Health Care Reform - Time For Cooler Heads To Prevail

Senator Grassley spoke at an AARP meeting in Iowa & began by mentioning that both he & Senator Harkin, a Democrat, had worked for many years on legislation that affected the entire nation.  He went on to say this has always been a bipartisan process in both houses of Congress & in the White House, and he had no reason to believe this legislation would be any different.

HB 3200 was expected to be bloated with provisions squeezed in by lobby firms for clients.  The rubber will really hit the road when the Joint Committees begin working the differences out, putting combined draft legislation through 100’s of legal “car washes” until all the lawyers on both sides will be sick of it.  David Sloan, VP of Gov Relations for AARP, said on C-Span’s Washington Journal a few days ago that AARP’s lawyers & accountants have yet to finish analyzing the bill.  So as a retired energy lawyer, I am amused by all the hyperbolic opinions.

I invite you to read why 450,000 physicians support the proposed Health Care Reform Plan: Health Care Reform: Part II - Physicians Support Health Care Reform

Older people especially are ill-served by the ”Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” approach  on talk shows or otherwise pressing their panic buttons. Thankfully, cooler heads are beginning to speak up on Network News, PBS & NPR.

I recommend listening to the President’s weekly address today at WhiteHouse.gov -- or read the transcript (here).

It might help to have a little faith in this President like everyone had to when the Republicans were in power. Try reading about how the Weapons System Acquisition Reforms Act finally got done, which is overhauling a procurement systems bloated with cost overruns.  DOD’s procurement is a complex monster that many in both parties had tried to reform for quite some time.  Obama promised Senator McCain when they met after the election that he would do everything in his power to get it done and the WSARA was signed into law on May 22nd.  He was also able to convince Bob Gates to remain as Sec. of DOD to implement the WSARA.

I agree with Senator Grassley, it is past time for people in both parties to put aside the bitter vitriol for the sake of the whole country.  It is WAY past time for cooler heads to prevail.