Unspinning The Spin

According to Obama and the liberals that are pushing the health care bill:

CLAIM: "It will cut the cost curve."

FACT: It will add 2.4 trillion dollars to the deficit and increase premiums. It will increase cost of medical devices and tests because of the tax being included on those things. For example (one of many) there is an $80 billion dollar tax to be imposed on drug companies. Since drug companies cannot print their own money, there is only one way for them to raise that kind of money - higher prices on drugs. YOU pay. And when they cut the $450 billion from medicare, guess who pays for that?

CLAIM: "It will cover 35 million people currently uninsured."

FACT: It would cover illegal immigrants. Also, only 14 million people do not have health care by default. The rest are either rich and pay their own way, or others who CHOOSE not to carry insurance. If a person has enough money to pay his own way (self-insure), why should he be penalized for that with a fine? Since when did personal responsibility and independence become a BAD thing in America? (Of course, it is actually a crime in socialist countries where you are not permitted to step outside "the collective" - remember the Borg in the Star Trek Next Generation series?)

CLAIM: "We need to prevent Medicare from going bankrupt."

FACT: Medicare was the LAST attempt by liberals to provide medical services on the taxpayer dime, and is already 36 trillion dollars in the hole. Now they want to expand it, to prevent it from going broke. That is not even logical. It is the basis of a Ponzi scheme - and Ponzi schemes are illegal (Google "Bernie Madoff")

CLAIM: "This bill does not provide for use of taxpayer funds for abortion."

FACT: Actually, the current bill does not PREVENT the use of taxpayer funding for abortion, and therefore permits it.

CLAIM: "This bill will reduce insurance premiums."

FACT: According to the group that monitors Medicare, and the CBO, premiums are likely to rise as much as 10%-25% if this bill passes.

CLAIM: "We can make this work, and save all Americans money. The government can do this better than private enterprise."

FACT: The government has never succeeded in any commercial venture, including the Postal Service (broke), Medicare (broke), Social Security (broke), Amtrak (broke) etc. The list goes on.

CLAIM: "The CBO says this bill is deficit neutral."

FACT: Only because the tax increases, fees and penalties get paid, up front, for 5-7 years before services become available for the remaining three years. So, the only reason it is deficit neutral is because we are going to pay 10 years for only 3 years of services. That is fuzzy math, to say the least. In reality, it is simply dishonest.

CLAIM: "This is what America needs."

FACT: Americans do not need, nor want the government to FORCE them to buy health insurance, or pay fines for failing to do so. That is fascism. Nowhere does the Constitution grant the government the power or authority to require its citizens purchase things they neither want nor need. They try to equate this with car insurance, but that is not the same - if you don't want to pay car insurance, you can simply choose to use public transportation. Driving is a privilege, not a God-given right. But with health insurance, you have no such choice - you either buy it, or pay fines, or even go to jail. Your health, and right to life ARE God-given, and therefore cannot be regulated by force of government.

85% of Americans have health care. So we do not "need" to change the entire structure. We simply need to make health care accessible to the remaining 15%. And that is easily accomplished, without costing the taxpayer a dime, with tort reform, allowing folks to shop anywhere (across state lines) for the coverage they need, and by other, similarly simple steps, all of which have long been advocated by Republicans and conservatives.

It is unnecessary to toss out the baby with the bath water. We already have the best health care in the world. The problem is the EXPENSE. Deal with the problem, and don't throw out everything that is already the best in the world. Don't fix what ain't broke.

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