Video: Obamacare on its way
posted at 5:55 pm on March 5, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
Fox News interviews Clintonista John Podesta, who took part in Barack Obama’s “summit” on health care today. Watch as he answers the question of how this differs from Hillary Clinton’s notorious nationalization plan. Podesta basically concedes that the only thing that’s changed is the nation, not the plan:
Keep an eye on the Dow indicators while Podesta talks. Podesta says that the economy needs health-care reform before we can have an economic recovery, but the people with the most at stake in the economy don’t seem encouraged.
Plus, I’d challenge Podesta on his assertion that the American health-care system falls far short of other Western countries. We create more therapies than any other system, in large part because the private sector will engage in risk-taking that governments avoid. I doubt that will continue under Obamacare.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Comment pages: 1 2 Next »
Another asshole.
singlemalt_18 on March 5, 2009 at 5:57 PM
Look what Obama has done for the stock market. Impressed huh? Wll, yah ain’t seen nothin yet!
MB4 on March 5, 2009 at 5:58 PM
That’s why world movers, from all corners of the world come here for health care…you want a heart by-pass, or brain surgery? You want to be here in the good ol U.S…
right2bright on March 5, 2009 at 5:58 PM
Exactly, I would vote for National Health Care, if it included removing all these assholes from Washington…I would even pay the co-pay…
right2bright on March 5, 2009 at 6:00 PM
Reagan wanted to bring back the liberty of the founding fathers. Obama wants to bring back the health care of the founding fathers.
MB4 on March 5, 2009 at 6:00 PM
Why do libs look so unhappy and …..ugly?
grapeknutz on March 5, 2009 at 6:00 PM
Obama may be on to something. The longer he is in office and my life savings disappears, the more likely it is that I will need healthcare.
Star20 on March 5, 2009 at 6:00 PM
Its not OBAMACARE its OBAMACOVERAGE.
Because the dems have always been focused on who is covered in a plan. Not on what care is given in a plan.
Because the problem with national health CARE is that the last word is really to be left out. National health plans usually have lower care given. Its the law of diminising returns you can put more into health care but that doesnt iuncrease resources it drains them. Putting more people into the system means that the system becomes overburdened and less productive not more.
William Amos on March 5, 2009 at 6:00 PM
At what point will we need to cross the line of civil obedience like our founders?
smfoushee on March 5, 2009 at 6:00 PM
We are all going to Die!!!
Firebird on March 5, 2009 at 6:01 PM
Calling Michael Steele.
Calling Michael Steele.
WILL SOMEBODY FROM THE GOP GROW A PAIR AND PICK UP THE F@#()$ BALL!?!
Skywise on March 5, 2009 at 6:02 PM
Destroying and demonizing wealth; disincentivizing risk. What a wonderful economy we will have!
besser tot als rot on March 5, 2009 at 6:02 PM
Now.
Skywise on March 5, 2009 at 6:02 PM
Bingo. Broke the code.
johnsteele on March 5, 2009 at 6:02 PM
ight2bright on March 5, 2009 at 6:00 PM
LOL :)
catlady on March 5, 2009 at 6:05 PM
Obamacare:
Bloodletting,visionaries,leeches. Hooray.
portlandon on March 5, 2009 at 6:06 PM
Bollocks
Badbrucskie on March 5, 2009 at 6:06 PM
indeed….he will NOT be repeating Billy Jeff’s mistake of letting this fester….
payback will be grim and a joy.
sven10077 on March 5, 2009 at 6:06 PM
I absolutely hate the idiot stealing the air in the oval office right now.
The only bright side to this is that I believe that this will be his biggest mistake and will begin the implosion of the democratic party.
When Americans, who are so used to getting help NOW, have to wait until a government worker decides whether or not they can have treatment or someone has to watch their elderly parent suffer and die because “that is part of the aging process” and “they need to accept a HOPELESS diagnosis and die quietly” they will turn on the idiot but fast.
