Ann Coulter: I'LL PASS ON "OPTING OUT"

AnnCoulter.com ^ | October 28, 2009 | Ann Coulter

[RonDog]

I'LL PASS ON 'OPTING OUT'
October 28, 2009

The Democrats' all-new "opt out" idea for health care reform is the latest fig leaf for a total government takeover of the health care system.

Democrats tell us they've been trying to nationalize health care for 65 years, but the first anyone heard of the "opt out" provision was about a week ago. They keep changing the language so people can't figure out what's going on.

The most important fact about the "opt out" scheme allegedly allowing states to decline government health insurance is that a state can't "opt out" of paying for it. All 50 states will pay for it. A state legislature can only opt out of allowing its own citizens to receive the benefits of a federal program they're paying for.

It's like a movie theater offering a "money back guarantee" and then explaining, you don't get your money back, but you don't have to stay and watch the movie if you don't like it. That's not what most people are thinking when they hear the words "opt out." The term more likely to come to mind is "scam."

While congressional Democrats act indignant that Republicans would intransigently oppose a national health care plan that now magnanimously allows states to "opt out," other liberals are being cockily honest about the "opt out" scheme.

On The Huffington Post, the first sentence of the article on the opt-out plan is: "The public option lives."

Andrew Sullivan gloats on his blog, "Imagine Republicans in state legislatures having to argue and posture against an affordable health insurance plan for the folks, as O'Reilly calls them, while evil liberals provide it elsewhere..."

CLICK HERE for more

[RonDog]

Syncro is "on the road again" -- so he asked me to post Ann's column this week.

And, from her classic TIME magazine cover story (4/25/05), here's Ann:

[RonDog]

Here's MORE from www.anncoulter.com:

...But the only reason government health insurance will be more "affordable" than private health insurance is that taxpayers will be footing the bill.

That's something that can't be opted out of under the "opt out" plan.

Which brings us right back to the question of whether the government or the free market provides better services at better prices.

There are roughly 1 million examples of the free market doing a better job and the government doing a worse job.

In fact, there is only one essential service the government does better: Keeping Dennis Kucinich off the streets... - Ann Coulter

[Sergio]

Ann...sweetheart...eat a cheeseburger...please.

[Talisker]

While congressional Democrats act indignant that Republicans would intransigently oppose a national health care plan that now magnanimously allows states to "opt out," other liberals are being cockily honest about the "opt out" scheme.

Leftists believe that their ability to lie - to obfuscate, misdirect, confuse and hide - is, literally, infinite. Deceit is their true god, and their genuine attitude towards the possibility that they might actually have to face the real God someday is simply that they'll look straight into the face of God and lie their way out of it.

Lying is the Leftist truth. Lying is the Leftist power. Of them in John 8:44, Jesus said: "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies."

[RonDog]

...Sometimes the evidence for the superiority of the free market is hidden in liberals' own obtuse reporting.

-- snip --

As the Times reported: "In some dermatologists' offices, freer-spending cosmetic patients are given appointments more quickly than medical patients for whom health insurance pays fixed reimbursement fees."

As the kids say: Duh -- Ann Coulter

Sorry for only posting snippets of Ann here...

...but I understand that Ann REALLY likes it when FReepers go to her website to read her columns.

At least, that's what Syncro tells me. :o)

[RonDog]

Ann...sweetheart...eat a cheeseburger...please.

Give it a rest.

Ann has ALWAYS been thin.

Here's a picture from her college days, where she looked almost exactly the same as she does today:

[alloysteel]

1. You can’t win;
2. You can’t break even; and
3. You can’t even get out of the game.

Worst poker night EVER.

You are hereby directed to the tale of “Br’er Rabbit and the Tar Baby”. (Can we still refer to that dreadful tale without being called “racist”?)

Br’er Fox constructs a lump of tar and puts clothing on it. When Br’er Rabbit comes along he addresses the “tar baby” amiably, but receives no response. Br’er Rabbit becomes offended by what he perceives as Tar Baby’s lack of manners, punches it, and becomes stuck. Now that Br’er Rabbit is stuck, Fox ponders how to dispose of him. The helpless, but cunning, Br’er Rabbit pleads, “Please don’t throw me in the briar patch,” prompting Fox to do exactly that. As rabbits are at home in thickets, the resourceful Br’er Rabbit escapes.

Not all of us are at home in a briar patch.

[RonDog]

Lying is the Leftist truth.

Lying is the Leftist power.

Of them in John 8:44, Jesus said: "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him.

