Gingrich on Reid’s health breakthrough
Harry Reid got a lot of attention for the health-care deal he announced last night to much fanfare and without many details. It’s been six weeks since Reid announced a similar breakthrough, only to admit later that he didn’t have an actual bill, so maybe some people will again believe that we’re approaching the beginning of the end.
Newt Gingrich, whose Center for Health Transformation has been active in the health-care debate, isn’t one of them. “My guess is this one will collapse,” the former U.S. Speaker and Georgia lawmaker said today over lunch with me, my colleague Jay Bookman and members of his staff.
Here’s why Newt thinks Reid’s bill won’t fly. One of the linchpins is a plan to allow people aged 55 to 64 to “buy in” to Medicare. The idea is that this will help some Americans who have difficulty buying health insurance. But Gingrich called the plan an “actuarial death spiral.”
“Only the sickest people will join, so rates will skyrocket,” he said.
He likened the push to finish a health-insurance overhaul amid a recession with high unemployment and even higher budget deficits — not to mention opinion polls that show a plurality of Americans oppose Democrats’ plans — to “a family getting together in the middle of a deep recession and saying, we’ve always said we’ll go to Disney World, so we’re going to Disney World.”
The Reid plan is also at odds with a hallmark of all Democratic proposals, the expectation that Congress can cut several hundred billion dollars in fraud and waste from Medicare. While there no doubt is plenty of waste and fraud to cut from Medicare, it seems unlikely that Congress will pull this off now when it hasn’t done so before — and especially if we are going to add millions of people to its rolls at the same time.
“Why not extend [Medicare to new recipients] the year after they prove they’ve reformed it?” Gingrich said.
Gingrich also outlined a number of the parliamentary steps required to get a bill through the Senate by the Christmas deadline Reid has set. He said it was his understanding that to pass a bill by then, it would have to have been filed “yesterday or today.”
Considering there once again “is no bill,” that deadline won’t be met.
It’s still not too late to start over.
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20 comments Add your comment
StJ
December 9th, 2009
4:24 pm
Let’s hope the deadline is never met. This thing needs to go down in flames…seriously.
Swami Dave
December 9th, 2009
4:35 pm
Here’s an interesting political hypothesis…….
Reid keeps announcing “breakthrough” deals that he later claim “fall though” because of supposed action by opponents. This could be labeled the “Reid Straw Proposal” gambit whereby he intermittently and repeatedly declares victory (for a non-existent solution) that is then allegedly “undermined by Republicans”.
I suspect that would play well to the kook left-wing of the Democratic Party.
Swami Dave
….and remember:
“Liberals do with legislation what Muggers do with guns! -SD
oldimer
December 9th, 2009
4:55 pm
I do hope none of this Health Care “Hot Mess” ever passes!!
BootNewt
December 9th, 2009
5:00 pm
Who gives a flying fish what Newt says. Newt dumped his cancer-stricken 1st wife. When his pastor criticized him for not supporting his two kids, he left the church after the congregation collected donations for his children. Newt then dumped his 2nd wife after cheating on her with his Congressional aide who is now his 3rd wife. After all that, he criticized sex outside of marriage, promoted traditional family life and opined that ”any male who doesn’t support his children is a bum.”
Grumpy
December 9th, 2009
5:07 pm
It’s the one question the left NEVER has a good answer for: if cutting waste, fraud and abuse is so EASY, why not do it first and do it immediately!
songbird
December 9th, 2009
5:14 pm
Newt somestimes has good ideas but they are overshadowed by his hypocrisy. He’s no better than Tiger when it comes to morals.
Seriously
December 9th, 2009
5:21 pm
Newt always supported his children. His first wife was his older professor whom he probably rushed into at a young age. His second wife wife was a mean women who married him for his power. he has been happily married since. Newt resigned after admitting to the affair. Something king Clinton would never do. No the important fact. His poor choices in his personal life have nothing to do with the fact that his is one of the brightest men in politics. He is one of the rare intelectuals that applies all of his knowledge to teaching an public service. He is the kind of leader liberals hate the most. When it come to real measured results, his opinions are almost always correct. Take off your I hate republicans and Newt blinders and listen to what he says and watch he does in politics. No one in the the last two decades has accomplished the knd of good “change” Newt accomplished while in office. He reformed welfare, balanced the budget, and tackled numerous other serious issues leaders will not even discuss now or ever try to address. History when it is written by the educators rather than the political cronies of tady will remember his as a shining light in a otherwise cluttered decades of political incompetence to follow.