Ltlgeneral64 on March 5, 2009 at 6:07 PM
The line’s been crossed…
REVOLUTION
timajin on March 5, 2009 at 6:07 PM
Good. They can patch up our wounded during the revolution.
*Sharpens pitchfork*
Lets Start A War……
HornetSting on March 5, 2009 at 6:08 PM
Trying to think of the last time a major world leader went to the Mayo Clinic in Budapest, or the Cleveland Clinic in Canada, to take care of a life-threatening illness…nope, can’t think of any.
If all those celebrities out in L.A. think other countries’ health care is so wonderful, why is there a waiting line at Cedars-Sanai every day of the week?
Problem really is is that we are giving away so much free health care…to illegals, sex-change operations for prison inmates, and such, that people who are actually working and paying for a health care plan find their out of pocket expenses and increased state taxes, so hospitals can make up for their losses, make many of us want to drop our expensive health care plans and do what more and more people are doing…show up at the ER and claim indigence.
Hillary-Care? Obama-Care?
Care? Not about us.
coldwarrior on March 5, 2009 at 6:08 PM
Notice how he’s in Such a Hurry to crank all this sh_t out?
He knows he won’t last–by 2010 he won’t have Congress, and public opinion will be strongly against him by them
in the meantime, he’s Chicken Little……
Janos Hunyadi on March 5, 2009 at 6:08 PM
Unfrigginbelievable! We already have a bad doctor shortage here in Florida. Who’s gonna want to go to 8 years of med school to become a gov’t doctor? Maybe by then, people won’t be given a choice.
ornery_independent on March 5, 2009 at 6:09 PM
….singlemalt….a good whiskey? Any suggestions?
HornetSting on March 5, 2009 at 6:09 PM
OK, how to kill this StealthCare junk? It HAS to be killed.
ddrintn on March 5, 2009 at 6:10 PM
Pardonme but we are watching the beginning of the end.
Podesta has been testing, in concert with G. Soros, all these special programs for the past 8 years. The programs that Obama is presenting with the destruction of our system as the final goal. It would be interesting to learn how much Soros’ bank account has grown while the people’s savings have disappeared.
Pardonme on March 5, 2009 at 6:10 PM
there’s 2 minutes of my life I will never get back.. I shoul dhave know clicking that video would be an absolute waste
gatorboy on March 5, 2009 at 6:10 PM
Kiss the elderly good-bye…
OmahaConservative on March 5, 2009 at 6:10 PM
Because that is what the government does, Provides things cheaper.
WTF?
TheSitRep on March 5, 2009 at 6:11 PM
Maybe it’ll hit 5000 next week? Obama and Podesta will be overjoyed.
ddrintn on March 5, 2009 at 6:11 PM
Janos, by 2010 we will only have the military to depend on
clnurnberg on March 5, 2009 at 6:11 PM
I wonder if this is what the euroweeners wanted a bankrupt US with a GREAT BIG MILITARY.
clnurnberg on March 5, 2009 at 6:12 PM
Trust me on this. I certainly know a quack when I see one and that Obama of yours is a quack. Is he even board certified? Or is his medical license another one of those things that he won’t let anybody see? If he actually does have a medical license is it from Hawaii or Kenya?
Sigmund on March 5, 2009 at 6:12 PM
BO must think we’re stupid. The economy will remain in the crapper as long as his policies limit growth. But, now to blame the crappy economy on the fact we don’t have nationalized healthcare is idiotic.
When will AMERIKA wake up?
jbh45 on March 5, 2009 at 6:12 PM
He can’t diddle the Dow with a TelePrompter. Skin in the game,….er, correction,.. soon not to be in the game. He’s going to have to work some magic with the unemployment figures here pretty soon.
a capella on March 5, 2009 at 6:12 PM
And with what mysterious money are we supposed to pay for this crap? Zimbabwebucks?
Note to Zero: WE’RE BROKE!
Oh… and fire that jerk Geithner.. he can peddle his “green energy” tricycle home.
In summary,
OBAMA IS WATERBOARDING OUR ECONOMY!
