The Republicans had an astounding victory in the first skirmish in the Obamacare battle on Wednesday. The Democrats had deviously tried to buy the votes of America's doctors by giving them a vote on a bill specifically bribing physicians to a tune of 1/4 of a TRILLION dollars. The Democrats were hoping to buy the support of doctors for Obamacare -- with its onerous government option which the left-wing fringe of the Democrat Party desparately want -- by giving doctors a $250 billion adjustment on Medicare reimbursement rates (spread over 10 years.)
The Democrats' duplicitous plan, called the "Medicare Physicians Fairness Act" or commonly called "the Doc Fix" bill, was turned back with the votes of every single Republican Senator yesterday and with the help of 12 Democrats and one Independent; 47-53 [2]. Even liberal Senator Olympia Snowe from Maine -- the only Republican who voted for the least left-wing bill which was passed by the Senate Finance Committee by a 13-10 margin -- voted no on the Democrats' Doc Fix bill.
The left-wing "New York Times" was forced to admit that the loss was a huge blow to the Democrat Party and to the president's hopes to pass his Obamacare socialized medicine bill. The NYT said: "Democrats lost a big test on health care legislation on Wednesday as the Senate blocked action on a bill to increase Medicare payments to doctors at a cost of $247 billion over 10 years."
Just before the vote on Wednesday, the leader of the Republicans in the Senate, Senator Mitch McConnell from Kentucky, issued the following statement: "Americans are increasingly alarmed by the expansion of our national debt and this spending binge that we're putting on the national credit card. They're asking us to do what they've been doing: they want us to take out the scissors and cut the charge card.
"They want us to live within our means so their children and grandchildren don't wake up one morning to find the American Dream buried under an avalanche of debt. Our fiscal situation has simply spiraled out of control. And yet now the proponents of this measure want to put another quarter of a trillion dollars on the federal credit card. Republicans offered a fiscally responsible way to prevent a pay cut to Medicare doctors. It was rejected."
Indeed, the Chairmen of the 100-plus-member conservative Republican Study Committee in the House of Representatives, Congressman Tom Price from Georgia, a medical doctor, said this about the Democrats' bill to bribe physicians: "Democrats have resorted to political extortion to get their broader health care plan across the finish line. To preserve medical access for our seniors, it is imperative that physicians receive appropriate reimbursements for the care they provide. Yet, it is shameful that Democrat leaders would use this issue as a bribe to attract support for a health care bill that will erode the ability of doctors and patients to make independent medical decisions.
"Physicians should take note of the remarkably cynical attitude Democrats in Congress have of the role they play in the American health care system. Doctors are being asked to trust a bunch of politicians in Washington who simply haven't earned that trust. Physicians are the backbone of care in this country and they are being treated just like another special interest pawn to implement a government takeover of the health care system.
And Congressman Price wrote about the commonsense Republican alternative to Obamacare: "Rather than budget gimmicks, the American people are looking for an honest approach to health care reform. The Republicans Study Committee has put forth a comprehensive health care solution that provides proper reimbursement for physicians and keeps control of the system in the hands of patients and their doctors, without adding to the deficit. While Democrats have roundly ignored our efforts toward positive reform, we hope they will work with us to pass a responsible solution for physician reimbursements and health care reform as a whole."
After the unprecedented lobbying blitz by the president and almost his entire government, the first major installment of Obamacare has been soundly defeated with a healthy bipartisan vote against it. The United States Senate needs to defeat the rest of this onerous legislation when it comes up for a vote during the next few weeks.
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