Lobiondo wants more government healthcare spending, just not reform

by: Jason Springer

Fri Aug 21, 2009 at 04:45:00 PM EDT

The very day after Congressman LoBiondo slammed health care reform for requiring increased government spending on health care, he sent out a press release announcing earmarks he had arranged to be inserted into an appropriations bill. LoBiondo's earmarks provide government money directly to private health care providers.

That kind of government funding of private health care is going on through earmarks in almost every congressional district in the country. The spending is massive. The fact is that LoBiondo already supports a system of government involvement with the private health care system. The difference between the Democrats' health care reform program and LoBiondo's approach is that the Democrats' reform offers some oversight and process improvements in return for government money. LoBiondo's system just throws government money at the problem.

And where does the money for Frank LoBiondo's kind of health care earmarks come from? Because it comes from the government, it comes either from taxes or deficit spending. LoBiondo can rant and rave about how he's against higher taxes and bigger deficits in order to pay for health care reform, but his actions speak louder than his words. In action, LoBiondo supports increased health care spending on health care, resulting in higher taxes, and bigger deficits. What LoBiondo opposes is health care reform to ensure that all this spending actually translates into better services for patients.