In an ironic twist of events, in less than 24 hours that the American Medical Association (AMA) and AARP (American Association of Retired Person) took their stand of endorsing the House version of the Health Care Reform - the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in charge of unbiasly analyzing the different versions put forth thrashed the Republican's 11th hour version of Health Care Reform saying that it will not cover as much people as compared to the Democrat version. What's more stunning is not only does the Democrat version cover more people (36 million more vs. a measly 3 million more for the GOP version), the Dem version will actually decrease the budget deficit by $104 billion as compared to just $68 billion via the GOP version. In short, the Dem version (even though not perfect - no plan is! ) is far, far more a superior plan compared to the GOP plan.
It's ironic because we can actually see things forking out from these series of events that had unfolded. One gaining more momentum, while the other loosing steam.
Congressional Budget Office Thrashes Republican Health-Care Plan
Excerpts:
Republicans are learning an unpleasant lesson this morning: The only thing worse than having no health-care reform plan is releasing a bad one, getting thrashed by CBO and making the House Democrats look good in comparison
This is a major embarrassment for the Republicans. It's one thing to keep your cards close to your chest. Republicans are in the minority, after all, and their plan stands no chance of passage. It's another to lay them out on the table and show everyone that you have no hand, and aren't even totally sure how to play the game. The Democratic plan isn't perfect, but in comparison, it's looking astonishingly good.
*Read full article: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/11/congressional_budget_office_th.html
AMA, AARP back House health care bill
Excerpts:
Washington (CNN) -- The push to overhaul health care received a major boost Thursday as the American Medical Association and AARP endorsed legislation drafted by top House Democrats.
The AARP, the nation's largest organization of older Americans, is a nonpartisan group that advocates for people 50 and older. The AMA, historically an opponent of health care reform, is considered one the nation's most influential doctors' advocacy groups."I want to thank both organizations again for their support, and I urge Congress to listen to AARP, listen to the AMA and pass this reform for hundreds of millions of Americans who will benefit from it," President Obama said at the White House.
The backing of those two groups comes as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, oversees final changes to the $1.1 trillion health care bill. The measure likely will come to a final vote Saturday.
*Read full article: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/11/05/health.care/index.html
