Healthcare: two reasons the Obama Admin needs to push legislation this year

By Steve Collier, Colorado Springs

Recently, I posted a response to a story on Politico (www.politico.com) about why Obama ad his administration knows why if universal healthcare is not passed this year. I thought you all might find it intriguing:

Why would we need to press so hard on health care in the context of "now or never?" Don't get me wrong, the need to solve this healthcare question is critical. But if the country has waited this long, why can't we wait until a robust debate has been completed on healthcare reform? It seems to me, gauging the political and economic climates, Obama wants healthcare passed before Labor Day because of two, distinct reasons:

1) From a political standpoint, 42 percent of Americans favor "every one in the United States having free health care". 44 percent oppose. (according to a Rasmussen poll dated May 18, 2009). But, by almost 2-to-1 margin, Americans "reject free health care for all if it means changing their own coverage and joining a program administered by the government." President Obama knows this, and the only way for the government to step in and administer health care at the rate he feels it could, would be a competitve federal healthcare system. The problem there is, as we see with the bailout of companies and the banks, the federal government's coffers are much deeper than any insurance companies. How long would it take for the FEDGOV to bankrupt national healthcare, much like Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid? In the end, only the FEDGOV healthcare could compete in that market, with private health insurance companies going the way of the Edsel. And then, to save money, who do you think will regulate healthcare? I'm sure a non-taxpaying healthcare czar would be appointed to oversee.

2) From an economic standpoint. We read the news each day. Tax revenue for the nation is at one of its lowest points in history. With no tax money coming in, programs either need to be slashed to compensate, or, we do what is being done now: deficit spending. Spend what you don't have to fund what shouldn't be funded. That's the Democratic Congress right now (Repubs can be blamed as well). But as the economic crisis continues, and we move deeper into the recession, Obama knows he needs to pass the legislation on healthcare this year because if it is held off until 2010, the American people will be galvanized by the tremendous debt the nation suffers from, as well as by projected inflation expected to kick in going into Fiscal year 2010.

If Obama doesn't get the healthcare legislation this year, all bets may be off. But it's a perfect storm for anti-government healthcare: The executive and legislative branches are held by liberals dominately, and arguably by far-lefter liberals than most. If conservatives (BlueDog Dems and Repubs) can't stop the legislative, it's game over for free-markets and hello to a quasi-socialist healthcare system.