Tuesday, June 16, 2009

"Say Hello To My Little Friend"

Yesterday when speaking to the AMA, Obama told them that ObamaCare is "your friend." Tony Montana had a "friend" too and it's about the same thing:



There are lots of problematic aspects to ObamaCare, such as the cost (did you see the CBO report today?), but the most glaring to me right now is that fact that....shock coming......Obama is lying. If he isn't intentionally lying then he's being naievely short-sighted, neither of which are admirable qualities in a president.

Case in point: He says that you will not be forced out of your own private insurance plan. We've heard him say over and over, in practically every speech he gives on health care, that you will be able to keep your coverage and your doctor. This is deceitful. Over the long run this will not remain true. And he knows it.

To the AMA yesterday, he said “no matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period. If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period. No one will take it away."

Not true. Maybe you'll be able to keep your doctor, but you likely won't be able to keep your health plan and that's just common sense.

Employers are going to be required to give you an insurance plan or face fines. The Kennedy-Dodd bill would create an individual mandate requiring you to buy a “qualified” health insurance plan, as defined by the government. The plan must meet government requirements. Meanwhile, the government wants to put in place a public option, which of course will be cheaper. Your employer will wonder why he's paying for an insurance plan when the government is doing the same thing. He'll drop his plan which will force you into the goverment plan because you will be required to have coverage.

There's some nuances in there but that's the essence of the problem. The Weekly Standard put it this way:

ObamaCare "would create incentives for employers to drop their health coverage plan (by making it cheaper to pay the fine than offer coverage) and would enable the new public insurance plan to undersell private insurers by imposing price controls similar to those employed in Medicare. A large number of workers finding themselves without their old employer-based coverage would 'opt' for the public plan, creating, in effect, a massive new public health insurance program."

No matter how many times Obama asserts that no one would lose their current coverage, he's wrong. Or lying. Over time you would certainly lose your current coverage as private insurers would be squeezed out and unable to compete.

The Weekly Standard points to a study by the Lewin Group which "estimates that almost 120 million Americans could be forced from employer-based coverage into government-run insurance by the kind of two-step strategy the Democrats envision. Americans with stable job-based insurance do not know this is what Democrats have in store for them, and they will not be happy about it."

Too many Americans are going to mistakenly believe they will be able to keep their coverage and feel reassured that their current coverage will be unfazed then realize they have been deceived by their president. He's being intentionally deceptive so he can get ObamaCare passed. He's telling you what you want to hear. Don't listen to him! Investigate these options and learn about them!

No comments: