Jane Zhang of the Wall Street Journal has a piece on what benefits will be most obvious under the present healthcare bills. As you would expect, there isn’t a lot. And bear in mind there are present two fairly different bills in play (the House and the Senate versions) that need a lot of combining to be functional. The Czar assumes Zhang’s analysis is based on common elements between them.

Most curious is the use of the phrase “[The biggest winners are s]ome 30 million uninsured Americans that the legislation aims to cover, especially lower-income individuals who aren’t yet eligible for Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance program for the poor. But that expansion is at least three years away.”

The Czar knew that in passing, but seeing that statement rendered here made us see it anew. So the 30 million dying Americans (a number still never quite verified) will not receive Medicaid eligibility until after the Presidential elections in 2012?

Seems incredibly poor tactics to a humble amateur strategist.

You have a purported 30 million Americans who now believe that healthcare will be free for them (it will not), just as soon as these bills are merged and passed.

So let’s say a final bill is passed. It is now February or even March of 2010, and there are high fives among Pelosi, Reid, Obama, and others. What happens when the 30 million Americans discover they don’t have their free healthcare? Not today, not tomorrow, not even next year.

It is 2011, and the presidential campaigns begin to gel. Republican candidates point out the tax increases, but ask what happened to healthcare? 30 million Americans realize they are paying more in tax, but the free healthcare they expected ain’t coming today, either.

Now it is 2012, and every ten seconds of television and radio programming is a campaign message. The Obama machine is dominating the talk shows and commercial spots reminding America of His Oneness’ three greatest accomplishments as President: the changing of the NCAA system, a peace accord between East Tonga and Australia, and Healthcare Reform! This of course only reminds 30 million voters they are paying more than ever for healthcare, and next year’s free coverage isn’t looking great either.

Yes, He will blame the Republicans; but the latter should be crowing loudly that so far, taxes have gone up badly for the poor, and there isn’t going to be any free healthcare because you grazing animals voted for Democrats in 2008. And the Republicans will wave their CBO-blessed 2009 proposals before the cameras, pointing out that their solution would have demonstrably lowered costs for all Americans starting the day after passage. On election day, 2012, what exactly will voters believe at the polls?

You could well create 30 million GOP voters with this legislation.

The Democrats are a hair’s width away from accomplishing the greatest expansion of government control over private industry since World War II, and it will end up costing them just as much as the taxpayers. Incredibly poor tactical planning.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.