Discombobulated Democrats

In this Mercury News article, "White House spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said of Republican lawmakers, 'Only a handful seem interested in the type of comprehensive reform that so many people believe is necessary to ensure the principles and the goals that the president has laid out.'"

Two things: 1) In this Rasmussen Poll, 35% of American voters want the current health care bill that Congress is proposing while 54% of American voters DO NOT. 2) Republicans are not the Party of Obama, Democrats are. Democrats have a filibuster proof majority in the US Senate, and a 40 seat advantage in the US House of Representatives, in other words there is nothing stopping the Democrats from passing their Legislation other than themselves.

Ironic because the article goes on to state, "The party must still reconcile the views of moderate and conservative Democrats worried about the cost and scope of the legislation with those of more progressive lawmakers determined to win a government-run insurance option to compete with private insurers."

Which brings me to this Politico article, "Parties deal blame as White House goes solo on health reform." White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel stated, "The Republican leadership has made a strategic decision that defeating President Obama’s health care proposal is more important for their political goals than solving the health insurance problems that Americans face every day."

Two things on Rahm's statement: 1) If it's detrimental for Republicans to not work with the White House on this health care proposal, then let Republicans suffer the consequences in the next Election Cycle, why worry Rahm? 2) If this health care proposal was such a treasure trove of political brownie points for Democrats, why haven't they passed this proposal already in order to claim 100% credit for solving America's Health Care ailments?

When tinkering with 17% of our GDP, I can't help but think that Democrats are afraid to own this issue and make it theirs because politically they need straw men to setup and knock down when their version of reform causes more problems than it solves or when costs exceed their glorious optimistic predictions. It just makes the following statement by a White House Official all the more hilarious, "We were forced into this by Republicans." Those damn Republicans, preventing you from bettering our lives, what jerks.

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In other Health Care News, the National Health Services (NHS) [Health Care Provider in the United Kingdom (Northern Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales)] employs 1.4 million people out of a work force population of 41 million, or 3.4%. Over 45,000 staff call out sick every day, costing the NHS £1.7 billion per year.

For laughs, the United States has a work force of approximately 154 million, and if the same proportion of people one day worked for a single payer system, the US would have 168,000 employees calling out sick on a daily basis. In this CBS article, the average Federal employee will make $75,419 in 2010. Therefore it would cost approximately $48.7 million per day or $17.8 billion per year in sick time wages alone. The article goes on to state, "Annual NHS sickness levels are 10.7 days a year per employee - 67% higher than the private sector average of 6.4 days." Doing the math, we would spend $7.1 billion more per year for sick time wages with a single payer system. How's that for improved efficiency?

If it makes you feel any better, Bloomberg News reported that President Obama believes "UPS and FedEx are doing just fine. It’s the Post Office that’s always having problems." Err... great example Mr. President of why we need National Health Insurance (NHI). Oh wait, do we want USPS and DMV type employees telling us to "Get a number and wait your turn" when we're at the hospital? So just when are Democrats going to finally come up with a fact that shows the NHI will be more efficient than say Kaiser Permanente, Blue Shield, Blue Cross, etc.

Maybe it helps explain why Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was for National Health Insurance before she was against it after which Robbert Gibbs clarified her statement by blaming the media for misunderstanding and she chimed in to state, "All I can tell you is that Sunday must have been a very slow news day, because here's the bottom line: Absolutely nothing has changed." But let's not forget, that President Obama on Saturday stated, "The public option, whether we have it or we don't have it, is not the entirety of health-care reform."

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To sum it all up, it's the Republicans fault the Democrats are forced to solve our Nation's Health Care ailments alone while Democrats disagree on how involved the government should be (not whether it should or shouldn't) and the Obama Administration Joe Bidens itself with statements that later have to be clarified in order to reassure skittish supporters the Administration still intends to get involved in our Health Care System; nonetheless we're still waiting for evidence that shows government involving itself with 17% of our GDP will improve efficiency despite mathematical calculations that show otherwise and despite the plethora of evidence that exists regarding the inefficiency of existing bureaucracies like USPS and DMV; let's not even discuss Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Health Administration and other Federal boondoggles.