TexasJew on March 5, 2009 at 6:13 PM
Hear, hear. If the GOP can’t get up for this, they’re worse than worthless.
ddrintn on March 5, 2009 at 6:13 PM
Only when the press (full of dems and their bedmates) sours on his lovely baritone voice
clnurnberg on March 5, 2009 at 6:14 PM
Soon you Americans will be coming to Russia for your medical care.
PootyPoot on March 5, 2009 at 6:14 PM
I work in healthcare and you’d be amazed at the number of younger physicians buying into this crap (in part) because of the promise of electronic medical records.
moxie_neanderthal on March 5, 2009 at 6:14 PM
Buh bye, pharmaceutical industry. Buh bye, biotechnology industry.
Dr.Cwac.Cwac on March 5, 2009 at 6:14 PM
Someone needs to tell the Liberals that the Progressive Era is over. It had its heyday in the 20th century and what we’re experiencing now are its violent death throes.
So what if this foolish President and his foolish Congress pass a nationalized health care plan? Long-term the Conservative counterrevolution will come and clean this mess up.
The Liberal agenda has always been about self-aggrandizing power. The latest iteration of this is health care. These foolish people will say anything to get it enacted.
But it’s a lost cause, Libbies. Your days of a monolithic media sycophantically supporting you, of legitimate academics singing your praises, and of grown-up politicians constituting your party are over. Instead you have the likes of Matt Lauer and Chris Matthews, Noam Chomsky and Cornel West, and Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama. A sorry lot you’ve become, where once you were like giants.
Health care is the last gasp of you people. And you won’t be missed once you’re gone!
EMD on March 5, 2009 at 6:15 PM
The time is ripe to screw, press, squeeze and crush the American people.
Just give a million dollar check to every citizen of the US,, give it every 5 years and we would no longer need a single government program!! Not a single one!! If wealth distribution works then send us all a check!! Make us all millionaires and we can pay for our own insurance, our own homes, our own groceries, heating bills, school lunches and education!!! Government could send us all million dollar checks every 5 years and pay for it by eliminating all these other programs!!! If that kind of wealth distribution will not work then neither will anything else!!! Sending million dollar checks would cost the government almost nothing compared to all that has been spent on the war on poverty!!! Make us all millionaires and there would be no poverty!!!
Why people do not make this point I do not understand!!!!
They are spending trillions of dollars to help the poor,,,,, while they could eliminate the poor by spending only $300,000,000 every 5 years!!!
It’s all fraud and it’s sickening!!!!
JellyToast on March 5, 2009 at 6:16 PM
I cannot imagine the quality of care – or just the paper shuffling administration of it – given by drone employees similar to the ones who have a hard time delivering my mail correctly.
tru2tx on March 5, 2009 at 6:16 PM
“this Obama of YOURS”
Was machst du hier, Sigmund? Bist du ein Artz? Einer Deutscher Artz?
Kennst du Amerikaner Politik–wirklich?
Janos Hunyadi on March 5, 2009 at 6:17 PM
Soon you Americans will be coming to Russia for your medical care.
PootyPoot on March 5, 2009 at 6:14 PM
And why not?
The communist Chinese value investment and don’t even tax their capital gains – they’re much more capitalist and pro-free market than we are now!
TexasJew on March 5, 2009 at 6:17 PM
Take it from someone who grew with goverment-run health care:
It sucks. Care is horrible, waiting-lines even worse.
Break a leg? You might have to wait a couple of days or a week to get a cast on, so the the doctor will “re-break” your leg when you finally get in.
Get certain type of cancer? You’re probably dead unless you can afford to fly to some private clinic overseas.
And so on and so forth.
And the best of it all, it is even more expensive! Not only will your taxes go up tremendously, but you have to pay an ever increasing “deductible” every time you need care.
