Posted By Conn Carroll On June 12, 2009 @ 8:58 am In Health Care | http://blog.heritage.org/...print/#comments_controls href="http://blog.heritage.org/2009/06/12/morning-bell-obama-rhetoric-vs-health-care-reality/print/#comments_controls">37 Comments
Campaigning for his health care plan yesterday, President Barack Obama http://www.nytimes.com/20..._r=1&ref=todayspaper href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/12/us/politics/12obama.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper">told [1] a Green Bay, Wisconsin audience: "Right now a number of my Republican friends have said, 'We can't support anything with a public option.' It's not clear that it's based on any evidence as much as it is their thinking, their fear, that somehow once you have a public plan that government will take over the entire health care system." In fact, the opposite is true. It is President Obama who is operating on rhetoric without any evidence to back up his claims. Consider the following four themes crucial to Obama's argument:
1. http://www.barackobama.co...bama08_HealthcareFAQ.pdf
href="http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/Obama08_HealthcareFAQ.pdf">You will be able to keep your doctor and health insurance if you want.
[2]
On the contrary, an independent analysis has shown that http://www.lewin.com/cont...imony_April_29,_2009.pdf
href="http://www.lewin.com/content/publications/Testimony_April_29,_2009.pdf">up to 119 million Americans could lose the coverage they have
today [3] under a Medicare-like public plan. The whole notion that a public plan would help increase competition http://www.heritage.org/R...ch/HealthCare/bg2267.cfm
href="http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/bg2267.cfm">defies common sense. [4] For one thing, the government cannot create a
level playing field between its own plan and private plans. http://www.heritage.org/P...Commentary/ed111308c.cfm
href="http://www.heritage.org/Press/Commentary/ed111308c.cfm">It would be like an umpire at a baseball game also fielding a team. [5]
The playing field will always tilt towards the government plan that would eventually run out. And that is the whole point of the public plan. Just ask public
plan architect http://blog.heritage.org/...ealth-care-trojan-horse/
href="http://blog.heritage.org/2009/06/11/obamas-health-care-trojan-horse/">Jacob Hacker [6]: "Someone once said to me this is a
Trojan Horse for single-payer, and I said, well it's not a Trojan Horse, right? It's just right there."
2. http://www.barackobama.co...bama08_HealthcareFAQ.pdf
href="http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/Obama08_HealthcareFAQ.pdf">You will have the choice of buying health coverage that is similar to the plan
available to members of Congress. [2]
During the campaign, President Obama continued to tell people that his plan would give the same coverage offered to Members of Congress through the Federal
Employees Health Benefit Program (FEHBP). First, http://www.heritage.org/R...ch/HealthCare/bg2224.cfm
href="http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/bg2224.cfm">there is no public plan in FEBHP [7]. Second, there is no
"one-size-fits-all plan" in FEBHP. The plans offered vary by price, benefit and region. As a matter of fact there are over 250 plans offered
through FEBHP including at least a dozen national plans that are available wherever you live. Under the President's planned version of an
"exchange" and detailed in http://fixhealthcarepolic...kennedy-health-care-bill
href="http://fixhealthcarepolicy.com/key-documents/sen-kennedy-health-care-bill">congressional plans [8], the federal government
would have unprecedented control over the type of coverage Americans can buy, resulting in a "one-size-fits-all" federal standard which would limit
choices for families and weaken incentives for insurers to compete for enrollees based on value.
3. http://www.barackobama.co...bama08_HealthcareFAQ.pdf
href="http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/Obama08_HealthcareFAQ.pdf">No government bureaucrat will second-guess decisions about your care.
[2]
Nobody wants to get between a person and their doctor, yet President Obama wants to establish a http://www.heritage.org/R...ch/HealthCare/wm2155.cfm
href="http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/wm2155.cfm">Federal Health Board [9] - a Supreme Court of health care that would
micromanage the practice of medicine through "best practices" and "comparative effectiveness." Ironically, the examples the President
pointed out yesterday of high-quality, low-cost care systems would probably not exist today had government been involved in them. The federal bureaucracy
would destroy innovation and change would be slow to come by. So, in twenty years the American health care system would be stuck (again) in an outdated 2000
health care model.
4. American families will save money.
The President's health plan is estimated to cost $1.6 trillion over 10 years. He plans to pay for some of it with "savings." Unfortunately,
these "savings" are unproven and untested. Even the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) - the scorekeeper for cost and savings - http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdoc.../12-18-HealthOptions.pdf
href="http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/99xx/doc9925/12-18-HealthOptions.pdf">doesn't appear to have much faith in these savings [10].
