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A local wrestling match over health care

1:36 pm September 18, 2009, by jgalloway

State Sen. Judson Hill (R-Marietta) and my AJC colleague Jay Bookman have gotten into something of a wrestling match over health care legislation.

Bookman recently pointed out that Hill, one of those state lawmakers who earlier this month declared they would attempt to block any health insurance mandates that flow from Washington, had once backed local legislation to establish a kind of health insurance co-op:

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.

Hill now has an answer to Bookman posted on his senatorial Web site. It reads, in part:

There is a HUGE difference between a voluntary state-based exchange and a national health insurance exchange. For one, states (not the federal government) are the primary regulators of health insurance.

It is within the regulatory authority of states for states to set up an insurance exchange or marketplace. It is absolutely out of bounds for the federal government to do so. Second, the national health insurance exchange, combined with the public plan, is a lethal combination. It creates a scenario where the government simultaneously plays regulator and competitor.

This is like going to a football game and the referee owning one of the teams. Senate Bill 28 did not set up such a scenario.

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19 comments Add your comment

Richard Gruetter

September 18th, 2009
2:44 pm

Too bad news media reporters no longer seem to do any background investigation before they shoot their uninformed mouths off.
The news media has been given tremendous authority in the area of free speech so they could act as our liberty teeth. It was intended that they would let the people know what is going on under the surface of our various levels of government. The sad part is that they no longer really do their home work. In addition they don’t have a clue what our federal government should or should not be doing under their LIMITED Constitutional authority. This being the case how could they possibility know what to report on?
It is a dangerous situation for our blessed nation when the news media is no longer equipped or cares to report the true facts so people can make informed decisions!
Real journalism is DEAD in our nation!

Lucas

September 18th, 2009
2:51 pm

To me, there is not a lick of conceptual difference between having the state regulate health care and having the federal government. Hill appears to just be covering his inconsistent statements, and poorly.

Cutty

September 18th, 2009
3:00 pm

Took him almost a week to come up with a response too.

Will Jones - Atlanta Jeffersonian Exegesis

September 18th, 2009
3:12 pm

Same deadender McCain supporting proponent of fascist plutocracy “Richard Gruetter,” teamed up with no-mom no-woman no-G-d Sadie Fields, in defense of profound hypocrisy on the part of State Sen. Judson Hill (R-Marietta)?

Tory traitors against the sovereign People need “an attitude adjustment.” One Creed, One G-d, One Nation, One People: America. Love it or leave it. Truth and Justice for all.

Michael A. Williams

September 18th, 2009
4:15 pm

Bookman’s piece was published on Friday. Judson’s response was released the following Monday. Considering Judson was jetting back and forth between the 9/12 March in D.C. and the North Fulton & Friends Tea Party all weekend, I’d say that’s a pretty swift response on his part.

Also, there is a HUGE difference between having the state or the federal government regulate healthcare. If you don’t like the way your state is regulating it, you can LEAVE. You can go to any of the 49 other states if you like how they handle it better. That’s exactly what the founders envisioned. That’s basically what Federalism is all about.

RGB

September 18th, 2009
4:23 pm

Great observation, Richard.

The (Constitutional) idea of any powers being reserved for the states has gone out the window. With so-called journalists being complicit in the federal government’s takeover of autos, banking, mortgages–and now student loans and even garage sales–there is no traditional check on the power of Washington.

Earlier, Bookman blasted critics of H.R. 3200 who were concerned that taxpayers would be obligated to pay for health insurance for illegal immigrants. He cited a select passage of the bill. But two days after the Wilson incident, the Senate began to take action to insure that illegals wouldn’t be covered under the bill. Why’d they do that if the bill truly didn’t cover illegals? [crickets chirping]

If a Republican had done 2% of the things this administration has done with regard to the takeover and trampling of industries, policies, and constitutional rights, journalists would have had a collective stroke. I’m not after supporting any single party. I’m after the truth. Other like-minded people are responsible for the meteoric growth of alternative media. Why ABC’s Charlie Gibson wasn’t even aware of the ACORN tapes until yesterday. Go back to sleep Chuck and take Diane with you.

If these journalists were physicians, they’d be sued regularly for malpractice.

That’s why they aren’t doctors. And I’m glad.

Here are some areas real journalists could explore if they had an appetite:
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MWJkNTE3MzkzMjlhNGUxODhmNGM0Y2IzNTllMGNjMzE

Richard Gruetter

September 18th, 2009
4:30 pm

Will Jones, that was about as incoherent as a sarcastic response could be!
Such a thoughtful fact filled response?.

Will Jones - Atlanta Jeffersonian Exegesis

September 18th, 2009
4:50 pm

Sadie Field’s “birds of feather” find truth incoherent. Sadie, Judson, and “Richard Gruetter,” no doubt, all publicly deny that Bush and Cheney committed 9/11, too.