Norwegian on March 5, 2009 at 6:18 PM
Apparently they haven’t seen the remuneration schedules yet. It’ll sink in soon.
a capella on March 5, 2009 at 6:19 PM
OPPRESSIONO’PRESIDENT
Dr.Cwac.Cwac on March 5, 2009 at 6:19 PM
Tits on a boar, balls on a priest, damned flies and GOP leadership all worthless.
thomasaur on March 5, 2009 at 6:20 PM
My two favorites are Dewar’s Select 18 year old, and Johnny Walker Green.
The irony is that I have grown to prefer blended scotch whiskeys to the singlemalt varieties… Go figure!
They have significantly more complexity & character, unlike our ignorantly elected POTUS.
singlemalt_18 on March 5, 2009 at 6:20 PM
The original Logan’s Run was much better than this crappy remake that’s now in progress.
Dave Shay on March 5, 2009 at 6:21 PM
63% of Americans are complete idiots.
WisCon on March 5, 2009 at 6:22 PM
Obama knows that the economy will be destroyed by implementing all this socialism…especially at this juncture.
But he’s willing to throw all of us into a Depression just to get his ideas into law. Think long and hard about that.
Asher on March 5, 2009 at 6:26 PM
This is all connected to the lack of border enforcement. Soon we’ll find that 1 out of 3 doctors is an undocumented worker….doing the work American’s won’t do.
SPCOlympics on March 5, 2009 at 6:27 PM
Thank you, single. And you are right about the blended and the POTUS.
HornetSting on March 5, 2009 at 6:27 PM
Obama’s health care plan will work perfectly. I have worked it all out mathematically.
Let me see now, four times five is twelve, and four times six is thirteen, and four times seven is ….. Oh dear! We will all die at that rate! But the Obama multiplication table really doesn’t signify so let’s try Obama geography. Iraq borders Pakistan, the center of the Universe was Iraq but now it’s Afghanistan, America has 57 states, Minnesota is in the tropics. No, that’s all wrong! But Obama geography doesn’t really apply either, I’m certain! Let’s try Obama religion. God damn America! Jews were behind 9/11, Palestinians are victims, Saudi Arabia is our good friend and Islam is a great religion of peace. No, that’s all wrong too! Maybe if Obama just starts over and this time he reads the directions then perhaps directly he will be able to direct us all in the right direction.
Cheshire Cat on March 5, 2009 at 6:28 PM
When the “rich” (job ccreatrs and investors) are taxed out then what money tree is Pres. Obama going to pluck all this money from?
Yakko77 on March 5, 2009 at 6:28 PM
Hey Mommypundit,
RAPTURE!!
portlandon on March 5, 2009 at 6:29 PM
Bourbon…you need bourbon in times like these. I recommend a Jack Daniels product, Gentlemen Jack…or Eagle Rare, a private, single barrel bourbon. Makes you feel very warm inside and will help dull the sharp pain being administered to your backside by the current administration.
Wyznowski on March 5, 2009 at 6:32 PM
The time is ripe,…for a lot of things!
christene on March 5, 2009 at 6:32 PM
Obama is getting all this crap passed by blaming everything on the bad economy. “We need stimulus” “We need national healthcare” . Do it quick before the people wake the hell up and realize the emperor has no clothes…and neither does anyone else cause we’re broke.
Gulfcoastconservative on March 5, 2009 at 6:32 PM
FIFY
BacaDog on March 5, 2009 at 6:33 PM
We need to get out there quickly on this. There will be two results of Obamacare:
(1) More people will have crappy health care. Right now, probably 80% of the country has good health care and 20% have bad health care (because they’re uninsured or underinsured). If I had to guess, Obama would result in those 20% getting marginally better health care and 50-60% of the country experiencing a reduction in the quality and availability of health care. The wealthiest 20% will just buy private insurance and will get great care, just as they do in Canada, England, and France.
(2) The Democrats will permanently be in power. Once people are sucked into Obamacare, that will become the system. People will turn to government to increase benefits. There will be no ability to “roll back” Obamacare and go to a private system, because the government plan will crowd out private insurance — just as social security crowded out private pensions for most people.
