GOP once embraced what it now condemns
ObamaCare may destroy health care in 49 other states, but not here in Georgia, say GOP state senators Judson Hill and Chip Rogers. They plan to stop it dead at the state border.
If Georgians want to buy health insurance, Hill told Fox News last week, they should be allowed to do so. But we “don’t want to be penalized or have it forced upon us” by government, he said. So Hill, Rogers and a handful of other Senate Republicans have proposed a state constitutional amendment to guarantee that Georgians cannot be compelled to buy health insurance.
Furthermore, they believe that under the states’ rights doctrine, such an amendment would make any federal law to the contrary unenforceable here in Georgia.
Of course, Washington doesn’t have a monopoly on Big Government enthusiasts. Just two years ago, legislation was introduced in the Georgia Senate that was eerily similar to what Obama is now proposing in Washington.
For example, the Obama approach calls for creating a centralized government-run insurance exchange, a kind of clearinghouse where insurance companies would sell their products to consumers. Senate Bill 28 would have done the same thing, creating a Georgia Health Insurance Exchange. The exchange would have been the only legal means to sell health insurance to individuals and small businesses.
Like federal legislation, the state bill also tried to force citizens to buy a minimum amount of insurance. In fact, anybody with a gross income of 300 percent above poverty would have to buy health insurance or post a $10,000 bond with the state.
If a citizen refused to comply, the consequences were draconian. The state was empowered to garnish a person’s wages and withhold state income tax refunds until that required $10,000 minimum was achieved.
Now, that sounds like the kind of bill that would absolutely horrify small-government conservatives such as Hill and Rogers. But here’s the strange part: Hill was the bill’s chief sponsor; Rogers a co-sponsor.
At the time, Hill gave Newt Gingrich the credit for a lot of the ideas in SB 28, and for good reason. For example, the former House speaker was a strong advocate of digitizing all medical data and then analyzing that data to determine which treatments and procedures worked best.
In fact, just last year in a New York Times oped piece co-authored with Sen. John Kerry, Gingrich noted that “nearly 100,000 Americans are killed every year by preventable medical errors.”
“Working closely with doctors, the federal government and the private sector should create a new institute for evidence-based medicine,” Kerry and Gingrich argued. “This institute would conduct new studies and systematically review the existing medical literature to help inform our nation’s over-stretched medical providers.”
As the Congressional Budget Office explained, “better information about the costs, risks, and benefits of different treatment options, combined with new incentives reflecting the information, could eventually alter the way in which medicine is practiced and yield lower health care spending without having adverse effects on health. Over the long term, the potential reduction in spending below projected levels could be substantial.”
SB 28 attempted to implement such a program on the state level. It required all insurers, doctors, hospitals, pharmacists and other medical professionals to submit electronic medical data to the state. A new Georgia Patient Safety Corporation would analyze the data “for the purpose of recommending changes in practices and procedures.”
The legislation being considered in Washington closely mirrors the approach advocated by Gingrich and Hill. The House bill creates a “Comparative Effectiveness Research Center” to serve much the same function as the Georgia Patient Safety Corporation. Like the agency envisioned by Hill and Gingrich, its findings would be advisory only.
“Nothing in this section shall be construed to permit … the Center to mandate coverage, reimbursement, or other policies for any public or private payer,” the bill states.
Unfortunately, the “Comparative Effectiveness Research Center” has since been given a new name by conservatives: “death panel.”
Suddenly, the idea of mining electronic data for insight into cheaper, more effective care has become a conspiracy to control doctors and deny care to the elderly and vulnerable. Gingrich himself now describes comparative effectiveness research as a effort to ration care, complaining that “this one-size-fits-all approach goes against everything modern medicine is learning about the genetics of the human body.”
It’s enough to make you sick.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Guides
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2011 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
317 comments Add your comment
TaxPayer
September 11th, 2009
6:45 am
It is indeed enough to make a real person sick but we’re not talking about people, Jay. So, I’m not the least bit surprised. We’re talking about Republicans. They know no low.