Consider the source.

“If a Republican had done 2% of the things this administration has done with regard to the takeover and trampling of industries, policies, and constitutional rights, journalists would have had a collective stroke. I’m not after supporting any single party. I’m after the truth.”

May the curse of Krauthammer be upon all those who think he isn’t an apologist for treason and fascist plutocracy.

Bush and Cheney committed 9/11 and Tory traitors want to count the angels on the head of a pin.

In the federal “competition” of the states, which has recognized Bush’s and Cheney’s treason? A few towns in NH or VT perhaps, but not a state.

National healthcare is not an affront to the Founders when treason has reigned since Rockefeller built Standard Oil on murder and arson and his minions financed Hitler, killed Kennedy and King to send us to Vietnam, and the papists on the Supreme Court appointed a homosexual draft-dodger to the WH to commit 9/11.

Let’s try to keep things in perspective.

Tory treason meet Tory Oak

clyde

September 18th, 2009
4:54 pm

Journalism today is all about entertainment.Sadly they often fail in that endeavor also.Wandering through and sifting the information on blogs is going to be the new journalism.Some small,hometown papers still have good reporters but their content is limited to local issues,as it should be.Also,good politicians,if there is any such animal,tend to die at the local level.For far too many,national exposure turns on the bad in them.

MrMeatPop

September 18th, 2009
6:35 pm

Same deadender willjones supporting proponent of fascist plutocracy “Satan,” teamed up with no-mom no-woman no-D-g Sally Fields, in defense of profound hypocrisy on the part of State Sen. BillyBobJoeFrankHarris (D-Dollars)?

story traitors against the enslaved People need “an attitude adjustment.” One Creed, One D-g, One Nation, Many People: America. Livin’ it, lovin’ it, leavin’ it. Democratic deception for all.

e pluribus unum, your mileage may vary. Void where prohibited by law. Use as directed. And don’t forget the democraptic credo: MeTacumUrMollah!

ladyliberty

September 18th, 2009
8:19 pm

Enter your comments here These are the best comments I’ve seen here in a while. Thanks to RGB, Richard, and Michael Williams.

Will Jones always amuses and entertains me. The world would be poorer (maybe wiser) without him.

Will Jones - Atlanta Jeffersonian Exegesis

September 18th, 2009
9:50 pm

Nazi “Fifth Column” whistling past their graveyard.

concerned

September 19th, 2009
4:52 am

I can not understand why anyone would think our goverment should run anything else in our lives. Why should any single individual turn over one of the most important parts of their lives to any government. It should not matter who is in charge the right or left because that will change from time to time, but the loss of control over parts of our lives may never come back once it is given away.

dmac

September 19th, 2009
8:04 am

Dear Concerned,

Under HR 3200 your health care decissions would still be yours to make or not make. You have not given-up any of your liberties.

As it is now, insurance companies decide who gets what treatments. They can (and do) drop coverage when you get ill or have an accident. As it is now, the insurance companies’ practices are driving the bankruptcies in this country.

dmac

September 19th, 2009
8:09 am

Like Johnny (I was for end-of-life counseling but now that Obama’s for it, I’m not) Isakson, Judson Hill is playing a similar game. He’s for a type of health care reform for Georgians but not for the rest of the country. Whatever.

Daedalus

September 19th, 2009
11:44 am

Sounds like Judson was fer it before he was agin it.

Jack McMillan

September 19th, 2009
12:01 pm

Lucas, dmac, Daedalus
you guys can’t be that dumb can you?
It is bad enough that bookman is dumb as a doorknob but
for you guys to display your ignorance is just plan sad.

Will Jones - Atlanta Jeffersonian Exegesis

September 19th, 2009
10:08 pm

America is “Left.” Fascism is on the “Right.” Check Carlyle’s “History of the French Revolution” to brush up on which is which.

Our Creed and utopian whig ideals is the fulfillment of the Human Experience: the individual is sovereign as the People, the state is servant, and the Old Sectarian Order’s “king and pope” caesaropapism is proscribed in this New Secular Order.

Only apologists for fascist plutocracy support the “right,” whose treason over the generations as the “Fifth Column” of the Roman Anti-Christ is overt. The spiraling concentration of wealth with debasement of the currency and inflation for the Middle Class is “de facto” welfare fascism, in large part manipulated by the insurance industry oligarchs the anonymous weasels here wish to maintain.

northGAvoter

September 20th, 2009
9:45 am

Just becuase it takes the AJC a week to print a response doesn’t mean it wasn’t submitted earlier. Read the Bill, I did. Hill suggested only a voluntary program which businesses could opt into. Lt Gov Cagle did too a year later. But, Obama and Democrats in DC require the health exchange. Freedom and choice versus a mandate – there’s a difference.