Kind of a paradox. But we must get out and lobby against this 24 hours a day as hard and as furiously as we can. This is the future of our country and the future of our party we’re talking about here!
Outlander on March 5, 2009 at 6:33 PM
Hopefully once we have his precedency on life support, he will take it to one o’ dem gov’t hospitals for treatment.
ornery_independent on March 5, 2009 at 6:33 PM
Well free rectal exams for all. Forget the lube there will be no money for it.
I can’t see how we can have national health care unless we have money. Pretty soon there won’t be any money. So are all these doctors going to work for free.
I can’t see how any of this is going to work. We are hemorging fast and no one is stopping it. Health care will only add to it. Why can’t any of our leaders see this.
Brat4life on March 5, 2009 at 6:35 PM
Ich bin ein Brett zugelassener Quaken in allen Nationen. Folglich bin ich ein Experte an der Bestimmung der Quaken.
Sigmund on March 5, 2009 at 6:35 PM
Wyznowski on March 5, 2009 at 6:32 PM
Good Gaia…no.
A nice 12 to 14 year old Islay single; smoky, peaty, like drinking campfire wood.
Bishop on March 5, 2009 at 6:36 PM
Make no mistake, THEY are the ones that started it…
My collie says:
CyberCipher on March 5, 2009 at 6:37 PM
All this will do is cause doctors & patients to go underground and barter or do cash deals off the books.
izoneguy on March 5, 2009 at 6:37 PM
It’s for my hubby, a welcome home gift, he has Gentleman Jack, but have not heard of Eagle Rare, have to check into that…..after a long hard week on the road, nothing says I love you more than a bottle of good liquor and a box of fine cigars……geez, do I spoil him too much?
Better do it now, while we still have a home.
HornetSting on March 5, 2009 at 6:38 PM
Sigmund on March 5, 2009 at 6:35 PM
Are you a duck?
Bishop on March 5, 2009 at 6:38 PM
This is a horrible thing to say, but I am glad my parents are 88 and 86 years old. They will most likely be gone before I will have to watch them die because they could not get the medicine or procedure they needed. But I do have two older brothers who are in poor health and I am terrified for them.
I’m calling my orthopedist tomorrow to schedule an appointment to discuss a knee replacement. I would advise anyone who thinks they might need an elective procedure like this to do it NOW.
rockmom on March 5, 2009 at 6:38 PM
My domestic shorthair cat will stand with your collie.
She even has her own pitchfork. She hides it under her pelt.
HornetSting on March 5, 2009 at 6:39 PM
No one will want to grow up and be a doctor; No one will want to run a hospital. Under Obamacare you won’t make squat and it’s just won’t be worth the effort. But fear notl we’ll be able to import physicians from third world countries to take up the slack.
As for Big Pharma, the entire world benefits from the drugs they create, which they will no longer have any incentive to create.
Buy Danish on March 5, 2009 at 6:39 PM
They will make this illegal, like they do in most of Europe. We can’t have “the wealthy and connected” enjoying a better standard of care than “the rest of us.”
I am the daughter of a doctor and a nurse, and the ssiter of a nurse, and my heart is breaking.
rockmom on March 5, 2009 at 6:40 PM
When physicians start making less money and no longer have primary say in what tests and treatments may be utilized, not only will quantity of care go down, but also quality. Who wants to go to school for 8 to 10 years to be told by some bureaucrat how to do their job?
Gulfcoastconservative on March 5, 2009 at 6:41 PM
Sounds interesting…I knew if I asked on HA, I would drum up a plethora of info…..you guys know your liquor.
HornetSting on March 5, 2009 at 6:41 PM
The government has been involved in health care since 1965 at which time the cost spiral began. The government underpays (Medicare and Medicaid) so the private payors have to make up the difference, an additional tax on companies and individuals (cost shifting). This time it’s different, there won’t be anyone to whom the costs can be shifted and then the government will have to determine how much cost they will have each year. This logically proceeds to rationing of care or denial of procedures.
