Lisa Benson for September 11, 2009

Query: How many godawful editorial cartoons will be clumsily levering in that “you lie” thing in the next couple days?

Reply: All of them.

Of course it is a lie and Obama knows it. But of interest there actually is a way to make the entire program budget neutral. Defensive medicine costs this country a little more each year than we will expend adding 47 million new uninjured, guaranteeing nobody gets dropped etc.

But tort reform will anger the trial lawyers who contributed $48M in 2008. The Republicans even said if that is included they will discuss a compromise. Nevertheless, my bet is it will never happen.

Only a fool, or worshipper of Obama, believes him.

wilson should waited till next day to state the obvious

47 million? Seems a bit excessive. I guess I’m the only one here that was invincible in their youth.

Tort reform is a red herring. Fact: Malpractice awards with punitive sanctions equal about 1% of the nation’s annual healthcare bill. So, do away with malpractice cases entirely, and you still won’t begin to solve the healthcare fiasco. Doctors and hospitals practice defensive medicine because they make money from doing it.

Remember, a punitive malpractice award is usually made because some doctor or hospital royally screwed up someone’s life. But hey, we all know profits are more important than patients.

re tort reform … the devil will be in the details. There may be some reform that is necessary, but it can’t be crafted to make it impossible for egregious mistakes not to be compensated for those who will suffer from them.

Me, I had a minor procedure that a doc screwed up and 4 mos. later had to have major surgery at UCLA by top guy in the field. I didn’t sue, didn’t like it, but didn’t sue. Found out later that others had sued the first doc, but I still wouldn’t have sued.

I recently saw the expenses of one of my local hospitals. I was actually reading some financial magazines in the waiting room there. The greatest expense they paid the prior year was not wages or lease or maintenance, but malpractice insurance. That was their number one expenditure. Are you really going to tell me that does not have an impact on health care? Bull winkie, if you could eliminate your biggest monthly expenditure, would that ease up your budget at all? Or are you one of the wealthy who doesn’t really care. From your posts, I can tell that you are not nearly intelligent enough to fit into that category. Fallen name, the debt for the Vietnam war will never be paid off. Remember that President Johnson made social security funds available to the government to pay for that war, and then that was never corrected. Social security money has been available for general expenditures ever since, and that is why the SS system is failing. As for the expenses of war, the financial damage done on this one day 8 years ago was astronomical. The costs of the ongoing fight to prevent reoccurance are apparently worth it, or else Mr Obama would have ended these wars/occupations. We have not had a reoccurance on our homeland since. Mr Commonsense, I appreciate your thoughts here, and your principles.

And Obama did lie about giving away free healthcare to illegal immigrants. He knows that the Dems voted down any attempt to verify immigration status. So, I can understand Rep. Joe Wilson’s frustration boiling over when heard The Prez. tell that one.

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/personalities/joe-wilson/

loco, thanks, and I appreciate the truth you spoke about Social Security, Congress/President will never put back the funds, much less the interest on those funds, that they’ve been “borrowing” for decades, yet scream how it’s going broke.

sr. that’s so cool - how could any body know? interesting how american education really doesn’t define us

so was my son. then he got his ged in the navy and now he’s doing a 4.0 going into clemson - that’s just what he wanted to do. but not everybody desires the same regimen

even though i’m in academe, i have so so many friends - close friends - who never went to college - some who educated themselves without the system - those friends are rich in knowledge and fascinating - like you bull ºO U

let me refine my earlier statement - interesting how the american education SYSTEM really doesn’t define us

There’s an accurate picture if I ever saw one….

When the CBO does the numbers, they don’t add up to what President Obama is saying.

They are warning us not to take the bait.

So, if Obama says “no illegals will be covered by this plan”, then why are his associates blocking provisions that would require verification of immigration status?

”So, if Obama says “no illegals will be covered by this plan”, then why are his associates blocking provisions that would require verification of immigration status?”

My understanding is that the proposed bill really does not change the status quo, nor can it. None can. However, illegal alien status should not even be a factor in this bill. Illegals must be dealt with in other legislation. This is just a false argument thrown out there to defeat health care reform.

As to doctors, they have an obligation to treat the sick and injured who present themselves, usually no questions asked. I’m no doctor but those I know would treat an injured person without asking questions, and I suspect making it a law would meet with substantial opposition from doctors and hospitals because it would impede their ability to do the noble work they do.

SrBW said: Who cares if an illegals want to buy Insurance ? If they want to pay the premiums, let them.

Well, I stand corrected, I thought there was no-one else here, apart from a couple of foreigners, who thought same. Estoy de acuerdo.

Sorry CD, I didn’t see your post, we must have posted roughly the same time.

@church did you see post on Beattie 9/10? (following you around too)

P. S. Bush is not the president anymore. Unless there’s a time machine somewhere, it can’t be changed regardless of what happened.