On a side note, has anyone watched this video?
TnGelding
September 11th, 2009
6:49 am
And no doubt it will make many sick. Politics, plain and simple. I’m realy disappointed in Newt. I thought he was really out to change the country for the better.
I don’t like mandates on business or individuals, tho. A $10,000 bond? That’s laughable. It would need to be at least 50 times that.
TnGelding
September 11th, 2009
6:58 am
“Obama changes talking points on uninsured”
“Why the change?”
“White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama was making the point that under his plan, illegal immigrants would not get health insurance.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090910/pl_nm/us_usa_healthcare_obama_uninsured_4
Rightwing Troll
September 11th, 2009
6:59 am
So state laws trump the Fed? Is that why the Fed was raiding “pot stores” in Cali under Bush when it was perfectly legal by California law?
Since when was newt “out to change the country for the better”? When he wrote that piece of toilet paper “The Contract with America”? (do you remember that, where he and the others of the “republican revolution” wiped thier collective arses with that contract almost as soon as they were elected, then threw it out???)
Finn McCool
September 11th, 2009
6:59 am
off topic (but not really):
Inside the mind of Joe Wilson
America is changing, and that makes white people like Joe Wilson — and Michele Bachmann — very nervous
By Richard Benjamin
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/09/11/joe_wilson/
BitterEXdemocrackkk
September 11th, 2009
7:04 am
Mandate that EACH ONE shall pay for HIS/HER own healthcare, whether by insurance or out of pocket…when this happens, costs will go down for all…remember, ‘healthcare’ is NEITHER a Right NOR a Function of the US Constitution. Look to the Constitution for guidance.
Wow! Who’s watching the hottest new online news resources???
http://www.Breitbart.TV Andrew Breitbart is a brave new patriot!
http://www.BigGovernment.com
jt
September 11th, 2009
7:06 am
Inside the mind of a liberal.
Chirp Chirp.
Lord Help Us
September 11th, 2009
7:07 am
Well for crying out loud…it can’t be good if Obama might get credit.
The reality will be that Obama will get a good healthcare bill through Congress and into law. Like the stimulus plan, the healthcare bill will be popular, effective and will be passed without any substantive Republican participation.
The cons have emasculated themselves with manufactured, specious, shallow and misleading hysteria too many times…
TnGelding
September 11th, 2009
7:11 am
TaxPayer
September 11th, 2009
6:45 am
I have now, thanks. I hope our conservative friends take the time to watch it.
TnGelding
September 11th, 2009
7:14 am
Lord Help Us
September 11th, 2009
7:07 am
I wish I was as confident as you. Don’t forget who we’re dealing with here.
jt
September 11th, 2009
7:14 am
“GOP once embraced what it now condemns”
You lie!!!!
This was a STATE bill. Not a FEDERAL bill.
This would be perfectly acceptable if voted on only by Georgians and only for Georgians.
And besides, I thought the republicans never tried to reform health care. Or does it only count if Barney Frank is involved.?
Joey
September 11th, 2009
7:15 am
Jay;
Typically you share less than half the story.
The State Bill was defeated. Was that defeat lead by Republicans or Democrats. Where do the opponents of the State Bill fall regarding the Democrat National Health Care plan?
Will you allow for the possibility that sponsors and supporters of the State Bill have learned from a past mistake?
TnGelding
September 11th, 2009
7:15 am
“Senate panel seeks end to F-22 export ban”
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Senate panel urged the Air Force on Thursday to start developing an export model of its F-22 Raptor, the most advanced U.S. fighter jet, even as it voted to end U.S. purchases.
Japan, Israel and Australia have shown interest in buying the supersonic, radar-evading F-22 Raptor, designed to destroy enemy air defenses in the first days of any conflict and clear the way for other missions.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090910/pl_nm/us_arms_usa_congress_2
theROOSTER
September 11th, 2009
7:22 am
Jay, Is there something you do not understand about the 10th Amendment? “The powers not granted to the national government nor prohibited to the states are reserved to the states or the people.”
