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The Failure of Universal Healthcare: Example #18, Hawaii's Keiki Care

     Do you think someone in Congress will take notice of the failure of another Universal Healthcare failure. This failure comes from Hawaii, and the lesson learned? Gee, when the government steps in and offers a free or low cost example it crowds out private insurance. Normal, reasonable, average Joe's figure that if the cost of insurance A is $0.00 and B is $150.00, hmmm which one do you choose? Noone ever accused Congress of being rational and/or reasonable, eh?
     The following comes from Wizbang:

By Michael Laprarie on Health Care

Tonight's "Hannity" show on Fox News features an in-depth look at "Keiki Care", the attempt by the state government of Hawaii to implement a universal health insurance program.

From Griff Jenkins' blog at Fox:

[T]here are lessons in the land of pineapples that seem lost on its favorite son, Barack Obama.

Hawaii was the first state in the country to attempt universal health care. It was called "Keiki Care" (Keiki means Child in Native Hawaiian) and it was stopped seven short months after it began due to budgetary concerns. Republican Gov. Linda Lingle had signed it into law, but they soon found a whopping majority of those who wanted free health care already had been insured!

You don't hear the President talk about "Keiki Care" in his speeches. So our mission was simple: talk everyone in Hawaii and find out what happened in the Aloha State.

Here's more on last year's cancellation of Keiki Care:

Gov. Linda Lingle's administration cited budget shortfalls and other available health care options for eliminating funding for the program. A state official said families were dropping private coverage so their children would be eligible for the subsidized plan.

"People who were already able to afford health care began to stop paying for it so they could get it for free," said Dr. Kenny Fink, the administrator for Med-QUEST at the Department of Human Services. "I don't believe that was the intent of the program."

      Rationing of healthcare, long lines for care, bureaucrats making decisions instead of the patient and their doctor. Yep, that's what I want...
 
      The rush to get this done is what will ultimately be the failure to get it passed. Slow down and do it right. Start small and build upon success. Here's a place to start: electronic medical records which are accessible by doctor, clinics, hospitals, etc. If that will lower costs as President Obama promises, do it first. Then move on...
 
      Waterloo...Mr. President.
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Heh! Today's Fun...Gotta Laugh Once In A While

      My day pretty much stank...car broke down yesterday, so it's in the shop and I am sitting around watching an NCIS marathon on USA...I can't get anymore angry at the political process that is the Congress and the president...egad, I can't stomach watching his 'I'm right, you're wrong' arrogance on his press conference- so I certainly won't be watching that. So I got a couple of editoons for ya:
 
Political Cartoons by Michael Ramirez
 
Political Cartoons by Scott Stantis
 
Political Cartoons by Henry Payne
 
Political Cartoons by Jerry Holbert
 
     And it is only 3pm...
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The Farce That Is The Presidential Press Conference

     The president is having another prime time press conference. It seems he is tiring of the steadily falling support for his pet (nay, dare I say his waterloo? Oh, that one touched a nerve, eh?) project: HealthCare Reform. Not only is there eroding support for the reform, it is commensurate with a steady decline in presidential approval rating. According to Rasmussen the June approval rating was at a high of 58% and now stands at 51% (it has fallen as low as 50%).
     So much for bi-partisanship and the bringing together of a new politics, huh? There has been very little bi-partisanship as with the rush to cram-down the stimulus plan, the president and Reid/Pelosi Democratic Leadership are rushing to get HealthCare Reform done. Thank goodness there are a few Blue Dog Democrats who are holding out. I pray that they are holding out on principle and not for the gain of some political favors and/or gain.
     Which brings us back to the presidential presser. The president is going to come out swinging. It seems that Senator Demint touched a nerve when he called the HealthCare Reform President Obama's Waterloo. It certainly has proven to be an Albatross, as the longer HealthCare Reform is rushed through the lower approval ratings are going to go. There is only so much that American people are going to take when it comes to the game of politics. They tire when they are deceived or merely "mis-led."
     There needs to be a slowing down. There needs to be a debate. I thought that was one thing that Obama/Biden, and the Democrats promised in winning. New politics. Openness. Transparency. We got none with TARP and we are getting more of the same now. As details roll out about the proposals on the table (as far as anyone can really tell) the less the American people like the reform. I have always thought that the American people would not tolerate a full nationalized healthcare system.
     Hearing that there will be a committee of bureaucrats and politicians deciding which procedures will be necessary, cost-effective is too much to bear. That smacks of socialism. There will be a severe backlash if the reform passes in the form it is; just asking legislators to read the darn thing is problematic enough.
     Let's have the debate. Let's get true reform not just a political notch on the belt...
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