Say Anything Blog

Senator Kent Conrad is back home here in North Dakota telling people that the government take over of health care is ok because non-North Dakotans will pay for it.

The Democratic senator says the Senate will offer amendments and improve the bill, specifically making it less costly than the version approved by the House of Representatives. However, he says the bill will not increase the national deficit.

(Sen. Kent Conrad / (D) - ND) “Who is going to pay for it? People earning over $250,000 a year will pay for a piece of it, people with insurance policies worth more than $23,000 a year, and by the way, there are almost no policies like that in North Dakota, Nursing Homes, home healthcare, unless you’re in those categories, you’re not paying for this bill.”

I like to call this the “used car salesman” approach to politics.  “It’s a great deal!  Zero financing!  NO MONEY DOWN!”

What a crock.

Whether many North Dakotans will find themselves under the government’s taxing thumb with this bill or not, the simple fact of the matter is that we are a national economy.  And that the government taking more money out of the economy from taxes - wherever they’re taking it from - hurts us all.

And, frankly, if we’re all getting this wonderful health care bill shouldn’t we all at least have some hand in paying for it?  If this bill is truly going to lower health care costs (it won’t) and lower the deficit (it won’t), shouldn’t we all have a hand in paying for it?  Why should we pretend it’s ok for all of us to get health care goodies at the expense of a few?

Shouldn’t we all pay for what we get?  Of course we should.  But that’s the problem Democrats have.  If Americans got the idea that their taxes were going to go up because of this bill (and they will, eventually) then they would support it even less than they already do.

By the way, this part of Conrad’s comments should send chills up your spine:

Senator Conrad says hospitals and pharmaceutical companies will accept lower reimbursement rates with the new bill.

Remember how liberals always tell us that the this health care bill is going to introduce competition into the health care markets through competition?  Well this is how the government competes.  This is how the government negotiates.  The private sector will accept lower rates.  Period.

Of course, with those lower rates come lower profits.  And with lower profits comes fewer talented doctors.  Fewer wonder drugs.  Fewer medical innovations.  Frankly, overall, a lower quality of health care.

And Senator Conrad acts as though that’s something to be proud of.