The Brady Briefing

The problem, according to Humble Congressman Ted Poe, is President Obama is only paying lip service to the Republicans' ideas. "Any way you dress this up, it's still the government takeover of healthcare... It's like putting a Frenchman in a pair of boots; that doesn't make him a Texan."

The President says he's including provisions like healthcare savings accounts, and allowing insurance companies to cross state lines to sell their plans.

"He says he's willing to do something to allow states to sell health savings accounts through their exchanges, although the legislation itself would make that virtually impossible." Mike Tanner at the Cato Institute says President Obama plans to include tort reform for medical malpractice, but the allocated amount is so small, no one would notice.

Houston Congressman Pete Olson says the president is using the right terminology, but is still missing the point. "We need the details; certainly health savings accounts, it looks like he was talking about them to use for people who lack coverage. We should expand that to every American."

If the Democrats are determined to get healthcare done before the general election, they may use the so-called "nuclear option" - reconciliation. "It's clear that the President and Congressional Democrats don't want to sit down. They're going to force this through, through a procedure that really circumvents the will of the American public. I think this is a terrible mistake on their part." Woodlands Republican Kevin Brady says if Democrats go that route, he believes many of them will be looking for new jobs after the November election.

At every turn, the American people have emphatically told President Obama and Congressional Democrats: "No! We don’t want your trillion dollar, budget-busting government takeover of our health care." But this President continues to think we should traipse down his yellow brick road paved with borrowed tax dollars. After a series of bad polls, loud town halls, Capitol Hill protests, the loss of two key Governors races and a Republican nabbing the late Ted Kennedy’s senate seat, this White House and their supporters in Congress still don't get. 

Reality still hasn’t sunk in either at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue or under the Capitol Dome. The Party of Government, headquartered in Washington DC, still thinks that IT holds all the answers and Americans should just accept that and stop trying to look behind the curtain. In their minds, YOU are their main problem because YOU just don’t understand THEIR plan to have government make your health care decisions is what’s good for you.

Folks, that’s the thinking behind the President’s "photo-op health care summit today. Instead of being about listening or sharing ideas, it’s a public relations stunt designed to let the President appear to be taking the political high ground after months of broken promises and backroom deals. If that wasn't the case, then why didPresident Obama put out his “own” health care plan on Monday—a plan that’s just a warmed over version of the 2,000 page nightmare that passed the Senate without a single Republican vote?  Or for that matter, why would Obama Spokesman Robert Gibbs invite Republicans to share their health reform plan on the White House web site, months after it had already been posted there?

Sadly, the Party of Government isn’t interested in hearing any ideas that don’t put them in charge of your health care. If I were going to be in the room, I would be asking Speaker Pelosi a lot of "Why's?"

Why won’t Democrats support allowing Americans to buy health insurance across state lines? A national market for health insurance would solve the problem sinking California in a sea of red ink. Decades of price controls and government interference have driven health insurance premiums there through the roof, but instead of allowing all Americans ---including Californians-- the opportunity to shop for health insurance in other states where it’s cheaper, the Party of Government wants to anchor the entire country to what's already a sinking ship.

Why not support commonsense medical malpractice reform that curbs defensive medicine? We’ve seen it work in Texas where we’ve gained 17,000 new doctors have since tort reform was enacted.

Why not work to make health insurance more portable, more affordable, and more accessible for everyone? For months now, Republicans have been talking about ways to do all of this without creating another “Czar,” without spending trillions and impoverishing our children, without raising taxes and killing jobs in a recession, and without forcing Americans to lose their existing health insurance or wait in Canada-style lines to see a doctor. However, instead of listening, President Obama only wants us to participate in another photo-op.

This past week, CBS News and the New York Times put out a poll that showed only 6% of Americans believe that the President's Stimulus plan worked. While that number is amazingly low, it’s even lower than the number of people who believe Elvis is still alive (7% according to a poll conducted on the 25th Anniversary of Elvis' death).

Why would anyone give the same government bureaucrats that brought us the failed stimulus a blank taxpayer check to run their health care? Why? It makes you wish you could click your heels together three times chanting "there is no place like home" and end our nation's borrowing and spending nightmare once and for all.

Congressman Kevin Brady takes on Congressman Gene Green on the Health Care Summit on KTRH's Head 2 Head. Click here to listen. 

Kevin Brady was a guest on KSEV today speaking with Paul "The Taxman" Bettencourt.  Their discussion was about how to encourage real economic recovery and how the latest Obamacare plan from the White House is the wrong direction. Click here to listen.