NeverTrustARepublican
December 9th, 2009
5:29 pm
Newt? I mean, seriously, Newt? Why?
RGB
December 9th, 2009
5:43 pm
Because Democrats have an unquenchable thirst for power, they’ll sell their own mothers to get more of it.
What are the priorities of the Congress? It can’t be job creation because they’ve destroyed millions of jobs. It can’t be business creation since they’ve introduced so many obstacles to business success. It’s not national security because Obama has encouraged rogue countries to build new plants that produce components for nuclear bombs. On the morality and ethics front, Obama failed miserably–hiring tax cheats, porn defense lawyers, and people who would be at home with child molesters.
Power. Lust for more of it. That’s what all Democrats crave and unfortunately too many Republicans. Vote them out of office. And start with John Lewis.
TGT
December 9th, 2009
5:44 pm
As I said this morning on Bookman’s blog:
So the libs in the House are going to go along with “no public option?” I don’t see it happening. How do you reconcile positions that say, “absolutely no government run health care,” with ones that say, “nothing but a strong public option?”
Is it really health care reform in a liberals eyes if Congress moves “decisively away from including a government-run health insurance plan?” (as Politico reported) Again, I don’t think this will do it for the die-hards.
Some on Bookman’s blog were arguing that the “trigger” option is the public option.
However, per Nancy Pelosi from September of this year: “Any real change requires the inclusion of a strong public option to promote competition and bring down costs,” Pelosi said. “If a vigorous public option is not included, it would be a major victory for the health insurance industry.”
Also from September (a letter to the Pres. from House liberals): “Any bill that does not provide, at a minimum, a public option built on the Medicare provider system and with reimbursement based on Medicare rates — not negotiated rates — is unacceptable,” reads the letter, which was sent over by a source. It was signed by Reps. Lynn Woolsey and Raul Grijalva, the two leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
“A health reform bill without a robust public option will not achieve the health reform this country so desperately needs,” the letter continues. “We cannot vote for anything less.”
Pelosi in late September on the trigger option: “Pelosi (D-Calif.) rejected the idea of a “trigger” for a public option. That means that the government-run health care plan would be a fallback option, enacted only if other reforms didn’t make healthcare more accessible. …
“I don’t even want to talk about a trigger,” Pelosi said at her weekly press conference. She said the “attitude” of her fellow Democrats is that “a trigger is an excuse for not doing anything.”
Rahm Emanuel on the “trigger” option (from July): “After initially indicating his support for a public plan “trigger,” White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel reassured House Democrats tonight that he strongly backs a public plan. Progressive Caucus Co-Chairwoman Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) said she told Emanuel that support for a “trigger” would cause health reform to lose Democratic votes:
“We have compromised enough, and we are not going to compromise on any kind of trigger game,” Woolsey said she told Emanuel. “People clapped all over the place. We mean it, and not just progressives.”
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) said Emanuel reassured him that he “doesn’t stand by that trigger.”
Simple Question
December 9th, 2009
5:48 pm
Seriously
December 9th, 2009
5:21 pm
So are you Newts third wife???? It is so funny how you make excuses for his lying to and cheating on his first and second wives….His actions were his and they run counter to all of the things that you clowns on the right preach about. Let him be successful in his own house before he stands on high and passes wisdom down to the rest of us…
Shawn G
December 9th, 2009
5:55 pm
Newt is so 1995…let’s have someone new and fresh bring some ideas to the Republican table–oh wait, that would be Sarah Palin—nevermind….
JohnD
December 9th, 2009
6:03 pm
Here’s an idea — let’s do nothing and let health care costs continue to skyrocket, allow people to continue to die for lack of access to healthcare, and then blame Obama.
That’s called the GOP healthcare plan. And its proven to work, unless your one of those who dies — but that’s just God’s Will. If God wanted you to have health care, he would have provided it.
Joan
December 9th, 2009
6:07 pm
So really are all of you without sin so that it is easy for you to cast stones? I wouldn’t care if he had five wives if he made sense when it came to governing properly. Nothing good will come from this so called reform bill until tort reform so that doctors don’t have to pay $250K in insurance annually, and give tests they know their patient doesn’t need just so they don’t get sued. The Europeans aren’t sue crazy like we are. If they sue and lose, they pay for their foolishness. We need a little of that accountability over here.
