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StumbleJim Gibbons vs. Harry Reid: Health care plan ignites dispute
Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009 | 5:27 p.m.
Harry Reid
Gov. Jim Gibbons
CARSON CITY – Gov. Jim Gibbons, who sent a mild and agreeable letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid about an education issue earlier this week, is now hammering the senator for his federal health care plan.
It will raise taxes for businesses and add $613 million in expenses to the state for health care for low income residents for a five-year period starting in 2014, Gibbons says.
But a Reid spokesman said Gibbons is all wet and added, “It’s hard to imagine why the governor of a state that is suffering so much is so opposed to helping the people who need it the most.”
The governor on Wednesday dispatched a return letter to Reid saying he agrees with the senator that a Nevada law needs to be repealed to qualify the state for up to $175 million in federal money for education. He said he hopes Reid will stand with him in asking the Legislature to scrap the law.
But Thursday, the governor issued a highly critical press release about the Reid health care bill. The governor said the proposal before the Senate would add more than 41,000 people in 2014 to the Medicaid budget, the federal-state program that covers health care for the low income citizens.
“Overall, the Reid plan will cost Nevada taxpayers more than $613 million in state general fund dollars between 2014 and 2019,” Gibbons said.
The governor said the Reid plan “increases taxes on Nevada businesses and individuals directly through new taxes on existing health plans, an increase in Medicare payroll taxes, taxing Medicaid managed care plans, the elimination of itemized medical expense deduction and more.”
Reid spokesman Jon Summers says Gibbons is "using fuzzy math" in his calculations. “This bill will cut insurance premiums for Nevadans by as much as $1,600 a year, provides tax credits for up to 24,000 small business and provides the state of Nevada more than $8 billion to cover Nevadans in need.”
The governor said Nevadans will be forced to finance the $1.7 billion in income taxes for the Medicaid cost-share system. And the Reid bill would grant the federal government “a historic level of authority over the health care industry…” Gibbons complained.
Summers says the Reid bill will provide the reductions in insurance premiums and tax credits “while cutting the national deficit by nearly $130 billion over the next 10 years.”
Gibbons is being challenged in next year’s election by Reid’s son, Rory, who is a Democrat candidate for governor.
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Why does Gibbons continue to spout off about things he is totally unfamiliar with? He's a dead horse...and should ride quietly into the sunset...Unlike DICK Cheney...who still thinks that he is the Vice-President. Anybody have a lot of Duct-tape for Cheney's mouth?
mrKoolAid-drinker,
obviously you've had too much of the lib KoolAid if you find it believeable that a huge scale government program will SAVE money and NOT RAISE TAXES.
yeah right, because the government has such a great track record for being a wise steward of taxpayer dollars.
America wants a public option. Gibbons is a useless wind bag against the common citizen.
Hey Joe... Mr. Average;
You are a model for what is being called the "New Republican."
I salute you, sir. Please enlist all of your family and friends. I thank you. Don't forget to set your alarm for Rush's program tomorrow!
Isn't it about the time of year we should see our illustrious Gov'ner Gym go on one of his famous cruises and stay the hell out of the governments business?
http://img.wonkette.com/images/thumbs/48...
wow, personal attacks, how surprising.
I am by no means a Gibbons supporter; I voted for Titus but I actually agree with him on this. One would be naive to believe this will benefit most and/or take money out of a few people's wallets.
as far as the public wanting the government option, I haven't seen one legitimate poll which even close to in favor for it.
This is Business As Usual as long as Quislings such as Sig Rogich support Harry Reid to the detriment of Nevada and the U.S.
gmag
my alarm clock is set so I can wake up and go run my small business and manage my employees and contribute to this nations economy.
I'm sure you don't have those worries. you'll just roll out of bed at the crack of 9, flip on your tv and catch oprah while you wait for the mailman to bring your welfare check.
Hey Joe...
Nice try.
Gino, I'll agree with you on your Quisling comment directed at the Sigster. And we Swedes know our Quislings, sir.
All we need is another Greid in office, Boring Rorying riding his "I saved 12,000 jobs" dad's coat tails
that little gibbons monkey is a one trick pony...
hey gibbie...
guess what buddy...
your constant cries about taxes...
don't make up for your total lack of any leadership skills...
or your laziness...
what a maggot that little gibbons monkey is...
Instead of this being a personal issue, refute the data. There is a spreadsheet backing up his projections, point out the "fuzzy math".
I'll stick with Jim Gibbons! Why are we coming back with a Special Session? Because the liberals raised spending more than they raised taxes. We should have reduced both spending and taxes. Unfortunately we are just waiting for the reported Retail Sales DECREASE to schedule the session.
Gibbons is an idiot and should shut his mouth and quit embarassing himself.
Greg: I believe Senor Quisling was Norge. Let's ask Udde.
just_an_ average_joe, Spoken like a true neo con. After decades of Republicans handing off the peoples business to the private sector and tax payers getting the shaft lets hear some more of your neo con rant. You might want to let the air out of your ego and your over infalted head there are millions more who go to work and produce. You alone have not saved the world, so get off of your high horse and get a life.
gqbossing You are not looking for a poll and would not believe one if it hit you in the face. A majority of Americans want health care reform, there are differences on how to get there. Meanwhile just keep listening to Fox news and the Republicans the insurance lobby has bought and paid for and you will continue to not be informed. My guess is someone else does the job of providing you with heath insurance. Until you are a victim of the insurance companies do some research and know the facts. Gibbons had not been right in Washington or Carson City he is an embarrassment to Nevada as well as an idiot.
