"The first of these myths, which has been all over the airwaves lately, is the claim that President Obama is proposing a government takeover of one-sixth of the economy, the share of G.D.P. currently spent on health.
Well, if having the government regulate and subsidize health insurance is a “takeover,” that takeover happened long ago. Medicare, Medicaid, and other government programs already pay for almost half of American health care, while private insurance pays for barely more than a third (the rest is mostly out-of-pocket expenses). And the great bulk of that private insurance is provided via employee plans, which are both subsidized with tax exemptions and tightly regulated. "
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"The second myth is that the proposed reform does nothing to control costs. To support this claim, critics point to reports by the Medicare actuary, who predicts that total national health spending would be slightly higher in 2019 with reform than without it.
Even if this prediction were correct, it points to a pretty good bargain. The actuary’s assessment of the Senate bill, for example, finds that it would raise total health care spending by less than 1 percent, while extending coverage to 34 million Americans who would otherwise be uninsured. That’s a large expansion in coverage at an essentially trivial cost."
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"...the third myth: that health reform is fiscally irresponsible. How can people say this given Congressional Budget Office predictions — which, as I’ve already argued, are probably too pessimistic — that reform would actually reduce the deficit? Critics argue that we should ignore what’s actually in the legislation; when cost control actually starts to bite on Medicare, they insist, Congress will back down.
But this isn’t an argument against Obamacare, it’s a declaration that we can’t control Medicare costs no matter what. And it also flies in the face of history: contrary to legend, past efforts to limit Medicare spending have in fact “stuck,” rather than being withdrawn in the face of political pressure. "
More links to facts and the fictions concerning health care arguments.
Senator Bart Stupak's lie.
Rep. Michelle Bachmann's lie.
Jon Stewart deals with the lies of FOX News:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-march-11-2010/health-care--the-ultimate-last-final-push
7 comments:
Medicare for all does the best in the polls. The public option is a fairly close second. The wealthcare bill passed by the Senate trails badly. Obama is losing support on the left.
The votes aren't there. That's why there's no PO.
I was for single payer--Medicare-style health care.
The politicians in Washington don't have the courage to make it happen.
The question I have is, if Americans are in favor of a medicare styled single payer system, then WHY can't our Congress Critters find enough votes to give the people what they want?
Projection: Six months after it passes no one will even care....
The democrats should have crammed this one through six months ago and right now they should have been working on a draconian financal system reform bill...
Then they would have won a bigger majority in November instead of sweating it out as they are now...
The people wanted FDR 100 days....but what they got was same ol' same ol'
Barack Obama is not FDR. He never was. He is uniquely himself. We Americans always try to mold a new politician into someone we admired in the past. But Obama can only be who he is. Here's a take on it by one of Andrew Sullivan's readers:
The Lincoln Model
11 Mar 2010 04:40 pm
A reader writes:
Don't forget the President is still following the script from Doris Kearns-Goodwin's A Team of Rivals, along with all his other readings on Lincoln. President Lincoln calmly, deliberately, and with a lot of mistakes and few successes for several years led us to victory in the Civil War. Oftentimes he was at odds with his own party, at least the "Radical Republican" wing. Lincoln, and much of the North, even believed he would lose the election for a second term until Sherman took Atlanta. That's the model Obama is following with regard to the Republican insurgency, slow, steady, smart, and ultimately, successful (we still hope).
SULLIVAN'S RESPONSE:
Trust me. I have not forgotten. It informs every judgment I make on the guy. I remain absolutely convinced we are beyond lucky to have him st thi moment in history - and he deserves far more grass-roots support from his supporters than he's currently getting.
source
I must agree strongly with libhom and Tao. I believe in a fairly worded poll - not a push poll - the American people strongly want affordable health care, which by definition is cutting out the middleman and offering Medicare for all or some such derivation.
The American people lost again.
Obama won - he delivered the package the health insurance industry wanted. Democrats won-they can blame the terrible regressive package on Republican intransigence. Lobbyists won, the gaps where a public option would have fit have been filled by mandated private insurance. Game over.
The Republicans were irrelevant. This was all on the Democrats.
The HerbalTeaBaggers love Obama and cheered Cindy Sheehan when she protested war under the Bush Regime. They condemn her now for her protests because a Democrat is waging war now.
The HerbalTeaBaggers also cheer Obama's sellout on health insurance reform, no matter most of them are screwed. They buy into the "doesn't matter that it's even shittier now, we'll just fix it later.Don't worry about it,keep voting Democratic".
Same Tea Different Bag.
I know,
I've been hearing this for months so let me save liberals the time:
I confess I want reform so my children have health insurance, so I am pigheaded.
I confess I want the dirty thieving lying Mexicans who take all the good fruit picking jobs from Americans to have health insurance too, so I am stupid.
I confess the fact that Obama has sat on his ass for a year avoiding doing his job to deliver what the people want cause he's been busy collecting awards and looking to his legacy and paying back all the F.I.R.E. money he received by fighting healthcare reform and financial reform pisses me off, so I am a spoiled whining crybaby.
Asshole, moron, whatever. I am that.
Shaw I don't mean you, I respect you. But I take some flack, it's on the increase and I just can't stand it much more.
Kenya Shaw...
What Andrew Sullivan writes is correct but that does not take away from the fact that most Americans want something more.
A vast majority of Americans want healthcare reform and if truth be known they favor medicare for everyone.
Single payer government run.
But yet what the people want and what they are going to get are two totally different things, and at this stage we are not real sure that they are going to get anything at all.
It is not the right that will be punished if the Americans are dissatisfied with the direction of healthcare...it is the left.
Americans voted for HOPE and CHANGE....they wanted to through out the special interests and politics as usual and they wanted a government that did something that benefited them after decades of government benefitting special interests.
So, what has this 'Lincoln model' gotten us?
Healthcare reform written by health insurers? Financial system reform written by Wall Street?
I cannot help but think that it appears that our government is incapable of doing anything without the approval of the economic elites.
Our government no longer does what is in the best interessts of this country but rather it does what is approved or allowed.
Our elected officials are no longer statesmen but rather court jesters.
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