I told you so...

Mr. Obama, why are you willing to do nothing during this crisis?

President Barack Obama continually lays the charge that those that disagree with him on health care are ‘defenders of the status quo’. In reality, Mr. Obama defends the status quo as much as anyone, and really has no one to blame but himself.

Start with Malpractice lawsuits. This has been a major bone of contention for Democrats and Republicans for years. Everyone agrees that there are major abuses within the malpractice tort system. These have resulted in skyrocketing malpractice insurance cost for physicians across the country.

Some of these insurance increase his have resulted in severe loss of access to health care in the most vulnerable population centers within the country. For example, several years ago obstetricians were hemorrhaging out of the state of Pennsylvania because of exorbitant malpractice cost. At one time, large areas of the state had no active obstetricians available.

However, Mr. Obama refuses to confront this problem. He continually states that malpractice causer small percentage of the total health care costs in the country. This is in fact true. However,the collateral dammage from these costs is enormous. There have been numerous studies, done by the government, physician groups, and insurers showing that the secondary costs to malpractice likely are in the hundreds of billions of dollars. Why? Simply because physicians, when confronted with the threat to their livelihood, are more likely to order more unnecessary tests in order to protect themselves. Yet, Mr. Obama, likely because of his defense of the Bar Association, defends the status quo.

Another example is Congress’s continual defense of their own health care program. Congress probably had the most diverse, private insurance program in the world! That is right…not one Congressperson is on government health care. Even those over the age of 65 are not covered by Medicare, but private insurance…something that is virtually unheard of outside of the political world. Now that they are reforming the system, however, what do they do? They exempt themselves from the program they created. This reeks of hypocrisy…another example of the lack of change in Washington that Democrats and Mr. Obama defend.

Then there is Michelle Obama’s purported planning of a patient dumping scheme while a lawyer at the University of Illinois-Chicago. This was reported by the Chicago Sun-Times last summer (and I myself repeatedly talked about it last fall), but was ignored by the mainstream media, because they were, and still are, incompetent.

Michelle Obama — currently on unpaid leave from her $317,000-a-year job as a vice president of the prestigious hospital — helped create the program, which aims to find neighborhood doctors for low-income people who were flooding the emergency room for basic treatment. Hospital officials say such patients hinder their ability to focus on more critically ill patients in need of specialized care, such as cancer treatment and organ transplants.

Obama’s top political strategist, David Axelrod, co-owns the firm, ASK Public Strategies, that was hired by the hospital last year to sell the program — called the Urban Health Initiative — to the community as a better alternative for poor patients. Obama’s wife and Valerie Jarrett, an Obama friend and adviser who chairs the medical center’s board, backed the Axelrod firm’s hiring, hospital officials said.

Another Obama adviser and close friend, Dr. Eric Whitaker, took over the Urban Health Initiative when he was hired at U. of C. in October 2007. Whitaker previously had been director of the Illinois Department of Public Health. Obama has said he recommended Whitaker for the state job, giving his name to Tony Rezko, who helped Gov. Blagojevich assemble his Cabinet. Rezko, a former fund-raiser for Obama and Blagojevich, was convicted in June on federal corruption charges tied to state deals.

However, the situation has grown far out of Ms. Obama’s purview. Illinois Democrat Rep. Bobby Rush has called for an investigation of UIC and its system of shunting patients to other inner city hospitals.

“As an institution that receives federal funds, I am concerned about recent media reports that allege the medical center is turning away and refusing treatment to low-income, uninsured patients,” Rush said in a letter to U.S. Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-NY), the committee chairman.

Rush, who called patient dumping “a widespread problem” in American health care, said he might move to lift the hospital’s federal funding if it turns out the allegations are true.

I wonder if Rep. Rush realizes Ms. Obama’s involvement in this…I doubt it. The major problem in this is not that Ms. Obama was involved…it shows the hypocrisy of leadership. President Obama talks about abuses in the system…and is unwilling to accept that it is quite possible that some of those abuses were created by people closest to him, including his wife and closest personal advisor. Again, Mr. Obama fails to talk truth to power.

Ultimately, the worst abuse of the Democrats and Mr. Obama is the classic game of old politics. Mr. Obama campaigned as a post-partisan…and has governed as possibly the most partisan President in recent memory. In the health care debate, Democrats on the House side have virtually banned any Republican involvement in debate, and refuse to hear Republican amendments. It is a little better on the Senate side. Ted Kennedy is certainly barring any Republican voice, but Sens. Max Baucus and Ron Wyden have worked dilligently with their Republican colleagues (especially Chuck Grassley and Judd Gregg) to form a reasonable compromise on health care. To them, I say congratulations…because you have surpassed your President in bipartisanship.

So when you hear Mr. Obama talk about those playing old school politics, and defending the status quo, use a bit of critical thinking. I am not denying there are old schools stalwarts on the right that refuse to change…but don’t excuse liberals from their unchanging ways either. And the next time you hear a liberal decrying conservatives for standing their ground, ask one simple question: