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I like your plan, Gregory. Also, we need to stipulate that we get to keep all the good doctors who believe in the sanctity of life and they can keep all the Dr. Kevorkians and Dr. Tillers.

"...we could probably pay off the deficit in short order." - hippie Marxist douchebag Garrison Keillor

I love it when people who think they are intellectually superior mix up relatively simple words like "deficit" and "debt". Deficits aren't "paid off" - debt is.

Obama does the same thing by going around saying Porkulus "paid for" a bunch of tax cuts. Tax cuts don't get "paid for". Either the taxes are lowered or they aren't. It's the rate at which the State takes money, not the rate at which it spends money. Spending is not even similar to a tax cut, but the State Media never challenged him on it.

I don't think Garrison Keillor, host of Dreary Home Companion, is lucid enough to propose a free-market Republican system to run alongside the socialist Democrat system. I think he just wants Republicans to be excluded from receiving healthcare entirely.

That would give a whole new meaning to the words "party favors", i.e., if you don't belong to the correct party, you don't get no favors.

Greg,

I hope you don't mind but I posted your solution on a few more websites (explaining that I "stole" it from here). It just makes a lot of sense...

And by the way; isn't this just another way of saying "We just want Republicans and conervatives dead."?

GoY, I like. In fact, in the Republican system there would naturally be the choice to pay out of pocket for their health care costs. Over and over we hear stories about how it's so much cheaper to detour around the whole health insurance rigmarole, especially for the mostly healthy uninsured-by-choice who get the periodic busted leg or bout with the flu.

I posted your solution on a few more websites

You bastard.

;-)

What freakin' moron.

Should we toss into the GOP plan no refusal of coverage based on pre-existing conditions? If the Insurance Companies can spread the risk around without drastic premium increases for all (a big IF), that seems reasonable. However, that also seems unlikely unless the pool of healthy insured is very large. Numbers, anyone?

Indeed, given more and more folks are becoming cancer survivors, especially younger ones (another benefit of US healthcare vs. rest of world), more folks are falling into this 'pre-existing condition' cohort. Childhood cancer and type 1 diabetes survivors - what company would cover them once they're out of the nest? (note to self: research this)

I think the reasonable approach would be to designate which pre-existing conditions should be covered, instead of a blanket "all pre-existing conditions" must be covered. Or, we could establish an insurance pool for those with pre-existing conditions, the same way auto insurance companies handle drunk drivers.

Throw in Tort reform and lets see how many Doctors say with the Dems...

And, the issue of all the silly mandates needs to be addressed. Why should I have to pay premiums for things like IVF, hair plugs, shiatsu massage,or social workers? I have no need of these.

As for Keillor, he is a very unhappy man, often plagued by depression and self-doubt. Unable to keep a marriage together, he is working on No. 4. Possibly 5.

Douchebag is a term that is often used these days, but in the case of Keillor, it really fits the bill.

Will someone please explain to me how anyone can listen to this guy? Will someone explain to me how this guy is supposed to be funny?

Untalented, and about as funny as a church fire, I have never understood how his show has continued as many years as it has. Of course, the only venue it could occur on was National Douchebag Radio where things don't have to be funny, entertaining nor even informative in order to exist in perpetuity, thanks to government grants.

When I hear one of his shows come on NPR, I don't know what I find more irritating: Keillor's lameass lines, or his liberal elitist audience feigning intellectual superiority by politely guffawing at his inane attempt at humor.

If those on the left think current health insurance companies are greedy and bad, why dont they form one of their own and see how it works out. Wealthy leftists in Hollyweird, guys like George Soros, Warren Buffett, Al Gore and the Kennedys could provide start up capital for this venture. Im sure Bill Gates could kick in $10-$20 Billion too. They could sign up whoever they want, even illegals. Of course they will never do this because their real goal isnt to help people its to gain power over the entire country and run it into the ground.

Reminds me of that classic scene from Sealab 2021.

"Hey Debbie, I have something for you."
[Debbie] "What is it?"
"A book."
[Debbie] "What's the book?"
"A Modest Proposal."
[Debbie] "By whom?"
"Johnathon Swift."
[Debbie] "And what is the book about?"
Long pause "Eating babies..."
"RIBS! DRIPPING IN SAUCE! MEAT FALLING OFF THE BONE"
"It's like veal... only babies"

I know this is off topic but there isn't an open topic close. Hey Alan Grayson, why don't you find a fire hydrant and do some deep knee bends over it. Lots of them! Can you imagine if a Republican did fear mongering like this! Florida, you needs to make some serious changes in 2010!

If only Democrats participate, who will pay for it? Everyone knows Republicans pay much more in taxes than they use in social services.

I would be OK with being excluded from government health plans IF I could also be excluded from paying for them. Net win for me.

