GOP's (DR) Charles Boustany Response to Obama's TV Health Care Speech

Whiteheather, I guess Obama and his minions will continue to shove this idiotic plan down our throats even if it kills us! (as a country I mean) It really is sickening how agenda gets in the way of progress!

The healthcare issue could sink Obama's presidency. He has done a terrible job of selling it to the country. I think nearly everyone can agree that there needs to be reform, but it certainly isn't the kind of reform that Obama is proposing. Republicans could well be given a foot back in the political door with this whole debacle. They need to make their opposition sensible and consistent and perhaps at the right time offer their own solutions.

What gets my dander up is when Obama says the conservatives haven't submitted a plan and if they have a plan put it out there an we will consider all the ideas together. The truth is, the conservatives haven't been invited to the negotiating table to help fashion the health care bill. I know the conservatives have fashioned a plan containing a lot of the good ideas Boustany outlined. The fact that they haven't been invited into the work sessions to submit them makes Obama's comments downright deceptive.

White, excuse me but are you telling everyone that government health care for everyone is wrong. But, government health care for you is RIGHT? Here is the problem with what you just wrote, the GAO is not looking at the Senate bill, that has a tax on health insurance companies that changes the whole game. What the republican was talking about is the OLD plan, not the NEW plan. According to the unoffical numbers from the GAO, the new plan wouldn't add to deficits, cause cuts in your medicare, or your social security, and won't need one dime in tax hikes. By the way, do you remember the social security "LOCK BOX"? Did you like the idea of keeping that money in the system, or do you feel that giving that money to the rich, and taking it from YOU was a better idea? The question I have is right now I am paying for your health care, and YOUR social security (two departments that probably won't be around when I retire), so please explain to me why I should continue to fund YOUR retirement?

I just can't wrap my head around THIS particular government being able to run any program better than any other government. What makes these guys different? If anything, this administration is just as untrustworthy as the Bush admin., maybe even more in terms of misdirection and tactical politics. Medicare is already a government program, right? There's all this waste and fraud in Medicare, yet the government will instantly clean it up to create the funding for whatever Obama's proposing? Does that mean that this is the ONLY way they'll attempt to clean it up? Also, how do you honestly raise the level of care and raise the number of insured by millions without actually raising the cost? "Not a dime," Obama screams out. But how realistic is that? I'm not bashing the plan; I'm just asking a serious question. Maybe this private business approach the government wants to take to "create competition and choice" will drop the prices? Well, there's really only one way I can see that happening: The government-run plan will be cheaper, nationwide, than ANY private insurance plan, thus causing private insurance (private money) to compete with government insurance (a seemingly endless supply of taxpayer blood). Who wins that? Look, I want to believe Obama when he says that the "government takeover" stuff is just a partisan attack, but he's really not showing anything on good faith to prove that. He's still holding fast to nearly everything in the bill, just reselling it with more passion. How about this for a start: Allow private insurance to compete in every state, thus forcing the private industry to drop its prices for the sake of competition and not survival. See how that goes for about a year. Make sure you set up STRICT oversight so the bloodsuckin' greedy azzhats in big business don't try to milk people! Tax a tiny percentage of the upper echelon's private plans and set up a PRIVATE--outsourced--insurance company, with the same strict government oversight, that will provide quality coverage to people who truly can't afford it. Try this for a year. It's not that dissimilar to what liberals want, and this would show some good faith and maybe show that they're not trying to sneak single payer in. And the government still gets a fair amount of control over the way insurance is running, but a cleaned up and revamped private industry does the work that the inept government will certainly drop the ball on. And while healthcare is sorting itself out with the help of the government for oversight, our elected officials can get around to finally cleaning up Medicare.

I am not an American but I think that it is ok to have a black president in the USA. It seems to me that lots and lots of all this badmouthing is by Americans who find it very difficult to accept the fact that there is a black man living in the white house! Days when the Caucasian male ruled supreme throughout the world are now gone, hopefully, forever.

We spend so much money on bureaucracies, and departments and agencies and management that very little is saved to care for the actual needs. That is everywhere, not just healthcare. The further the funding gets from its source, the more wasted and diluted it is. We pay the salaries of all those poor government workers so that they will have a job. It is time to cut it out.

have to go read it comment later

Health care is a big issue and an important one because everyone should be entitled to health care. Government run health care is just an invitation to spend more money as the GOP response pointed out. Creating new government agencies to handle it and making government bigger and more expensive is not going to solve issues. I agree with all of the good Doctor's points and especially about liability....people are lawsuit happy in this country because they want to make a fast fortune off someone else. Liability insurance is one of the things that drives the cost of health care up and it is the out for an easy buck people that are doing it. Capping liability is a good start. Tax incentives for doctors and medical facilities might be a good thing to if done right. I find it ironic that the senior sector whom are the ones that need the health care most because they have to go to several different doctors for their own good like a general care doctor, a podiatrist, an eye doctor and many others. By virtue of being seniors they need more care and it isn't their fault. It would be inhuman to cut or deny that care just because they are costing us money. I do think that we can cap the costs of care where there is a lot of overcharging, such as operations, hospital stays and testing. The wellness care should be affordable for all since you can avoid major illnesses with a check up and a few blood tests. People on fixed incomes can't afford doctors or insurance and this is a need that has to be addressed, but not in a way that it will make it more costly for those people that still have jobs. The people that are working are struggling just as hard as fixed income people right now. The government could address high utility costs and high housing costs too and make things easier for the average American. I won't support any government healthcare plan until it is done right, and without padding the government.

You've had several excellent responses that bring up the important points, so no need to reiterate them. I think the GOP response was excellent as well. And it was nice to see someone who is a real doctor talk about health care reform, unlike the phony plants at the town halls.

Good day... I'm not an American but I do sympathize with what your saying regarding healthcare programs that first and foremost must cater to the needs of American patients whether they are young or old. Cutting some "unimportant" cost to implement another program which is Obamacare and adding some bureau to supervise it thereby adding more expenditures makes no sense at all. For me anything that can make a person a little more comfortable when they are in their golden years is a justifiable cost, anyway those people did pay for it right? from their hard earned money through tax so why deny them things that are due to them? I'm in a healthcare profession and I always put the benefit of my patient first more than anything. I think when proposing a bill regarding health care programs besides the lawmakers deciding on what's best., the negotiating table should also invite those people who are directly involve like doctors, nurses and most of all the seniors and people who needs continuous medical care.