I attended the Anti-Tax Rally today in downtown San Diego held in front of the County Administration Building. Brian Bilbray was clearly the most famous speaker invited. He is in a competitive district, as I have previously discussed. The rally started with doctors in white lab coats speaking about the harm done to health care under the law. Doctor Gary Gonsalves led off the doctors’ segment. (It seems that Obama’s stunt at the White House has made it de rigueur to put the docs in lab coats.)
Among the issues raised by the doctors were the further insertion of bureaucracy between doctors and patients, the stripping of medicare, and the imposition of more regulations that will discourage doctor and exacerbate a doctor shortage. The last doctor to speak was Dr. Gina Loudon, who was the most exciting doctor speaker, befitting her role as radio personality. She pointed out that the GOP has not always been consistent in opposing an expansion of government which led her to work in the tea party movement, as opposed to mere Republicanism. (I agree.)
Dr. Gina Loudon talks about her tea party experience.Many of the argument about health care proffered by speakers have been covered in some of my previous posts. But I also heard some new ideas for reforming health care and health insurance.
1) Let credit card companies manage Health Savings Accounts (that use pre-tax dollars) because they are good at detecting fraud. Further, allowing HSAs to roll from year to year would encourage people to shop around and reduce health costs. As a current user of a flexible spending account for some of my health care, I like this idea. But, the current system pushes me to spend all my eligible funds in one year, leading to some wasteful spending.
2) Get the states and the AMA out of nursing licensing. Doctors and hospitals are capable of judging the quality of nurses, this just restricts supply.
3) Get the AMA out of limiting doctor licensing and medical school accreditation, because they have a vested interest in decreasing the supply of doctors.
I was very interested to hear Brian Bilbray’s take on the law. He made great points. I know he has offended some purists who believe that nothing in the law should be retained because it is an affront to freedom. I agree, but politics is the art of the possible. Bilbray makes the very good point that right now, coverage for pre-existing conditions and children to age 26 are very popular parts of the legislation. But he made the point that those good ends could still be achieved without the monstrosity of so many new taxes and fees in the law. He hammered at the tax theme. He also pointed out that the law is a sop to to lawyers and insurance companies who wrote the law at the expense of the American people. His opponent, Scott Peters, is fully supportive of the law, so even if you challenge Bilbray for not being tough enough in standing against the law, his vote will be for repeal, but a Peters vote would not be. More prominent members of the tea party do not agree with my assessment of Bilbray, you can read the opinion here.
Brian Bilbray addresses tea party rally against ACA taxes.
Nick Popaditch, was a much more dynamic and absolutist opponent of the bill. I cannot do justice to his speaking style. However, he made this great point. When the leftists like Obama and Pelosi argue their positions they attack their fellow Americans. In arguing that the reason for the mandate is because of “free riders,” they are attacking their fellow Americans who have exercised their God-given right not to purchase health insurance. The attacks on Americans exercising their rights is a hallmark of this administration, my opinion. (My answer for the free rider issue? Allow insurance to offer catastrophic coverage and allow hospitals to be aggressive in collecting from dead beats who can pay.)
Nick Popaditch decries the attacks on Americans by supporters of the ACA.
A few other thoughts. Chief Justice Roberts came in for more than a little criticism. His logic that the law is a tax, does not square with the Congressional language. That is legislating from the bench, as some speakers pointed out. All in all, it was an inspiring rally that is one small piece of the larger movement to limit government.
Frequent commenter arhooley also attended; she had this to say.
I just got back from it, and although it was great, I’d like to see one change at these Tea Party rallies: a secular or agnostic Tea Party speaker. Maybe even an ex-liberal. There are plenty of us out here, and we don’t always feel we’re being addressed or included in speeches laden with calls to religion. An added bonus is that we’re not all preaching to the choir; we know how to talk to liberals about the supposed generosity of Obamacare and similar laws and movements.
I agree about not preaching to the choir, but have to say that many of the doctors couched their discussion in non-partisan, less political terms.
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Nice turn out on an early Saturday morning!! Thank you to all the Tea Party Leaders for coming out and supporting the cause to Repeal Obama-care!!!
Kudos to Stop Taxing Us leaders Brian Brady, Gary Gonsalves and Rhonda Deniston for pulling this together in less than ten days.
And I guess the MSM will have to re-examine their talking points that the Tea Party movement is dead.
I suspect we will see more and more people rise up, culminating in November when we take back our country.
BTW, I understand the place was left cleaner than when the rally started. That’s how true patriots operate.
Nice write-up about the rally, B-Daddy.
Message for arhooley–offer accepted. Please tell me how we can connect so we can hear from you at the next rally
Agree with your point number 3), but can’t go along with numbers 1) and 2) for various reasons.
No HSA in the world is going to help if you have a major illness. Yes, you can get major coverage, but the cost will keep rising unless everyone is in the pool.
I prefer the state licensing Nurses.
Interesting how you praise Popaditch for saying “free riders are exercising their right ‘God-given’ right to not buy insurance”, then you later in the same paragraph call these same people “dead beats”.
Also, your link to the “more prominent members of the tea party [which] do not agree with my assessment of Bilbray” has a blog by a speaker that had her “Thomas Paine quotes” ready. Thomas Paine was an enemy of Edmund Burke, the father of conservatism. I hope she wasn’t using Paine quotes to try to make her point.
“I prefer the state licensing Nurses.”
I argue to repeal occupational licensing because there are much better ways to achieve the end goal in the private market…like…a labor union.
Yep…I just said that…a labor union. If unions focused on advertising the quality of their members, rather than writing laws to defraud the consumer, their private sector membership would skyrocket.
Occupational licensing laws are written by the industry, to protect the industry, FROM the consumer.
Author
Bill, I didn’t mean to say that failing to buy health insurance makes you a dead beat. Using the emergency room and failing to pay makes you a dead beat. You should have two options; buy health insurance or pay out of pocket when you have to get emergency care. You would think that given Democratic pro-choice rhetoric, they would want to give us choice in our options of how to pay for our care.
Author
Bill,
With respect to the tea party blogger to whom I link, you could comment on her site. However, she might be more libertarian than conservative. The fight against the ACA, like other fights against over-weening statism, is a coalition of interests. I would hope that even some liberals would join us in curbing the power of government unions, as an example of another coalition, because the high cost public employee labor crowds out other spending liberals might propose. I only became a Republican in 2008 myself, on the belief that while I disagreed with a chunk of its agenda, it was the better coalition to fight big government.
First off this was simply a photo opp,not a protest. Second, this is not a close race with Scott Peters. Not even,but it sells papers. Also it gives ammunition for political bloviators.
Most folks in political circles know my love for opp research. Ive been doing SB 42 reports since 1975,or there abouts. During my marital strife in 1983, I snagged a Ca. PI Lic 11456, simply to add to my collection of badges. Women love badges, you know.
Scott Peters first. I dive at Caminito de la Costa, circa North Bird. My daughter hung out at Marine st, while attending La Jolla HS. I need not go further here,but Peters as a Councilman was a trajedy. Peters, it is( rumored) wishes to take down the Cross, and let the seals have access to Prospect st.
Serious threat? Lets bet.
Tea Party? If it was a real Protest, they would have Boarded the Star of India. Occupy is a protest. Kent state was a trajedy. San Diego is Surf City. Politics is only a sport……( triple A at best)