"Can you imagine if a Republican did fear mongering like this!"- Ted

Here's a flashback for you...
– “Last week Democrats released a health care bill which essentially said to America’s seniors: Drop dead.” [Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL), 7/21/09]

– “They’re going to save money by rationing care, getting you in a long line. Places like Canada, United Kingdom, and Europe. People die when they’re in line.” [Rep. Steve King (R-IA), 7/15/09]

– “The Republican plan will] make sure we bring down the cost of health care for all Americans and that ensures affordable access for all Americans and is pro-life because it will not put seniors in a position of being put to death by their government.” [Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), 7/28/09]

– “That’s exactly what’s going on in Canada and Great Britain today…and a lot of people are going to die.” [Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA), 7/10/09]

– “One in five people have to die because they went to socialized medicine! … I would hate to think that among five women, one of ‘em is gonna die because we go to socialized care.” [Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), 7/15/09]

And exactly how do you add 30,000,000 patients and zero doctors and zero hospitals to a health care system without rationing?

How do you pay for it without massive tax increases?

And isn't it true that Obama proposed $500 Billion in cuts to Medicare at the time the Medicare ranks are swelling?

Whoa. What's with all the hyperventilating about a government-paid clown?
One of the key elements separating conservatives from liberals is a sense of humor.

"Aspirin and hand sanitizer" is kind of funny.
And that's about what a national health-care system would look like.

Whoa. What's with all the hyperventilating about a government-paid clown?

No one's even mentioned Al Franken.

It's far worse than zero doctors; remember 37% would consider retiring or just quitting rather than working as government slaves.

In a column last week that self-same Garry Sun Keelah called my friend Joe Wilson a "gin-soaked cracker from South Carolina." Now to us in the Palmetto State that sounded like regional bigotry.

So, we mixed up some gin and tonics and toasted that pasty-faced lard ass from Minny Soda. No reason to get upset-- we live in heaven whilst he tromps through snow up to his sizable behind. Sadly though, that stroke didn't make his brain work any better.

I wanted to touch on Forest's point: tax cuts are not expenditures and you don't pay for them. I've been hearing this nonsense for twenty years and it's highly dangerous. A tax cut is not a gift to the people (well, refundable tax credits can be but that's different). A tax rate cut is a decision to reduce the burdens on productive activity. Cuts in tax rates nearly always result in revenue increases due to increased activity throughout the society.

To Geller,

And you want to intertwine politics and therefore people's individual political views with healthcare? Genius, pal, pure genius...
The thing is he absolutely states his beliefs. The question is what happens when the "other" party comes to power and denies him?

“Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it”
Thomas Sowell

Republicans should be cut out of the health-care system entirely and simply provided with aspirin and hand sanitizer.

And we'd still be healthier -- physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually -- than the Leftist crop of freeloading turds with all manner of addictions, STDs, perversions, and hygiene issues.

Reds rail against insurance companies, and for government-supplied health care, apparently not reasoning their way through the incentives.

Insurance companies want you to live as long and healthily as possible, paying premiums all the while, and then to die quickly and cheaply. Their ideal case: you drop dead suddenly at 100, your first and last illness.

Government-supplied healthcare wants you to live healthily while you're a productive worker still paying into the system, and then to die as quickly and cheaply as possible. Their ideal case: you're handed a gold watch at your retirement ceremony on your 65th birthday, you drop dead on the spot, your first and last illness.

Put it another way: how much incentive would government-supplied health care have to lay out big bucks to keep you alive - when you're no longer paying into the system? They'd in essence be paying money now for the opportunity to pay still more money later. The temptation would be strong to cut their losses right away.

To leftists reading this: ask yourself why East Germany built a wall to keep in productive workers, but was happy to let the elderly leave? Because the elderly were a burden on the government.

Keillor should consiter taking a dive off the brooklyn bridge

He makes ol FLU-BIRD want to ralph up on his head all the bird barf i can muster COUGH,COUGH,COUGH KKKAAAHHHAAACCCKKK

I've been thinking of similar divisions since last November! We'll take the defense contracts, low taxes, free enterprise, & limited gov't. They can have communism, & the thugs mr. president has been kissing up to.

& I'm officially not listening to Prairie Home Companion ever again!

GK and his show stay on Northern Pink Radio because it does feed the pseudo-intellectual egos of the regular listeners. I listen to NPR from time to time, to gain insight upon the other side, and it is funny how the same, whistful, but thoughtful tone (with a touch of angst) is shared by so many on Northern Pink. My favorite voice of angst is the 'This American Life' guy. He always sounds one lip-wobble from deep, wracking sobs. What a testosterone-free zone, excepting Teri Gross and Paula Poundstone (both aptly named) of course.