FixHealthCarePolicy

The President Learned Nothing From August

“There remain some significant details to iron out.” Thus spoke the President of the United States last night, in an address in which, with a straight face, he told an awaiting nation that he was finally delivering not lofty rhetoric, but his grand plan on health care.

On that score President Obama was right. It may have been, however, a bit of an understatement. Absent, of course, was how exactly all the savings he confidently predicted would materialize, how exactly the government would prevent employers from dumping all their employees into a government plan and how czars and boards would operate without bureaucrats coming between Americans and their doctors. Ah, details, details.

In fact, while he kept referring to “our plan” he never explained whose plan he meant. One of the two House plans? The one Senate plan that exists or the Finance one that’s under construction? What’s he actually for? What’s the President against? (more…)

Tags: congress, President Obama, townhall meetings

The Great Myth of Prevention “Savings”

Washington Post op-ed columnist Charles Krauthammer in a piece today takes on the myth that prevention measures will magically reduce overall health care spending and lower costs in the long run. It’s a talking point Democractic Congressional leadership and President Barack Obama have been using as the main way to pay for their proposed $1 trillion-plus health care overhaul.

But as Krauthammer explains, “like most conventional wisdom, it is wrong. Overall, preventive care increases medical costs.”

“This inconvenient truth comes, once again, from the CBO. In an Aug. 7 letter to Rep. Nathan Deal, CBO Director Doug Elmendorf writes: ‘Researchers who have examined the effects of preventive care generally find that the added costs of widespread use of preventive services tend to exceed the savings from averted illness.’”

See the full article here.

Tags: Doug Elmendorf, President Obama, prevention, savings

Obama’s Single-Payer Comments Questioned

President Obama’s comments at a townhall meeting yesterday about not supporting a single-payer system are drawing fire from all sides of the ideological spectrum. President Obama said, “I have not said that I was a single-payer supporter.”

The Foundry’s Conn Carroll notes:

“This is directly contradicted by candidate Barack Obama’s own websitewhich quotes Obama at a rally in Ames, Iowa form 2008: ‘If I were designing a system from scratch I would probably set up a single-payer system. … So what I believe is we should set up a series of choices….Over time it may be that we end up transitioning to such a system.’ So there you have in one paragraph the true purpose of Obama’s public option: a vehicle to slowly transition all Americans out of private coverage and into a government-run single payer health care system. This Trojan Horse view of the public option has been reaffirmed by Reps. Barney Frank (D-MA), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Washington Post blogger Ezra Klein, and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman.”

(See a side-by-side video comparison of Obama’s single-payer statements here).

Meanwhile, David Sirota with the liberal blog Open Left had this to say of Obama’s claim in Portsmouth, New Hampshire yesterday:

“Obama has never really offered up an explanation for his about face on single payer, other than implying that it’s not politically realistic now – even though, again, back in 2003, he said it would be politically realistic when Democrats obtained the presidency and Congress.

Let me repeat: I’m really supportive of Obama’s health care efforts right now. But I’ll never – ever – be supportive of any president lying and/or not at least explaining their broken promises.”

Tags: President Obama, single-payer system, townhall meeting

Obama’s Choreographed Town Hall

Yesterday, President Obama held a town hall event in order to sell his health care message to the publicduring Congress’ July 4th recess. However, worried that the President cannot answer tough questions about his plan for health care reform, White House officials carefully screened each member of the audience in attendance and each question asked.  

This time, the mainstream media took note, even grilling White House spokesperson Robert Gibbs on the choreographed spectacle.  In fact, veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas, not known as a conservative sympathizer, even lamented: “I’m not saying there has never been managed news before, but this is carried to fare-thee-well–for the town halls, for the press conferences. It’s blatant. They don’t give a d–n if you know it or not. They ought to be hanging their heads in shame.” She added: “What the h-ll do they think we are, puppets?”

Read the rest of the post here.

Watch the video of yesterday’s press briefing: The Press Revolts Against Obama

Tags: President Obama, Press Briefing, White House Press

Key Health Industry Groups Oppose Public Plan

Even as President Obama pushed at a press conference yesterday for Congress to include a public health insurance plan in any health reform they pass, two key health industry groups had already alerted Congress to their opposition to any public option, according to The Washington Post.

America’s Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association sent a letter to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that outlined their opposition to a public plan.

The Post article notes the letter is a departure from the health industry’s efforts to participate and cooperate with the Obama administration on how to structure an overhaul of a sector that makes up nearly 17 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product.

Tags: health industry group, President Obama, public plan

Obama: Public Plan Can Trump Private Insurance

The Associated Press notes that President Barack Obama admitted in a press conference today that employers might chose government-run health insurance over private plans — especially if the government can set prices on health care providers and have artificially low premiums.

This admission came even as President Obama reiterated his promise that Americans who liked their health coverage would see no changes. Many health policy experts have predicted that employers would shift their workers onto a public plan because it would be a cheaper option. This could affect many of the American majority who like their current coverage options.

Tags: President Obama, public plan

Obama Walks Back Promise On Keeping Your Private Insurance

From The Foundry:

Less than 24 hours after Heritage Foundation President Ed Feulner questioned the veracity of President Obama’s persistent claim that, under his health care proposals, “if you like your insurance package you can keep it”, the White House has begun to walk the President’s claim back. Turns out he didn’t really mean it.

According to the Associated Press, “White House officials suggest the president’s rhetoric shouldn’t be taken literally: What Obama really means is that government isn’t about to barge in and force people to change insurance.”

How’s that for change you can believe in?

Depending on how the public plan is designed in Congress, millions of Americans would lose their existing coverage. By opening the public plan to all employees and using Medicare rates, the Lewin Group, a nationally prominent econometrics firm, has said that the public plan could result in 119.1 million Americans being transitioned out of private coverage, including employer based coverage, into a public plan. With employers making the key decision, millions of Americans could lose their private coverage, regardless of their personal preferences in this matter.

When was the last time Washington passed major legislation, costing nearly $2 trillion dollars, overhauling a major sector of our economy that didn’t change our lives? Oh yeah, TARP.

Tags: Ed Feulner, health care reform, President Obama