Flanked, again, by doctors in lab coats, President Barack Obama gave yet another speech yesterday urging Congress to pass his health care reform plan.
The President again claimed his plan lowers health care costs. It doesn’t.
The President again claimed his plan would not give government bureaucrats or insurance company bureaucrats more control over health care. It does.
The President again claimed that “if you like your plan, you can keep your plan. If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.” That simply is not true.
The President again said his plan gives the American people the same health care as Members of Congress. It doesn’t.
The President again claimed his plan is paid for. It is not.
The only “new” wrinkle in this speech was President Obama much telegraphed call for “an up or down vote” on health care reform. Again the White House is completely out of touch with reality. The Senate has already passed Obamacare. It is currently sitting ready for a vote in the House of Representatives. The House could pass Obamacare into law by an up-or-down/simple-majority vote tomorrow if they so desired.
But the simple reality is that they don’t have the votes. The House may be controlled by an overwhelming Democratic super majority, but the Obama administration simply does not have the 50% plus one votes they need to turn their top domestic priority into law.
Now the President is claiming he has some new plan that he all of a sudden wants a brand new vote on in the Senate. But that is not going to happen any time soon. President Obama says he is open to four specific conservative ideas, but the White House has produced no details or even legislative language for this new plan. And even if the White House ever does produce such language, it would then have to go to the Congressional Budget Office for scoring.
More importantly, simply adding so-called conservative ideas to the bill does not change the fundamental direction of the proposal. The bills before Congress, including the President’s new additions, would still result in a massive shift of power over health care financing and delivery of care to Washington politicians and bureaucrats. The public has spoken, and it does not want a federal take over of health care.
Conservatives should continue to press the Administration and leaders in Congress for bipartisan solutions that are based on elements of common ground, including letting states take the lead on health reform, tackling the tax treatment of health insurance, sensible insurance market reforms, and an honest commitment to fixing existing health care programs that the government already controls.
‘Conn Carroll wrote this for Heritage.org’