Warren Buffett on current Senate health care reform bill

Warren Buffett would be in favor of re-writing the bill. So would I for that matter, since it’s hardly what I … or any Progressive leaning Democrat wanted.

That said:

In an interview with CNBC, Buffett said the current bill does not focus on controlling costs, which he sees as the central problem that must be addressed to reform the system. He added that while he does not like the Senate bill, he’d vote for it in preference to doing nothing.

 

“What we have now is untenable over time,” said Buffett, an early supporter of Obama’s candidacy. “That kind of a cost compared to the rest of the world is really like a tapeworm eating, you know, at our economic body.”

“We have a health system that, in terms of costs, is really out of control,” he added. “And if you take this line and you project what has been happening into the future, we will get less and less competitive. So we need something else.”

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Taking stock - and a deep breath - on health care reform

The last few months have really provided many opportunities to get all emotional and riled up over the roller coaster ride of proposed House, and then Senate bills that woulda, shoulda fixed our broken disaster of a health care system and insurance in America. The idea was that with Obama’s election, a real world, modern health care plan for all Americans would ride the groundswell of good vibes that seemed to follow the young, energetic new president.

It didn’t exactly happen that way. Perhaps a lot of us were being unrealistic in our expectations - at the worst, which doesn’t exactly seem too terrible. We want the best for the citizens of our country. How bad is that?

I think a lot of our idealism and energy was, unfortunately, deliberately redirected by the vociferously evil opponents of any sort of reform and their nitwit teabagger cheering section. I got caught up in it with a lot of my progressive compatriots when it seemed like the dirty money of the lobbyists was, indeed, taking over the process. I’m still very wary that they might have.

Anytime emotions take over, the rational thinking processes are compromised.

I believe I might even have said unkind things about Harry Reid. Shame on me.

I still think Nancy Pelosi did her best, too. 

This bill that has passed out of the Senate isn’t completely evil, although it is more stingy than the House version. With a little bit of luck, some of the House bills provisions might make it into the final compromise.

Alas, the ‘public option’ is the least likely to be one of those provisions that survives the final pass through the meat grinder. It’s sad, but the focus on the public option has only served to divert everybody’s attention from the real meat and potatoes parts that will really help a lot of Americans.

I still believe that a public option, or at the least - and extension of Medicare to people 55 years and up, would have been the best choice. That’s said only because I know Americans - when led by the Fox ‘guvmint is bad’ machine would have nothing approaching actual ‘universal coverage’.

Here’s the bottom line on the joint bills that we can look at in the coming weeks:

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"Keep moving toward the finish line..." on health care reform

That’s what Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid said and he’s spot on regarding the repeated attempts by Ben Nelson to insert highly restrictive abortion language into what appears to be an emerging health care reform bill that just might - might - make sense after all.

Reid’s right. This isn’t an abortion bill, and it would be criminal to derail health care reform over this issue.

Meanwhile, and I hope I’m not speaking too soon, it seems like the Senate is trudging ahead - nipping and tucking - toward a real bill.

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Senate healthcare bill: It may not be perfect, but ...

I guess I’m going to have to give in to the prevailing thought on the current healthcare reform bills - that they are going to be a damn sight better than what we don’t have now.

For all the naysayers: When even the freakin WSJ says it’s do-able, you’ve gotta let it go.

This came from Reid’s office today:

Washington, DC – Nevada Senator Harry Reid released the following statement today about the recent CBO analysis regarding how the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would affect the rising cost of premiums:

“One of the reasons that the Senate has made health insurance reform a top priority is because of skyrocketing health insurance premiums that are breaking the backs of American families.  The most recent analysis that we received from the CBO today strengthens our belief that the Senate reform proposal will bring security and stability to American families and will stem the tide of rising premiums.”

“Most Americans will see lower premiums as a direct result of reform.  In addition, small businesses would see a reduction in premiums for their employees because of the tax credits included in the Senate proposal.  Today’s analysis confirms that millions of Americans who lack the necessary coverage to avoid potential financial ruin would have access to more coverage at an affordable price because of our proposal.

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Clif Notes: Why the Baucus bill bites

Hey, don’t just take my word for it that the Senate bill should be given a failing grade. Let’s take a look at the opinions of a few folks who think about this stuff for a living, as posted on The NewYorkTimes:     

Jacob S. Hacker is a professor of political science at Yale and the author of “The Great Risk Shift: The New Economic Insecurity and the Decline of the American Dream.”

To be successful, health care reform has to be constructed on three strong pillars: personal responsibility, shared responsibility and shared risk. Unfortunately, all three of these pillars are dangerously weak in Senator Baucus’s proposed legislation. In the Sisyphean search for a grand bipartisan deal that will not occur, Senator Baucus has produced a bad bill that will leave too many Americans without affordable quality coverage and do too little to ensure health security over the long term.

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Well done, Max. You gave away the store and got zip.

Yes, indeedy, the Senate version of the big, the bad health care reform bill is due out Wednesday … which may mean today for some of you readers.

As my hero, Foghorn Leghorn woulda said about Max Baucus: “… the boys’ about as sharp as a sack of wet mice.”

This is the bill that Democrats in the Senate just had to give away everything including their knickers in order to get the all important bipartisan support, meaning three Republicans that were brought up to the front of the class to help.

Mike Enzi of Wyoming ( why, oh why did he ever leave Wyoming? ), Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Olympia Snowe of Maine all participated in this sham … and gave zip in return, according to early returns by those in the know. I actually had hopes for Snowe. Dashed.

Nada. Nothing. Up yours.

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