Famed Songwriter Sen. Orrin Hatch Doesn't Feel Too Good About Health Care Reform

Senator Orrin Hatch, the Republican from Utah, recently found himself in a rather precarious position: sandwiched between Lady Gaga and The Black Eyed Peas. Well, on the list of Amazon.com's most popular mp3 downloads, that is, for his new hit song "Eight Days of Hanukkah."

"Everywhere I go, people stop me and say, 'Gee, I love your song,'" Hatch said proudly.

He might prefer people stopping him to say how much they loved the idea of national health care reform, but that's probably not going to happen.

"They want to push as many people onto Medicare and Medicaid as they can so they can get to a single-payer system, or, in other words, socialized medicine," Hatch said about the Democrats' plan to lower Medicare's eligibility age from 65 to 55.

Not only would medical costs soar from an estimated $1 trillion to $6.25 trillion over the next few years, but taxes would increase, and bureaucracies, he said, would "explode." All of this for a system that Hatch said does not have a very good proven track record.

Quoting a 2008 study in the British medical journal Lancet, Hatch said, "Government-run health care systems in Germany, France, Britain, and Canada have higher rates of death from colon cancer, prostate cancer, and breast cancer than in the United States, and it's due largely to substandard government care."

Hatch couldn't help but laugh in Imus's face at the suggestion that Democrats wanting to insure more people was "an act of compassion."

"They're on a historic spending spree that basically will create a majority and national constituency for Democrats," he said, claiming the Democrats' goal is to ultimately provide 60 percent of Americans receive with some form of government assistance. "People will think that everything they are or every hoped to be comes from the mighty Democratic Party."

He objected to Imus's statement that Senate Democrats hate Joe Lieberman, and called him "one of the finest people here," and "a straight-shooter." Hatch also likes President Obama, even though he's doing everything wrong.

Asked by Oprah to grade his first year as President so far, Obama gave himself a B+, which Hatch thought was high. "I think he's probably around a C," said the Senator. "But C is good for the first year."

Hatch then wished a Merry Christmas, and, of course, a Happy Hanukkah to Imus, his family, and his "others."

"I'm not sure what I mean by 'others,'" said Hatch. "But, you never know in this day and age."

-Julie Kanfer