TnGelding
September 11th, 2009
7:23 am
jt
September 11th, 2009
7:14 am
If it was good for our state, why wouldn’t we accept it for our nation?
You mean the death panels and rationing are okay on a state level? It’s only a good idea if we propose it. Anything “they” propose is bad.
TnGelding
September 11th, 2009
7:28 am
Refresh, please.
Doggone/GA
September 11th, 2009
7:28 am
“Jay, Is there something you do not understand about the 10th Amendment?”
Is there something about the hypocrisy of being FOR something that you are now AGAINST that YOU do not understand? Remember when that “flip flopping” was used against opponents in an election?
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator (-: You Whine )-:
September 11th, 2009
7:31 am
Methinks bookman is confused, data mining or an advisory panel is somewhat different than mandatory end of life counseling.
Know what I mean?
Normal
September 11th, 2009
7:31 am
PRESIDENT OBAMA, BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW!
—————–
Bitter: Breitbart? A little one sided for me… Sorry, Taxpayer, old mindset
—————–
TN, You ever think that there might be a time when we have to fight our own equipment? I guess the deals would be good for Lockheed, but I wonder what it will do for the country?
TnGelding
September 11th, 2009
7:31 am
“Dems answer Obama’s call for action on health care”
WASHINGTON (AP) – Democratic leaders wrestling with health care legislation are confronting a host of knotty issues such as medical malpractice, abortion, illegal immigrants and Medicaid, all the while predicting passage of sweeping health care legislation within a few months. “That’s the legislative process,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said as she and other Democrats shifted from praising President Barack Obama’s health care speech this week to the less glamorous task of trying to negotiate a bill that will pass muster with a host of opposing factions.
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_HEALTH_CARE_OVERHAUL?SITE=GACAT&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-09-11-07-08-14
Mrs. Godzilla
September 11th, 2009
7:31 am
regarding the ROOSTER….
Tentherism, in a nutshell, proclaims that New Deal-era reformers led an unlawful coup against the “True Constitution,” exploiting Depression-born desperation to expand the federal government’s powers beyond recognition. Under the tenther constitution, Barack Obama’s health-care reform is forbidden, as is Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. The federal minimum wage is a crime against state sovereignty; the federal ban on workplace discrimination and whites-only lunch counters is an unlawful encroachment on local businesses.
Tenthers divine all this from the brief language of the 10th Amendment, which provides that “the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” In layman’s terms, this simply means that the Constitution contains an itemized list of federal powers — such as the power to regulate interstate commerce or establish post offices or make war on foreign nations — and anything not contained in that list is beyond Congress’ authority.
The tenther constitution, however, reads each of these powers very narrowly — too narrowly, it turns out, to permit much of the progress of the last century. As the nation emerges from the worst economic downturn in three generations, the tenthers would strip away the very reforms and economic regulations that beat back the Great Depression, and they would hamstring any attempt to enact new progressive legislation.
Such retreat to fringe constitutional theories is one of the right’s favorite tactics during times of historic upheaval. The right-wing South justified both secession and the Civil War on the theory that the Constitution is nothing more than a pact between sovereigns that each state is free to leave at will. In the immediate wake of Brown v. Board of Education, 19 senators and 77 representatives endorsed a “Southern Manifesto,” proclaiming — in words echoed by modern-day tenthers — that Brown “encroach[es] on the rights reserved to the States” because the “Constitution does not mention education.” President Franklin Delano Roosevelt spent much of his first term combating a tenther majority on the Supreme Court, which routinely struck down substantial portions of the New Deal.
http://prospect.org/cs/articles?article=rally_round_the_true_constitution
mike
September 11th, 2009
7:35 am
Jay is demonstrating his usual intellectual dishonesty by conflating concern about care rationing with “death panel” claims.
Sorry to hear that thoughtful analysis makes Jay “sick”, but Jay is consistently sickened by any who dare disagree with his narrow views.