When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies."

Bingo!

It sounds like you've read THIS:

[RonDog]

1. You can’t win;
2. You can’t break even; and
3. You can’t even get out of the game.

Worst poker night EVER.

LOL!

I thought that those were the Laws of Thermodynamics -- but POKER works, too!

What we need to do is, to re-write the program, so that their "no win" solution is no longer the ONLY solution. :o)

[parisa]

In fact, there is only one essential service the government does better: Keeping Dennis Kucinich off the streets... - Ann Coulter

LOL! You gotta love this girl!

[RonDog]

I am going to be away from the Internet for a while...

...so here is Ann's ENTIRE column for this week...

...from www.anncoulter.com -- for those who cannot, or will not, go to Ann's site directly:

I'LL PASS ON 'OPTING OUT'
October 28, 2009

The Democrats' all-new "opt out" idea for health care reform is the latest fig leaf for a total government takeover of the health care system.

Democrats tell us they've been trying to nationalize health care for 65 years, but the first anyone heard of the "opt out" provision was about a week ago. They keep changing the language so people can't figure out what's going on.

The most important fact about the "opt out" scheme allegedly allowing states to decline government health insurance is that a state can't "opt out" of paying for it. All 50 states will pay for it. A state legislature can only opt out of allowing its own citizens to receive the benefits of a federal program they're paying for.

It's like a movie theater offering a "money back guarantee" and then explaining, you don't get your money back, but you don't have to stay and watch the movie if you don't like it. That's not what most people are thinking when they hear the words "opt out." The term more likely to come to mind is "scam."

While congressional Democrats act indignant that Republicans would intransigently oppose a national health care plan that now magnanimously allows states to "opt out," other liberals are being cockily honest about the "opt out" scheme.

On The Huffington Post, the first sentence of the article on the opt-out plan is: "The public option lives."

Andrew Sullivan gloats on his blog, "Imagine Republicans in state legislatures having to argue and posture against an affordable health insurance plan for the folks, as O'Reilly calls them, while evil liberals provide it elsewhere."

But the only reason government health insurance will be more "affordable" than private health insurance is that taxpayers will be footing the bill. That's something that can't be opted out of under the "opt out" plan.

Which brings us right back to the question of whether the government or the free market provides better services at better prices. There are roughly 1 million examples of the free market doing a better job and the government doing a worse job. In fact, there is only one essential service the government does better: Keeping Dennis Kucinich off the streets.

So, naturally, liberals aren't sure. In Democratic circles, the jury's still out on free market economics. It's not settled science like global warming or Darwinian evolution. But in the meantime, they'd like to spend trillions of dollars to remake our entire health care system on a European socialist model.

Sometimes the evidence for the superiority of the free market is hidden in liberals' own obtuse reporting.

In the past few years, The New York Times has indignantly reported that doctors' appointments for Botox can be obtained much faster than appointments to check on possibly cancerous moles. The paper's entire editorial staff was enraged by this preferential treatment for Botox patients, with the exception of a strangely silent Maureen Dowd.

As the Times reported: "In some dermatologists' offices, freer-spending cosmetic patients are given appointments more quickly than medical patients for whom health insurance pays fixed reimbursement fees."

As the kids say: Duh.

This is the problem with all third-party payor systems -- which is already the main problem with health care in America and will become inescapable under universal health care.

Not only do the free-market segments of medicine produce faster appointments and shorter waiting lines, but they also produce more innovation and price drops. Blindly pursuing profits, other companies are working overtime to produce cheaper, better alternatives to Botox. The war on wrinkles is proceeding faster than the war on cancer, declared by President Nixon in 1971.

In 1960, 50 percent of all health care spending was paid out of pocket directly by the consumer. By 1999, only 15 percent of health care spending was paid for by the consumer. The government's share had gone from 24 percent to 46 percent. At the same time, IRS regulations made it a nightmare to obtain private health insurance.

The reason you can't buy health insurance as easily and cheaply as you can buy car insurance -- or a million other products and services available on the free market -- is that during World War II, FDR imposed wage and price controls. Employers couldn't bid for employees with higher wages, so they bid for them by adding health insurance to the overall compensation package.

Although employees were paying for their own health insurance in lower wages and salaries, their health insurance premiums never passed through their bank accounts, so it seemed like employer-provided health insurance was free.

Employers were writing off their employee insurance plans as a business expense, but when the IRS caught on to what employers were doing, they tried to tax employer-provided health insurance as wages. But, by then, workers liked their "free" health insurance, voters rebelled, and the IRS backed down.

