March 3, 2010 10:04AM # Before Administering the Lethal Injection, Dr. Obama Offers to Sterilize the Needle By [Michael F. Cannon](https://www.cato.org/people/michael-f-cannon) --- SHARE In a [letter to congressional leaders](http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/Letter%2520to%2520Leaders.pdf), President Obama wrote of his openness to including Republican proposals in his health care legislation. Dropping a few Republican ideas into [a government takeover of health care](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10576) is like sterilizing the needle before a lethal injection: a nice thought, but the ultimate outcome is the same. - Two of the four Republican ideas – federal grants to states that adopt medical malpractice liability reforms, and ratcheting upward [Medicare’s physician-price controls](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6722) – would increase government spending. - The president’s [health savings accounts (HSAs)](http://www.bepress.com/fhep/11/2/3/) proposal would merely loosen the noose around consumer-directed health plans. - Undercover investigations in Medicare and Medicaid are likely to be as unsuccessful as [past efforts to combat fraud](http://www.catostore.org/index.asp?fa=ProductDetails&pid=1441322). This is not bipartisanship. President Obama is creating the illusion of bipartisanship while taking the most partisan route possible: forcing his legislation through Congress via reconciliation. (Cross-posted at *National Journal*’s [Health Care Arena](http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/2010/02/beyond-the-summit.php).) ##### Related Tags [General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Health Care](https://www.cato.org/health-care) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).