Burritobandit2 Let go with baby Tark the failure at everyting he has tried to do as well as being the real coat tail rider of his nit wit dad. Do you actually know what you are writibg about? I'll take Jim Murrens word of MGM Mirage regarding the Reid family over yours any day .
firethorne Another misinformed right winger. If gibbons had been paying attention to the needs of Nevada instead of his adulterous affairs the necessary funding to run Nevada would be in place. Of course neo cons live in a make believe world that someone else should pay their taxes and if left alone the sate will somehow find the money to run the state in a tin can. Get a life and grow up. That rant of your is old and failed.
homer
I never claimed to have single handedly saved the world.
only ulta liberal socialists like Obama and Al Gore try to make claims like that.
but I do MY part every day. I probably pay more in taxes and give more in charity every year than you make. and my position, business ownership and education were earned the hard way. I used the college benefits I earned by serving 10 years active duty military. not by holding out my hand looking for a handout like you lib parasites.
what have you ever contributed to society? not a damn thing. you just want your piece of welfare from those who are smarter, harder working and more productive than yourself.
Gino...
You are absolutely correct. From the original namesake Vidkun Quisling, of traitorous Norske fame, comes the moniker Quisling...here is my favorite Quisling anecdote;
In a wartime cartoon by a Norwegian cartoonist published in Sweden in 1944, "Audience with Hitler", Quisling says: "I am Quisling", and Hitler's adjutant replies: "And what is your name?".
Just an aver joe,
Good job in regards to homer..unfortunately these "types", are the very reason the gov is having problems. This gov of ours, just can't afford to support all these "takers" and "illegals" any longer, so they will just stick it to the rest of us that actually DO work for a living.
777 - thanks
the collected works of Ayn Rand should be required reading in school, instead of all the liberal garbage our kids are brainwashed with.
as Margaret Thatcher once said, "the problem with socialism is you eventually run out of other people's money"
hey triple7irish....
Gov'ner Gym is having problems because he is an unadulterated dolt. Period. And your disparaging the massive numbers of unemployed folks in our country that are suffering mightily puts you in his fine company.
gregory: excellent! I'm thinking about leaving the political stuff to you and Larry. I'm more suited for the life of a Coptic Monk in Egypt. Do you know where I might find an open rock to meditate on for the next 20 years?
A Reid spokesman said Gibbons is all wet and added, "It's hard to imagine why the governor of a state that is suffering so much is so opposed to helping the people who need it the most."
Do I understand this right?
The government should take money from citizens and give it back to the citizens so politicians can take credit for laundering our hard earned money (less enormous administrative costs and bloated public employee salaries, of course) and claiming that they are strengthening the "middle class."
Is that what they teach in Socialism 101?
Excuse me for a moment while I call the White House and ask the experts.
Wouldn't it be great if Harry Reid was interested in what's best for the country instead of what's best for the Democratic party? I'll never understand why people will continue to support a corrupt politician.
they support them if they think there is a free handout in it for themselves.
people like AngryReader looking for a freebie.
and I am VERY familiar with the high cost of health insurance.
what you lib fools don't get (or don't care to get) is that this so called reform bill is nothing of the sort.
true reform would open insurance to competition across state lines, and would involve meaningful tort reform. you don't find it interesting that not a single attorney or attorney group is opposing this bill???? or that more than half of the 535 members of congress are attorneys by trade?
get a frickin clue.
just because (and this is assuming alot) the cost of providing a policy MAY go down (but I doubt that too), but the government takes even MORE money out of my pocket in the form of taxes or so called "fees", the end result is we will be paying more to support an ever increasing bloated government bureaucracy. and paying for even more illegal immigrant health care.
no sir, I am on the RIGHT side of this issue, as are the MAJORITY of the American people.
I'm glad i'm not an "average joe" but something better.
They do say that you don't have to be smart to be a business owner which a good deal of business owners aren't.
I'm glad i'm not a pompous fool who pretends to be smarter than those who have worked harder, achieved more and succeeded in life.
They do say that you don't have to be intelligent, or a hard working go-getter to just sit around and act like you are superior than other people who have earned and achieved personal and financial success and the respect that comes with it.
btw we will forgive your ignorance of what it takes to run a business for what it is: the ignorance of someone who has never run anything successfully, including even a lemonade stand.
if you aren't a smart business owner, you won't be a business owner for long. you'll be a bankrupt EX-business owner. this is a fundamental truth dictated by the laws of economics. the only thing that screws that up is government interference.
meow is either a union sheeple or a government drone.
So Homer, do you know Jim Murrens personally? I never mentioned anything bout Tark Jr. I've met both Greids and they are dumber than my old bassett hound, well maybe a tie. Anyway it's time for new faces to represent Nv and go from there. It's nice everybody has a different opinion and I respect that.
So Homely, how do you like them Burritos?
Reid is a doumb cowpile wanna be,,and will not get relected,,,another left wing in a hole.....
I see birdies babydaddy has taken back his computor from birdie and is posting. Notice the coma's and periods at the end.Like babydaddy like birdie.