Boots
December 9th, 2009
6:31 pm
Seriously, you can’t be serious. Are you talking about Newt Gingrich from Georgia. The former history teacher. Jesus, I didn’t recognize him.
jconservative
December 9th, 2009
6:32 pm
Joan, if it is OK with you, I do not want to do what the Europeans do.
But if you insist, the Europeans either have a state run health care system or, if they use private insurance, the insurance companies are state regulated monopolies as our Ga Power.
just listening here
December 9th, 2009
7:23 pm
@ seriously- come on. We all saw the disgust on his face on Fox 5 news when the topic came up about the new White House dog. He was disgusted that something so human and non political hit the news conference that he was a party of.
The man doesn’t get it. Lives on a different plane- and frankly, gets little or no enjoyment out of life for himself. I hope that he is no longer teaching- young minds should not be exposed to his negative thoughts.
TGT
December 9th, 2009
8:35 pm
From Cleveland.com (in September): In an e-mail message sent today to his political supporters, (Dennis) Kucinich tells the tale of Roy Rogers and Trigger, the golden palomino stallion. But in this version, the Senate compromise horse winds up stuffed and mounted, failing to save the day.
Fans of Western lore will want to read it for themselves, so away we go:
“Dear Friends,
“The Senate cannot pass a health care bill with a public option. The House cannot pass a bill without one. (Exactly what I’ve been saying.) The public wants a public option. (Not true!) The insurance industry wants a private mandate. The White House is in trouble on this and is calling upon the Senate to find a way out of this dark passage.
“So, Boys and Girls, return with us now as the Senators will take a page from out of the old West. They are going to do what cowboy hero Roy Rogers did when he got in a jam: Call for Trigger, the Golden Palomino. Trigger, the trusty steed who rode to glory against those phantom cattle rustlers who sold insurance against physical harm, provided however that the small town marks bought the stolen beef.
“In this scene Trigger will come off his mount of glory at the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum in Branson, Missouri and gallop to the mount of glory on Capitol Hill, rear up a dazzling 24ft, and by his sheer electrifying presence rescue the US Senate and the Administration from today’s rustlers.
“It is Washington, DC, so they promptly slap on a confused Trigger a corporate blanket with corporate logos from insurance companies: Pre-Existing Trigger. Lower Cost Trigger. Patient Access Trigger. The Senators will jump on this horse and ride straight for the sunset. Giddy-up Trigger, past that broken down Public Option dray horse. Gallop into the conference committee with full force. Charge!
“I am carried away by prospect of rescue by the one horse I can believe in. Sadly, Trigger will never save us from the rustlers. He’ll just stand there, mounted, in all of his spectacular equine power ever poised to spring into action, ever ready to hustle out the rustlers, or something like that.”
“Trigger” will never satisfy the libs.
Robert Littel
December 10th, 2009
9:24 am
Newt Gingrich is trying to position himself as the “savior” of the Republican Party, who will swoop in and gather up the pieces once the likes of Sarah Palin and the “party purists” have fractured and nearly destroyed it. The problem is that he is about as trustworthy as a church deacon in a whorehouse, with a stack of hundred dollar bills in his pocket. His connections to the Cult of Sun Myung Moon should be a disqualifier all on their own, not to mention his personal problems, well laid out above. He is a snake in the grass, so we should not let him onto the lawn.
Leon Van Gelderen
December 12th, 2009
9:52 am
Kyle: There already is multiple public options and the media and poilicians keep obscuring the facts by concentrating on the wrong aspects of the health care crisis. Just Thusrday the AJC published an obscure article, “Georgia clinics to get [federal] funding for expansion. It then goes on to describe funding for the semi private nonprofit system of free clinics in the local area. Why are you, Newt and other politicians not investigating and reporting on this very effective semi-public option for the uninsured????? Ther New York Times of all papers ran a front page article as George Bush was leaving office in January lauding him for increased funding of these clinics. It takes two minutes to read and do an article about tMichelle Obama’ secret but open success directing the uninsured to clinics in Chicago from expensive care at the University of Chicago Hospital. This is the most cost effective solution for people out of work and without health care. Grearer options for mandatory catastrophic insurance like miedicare should be required of employers and anyone being insured with a mechanism to have the government fund the care when the worker is unemployed and medicaid eligible.Greate expansion of health savings accounts and individual tax deductions for the self employed and self sufficient single noninsured individuals would be a winning private option to remedy the affordable but uninsured class witrh again mandatory catastrophic insurance to be eligible for these tax savings. None of this greatly increases government costs but may actually decrease expenditures by hospitals for unreimburseable care.