Peggy Noonan: Common Sense May Sink ObamaCare - WSJ.com

I suspect voters, the past few weeks, have been giving themselves an internal Q-and-A that goes something like this:

Will whatever health care bill is produced by Congress increase the deficit? “Of course.”
Will it mean tax increases? “Of course.” Will it mean new fees of fines? “Probably.” Can I afford it right now? “No, I’m already getting clobbered.”
Will it make the marketplace freer and better? “Probably not.”
Is our health care system in crisis? “Yeah, it has been for years.”
Is it the most pressing crisis right now? “No, the economy is.”
Will a health-care bill improve the economy? “I doubt it.”
Peggy Noonan: Common Sense May Sink ObamaCare - WSJ.com

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Health-Care Reform Would Cost Seniors and Young People Plenty - WSJ.com

And the officially designed screwees are:

• Small Businesses. Employers who don’t provide coverage will have to pay a tax up to 8% of their payroll. Yet those who do provide coverage also have to pay the tax—if the law says their coverage is not “adequate.” Amazingly, even if a small business provides adequate insurance but its employees choose coverage in another plan offered through the government, the employer still must pay.

• Health Savings Account (HSA) holders. Eight million Americans, according to the Treasury Department, are covered by plans with low-cost premiums and high deductibles that are designed for large, unexpected medical costs. Money is also set aside in a savings account to cover the deductibles, and whatever isn’t spent in one year can build up tax-free. Nearly a third of new HSA users, according to Treasury figures, previously had no insurance or bought coverage on their own.

These policies will be severely limited. The Senate plan says a policy deemed “acceptable” must have insurance (rather than the individual) pay out at least 76% of the benefits. The House plan is pegged at 70%. That’s not the way these plans are set up to work. Ray Ramthun, who implemented the HSA regulations at the Treasury Department in 2003, says the regulations are crippling. “Companies tell me they could be forced to take products off the market,” he said in an interview.

• Medicare Advantage users. Mr. Obama and Congressional Democrats want to cut back this program—care provided by private companies and subsidized by the government. Medicare Advantage grew by 15% last year; 10.5 million seniors, or 22% of all Medicare patients, are now enrolled.
Health-Care Reform Would Cost Seniors and Young People Plenty - WSJ.com

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Kausfiles : Another Reason to Delay Orszagism

Wisdom from Kaus (a fan of a government plan, btw): "Everytime a politician calls his reform "comprehensive" I look for the dangerous part that doesn't have to be there..."
Kausfiles : Another Reason to Delay Orszagism

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Is Ann Althouse the perfect woman?

Alas, no. She's a lawyer. But she comes close!
Althouse: "It's time to stand up with the President and fight back against this disastrous brand of old-style politics."

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