Obama Does Not Want Government Run Healthcare – Really?

As discussed in Obamacare – The Government Option and Your Right to Choose, the politicians are lying about their proposed health care "reforms". They are lying on many levels. Another big lie that is being pushed is that Obama does not want government-run health care. The false promise of you having a right to choose is obviously dishonest but this one is a little less obvious. According to Obama:

"Let me also say that -- let me also address a illegitimate concern that's being put forward by those who are claiming a public option is somehow a Trojan horse for a single-payer system. I'll be honest, there are countries where a single-payer system works pretty well. But I believe -- and I've taken some flak from members of my own party for this belief -- that it's important for our efforts to build on our traditions here in the United States. So when you hear the naysayers claim that I'm trying to bring about government-run health care, know this: They're not telling the truth."

They're not telling the truth? President Obama, you may not be outright lying but you're not being intellectually honest. You are pushing a government option for health care, one that would force a lot of people out of their private insurers and onto the government roles. This government option will reduce competition by subsidizing the government option with taxpayer dollars and will end up putting private insurers out of business. The government option is government-run health care - period. As more and more people are forced into the government option there will be less private options available, it's only a matter of time. This is explained in Rove's Wall St Journal piece, where he says "a public option will undercut private insurers and pass the tab to taxpayers and health providers just as it does in existing government-run programs. For example, Medicare pays hospitals 71% and doctors 81% of what private insurers pay." Is this how the government option will "compete"? If this does not sound like a level playing field, it's not. And to tilt the field even more towards the government option this Investor's Business Daily article reports that the House plan has "a provision making individual private medical insurance illegal". You read that right. The article sums it up nicely:

So we can all keep our coverage, just as promised — with, of course, exceptions: Those who currently have private individual coverage won't be able to change it. Nor will those who leave a company to work for themselves be free to buy individual plans from private carriers.

Other articles suggest that private policies would still be available but only through some government insurance exchange. The government will still be involved so how private will it be?

The goal of this "reform" is to provide health care for everyone, all 46 million uninsured people in America. As Ted Kennedy said, this bill will finally "end the disgrace of America as the only major industrialized nation in the world that doesn't guarantee health care for all of its people." It's amazing how people have to degrade our country in order to show us that we're a bunch of greedy, heartless people and we do not know any better so e should let them pass what they want. The problem is that we're not greedy and heartless and I'm tired of being portrayed this way. I will not disgraced by the fact that people are coming from those other "major industrialized nation[s] in the world" to America for treatment when they cannot get it in their own country. I will not be disgraced by the fact that the amazing health care available in this country saved Ted Kennedy's life when he had a brain tumor. I will not be disgraced by the fact that we think enough of our citizens to allow them to have such surgeries even though he was probably "better off not having the surgery", after all he is 76 and the surgery was quite risky. I will not think of this great country as a disgrace – ever.

What is a disgrace is disguising government-run health care under the guise of "competition" to insurance companies and health care for everyone. It's a disgrace because it only insures 97% of the people by 2019. That's not everyone and it leaves over 17 million people uninsured; about half of whom are illegal aliens. It's a relief that we are not going to provide health insurance to illegal aliens. However, based on the numbers in Myth #3 there are about 8 million working poor and chronically uninsured people that really need help. So Obama's and the Democrat's plan is to overhaul our health care system, raise taxes on the "rich", increase the burden on companies and spend 1 trillion plus dollars over 10 years and still have 8.5 million people uninsured. That does not make sense. If we simply gave each of those 8 million people a $5,000 voucher and allowed them to get their own health insurance we'd only spend $40 billion a year or $400 billion over ten years. What's the point of this huge overhaul and the deficit spending that it will involve? Do you think there is an ulterior motive here?

The trend of this government option is obvious: get a majority of the people off their employer provided health care and squeeze out the competition to the point that the private companies cannot compete. Eventually everyone will end up on the government option and we will have a single payer system with the government calling the shots. The allure of "free" healthcare may blind some because it sounds utopian and most of us are compassionate and want to look out for our fellow citizens. But when you really think about it, it's not all its promised to be. Consider the comment Obama made that "there are countries where a single-payer system works pretty well." And then when his press secretary was asked which countries those were, he responded "I don't know exactly the countries. I think if you talk to the people in the countries that have that system, they think their health care is pretty good." A single-payer system has not worked in other countries and will not work here (see Myth #10 below). If the politicians cannot name the countries where it has worked then why would we believe them that it will work here? We shouldn't.

Once a single-payer system is in place we really will be a country of the Haves and Have-nots. The Haves will get their health care from private doctors in foreign countries with equipment that the world used to envy us for having. The Have-nots, you and me, will be stuck here on waiting lists with no other choice. Instead of health care for everyone it will be misery for all, except the rich. We'll be subjected to bureaucrats choosing whether we're "better off not having the surgery, but taking the painkiller." We'll be stuck in ambulances for hours so that the emergency rooms can meet their government mandate to treat people within a certain timeframe. We'll be left without the latest miracle drug that could help extend our lives. In short we'll be left to suffer along with our Canadian and European counterparts with a health care system that is more broken than it is today and our children will be left wondering why we did this to them. What will you tell them? I didn't care, it didn't affect me?

What you can do:

Check out the list of questions you should consider and then contact your representative and get answers.