FACT CHECK: Did Annabel Park work for the Obama campaign?

There are over 160 GOP amendments that were added to the house bill prior to the most recent 4 that the President added after the summit. It's beyond ironic that the rhetoric that the cons continues to use against the bill is its size. The main reason that it has grown so big is that the Democrats have bent over backwards to include the GOP ideas in the bill, but Boener and McConnell continue to say the same things over and over and over because they resonate with folks who just listen to them and don't actually pay attention to what is going on. Note that FOX news only reports the cons rhetoric and never mentions all the compromise that has actually taken place. Even the main things that the cons gripe about - tort reform and selling across state lines are included in the bill. But the cons are like spoiled children - they got exactly the toy they asked for but it just isn't the color they wanted so they continue to cry about it.

The absolute best way (per the CBO) that has been proposed to hold down costs in medical insurance is to have a public option available for those who buy their insurance on the open market. There are two ways to do this. The first one is to open Medicare to all who want to buy into it. That saves something like $120 Billion. The other way is to start up a new bureaucracy to administer a public option and that would still save about $25 Billion per the CBO. Those two proposals were the first that were opposed by the cons. To be fair, the insurance companies oppose both of those and we know that the GOP will do what the insurance companies want. We are now seeing which Democrats are also doing the bidding of the insurance companies, because there is a huge public outcry for a public option, but little actual action in the halls of congress to make it so.

The federal government is not the enemy of the people in the health care debate. The enemy is the health insurance companies who are profiting from people's misery.

But remember that in doing nothing, your insurance premiums will continue to rise (mine have seen increases of between 20% and 40% for every one of the past 9 years). This bill, as imperfect as it is, will, per the CBO, stabilize insurance rates for the vast majority of Americans, and lower premiums for millions. The cons complain about a "government takeover" of 6% of the U.S. economy. There is nothing in the bill that comes close to a "government takeover". And although medical care is presently 6% of the economy, if nothing is done, it will grow to be an even larger portion. The bill will at least stabilize the rate of growth. Opposing health care reform and health insurance reform is just like driving towards a bridge that is out and shrugging because it is just too complicated to turn the steering wheel and find another route.

suggested by the GOP. They still refused to vote on it. Jim DeMint declared that HCR would be Obama's "Waterloo", wich suggest a political calculation. The Obama Administration has offered compromise numerous times without any reciprocation from the right. The Health Care bill contains numerous provisions suggested by Republicans in commitee, again with no results. The GOP is well on its way to breaking last years record for fillibusters, none of this suggest any attempt of compromise by the right. Just a political calculation.