Health Care Bill Is a Frankenstein's MonsterPresident Obama, congressional Democrats and labor leaders cut a sweetheart deal last week. They agreed to create a loophole for a new 40 percent tax on "Cadillac" health care plans. In their holy bid to take care of their own, this new triumvirate agreed to exempt from the excise tax union-bargained health care plans and state and local government employees until 2018. Obamaland's continual deal-cutting to deliver a bill — any bill — surely will kill the beast. Now Big Labor is on board, but the administration has just told the vast majority of American workers (who are not union members) that they will pay extra if their annual premiums exceed $8,900 for individuals or $24,000 for families. The big-labor bonanza saves union members money but adds $60 billion to the cost of Obamacare. It follows the $300 million "Louisiana purchase" — the GOP term for the deal cut by Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., to win more Medicaid money for her state. And the $100 million "Cornhusker kickback" — leveraged by Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb. — that picked up Nebraska's expanded Medicaid tab. Even among Nebraskans, that deal hit a sour note. Pollster Scott Rasmussen found that a mere 17 percent of Nebraskans approved of the deal. "People just don't like special favors," Rasmussen explained. "They really dislike the whole process by which this bill has been cobbled together." Already the package is coming unwrapped. On Friday, Nelson sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid asking that the Cornhusker kickback be edited out. The whole notion that Nelson was trying to get "a special deal" for his state, he wrote, is due to some sort of misunderstanding.
Democratic leaders do not understand that, with each maneuver, voters find confirmation in their suspicions that if Beltway biggies have to bribe their co-believers to pass the bill, they should do a rewrite. The more they give away, the more Obamacare looks like Frankenstein's monster. Make that Frankenstein's monster with a Frankenstein tax. Unless you're Igor. In California, we've seen this movie before. In 2003, the Legislature passed a bill to allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses. Gov. Gray Davis had vetoed similar legislation, but fearful of a threatened recall and afraid to alienate the Democratic base, Davis signed SB60 — despite the fact that it included outrageous provisions. In their arrogance, lawmakers passed provisions that prohibited the Department of Motor Vehicles from checking to see if applicants were ever convicted of violent crimes or sharing fingerprints with federal law enforcement agencies without a specific warrant. After Davis was recalled, the very Democrats who pushed him to sign the driver's license bill voted to rescind their own measure and save their sorry skins. They came up with a bogus story about wanting to write a better bill with the support of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger — but it never happened. Sacramento's craven exercise should provide an object lesson for Washington Democrats, but it won't. They'll just keep adding other people's body parts to the monster. It's what they do. E-mail Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@sfchronicle.com. To find out more about Debra J. Saunders, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2010 CREATORS.COM
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