Talk Radio News Service: News, Politics, Media

By Learned Foote- Talk Radio News Service

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) harshly criticized the health care reform proposals put forward by the administration and Democratic congressmen.

“[There is a] continued power grab out of Washington, starting with the financial institutions, leading to car companies, and now to health care,” said Cornyn during a conference call with reporters Wednesday. He warned that the American government might take up policies practiced in England, the United Kingdom, and Canada, where “government ultimately makes a calculation on the value of individual lives" in rationing health care.

Cornyn, who serves on the Senate Finance Committee’s subcommittee on Health Care, said that reform should lower the costs of health care and make coverage accessible to more people, but argued that the proposals will not sufficiently address these needs. Instead, the Senator argued, they will “create a huge command-and-control infrastructure.”

Cornyn said that the government will undercut private insurance providers, and cited statistics from The Lewin Group, a health-care policy research firm. The groups’ report estimates that 119 million individuals, two-thirds of those currently privately-insured, will end up on a public plan.

Cornyn also criticized a proposal floated by some Democrats to tax health benefits, a practice he said Obama “derided” during the Presidential campaign.

Cornyn praised Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.), the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, for attempting to work in a bipartisan fashion, but said that Baucus is “being dictated to” by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who favors a public option.

“My hope is that common sense will prevail and that we will listen to the stake-holders, including the millions of Americans whose health care will be forever changed should some of these proposals pass without an opportunity for bipartisan input,” said Cornyn.