TnGelding
September 11th, 2009
7:36 am
Normal
September 11th, 2009
7:31 am
I was just passing along the information. Not necessarily supporting it. But why not let our “allies” pay for their own defense? They’ll develop their own eventually anyway or buy it from someone else.
Normal
September 11th, 2009
7:36 am
Mike, you too, need more fiber…
Cherokee
September 11th, 2009
7:41 am
Chip Rogers is my Senator, sadly. He is the ultimate politician, carefully checking the tea leaves to see what the most radical elements of the xenophobic wingbut base is looking for, and jumping to the front so he can lead the charge. He does not care to solve problems, or lead as a statesman; he is only about his own political power.
And given the prevalence of wingnut thought in this lovely state, he will probably continue to do well in his political career.
But he’s no more than an empty suit, and the fact that he worked yesterday for something that he opposes today wouldn’t give him pause at all..
Typical Republican, at that.
Normal
September 11th, 2009
7:42 am
TnGelding
September 11th, 2009
7:36 am
—————
I’ve had simular thoughts too. I said that if the world wants us to be a police force, we should charge for it. For example. “You want us to clean up the Taliban? OK, but it will cost you $500.00 a day per soldier used, plus expenses. Deal? Sign here…”
This way it would cost the country nothing and each soldier used would be paid what he is really worth. I think it’s a good idea.
Cherokee
September 11th, 2009
7:43 am
and thanks Mrs. G for the explanation…
Jay
September 11th, 2009
7:43 am
Reporter, there is certainly confusion, but it exists in the minds of people such as your sainted Sarah Palin. When she complained about a panel that would allegedly decide whether care should be rationed to people such as Trig, she was referring to the Comparative Effectiveness Research Center.
TnGelding
September 11th, 2009
7:44 am
Refresh, pretty please.
TnGelding
September 11th, 2009
7:48 am
Normal
September 11th, 2009
7:42 am
Yeah, I thnk we need a separate volunteer command for U.N. and humanitarian missions. Your idea would be able to fund it.
Alton E. Drew
September 11th, 2009
7:49 am
If these senators supported mandating health insurance for Georgians in the past, they were wrong then just like Mr. Obama is wrong now. Some of the uninsured have economically rational reasons for not carrying insurance including that it may be less expensive to pay out-of-pocket. Some consumers have the income or sufficient resources to do so.
http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-18558-Public-Policy-Examiner~y2009m9d11-Choosing-not-to-carry-health-insurance-is-market-behavior-not-irresponsible-behavior
Maxine Klinger
September 11th, 2009
7:50 am
Jay would you consider adding the words “narrow”, “partisan” and “hack” to the computer filter so that we will not have to suffer through mikes boring redundant posts any longer?
Cherokee
September 11th, 2009
7:51 am
what Maxine said…..
TnGelding
September 11th, 2009
7:51 am
Alton E. Drew
September 11th, 2009
7:49 am
Then they shouldn’t object to putting up a bond to prove it and make sure the state doesn’t end up having to pay for their care.
USinUK
September 11th, 2009
7:54 am
(waving hand)
fercryingoutloud, I soooo second Maxine!!!
Mrs. Godzilla
September 11th, 2009
7:55 am
motion carried!
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator (-: You Whine )-:
September 11th, 2009
7:56 am
We are talking about two totally different things here-
Sorry Folks, Sarah Palin Is (Partly) Right
President Obama has proposed a new body that would enhance Medicare’s ability to deny care to the elderly and disabled based on government bureaucrats’ arbitrary valuations of those patients’ lives.
It is right there in the legislation now before Congress, and it is called the Independent Medicare Advisory Council.-Cato Institute
Without laboring through the the myriad legislation that defines “Comparative Effectiveness Research Center,” I’m guessing that the Repugs want to improve the level of care, not make it more “cost effective.”
Tom
September 11th, 2009
7:56 am
The point of the proposed State Constitutional amendment is not to prevent the federal law from applying in Georgia. ( Any first year law student knows that the federal law will trump. As much as one might wish otherwise, the 10th amendment does not work that way.) The point of the proposed amendment is to have a hot button issue on the ballot next fall for the state’s elections to rally the conservatives to come out and vote.
