What Really Happened with the ‘Doc Fix’ and the Current Political Chess Game

by SusanAnne Hiller | June 29, 2010 2:18 pm

Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi revealed that she was indeed using our doctors as political leverage by not passing the Senate version of the doc fix–triggering a 21.2% pay reduction in the Medicare fee schedule.:  When Pelosi said she would not vote on the standalone version of the doc fix and blamed the Republicans, I pointed out that there was no need for a new jobs bill and that jobs should be falling out of the sky[1] with the $800 billion in stimulus and jobs money spent.:  I also explained what the real-world consequences[2]: of the 21% Medicare fee schedule cut would be and how devastating it would be to the healthcare industry and the only winner was the insurance industry.

So, after several days of dithering and blame-shifting and two days of Pelosi and her aides reading my posts explaining: these facts to them and pointing out her failures, Pelosi has come to grips with her limited knowledge of the healthcare industry and folded in the political game she was playing with our doctors and the healthcare industry.:  How else can you explain her quick turnaround in passing the Senate version of the doc fix[3] so quickly after the Senate failed to pass for the third time the additional: billions of deficit spending.

If there was any substance or principle behind her opposition, except to use our doctors as political pawns, her issues would have resonated in the House (and even the Senate), but according to the vote, which was 417-1, they didn’t–even within her own party.:  Both parties realized they had no option but to pass the doc fix–especially after I explained so succinctly to them how the Medicare fee schedule truly affects the entire healthcare industry.

I ask again, where are the jobs, Nancy[4]?:  Why do we need to keep extending unemployment benefits if what the Democrats passed in the stimulus and jobs bills were supposed to create “jobs, jobs, jobs”? : Seriously, America does deserve an answer, Nan.:  It was our tax money, not Monopoly money as President Obama so eloquently pointed out.: 

Americans are very tired of the Democrats telling them one thing, like the stimulus is going to create 4.1 million jobs[5], and then the “unintended consequences” happen.:  It is very apparent that the unintended consequences are actually the intentional results of all of the Obama-Peolsi: legislation passed–against the American people’s will–and Americans are waking up to the sham[6].

Additionally, Senate Democrats are attempting to figure out how to pass the remaining segments of the bill–including unemployment benefits.: :  It’s perplexing why Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) will not set a vote for Senator Debbie Stabenow’s standalone unemployment benefits bill[7] which Reid is playing “political chicken”[8] with:

Reid has said that he prefers to keep the unemployment benefits extension included in the broader “American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010? and that he intends to set that bill aside and move onto other business for the next few weeks in order to pressure Republicans to vote for the entire package of provisions when he does bring it to the floor.

Hmmm…that leads me to this conclusion::  Reid (and his MSM comrades) will demonize Republicans who vote against the “American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010” because after all, who wouldn’t want American jobs and also want to close tax loopholes for those evil corporations and greedy wealthy people.

However,: the House took up a vote[9]: on: standalone unemployment benefits, but fell: short[10] of the: 2/3 majority needed to pass the bill.:  : So, what’s next?:  The Stabenow bill?:  What’s the Democrats next move?:  Whatever it is, they will surely blame Republicans for their failure–even though they are the majority.

Original post at 73wire.com[11]

Endnotes:
  1. jobs should be falling out of the sky: http://biggovernment.com/sahiller/2010/06/23/no-pelosi-you-show-us-the-jobs/
  2. real-world consequences: http://biggovernment.com/sahiller/2010/06/24/thanks-nancy-what-the-doc-fix-failure-means-in-the-real-world/
  3. passing the Senate version of the doc fix: http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/medicare/105453-house-approves-six-month-doc-fix
  4. where are the jobs, Nancy: http://biggovernment.com/sahiller/2010/06/23/no-pelosi-you-show-us-the-jobs/
  5. create 4.1 million jobs: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28590554/
  6. waking up to the sham: http://hotair.com/archives/2010/06/23/nbcwsj-poll-americans-losing-faith-in-obama/
  7. Senator Debbie Stabenow’s standalone unemployment benefits bill: http://michiganmessenger.com/39147/stabenow-to-introduce-standalone-unemployment-extension-bill
  8. “political chicken”: http://coloradoindependent.com/56508/lawmakers-playing-political-chicken-with-unemployment-extension
  9. House took up a vote: http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=cqmidday-000003693082
  10. fell: short: http://www.opencongress.org/articles/view/1949-House-Rejects-Stand-Alone-Unemployment-Insurance-Bill
  11. 73wire.com: http://73wire.com/2010/06/what-really-happened-with-the-doc-fix-and-the-current-political-chess-game/

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