Point, Counter Point Weekly Addresses

The president used this latest weekly address to talk about health care. He spent the first half of the address to talk about a bill to create a patients bill of rights. It would give the patients the ability to choose a doctor, afford their premiums, and other nice sounding things. I don't know much about the bill. I don't know anyone that opposes these principles, and frankly it doesn't matter.

What's important is not a patients bill of rights. That could pass in ten minutes. What's important is the health care reform bill that Obama is trying to pass. That's what he spent the last two minutes of his address talking about. The president said the Congress is on the brink and they are. They appear to have sixty votes in the Senate. That vote may come this week. Then, it moves to the House.

The president called this the first time that Washington is standing up to the health insurance industry. He said it would make record cuts to the deficit. He said it would lower premiums. He said it would give everyone access. All of this is nonsense. The only reason it cuts the deficit is because it collects taxes right away and doesn't provide any services for years. Giving thirty million people access to health insurance they don't pay for won't lower but raise premiums.

John McCain delivered the response, and his response was also on health care. McCain rattled off the Republican talking points against Obamacare. McCain said the real cost of this bill is $2.4 trillion. That's what it would cost over the ten years that's it's in effect. That's correct. If you start in 2014, when the benefits first kick in, and price it out for the next ten years, that's the projection of the cost.

McCain said that this plan would raise costs not lower them. There's plenty of evidence of this and I explained it earlier. McCain bemoaned the partisan and secretive nature of the process. There's no doubt that the process has been both.

In fact, there's nothing that's been positive about this process. Obama is so determined to pass something that the Democrats are willing to make any deal with anyone to get that done. McCain listed many of the deals in his address.