So now, employer-provided health insurance is subsidized not only by the employees themselves through lower wages and salaries, but also by all taxpayers who have to make up the difference for this massive tax deduction.

How many people are stuck in jobs they hate and aren't good at, rather than going out and doing something useful, because they need the health insurance from their employers? I'm not just talking about MSNBC anchors -- I mean throughout the entire economy.

Almost everything wrong with our health care system comes from government interference with the free market. If the health care system is broken, then fix it. Don't try to invent a new one premised on all the bad ideas that are causing problems in the first place.

COPYRIGHT 2009 ANN COULTER
DISTRIBUTED BY UNIVERSAL UCLICK
1130 Walnut, Kansas City, MO 64106

[RonDog]

:o)

[RonDog]

"...In the past few years, The New York Times has indignantly reported that doctors' appointments for Botox can be obtained much faster than appointments to check on possibly cancerous moles.

The paper's entire editorial staff was enraged by this preferential treatment for Botox patients, with the exception of a strangely silent Maureen Dowd." - Ann Coulter

ZING!

That would be:

[RichInOC]

“I’ve got a snapshot of your Aunt Maureen,
“She’s ninety and you’re a teen,
“I’m trying to cheer you up,
“Don’t be so mean! Don’t be so mean!...”

[RonDog]

;)

[RonDog]

"...So now, employer-provided health insurance is subsidized not only by the employees themselves through lower wages and salaries, but also by all taxpayers who have to make up the difference for this massive tax deduction.

How many people are stuck in jobs they hate and aren't good at, rather than going out and doing something useful, because they need the health insurance from their employers?

I'm not just talking about MSNBC anchors -- I mean throughout the entire economy." - Ann Coulter

Ka-BOOM!

[TexasFreeper2009]

Opting Out to the democrats means paying but getting nothing !

ROFL

They must truly think we are the dumbest people on the planet. If Opting out meant what it implies... that we don't participate that would be something worth discussing, but to tax us and then let us opt out of the benefits is ridiculous.

[jaz.357]

ANN COULTER, UMM, UMM, UMM!

[Rafterman]

One of my favorite pictures of Ann...

[Colinsky]

I think the proper usage is:

Ann Hart Coulter,
Mmm, mmm, mmm.

[Hardastarboard]

Man - those legs reach all the way to the ground, don’t they?

[RonDog]

:o)

[jellybean]

I believe Ann will be on Red Eye tonight (Fox News Channel @3:00 am EST). Check it out all you checker-outers!

Let me know if you'd like to be added to the Ann Coulter ping list.

[boatbums]

It's like a movie theater offering a "money back guarantee" and then explaining, you don't get your money back, but you don't have to stay and watch the movie if you don't like it.

LOL...sounds exactly like something the Libs will try to get away with. Reminds me of the restuarant with a sign that says "ALL YOU CAN EAT $4.99" so you go in, pay your five bucks, get a plateful and then when you ask for another, the waitress says, "Sorry, that's all you can eat."!

[hattend]

She is, indeed, on Red Eye tonight

[jellybean]

Most excellent! I’ll have to force myself to stay awake then!

[Servant of the Cross]

Keeping Dennis Kucinich off the streets.

Can't stop there - here's my favorite picture of Ann:

(Even the guy on the TV (top left corner) is awestruck).

[Sergio]

Hey RonDog, didn't mean to offend, but you got to admit that the wonderful and incomparable Ms. Coulter would look better with an extra 10 or 15 pounds on her frame.

[RonDog]

No harm, no foul. I just wanted to nip that kind of talk in the bud.

[Sergio]

Understood, taken in the spirit it was intended.

[Forgiven_Sinner]

RonDog, you get the Ann pic, since you picked my favorite quote in the column.

"How many people are stuck in jobs they hate and aren't good at, rather than going out and doing something useful, because they need the health insurance from their employers? I'm not just talking about MSNBC anchors -- I mean throughout the entire economy."

The Mo Dowd quote was good, but that's like shooting fish in a barrel.

[El Gato]

here's my favorite picture of Ann:
..
(Even the guy on the TV (top left corner) is awestruck)

I think this one, might strike even more awe, maybe some shock too, into his MSM heart.

[El Gato]

Br’er Rabbit and the Tar Baby”. (Can we still refer to that dreadful tale without being called “racist”?)

No, your name has just been added to "The List". When the State of Emergency is declared, report to the reeducation camp within 48 hours.