And what has been the reaction from the left in Congress? Instead of embracing objective evidence on health care reform, they are trying to find ways around
it, with http://thehill.com/leadin...bo-score-2009-06-11.html
href="http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/dems-brace-for-cbo-score-2009-06-11.html">some in Congress threatening to scrap the CBO's cost
estimate of the Obama plan and instead go with the White House's own cost estimates. [11]
Closing his remarks yesterday, President Obama http://www.greenbaypressg...h-at-Green-Bay-Southwest href="http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20090611/GPG0101/90611064/1207/GPG01/Text-of-President-Obama-s-speech-at-Green-Bay-Southwest">said [12]: "To those who criticize our efforts, I ask, "What is the alternative? What else do we say to all those families who now spend more on health care than housing or food?" There is an alternative. A patient centered alternative that keeps health care decisions between doctors and patients instead of centralizing power in Washington. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) has a bill, the http://fixhealthcarepolic...099-patients-choice-act/ href="http://fixhealthcarepolicy.com/key-documents/s-1099-patients-choice-act/">Patient's Choice Act [13], and he recently took questions from Americans across the country on http://blog.heritage.org/...ecides-your-health-care/ href="http://blog.heritage.org/2009/06/11/who-decides-your-health-care/">a 45 minute conference call. [14] Listen to what real health care reform sounds like, http://blog.heritage.org/...ence-with-rep-paul-ryan/ href="http://blog.heritage.org/2009/06/11/health-care-teleconference-with-rep-paul-ryan/">here [15].
Quick Hits:
- Driven by fears the Obama Administration will not contain spending, rising long-term interest rates are making it more expensive for home buyers, corporations and the U.S. government to borrow money, http://www.washingtonpost.../11/AR2009061104297.html href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/11/AR2009061104297.html">threatening to further stifle an already weak economy. [16]
- The Obama Administration has all but abandoned plans [17] to allow Guantanamo Bay detainees who have been cleared for release to live in the United States.
- Civilian courts' insistence on requiring http://online.wsj.com/art...B124476465967008335.html href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124476465967008335.html">Miranda warnings for Guantanamo Bay prisoners [18] is proving to be a major stumbling block to Obama Administration efforts to try them criminally.
- Accused Fidel Castro spy and State Department analyst Walter Kendall Myers had an http://www.washingtontime...un/12/a-renegade-streak/ href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jun/12/a-renegade-streak/">established record of anti-American public statements [19].
- Today's Guest Blogger in The Foundry: Representative J. Randy Forbes (R-VA) on http://blog.heritage.org/...rep-j-randy-forbes-r-va/ href="http://blog.heritage.org/2009/06/11/guest-blogger-rep-j-randy-forbes-r-va/">the Obama administration's war on transparency in defense spending. [20]
Article printed from The Foundry: http://blog.heritage.org
URL to article: http://blog.heritage.org/2009/06/12/morning-bell-obama-rhetoric-vs-health-care-reality/
URLs in this post:
[1] told: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/12/us/politics/12obama.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper
[2] You will be able to keep your doctor and health insurance if you want.: http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/Obama08_HealthcareFAQ.pdf
[3] up to 119 million Americans could lose the coverage they have today: http://www.lewin.com/content/publications/Testimony_April_29,_2009.pdf
[4] defies common sense.: http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/bg2267.cfm
[5] It would be like an umpire at a baseball game also fielding a team.: http://www.heritage.org/Press/Commentary/ed111308c.cfm
[6] Jacob Hacker: http://blog.heritage.org/2009/06/11/obamas-health-care-trojan-horse/
[7] there is no public plan in FEBHP: http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/bg2224.cfm
[8] congressional plans: http://fixhealthcarepolicy.com/key-documents/sen-kennedy-health-care-bill
[9] Federal Health Board: http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/wm2155.cfm
[10] doesn't appear to have much faith in these savings: http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/99xx/doc9925/12-18-HealthOptions.pdf
[11] some in Congress threatening to scrap the CBO's cost estimate of the Obama plan and instead go with the White House's own cost estimates.: http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/dems-brace-for-cbo-score-2009-06-11.html
[12] said: http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20090611/GPG0101/90611064/1207/GPG01/Text-of-President-Obama-s-speech-at-Green-Bay-Southwest
[13] Patient's Choice Act: http://fixhealthcarepolicy.com/key-documents/s-1099-patients-choice-act/
[14] a 45 minute conference call.: http://blog.heritage.org/2009/06/11/who-decides-your-health-care/
[15] here: http://blog.heritage.org/2009/06/11/health-care-teleconference-with-rep-paul-ryan/
[16] threatening to further stifle an already weak economy.: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/11/AR2009061104297.html
[17] abandoned plans: http://blog.heritage.org http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/11/AR2009061101210.html
[18] Miranda warnings for Guantanamo Bay prisoners: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124476465967008335.html
[19] established record of anti-American public statements: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jun/12/a-renegade-streak/
[20] the Obama administration's war on transparency in defense spending.: http://blog.heritage.org/2009/06/11/guest-blogger-rep-j-randy-forbes-r-va/
Copyright © 2008 The Heritage Foundation. All rights reserved.
As always - FEEL FREE TO CIRCULATE THIS MESSAGE EVERYWHERE.
Use this link to find contact information for your congresscritter
http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you aren't reading TYSK daily
... maybe you should be.
- Thought You Should Know -
http://www.tysknews.com/ href="http://www.tysknews.com/"
target=_blank>http://www.tysknews.com/
~~~RKBA!~~~~~~~~~RKBA!~~~

