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Welcome to government-directed health care

There are glaring problems in this industry that pose a great threat to our citizens. However, having the government taking control is not the answer to better health or better access to health care.

By Sharon Alt | Updated on April 22, 2010

After seeing the reaction to my thoughts on the passage of the health care bill, I have decided to dedicate another posting to this topic. Many Americans did not want the reconciliation bill to pass, as was evident by the protests at hundreds (if not thousands) of town hall meetings during the summer congressional recess. Several who did favor the bill disagreed loudly with much of what I said in my last post. I felt some of the comments were lacking in specifics and were driven purely by emotion. While I welcome criticism on my posts, I believe a productive exchange of ideas must be based on specifics.

I welcome people to challenge me with regard to bipartisan support for this bill; however, the record shows bipartisan support was not present for this reconciliation bill. Democrats did not have support within their own party. Back room deals were needed to get support from within the Democrats’ own ranks – not the conservatives. If there had been any measure of support from Republicans, there would have been no need to eschew transparency in favor of vote buying. One of these sweet deals went to Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) for the new Louisiana Purchase. This deal initially allocated $100 million in exchange for her wavering vote. Unfortunately for taxpayers, Landrieu’s “yes” vote did not become solid until an additional $200 million was promised.

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