He is the person that the business world call the Oracle from Omaha and is one of the richest people in the world. His company just made $3 billion last quarter. This time, where our politicians and media did not get it, he hit the nail right on the head …. on health-care!

Yes, yes, yes…. Finally there was a person that got how the American people were feeling about the healthcare bill. Hey Democrats and Republicans listen to what this man has to say, after all he is the person with money that you guys seem to adore, unlike we normal people whom you chose to ignore!

Here, is his quote (from Reuters):
“
“ It’s like a tapeworm eating at our economic body,” Buffett said on CNBC television.
“If it was a choice today between Plan A, which is what we’ve got, or Plan B, which is the Senate bill, I would vote for the Senate bill,” he said. “But I would much rather see a Plan C that really attacks costs, and I think that’s what the American public wants to see.”
“

Firstly, Democrats : your bill sucks. It is so lightweight that the only thing that seems heavy is the fact that it is more than 2000 pages long! Your bill is an abysmal failure and the manner that it goes about cutting cost is really bad….

And Republicans, your notion that we have the best form of healthcare is something that only crazy people say, or people who are simply having an agenda doing nothing. All you guys talk about is cutting cost, when what you provide as an alternative is horrifically worse!

Look, the most important factor of the issue with health-care is : Cost! Cost baby cost! It is the cost that is really affecting Americans. We pay a ridiculous 17% if our GDP on healthcare, and rates are still rising like crazy. Why? That is the point where the Big 2 parties have lost out.

We want cheaper plans. We do not care if it is by the government or not by the government! We would prefer a choice of both! That is why public option is very popular with the people in America, but is forgotten or should I say, intentionally ignored by our leaders in Washington.

I find it very sad that it seems very normal that $4 trillion was wasted in the last 10 years and nobody did anything in those times. Where were the Democrats who are the so called champions on this issue? My opinion :In the pockets of special interests and lobbyists with their Republican colleagues.

Where is the media calling them out on this? Don’t they know that $4 trillion is about a third of our national debt? Or are they oblivious to it, or do they want to be oblivious to it? Where is the reporting that a lot of the waste comes from fraud which is not tackled at all in both plans!

And where is the media catching out the Republican plan ? They have the cheek to say that their plan costs ½ as much as the Democrats and covers 1/10th the amount of people? And that is comparing it with the Democratic plan that seemed to be made by kindergarten politicians.

It really pains me that over 500 people in Washington DC cannot get something as crucial as this done! If they cannot do healthcare reform, how are they going to do social security reform?

What a debate! It is because of things like this that we do politics, events that make us do this work despite the little money we earn. For the first time, I was made to watch the debate with the rest of the ST team, and the 7 hours was worth it.

For the first time, the debate was very clean, civil. There were no unnecessary distractions. Characters shone through and others faltered. If ever people want an introduction to what the parties are about, tell them to watch the clips of this mammoth health-care session.

The only disappointment that initially pist me off was with Senate leaders, Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell. They had terrible body language and were behaving like 10 year old girls not talking to each other. Leader McConnell was sitting with his arms folded and Leader Reid had the stench of arrogance.

Because of them, I thought it was going to be ugly. How wrong I was! This session had the notion of a sporting event. The first half was exclusively Republican. All the Democrats did was to say, “We agree on this and that.” They were spineless and pathetic.

A character who really stole the “first half” was Senator Tom Coburn. I have been told by some member of the team that he was a wing-nut from the right, but that was not how he came off at all. This guy oozed sincerity, something nobody else in the room had. He was passionate and very real. He reminds me of people like Representatives Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich, whose politics we do not agree with but we respect their sincerity in service to our country.

Senator John McCain deserves very special mention for his substantial input. He pointed out the flaw that there were many “special deals” in the Senate bill which had little or nothing to do with healthcare. The Democrats were caught with their pants down here.

I saw Representative Eric Cantor perform today, and he was outstanding. He was cool calm and even though we heard all the points being recycled, one could still be impressed with the way that Representative Cantor made his case. Mark my words, this guy is headed for bigger things. Senator McCain made a huge mistake not giving him the VP nomination.

The star of the Democrats was the President. He was the only one that actually put up a fight against the Republican arguments. I liked some of his logic. For example he rebutted the Republican talking point of regulation driving the cost of things up by saying that we could make food significantly cheaper, if we get rid of the meat inspectors. But would you want that? That was well done.

In the first half, the Republicans were very strong in their arguments, but they just could not kill the argument. The reason was that they kept hovering back to talking points which were obviously planned and lacked substance. They kept on harping about the mandate without going for the jugular early. They spoiled their arguments by keep on mentioning things like ,” The American people do not want this bill” and kept complaining about the bill being over 2000 pages long.

President Obama was enough to hold the Republicans off. The only one that he could not beat was the amazing Senator Coburn, so he absorbed some of Senator Coburn’s ideas. The attacks from the Republicans were relentless and they came thick and fast. The first half for the Democrats was so bad that VP Biden intervened in frustration, stating that the ideas weren’t that different, but the approach was.

So what would happen in the Second half? It was something that we would have to watch to believe. All this was thanks to a blunder from a very senior Republican, which game the Democrats with the ammo to attack….

For more, read the 2nd half!

Okay this is something that is not being detected by most Americans, neither do our pathetic media. One of the most repeated things that President Obama mentions is that there is going to be no more being denied due to pre-existing conditions. Well that is not exactly true…

The 11 page proposal by President Obama which is actually a tweak of the Senate Bill, does clearly mention that CHILDREN can’t be denied healthcare because of a pre-existing condition, but the language is not so clear when it comes to adults, teenagers and seniors. It could have been very easily expanded to all classes, but simple-lettered, strong-armed laws were only available for children.

What this means is that there is going to be a minefield of legal loopholes that lawyers can exploit. Why can’t it be simply put that pre-existing condition discrimination is illegal? It was simple enough to be done for kids, so why not the rest of us? Why put in complicated measures that, with the benefit of a doubt, is meant to simply prevent and not end pre-existing condition discrimination?

In my opinion, I think it is because President Obama along with his Democrats, along with the Republicans are all sucked into this hole of lobbyists corruption. It is with lobbyist money that our politicians are being elected. That system has to change, but let me ramble about that another day.

Now on to some terms.. oh where do I start! Firstly the cost controlling factor. The only thing that they have done is say that the government now can somewhat regulate increase in interest premiums. And even for this, it is for companies that take part in the exchange. I am just not comfortable with the government coming in telling businesses how much to charge…

Where is the public option? Where is the competition? None, nothing, zero! We all have got to buy the bill but there is absolutely no measure to increase competition other than the exchange. Added to that, insurance companies now got to deal with half baked pre-existing conditions legislation, are forced to enrollee’s dependent children till the age of 26, offer preventive care and immunizations at no cost, etc… Do you know what all this would equate to Insurance companies : excuse for higher premiums!

President Obama also promised in his campaign that citizens should have the same healthcare as any member of Congress. Not really the case. Whilst this is not a lie; it sure is a misrepresentation of a promise! You see, we are not going to get the healthcare that Congress enjoys right now, but Congress would be forced to buy from the exchange, so they would be getting the healthcare that we would with the passing of this bill!

I get why young people, those who earn less and those with religious objections are exempted from buying health insurance but why is it that the Indians? I do get that we are living on their land and enjoying their fruits, but come on! If it is good for us, it is good for them!

Another thing is regarding the claim that they would increase revenue by closing the loopholes, but how exactly is not being mentioned in the text. Can the President please care to explain of this during his showdown on Thursday?

I would discuss the positives of this plan tomorrow, but I can tell you that is sure is shorter than this one!