Desperate To Get Americans On His Side, Obama Continues To Push Falsehoods About His Government-Run Health Care Experiment
RNC CHAIRMAN MICHAEL STEELE: "I thought the president said a lot without reallysaying anything. There was nothing new here ... I think it may have been nice to do the interviews but I don't think it advanced the debate on health care that much." (CBS's "Face The Nation," 9/20/09) FOR AMERICANS, IT HASN'T BEEN ABOUT OBAMA'S PITCH, IT'S BEEN ABOUT HIS PRODUCT
Majority Of Americans Say The More They Learn About Obama's Experiment, The More They Oppose It. "Americans by 54-41 percent say that the more they hear about health care reform, the less they like it." (Gary Langer, "POLL: Obama's Speech Doesn't Turn The Tide," ABC News, 9/14/09)
"Fifty-six percent (56%) Of Voters Nationwide Now Oppose The Health Care Reform Proposed By President Obama And Congressional Democrats. That's The Highest Level Of Opposition Yet Measured And Includes 44% Who Are Strongly Opposed." ("Health Care Reform," Rasmussen Reports, 9/18/09)
NO WONDER OBAMA CONTINUES TO BE DISHONEST WITH AMERICANS TODAY ABOUT WHAT'S IN HIS PLAN
Obama Claims Tax On Insurance Policies Is Not A Tax On Middle-Class Americans. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: "Yet, this week, Senator Rockefeller, several other democrats said that this bill by Senator Baucus is a big middle class tax increase. Do you agree, and does that mean you can't sign it?" PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: "I don't agree. I think what they were referring to, and I haven't looked at the quotes, but I think they were concerned about whether or not this was actually affordable." (ABC News' "This Week," 9/20/09)
But Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) Rips Insurance Tax As A "Big, Big Tax" Hitting Many Americans. "He should understand that (his proposal) means that virtually every single coal miner is going to have a big, big tax put on them because the tax will be put on the company and the company will immediately pass it down and lower benefits because they are self insured, most of them, because they are larger. They will pass it down, lower benefits, and probably this will mean higher premiums for coal miners who are getting very good health care benefits for a very good reason. That is, like steelworkers and others, they are doing about the most dangerous job that can be done in America.'" (Teddy Davis, "Dem Senator Warns of 'Big, Big Tax' on Middle Class in Baucus Bill," ABC News's "The Note" Blog, 9/16/09)
Obama Claims "If You Like Your Insurance Already, I'm Not Asking You To Change It." (Univision's "Al Punto," 9/20/09)
But Analysis Shows Over 88 Million People To Lose Current Insurance Under Government Health Care Takeover. "Under current law, there will be about 158.1 million people who are covered under an employer plan as workers, dependents or early retirees in 2011. If the act were fully implemented in that year, about 88.1 million workers would shift from private employer insurance to the public plan." (John Shelis, Vice President, Lewin Group, "Analysis Of The July 15 draft Of The American Affordable Health Choices Act Of 2009," 7/17/09)
Obama Claims His Government-Run Health Care Experiment Will Make Coverage More Affordable. OBAMA: "It provides health insurance to people who don't have it at affordable prices. I would like to make sure that we've got that affordability really buttoned down. I think that's one of the most important things is that if we're offering people health insurance and we're saying that people have to get health insurance if it's affordable, we've got to make sure it's affordable." (CNN's "State Of The Union," 9/20/09)
But New Regulations On Health Insurance Causes Price Of Coverage To Rise. "Each benefit mandate raises the price of health insurance a little bit. These increases accumulate .... Because the House and Senate bills contain versions of community rating and guaranteed issue mandates, they would benefit those with predictably high costs. At the same time, the President wants to slow the growth of overall (total/average) private health insurance premiums, and we need to understand how much the mandates in these bills would exacerbate that problem." (Keith Hennessey, "New Health Insurance Mandates Would Increase Premiums," KeithHennessey.com, 7/23/09)
Obama Insists Penalties For Americans Who Don't Buy Insurance Is Not A Tax. STEPHANOPOULOS: "That may be, but it's still a tax increase." OBAMA: "That's not true, George. For us to say that you've got to take responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase. It's saying that we're not going to have other people carrying your burdens for you. Anymore than that right now, everybody in America, just about, has to get auto insurance. Nobody considers that a tax increase. People say to themselves, 'That is a fair way to make sure that if you hit my car that I'm not covering all of the cost.'" ... STEPHANOPOULOS: "I don't think I'm ma king it up. 'Merriam-Webster's dictionary: 'Tax- A charge, usually of money, imposed by authority on persons or property for public purposes.'" OBAMA: "George, the fact that you looked up Merriam's dictionary, the definition of tax increase indicates to me that you are stretching a bit right now. Otherwise you wouldn't have gone to the dictionary to check on it." (ABC News' "This Week," 9/20/09)
But Baucus's Plan Includes Steep Taxes On Americans Who Can't Afford To Buy Insurance. "Mr. Obama and most Democrats support a proposal that would require most Americans to carry health insurance. Under Mr. Baucus's proposal, a family that went without coverage would be subject to a penalty of up to $3,800 a year." (Robert Pear and David Herszenhorn, "New Objections To Baucus Health Care Proposal," The New York Times, 9/14/09)