I don’t know the answer, no one does, and it may be an unsolvable problem, but Obama’s plans will lead to rationing, but more importantly it makes the government the arbritor of who gets what and that scares the hell out of me.
hip shot on March 5, 2009 at 6:41 PM
Under the Obama health plan all those who would previously have received a rectal exam will be formed into a circle and everyone will give the person in front of him/her an enema.
MB4 on March 5, 2009 at 6:41 PM
So, what’s it take to overthrow a big, stupid, liberal government? Is it revolution time yet?
ErinF on March 5, 2009 at 6:41 PM
Obama knows that the economy will be destroyed by implementing all this socialism…especially at this juncture.
But he’s willing to throw all of us into a Depression just to get his ideas into law. Think long and hard about that.
Asher on March 5, 2009 at 6:26 PM
The terrifying part is that Ogabe will never admit he was wrong. The stock market could dissolve, the economy could be in tatters, he could have his own people literally screaming in his ears to stop and Ogabe will not back down. His ego will not let him, ever.
This destruction will be ridden to the end and either the nation rises against him or he becomes a Chavez figure; pointing and directing, surrounded by sycophants.
Bishop on March 5, 2009 at 6:42 PM
… and I’d love to hear what the lib trolls on this blog think of all this “wonderful” chaos. Libs do thrive on chaos, after all.
ErinF on March 5, 2009 at 6:43 PM
People want to know why Rush has become a huge voice of the GOP?
Look at Obamas fake televised meeting- sitting right there with a stupid grin on his face is our Minority Whip Eric Cantor, a supposed rising star.
Time to declare opposition to this insanity you idiots, unless you like being lapdogs?
Wait, don’t answer that!
jjshaka on March 5, 2009 at 6:43 PM
Ich bin nichts aber ein Jagdhundhund.
Sigmund on March 5, 2009 at 6:44 PM
Just so long as we all agree that there will be NO truce this time. We accept no other terms for the surrender of our enemy other than unconditional surrender.
My collie says:
CyberCipher on March 5, 2009 at 6:45 PM
Obama and his merry band of lunatics will make “Idiocracy” look like the epitome of efficiency and effectiveness.
rplat on March 5, 2009 at 6:45 PM
Is all of this what Biden referred to during the campaign when he said there would be a crisis and it wouldn’t seem like their administration was doing the right thing(paraphrase)?
Gulfcoastconservative on March 5, 2009 at 6:45 PM
Huh?
Massive confusion.
Mommypundit on March 5, 2009 at 6:46 PM
Well, erin, we do have a gun and knife show here in NC this weekend. ha.
Mommypundit on March 5, 2009 at 6:47 PM
No surrender, but my domestic shorthair can still taunt said collie with the threat of Korea, suspended during battle, of course.
HornetSting on March 5, 2009 at 6:47 PM
8,570
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtEzi4bXXEA
christene on March 5, 2009 at 6:48 PM
It’s hard to laugh at that dangerous, incompetent lunatic but that one did it for me.
rplat on March 5, 2009 at 6:49 PM
Ich bin nichts aber ein Jagdhundhund.
Sigmund on March 5, 2009 at 6:44 PM
A hunting dog dog?
Bishop on March 5, 2009 at 6:50 PM
Are you as involved as you can be in movements like modernconservative.com or dontgo.org? We need to all be accountable for our square footage…all our neighbors. We cannot be afraid to have conversations with all sorts of people…and it is certainly high time that we start talking to the black community about their modern slave masters, the dem party. they deserve to know the truth. If we can say we are honestly doing all that we can in our individual towns/cities/counties and states, then, we can turn to active resistance happily. Let’s not resort to that when we have a lot of room left to oppose from the ground up. Run for school board…get involved.
Mommypundit on March 5, 2009 at 6:51 PM
I saw nothing. I heard nothing. I know nothing. I was not there. I did not even get up on any of the days Obama put together that health plan.
OberfeldwebelSchultz on March 5, 2009 at 6:52 PM
Comment pages: 1 2 Next »