Just got word in that the Democrats seem to have overcome their so-called Blue Dog problem at least long enough to vote down any chance of stripping the “public option” from the Democrat sponsored Obamacare version of healthcare “reform” currently roiling the House of Reps.
U.S. Rep. Doctor Mike Burgess (R, Texas) tried to introduce an amendment that would strip the House bill of the public option. Burgess worries about the regressive price controls and rationing as well as the pressure that the public option would put on the medical and insurance industries that would, in the end, force millions of Americans to lose their current medical care plans — something President Obama keeps falsely claiming won’t happen.
So, as so many have said, don’t put your faith in the Blue Dogs to save us. They are still Democrats, after all.
WASHINGTON – Democrats united Thursday night to reject a Republican doctor’s advice to remove government-run health care from the Democratic health bill.
The sponsor, U.S. Rep. Mike Burgess of Texas, noted that newspapers brim with stories outlining the hardships suffered by people who have government health care under programs like Medicaid, the welfare program. If the Democrats’ bill is passed without change, “that would be the reality for millions more Americans who would be pushed onto the rolls of government-run health care,” he told the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
“I am committed to helping the millions of Americans who want coverage, and to lowering the costs for everyone,” the physician-congressman said. “I will not, however, allow that to come in the form of a slow but inevitable government takeover of our nation’s health care system.”
U.S. Rep. Christopher Murphy, D-Pa., defended government care against what he called “the bogeyman” of misunderstanding: “There’s nothing to be scared of. No one’s going to be forced onto the public option.”
He called the notion that people current have a choice of insurance “the mythology that’s out there,” adding that government-operated health care “is essential to injecting competitiveness into the health car market.”
The amendment and roll call tally can be found here.
Tags: dailydose, The Winning Line