As Does House Bill, Which Imposes 2.5 Percent Income Tax On Uninsured Individuals. "The penalty assessed on people who would be subject to the mandate but did not obtain insurance would equal 2.5 percent of the difference between their adjusted gross income (modified to include tax-exempt interest and certain other sources of income) and the tax filing threshold ..." (Douglas W. Elmendorf, "Preliminary Analysis Of The Insurance Coverage Specifications Provided By The House Tri-Committee Group," Letter To Chairman Rangel, 7/17/09)
Obama Claims Health Care Professionals Support His Government-Run Health Care Experiment. "I have said that it is very important that we take into account the concerns of doctors and nurses who, by the way, support our efforts. And that's something that doesn't get noticed much." (NBC's "Meet The Press," 9/20/09)
But State And Local Medical Societies, Former AMA Presidents Say Health Care System Will Not Improve Under Increased Government Intervention. "With congressional action imminent, we face a fundamental choice of solutions. One path accepts as 'necessary' a substantial increase in federal government control over how medical care is delivered and financed. We believe a different path that allows patients and physicians to take a more direct role in their health care decisions is better. By encouraging patients to own their health insurance policies and by allowing them to freely exercise their right to privately contract with the physician of their choice, health care decisions will be made by patients and physicians and not by the government or other third party payers... We believe that in order to 'fix' the health care system, we must 'free it' from unnecessary intrusion by the government and other third party payers." (Medical Association Of The State Of Alabama, Medical Society Of Delaware, Medical Society Of The District Of Columbia, Medical Association Of Georgia, Kansas Medical Society, Medical Society Of New Jersey, South Carolina Medical Association, American Academy Of Facial Plastic And Reconstructive Surgery, American Association Of Neurological Surgeons, Triological Society, Sarasota County Medical Society, Donald J. Palmisano, William G. Plested, Letter To Rep. Henry Waxman, 7/21/09)
And Health Industry Leaders Believe Obama "Overstated" Their Commitment. "Already, some leaders of the health care industry who appeared at the White House on May 11 say the president may have overstated their cost-control commitment. Three days after the gathering, hospital executives said that they had agreed to help save $2 trillion by gradually slowing the growth of health spending, but that they did not commit to cutting the growth rate by 1.5 percentage points each year for 10 years." (Robert Pear, "Antitrust Laws Loom As Hurdle In Obama Effort To Overhaul Health C are," The New York Times, 5/27/09)
Obama Claims He Incorporated Republican Ideas Into His Health Care Proposal. OBAMA: "[I]t is important to providers to make sure that their costs are going down, so I think there are going to be a whole series of Republican ideas, ideas from my opponents during the campaign that we have incorporated and adopted." (NBC's "Meet The Press," 9/20/09)
But Proposal From Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ), Which Obama Referred To In His Address To Congress, Increases State Flexibility, While Obama's Proposal Is Washington-Run. "Based on the president's remarks, one would be forgiven for thinking that Obama's proposal on this subject is identical to McCain's. It's not. McCain's proposal called for providing federal assistance to state-based high risk pools. Obama, by contrast, is calling for a national high risk pool, according to a White House document posted on-line which outlines the president's plan." (Teddy Davis, "Obama Didn't Exactly Adopt McCain's Proposal On Hig h Risk Pools," ABC News's "The Note" Blog, 9/10/09)
Obama Insists His Cuts To Medicare Advantage Won't Affect Seniors' Benefits. STEPHANOPOULOS: "A Democrat [Sen. Bill Nelson] says the cuts that you're looking at the Medicare Advantage program, will force people to lose coverage they now have ... He says it's going to cause beneficiaries to lose what they have right now. OBAMA: "I understand that change is hard. People currently signed up for Medicare Advantage are going to have Medicare and the same level of benefits but they may not be having their insurer get a 14% premium, that's absolutely true." (ABC's "This Week," 9/20/09)
But Obama's Cuts To Medicare Advantage Will Reduce Benefits For Seniors. "Mr. Obama has repeatedly said, 'Nobody is talking about cutting Medicare benefits..' At the same time, he wants to eliminate what he describes as 'unwarranted subsidies' and giveaways to private Medicare Advantage plans, which use some of the money to provide extra benefits." (Robert Pear, "A Basis Is Seen For Some Health Plan Fears Among The Elderly," The New York Times, 8/20/09)
Obama Promises That His Government-Run Experiment Will Make Health Care More Secure. "For people who have health insurance we can provide health insurance reforms that make the insurance they have more secure. And we can do that mostly by using money that every expert agrees is being wasted and is currently in the existing health care system." (CBS's "Face The Nation," 9/20/09)
Hospitals Say Government-Run Health Care Will Force Doctors To Drop Patients. '[L]awmakers are on track to approve across-the-board federal payment reductions of $155 billion over 10 years for hospitals ... Mayo and similar health systems object to the sweeping cuts. 'Across-the-board cuts will be harmful to everyone and we think it is particularly bad to penalize the high-value organizations,' said Jeff Korsmo, executive dir ector of the Mayo Clinic Health Policy Center. 'We will have to violate our values in order to stay in business and reduce our access to government patients.'" (Phil Galewitz, "'Model' Health Systems Press Case For Medicare Fix In Reform," Kaiser Health News, 7/20/09) View This Research Briefing At http://www.GOP.com
