SEND IN THE CLOWNS – AT 11:42 A.M. ET:  The mouth has opened.  Bernie Sanders has spoken on health care, and his prescription.  It's frightening to think, but his prescription may soon be the prescription presented by the entire Democratic Party:  Socialism.  From Daily Caller: 

“The bill that was defeated should have been defeated,” Sanders said. “It was a disastrous piece of legislation primarily designed to provide $300 billion in tax breaks to the top 2 percent, throwing 24 million people off of health insurance, raising premiums for older workers in a very, very significant way.”

Sanders admits, however, that the current system is not without its flaws. “Of course, Obamacare has serious problems,” Sanders said. “Deductibles are too high. Premiums are too high. The cost of health care is going up at a much faster rate than it should.”

To fix the problems of Obamacare, Sanders thinks lawmakers need to look at other industrialized nations that have socialist models of health care. “Ideally, what — where we should be going is to join the rest of the industrialized the world and guarantee health care to all people as a right,” Sanders said.

Trump is now reportedly focusing on tax reform and pursuing his pro-growth “America First” economic agenda. The president is saying he will let Obamacare continue to implode, in hopes of bringing wayward Republicans and hard-line Democrats to the negotiating table when things get too bad.

COMMENT:  Do not underestimate the surface appeal of Bernie Sanders and his simplistic "everybody is equal" health plan.  It sounds so good, and so simple – until you look at the details.  Socialism always fails in the details, for it allows no competition, no choice, no progress.  Physicians will get their guidance from Washington.  Their relationship with patients will become vague, if there is a relationship at all.  Surgical procedures now available in the United States within days or even hours, might be deferred for months.  There will be a coldness in the system.  Socialism is very cold. 

We hope the GOP will be smart enough to see the onslaught coming from the left.  I'm not sure.

March 27, 2017