TnGelding
September 11th, 2009
7:57 am
Alton E. Drew
September 11th, 2009
7:49 am
Rational choices? I don’t think so. It’s irrational not to have health insurance for all but the very wealthiest among us, the top-one-percenters. Mere millionaires need the protection. But like I stated earlier, I don’t like the mandates either.
mike
September 11th, 2009
8:00 am
Tom –
“The point of the proposed amendment is to have a hot button issue on the ballot next fall for the state’s elections to rally the conservatives to come out and vote.”
Doesn’t every party have “hot button issues”? This constant whining about “wedge issues” and “hot button issues” is such hypocrisy.
Cherokee
September 11th, 2009
8:01 am
Tom you’re absolutely correct. Rogers knows it’s unconstitutional, but that’s irrelevant. It’s all about motivating the base.
mike
September 11th, 2009
8:03 am
Maxine Klinger (or whatever your usual posting name is) –
While you are at it include “racist”, “unpatriotic”, “and “lies” to the list. Of course, liberals would not be able to get much through the system.
Thanks for the lame attack thought. So much easier than actually addressing anything that anyone actually says.
mike
September 11th, 2009
8:05 am
Normal –
“Mike, you too, need more fiber…”
Lame zinger. Yawn.
I love how angry liberals seem to think that my own comments are any more critical than their own. Get over it, hypocrites.
Mrs. Godzilla
September 11th, 2009
8:07 am
fiber…..it’s the new anger
mike
September 11th, 2009
8:08 am
Maxine Klinger (or whatever your usual posting name is) – -
Another thing. My post only used one of the three words you are whining about: “narrow”, which apparently is more offensive than accusing the entire GOP of being racists.
Feel free to respond to something I actually say. Of course, doing so would require you to actually read and think, so I won’t hold my breath. Lame zingers seem to be the extent of your (and many others’) rhetorical capabilities.
mike
September 11th, 2009
8:09 am
Mrs. Godzilla –
Yes, I should be positive like you. LOL
Lord Help Us
September 11th, 2009
8:10 am
Hold the presses!
I find myself converted to the logic of the right in their insistence on verification of legal status of people before they are allowed to receive any healthcare benefits…otherwise…how can we be ABSOLUTLEY SURE that no illegal aliens are breaking the law by receiving gov’t subsidized healthcare insurance!!
I know, I know…but the persistence and logic of the truly enlightened has finally enabled me to see clearly…
However, being a consistent, fair person myself, I must insist that this measure be taken in all laws on the books…again, to make sure that people have no way of circumventing our laws.
For instance:
-All cars must be fitted with a device to make sure they never exceed the limit (otherwise, some might break the law)…
-All tax returns must be audited by the IRS (otherwise, some people will cheat on their income taxes…
-Before anyone can buy a gun, the FBI needs to do a thorough background check…no matter how long it takes (otherwise, some people with felonies, mental illness, etc. could slip through the cracks)
Okay, cons, I’m on board…now please back me up on these other items so that we don’t look stupid.
Davo
September 11th, 2009
8:10 am
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Lie Them
by Jack Hunter on September 11, 2009
http://www.takimag.com/article/lies_and_the_lying_liars_who_lie_them/
“But besides his bad behavior, Wilson’s greatest mistake was in limiting his critique to just one aspect of the proposed healthcare plan. Unlike many conservatives, I don’t find it necessary to attribute all sorts of devious motives to President Obama. Calling Obama a “socialist” is accurate, but he is simply the latest in a long line of socialist presidents who gave us Social Security, Medicare and other expansions of an ever-growing welfare state that too many Americans consider their birthright.”
Joey
September 11th, 2009
8:10 am
How about including “teabagger”, so the morons and idiots who love to sing out that term.
And also include “moron” and “idiot” and their derivitives.
Mrs. Godzilla
September 11th, 2009
8:12 am
Mike
Thanks! Double Dog LOL!