RUSH: Stacy from parts unknown in Georgia, always a pleasure, and welcome back to the EIB Network.
CALLER: Well, hey, Rush. It is so thrilling to talk to your newly married self and congratulations on your nuptials.
RUSH: Thank you very, very much.
CALLER: And I tell you, watching this health care stuff unroll the past few months, nothing is surprising me anymore. The fact of the matter is, and right now my Internet’s acting up, I’m trying to find it, but when I talked to you last, when Obama put out his 11-page document for the congressional meeting —
CALLER: — remember that? One of the things that he had in that document — and it’s on page three — a new, quote, health insurance rate authority will determine whether or not insurers can increase premiums.
RUSH: Right. Just like in Massachusetts.
CALLER: Bet me money that this one and a half percent is going to be proposed, and they’re gonna strike it down. And we will have to eat it.
RUSH: Well, not for long because you’re not going to be in business.
CALLER: Well, yeah, that’s true. But, you know, I was just watching it, Rush, the high-risk pool story from the Hill a couple weeks ago.
RUSH: The high-risk pool story.
CALLER: Do you remember that?
RUSH: Refresh my memory.
CALLER: Okay, well, it turns out that all these high risk pools that were supposed to be created within six months of passage where individuals who have preexisting conditions who have been denied private coverage —
RUSH: Oh, yeah.
CALLER: Remember that?
RUSH: Yeah, people that have been given three weeks to live.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: Well, they came out, the CBO came out and said only about 200,000 people will be able to enroll in this program.
RUSH: Really, only 200,000 people?
CALLER: Nationwide.
RUSH: Nationwide. Well, now, it seems to me that millions and millions of Americans thought that they were going to be qualified here, all you had to do was have a preexisting condition and you get covered.
CALLER: Well, no, come to find out, not only do you have to have not had any coverage for six months, but the premiums will range from 450 to $900 a month for these 200,000 people.
RUSH: You mean it’s not going to be free? The preexisting coverage is not going to be free?
CALLER: No.
RUSH: Well, they touted it as being free. I mean you and I both know it never was gonna be free, but they touted it as being free.
RUSH: Right. They thought a millionaire was going to be paying for it.
CALLER: And they’re having cows. But, Rush, let me tell you, people talk about uncertainty in the business world and, hey, I’m here to tell you I see it up front, but even more than that, just in my little part of this industry where we have to write code and programs that will process this data, we don’t know what to write. I mean we’re basically guessing and hoping —
RUSH: You know why? Because what happened yesterday, even though you saw that one coming, the reality is that you have hundreds of different bureaucracies and lines in the legislation up to the secretary’s discretion. The secretary of Health and Human Services can mandate anything any day of the week she wants to.
CALLER: That’s right.
RUSH: That’s why you can’t plan for it.
CALLER: Exactly. So not only are we losing time and being able to meet government timelines, but we’re also losing money out the wazoo.
RUSH: Well, that’s not unexpected, is it?
CALLER: No, it’s not. And I told you that I didn’t think we were gonna last very long under this. But to see it in action, it’s just depressing, it really is. And furthermore, doctors are dropping out like flies.
RUSH: Yeah. Now, that I keep seeing, and we keep getting phone calls about that.
CALLER: I mean it’s not only the Medicare and Medicaid docs.
RUSH: By the way, I’ve got the story here, it’s the New York Times, Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, July 1st. It’s actually AP: ‘Premiums for New ‘High Risk’ Pool Could be Steep.’ Three hundred to $600 a month. That was just a couple weeks ago.
CALLER: Oh, they lowered it in that one because in The Hill they were talking up to $900 a month in that pool —
RUSH: Well, wait, this is AP. I mean you’re assuming they got it right.
CALLER: Well, that’s true. Yeah, it’s really hairy. And, Rush, you know what scares me, I know you’ve mentioned a poll that 41% of people who want this monstrosity removed think it’s not going to happen.
RUSH: No. Over 60% want it repealed. Forty-one percent of those do not think it will be.
CALLER: Exactly. And I’m right there with them. I mean what in the world is wrong with Boehner and these people, you know, not standing there screaming from top of the Capitol —
RUSH: I do not know. I had a note from a friend of mine today about Kagan and about this Berwick guy, the health care czar —
CALLER: Oh, that guy —
RUSH: Why are the Republicans not shouting from the roof? People have been asking me this, Stacy, for 21 years. I’ll give you four answers. One, cowards. Two, they are part of the Washington scene. They really are not connected to their voters, they really aren’t. Number three, they’re afraid to death of the US media, the DC media, and the social set, and, four, they really believe that if they’re nice to the Democrats in these circumstances, that when they are in the majority the Democrats will let them have their judges and let them have their legislation, they think the worst thing they can do is rock the boat.
CALLER: Well, Rush, let me tell you this Berwick guy is a nightmare. This guy is a nightmare. And people don’t even realize what’s coming.
RUSH: Well, this guy, Berwick, what people don’t realize is that where he used to work or provide some service, he’s been given a lifetime free health care policy.
CALLER: (laughing) Oh, Lord. Why does that not surprise me?
RUSH: I kid you not. This was the Wall Street Journal yesterday. Daniel Henninger — I’m gonna get to this column later on in this hour — Daniel Henninger has a column today entitled: ‘Berwick: Bigger Than Kagan — If the American people want the health-care world Dr. Berwick wishes to give them, that’s their choice. But they must be given that choice.’ This is about this recess appointment of Berwick. Remember, now, he was appointed, recess appointed, not because he was being opposed. The Republicans couldn’t wait for the confirmation hearings. They wanted this guy’s resume and his thoughts, his theories, philosophies, to be out there. That’s why Obama recess appointed him, to hide who the guy really is four months before the election.
CALLER: And did you see Robert Gibbs trying to do the hokey-pokey around that question? That was hilarious.
RUSH: Well, yeah.
CALLER: I mean this guy is Baghdad Bob on the Hudson or something.
RUSH: He is constantly hilarious. When you said Gibbs trying to do the hokey-pokey I was envisioning Gibbs in the hokey-pokey, and that’s why I got distracted. Stacy, as always, thanks very much for calling. It’s enlightening, informative, and entertaining each time we speak to you.