Congressman
Henry E. Brown, Jr.

President Obama and congressional Democrats are working overtime to sell the American people on a costly government takeover of our health care system.

“If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period. If you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan, period. No one will take it away, no matter what.” (Remarks by the President at the Annual Conference of the American Medical Association, June 15, 2009)

Unfortunately for Democrats – and for the millions of Americans who like their current coverage – the Congressional Budget Office says that claim is just not true.

“Once the proposal was fully implemented, about 39 million individuals would obtain coverage through the new insurance exchanges. At the same time, the number of people who had coverage through an employer would decline by about 15 million (or roughly 10 percent), and coverage from other sources would fall by about 8 million, so the net decrease in the number of people uninsured would be about 16 million.” (Preliminary Analysis of Major Provisions Related to Health Insurance Coverage Under the Affordable Health Choices Act, June 15, 2009)

That’s 23 million Americans who will lose their current coverage under one partial plan being considered in the U.S. Senate.

“Dallas Salisbury, head of the Employee Benefit Research Institute, called Obama's promise ‘an aspirational statement. If he was a king, he would deliver that, but he’s not king,’ said Salisbury. His group is a nonpartisan information clearinghouse on health and pension benefits.” (Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, “Promises, Promises: Obama's health plan guarantee,” The Associated Press, June 19, 2009)

In the same article, White House officials agree and, “suggest the president's rhetoric shouldn't be taken literally.”  That’s a startling statement from the same people who argued so fiercely during a campaign stop in Wisconsin last year that words matter.  Guess now they’re, “just words.”

Americans who like their current coverage should be able to keep it, and no one should be forced into a government-run plan that puts bureaucrats between patients and their doctors. That’s why the GOP Health Care Solutions Group unveiled a plan earlier this week that promotes commonsense reforms that make health care more affordable, reduce the number of uninsured Americans, and increase quality at a price our country can afford—while making sure that Americans who like their health care coverage can keep it by stopping the government takeover Democrats are championing.

Posted by Brown Staff (06-19-2009, 02:57 PM) filed under Health Care, In Case You Missed It

 

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