-bias Congressional Budget Office (CBO) admits Obamacare will cost us in the trillions.
Governor Beebe authored a column in the March 23rd issue of The Sun Times. His generalized statements indicate he wants to be a leader in health care.
That motive is noble but he is completely off-base when he thinks this leadership should encompass Obama’s plans. The Governor says he is talking to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius because he says whatever we do must have federal approval. In my opinion that is an erroneous approach.
First of all if the courts follow the judge’s ruling in Florida, Obamacare will be dead and we won’t need federal approval on every step we take in Arkansas.
Secondly and probably most important, our Governor and other leaders in Arkansas should be taking steps to take us away from the federal government’s domination of health care.
One example would be to promote health savings accounts. This brings an incentive to the individual to help control his own medical costs. Another important step would be work with the insurance companies to offer bare bones coverage with large deductibles. It is ridiculous to have states mandate that insurance companies cover such items as physical therapy, psychiatric care and dental care.
There should be interstate competition and not create a climate where one or two large insurance companies have a monopoly on the market.
Some of these concepts could be integrated with existing Medicare coverage. When I first became eligible for Medicare, I shopped around trying to buy a health insurance policy with a high deductible and not enter the Medicare program.
I couldn’t do it. The federal government will not allow insurance companies to sell medical insurance to those over 65 years of age. Further, those over 65 can no longer purchase health savings accounts.
To solve our health care crises and the looming Medicare crises there must be some innovation and experimentation, not the same old stuff about raising the Social Security eligibility age or increasing taxes on wages and earned income.
In summary the current solution prescribed by Obamacare misses the mark. As Ed Lacy, Administrator for Baptist Health Heber Springs, so patiently explains – there are three legs to health care: 1) cost, 2) quality of care, 3) accessibility. It is impossible to have the utmost in all three. When doctors are scarce and you add 40 million people to the free health care roles, cost and quality will suffer greatly.
(Jerry Jackson of Heber Springs writes his “conservative viewpoint” column each Wednesday)
