Walking off a cliff for healthcare...

"Here is the bottom line as I see it. ObamaCare has changed the landscape - maybe forever. We allowed Santa Clause to come in and tinker with the gears."

This is going to pain me to say this. You can't cure stupid. And this time, the stupid runs deep on my side of the political street. Why? Health care. The "new" vote is supposed to happen today. To repeal ObamaCare and role out this new...."something or other". But the new "something or other" might be more like an Edsel, than a Cadillac.

So what is wrong with this picture? Some thoughts:

• Our side made great headlines with teasing Ms. Nancy when she said, "We need to pass this bill to know what is in it." In other words, don't worry about the fact that nobody has read it. The Ryan bill will now have the same issue. Released last night to the House at 8 pm, with no CBO scoring, and voting today. This sounds like Pelosi 2.0 rather than Ryan 1.0.
• Even though Ryan (with the President's help) think they have "whipped" the necessary votes in the House, it will still be a cliff hanger. As soon as the vote is taken on this thing, the vote becomes history. And when the bill gets to the Senate (and if Senate rules are kept), it does not have a snowball's chance to get 60 votes. So the Senate bill coming back to the House will be like night is to day. 
• One might say, "Gosh - what is the hurry? It is only May 4th." You are going to love this answer. Vacations. Yes friends, after just getting back from a two week hiatus, the House and Senate are ready for another break. So they wanted to have the House vote done and approved so they would not meet a maelstrom when they got home to their districts.
• Someone else might ask, "Would it not be more prudent to wait until the CBO scored this bill?" The real answer is a resounding, YES! But the political answer is "no". Why? If it gets a bad CBO score (which many think it will), some of the more timid votes might peel away and then the vote will go down in flames. 

Here is the bottom line as I see it. ObamaCare has changed the landscape - maybe forever. We allowed Santa Clause to come in and tinker with the gears. Rather than a cost containment program, it became a cost shifting one instead. The escalating costs of health care are either popping up in unsustainable premiums, or added to our $20T (and growing) debt.

With the countries demographics showing an aging population, the cost of medical care will keep escalating. And with a fear of doing any type of cost containment, the choices for where to put these costs are very limited. They will either be born by the patient resulting in a crippling financial burden, or the kept the way they are under ObamaCare - sky high premiums and soaring debt.

The Republicans are walking into this boxed canyon with eyes wide shut. By sundown today, ObamaCare could easily morph into Ryan Care. Anyone who votes for this mess will be walking off a cliff healthcare reform. The only problem is, the word "reform" seems to be left out of this picture.