What Others Are Saying

As the debate heats up in the Senate more and more people are speaking out, voicing their concerns about the pending legislation. Below are just a few quotes that we thought deserved repeating.

“What Others Are Saying”
Reactions to the Senate Health Care Reform Bill

“These bills, as they stand, are budget-busters.”
David Broder, “A budget-buster in the making,” The Washington Post, November 22, 2009

“[T]here are no provisions to substantively control the growth of costs or raise the quality of care. So the overall effort will fail to qualify as reform…. In discussions with dozens of health-care leaders and economists, I find near unanimity of opinion that, whatever its shape, the final legislation that will emerge from Congress will markedly accelerate national health-care spending rather than restrain it. Likewise, nearly all agree that the legislation would do little or nothing to improve quality or change health-care's dysfunctional delivery system.”
Dr. Jeffrey S. Flier, dean of Harvard University Medical School, “Health „Reform‟ Gets A Failing Grade,” The Wall Street Journal, November 17, 2009

“[T]here's not much reform in this bill. As of now, it's basically a big entitlement expansion, plus tax increases.”
Robert Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition, “A budget-buster in the making,” The Washington Post, November 22, 2009

“While this bill does a better job than the House version at reducing the deficit and controlling costs, it still doesn't do enough…. I worry about what the final bill will look like.”
Maya MacGuineas, president of the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, “A budget-buster in the making,” The Washington Post, November 22, 2009

“About the best that can be said about the Senate health care bill that Harry Reid revealed this week is that it's marginally less destructive than the House monster. By a hair. Its $1.2 trillion cost (more like $2.5 trillion if you discount the accounting gimmicks), multiple and damaging new taxes, and new regulations will make health insurance more expensive for most Americans while reducing the quality of medical care.”
Editorial, “The End of HSAs,” The Wall Street Journal, November 23, 2009

“What a good country or a good squirrel should be doing is stashing away nuts for the winter. The United States is not only not saving nuts, it‟s eating the ones left over from the last winter.” William H. Gross, managing director of the Pimco Group, “Wave of Debt Payments Facing U.S. Government,” The New York Times, November 22, 2009

“Americans shouldn't be fooled by this play-acting. The only way to improve this bill is to defeat it and start over.”
Editorial, “The Senate‟s Health-Care Act,” The Wall Street Journal, November 22, 2009

“Recently, the White House signaled that it will get serious about reducing the deficit next year – after it locks into place massive new health care entitlements. This is a recipe for disaster, as it will create a new appetite for increased spending and yet another powerful interest group to oppose deficit-reduction measures…. the bills are fiscally dishonest, using every budget gimmick and trick in the book: Leave out inconvenient spending, back-load spending to disguise the true scale, front-load tax revenues, let inflation push up tax revenues, promise spending cuts to doctors and hospitals that have no record of materializing, and so on…. Getting long-term budgets under control is hard enough today. The job will be nearly impossible with a slew of new entitlements in place.”
Douglas Holtz-Eakin, “The Coming Deficit Disaster,” The Wall Street Journal, November 20, 2009