Letter: Sen. Wyden is slippery as a greased pig on health care reform

CORVALLIS GAZETTE-TIMES/LETTERS, 10/16/2009 by Jean Nelson - Holding Sen. Ron Wyden responsible for his vote is like trying to hold on to a greased pig at a carnival booth. Wyden is a member of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, and he voted Wednesday (Oct. 14) in favor of health care legislation that he has sharply criticized for weeks.

After Wyden's vote, he made a carefully scripted statement that basically said, "I'm for it, but I'm against it," trying not to be responsible for his decision.

Wyden's vote put his stamp of approval on a huge tax increase that limits the deductibility of medical expenses on income taxes. He voted to tax the sick by raising the threshold for deducting medical expenses from 7.5 percent to 10 percent of one's Adjusted Gross Income as long as the taxpayer is under 65.

Moving according to a pre-arranged plan, now Harry Reid is merging all the health care bills behind closed doors. In a rush to push their version of "health care reform" through Congress, Democrats are ignoring surveys that say that the public wants to take their time and work the bugs out of any changes.

The Senate Finance Committee and the House Tri-Committee are estimating a price tag of around a mere $1 trillion, give or take a few billion dollars for their versions of health care reform. Honest interpretation shows all the bills are fatally flawed and will bring us high costs, government takeover, huge tax increases, major unfunded expansions in Medicaid and major cuts to Medicare.

Jean Nelson, Corvallis

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