What Obama is saying versus what he's doing: Health Care Townhall July 1, 2009

Obama Information ^ | junebug

[buszero]

I went through Obama’s Townhall video, and I did some research on some of the things he said. Here’s what I found:

What Obama said:

About 2/3 of the cost of the reform that we're proposing is just re-allocating the money that's already in the system. You, the taxpayer is already paying for it. Now, 1/3 of it, we're going to have to pay for it by increased revenues. What I've proposed is that if we capped the itemized deductions, that very wealthy people, the top 2% use on their income tax so that they're getting the same tax breaks as everybody else as opposed to getting higher tax breaks because they've got a bigger house, then we can pay for the rest of the reform.

What he's doing (From Karl Rove):

Mr. Obama's record-setting spending binge has also made Americans more sensitive to deficits and higher taxes. Thirty-nine percent said they supported "a health-care plan that raises taxes in order to provide health insurance to all Americans," while 52% preferred "a plan that does not provide health insurance to all Americans but keeps taxes at current levels." By a 58%-to-37% margin, American prefer reforming health care "without raising taxes or increasing the deficit" to government investing "new resources to make sure it is done right.

This is why Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus blanched when committee staffers priced his -- which is also the Obama administration's -- draft legislation at a cool $1.6 trillion over the next decade.

The federal government will release an update on the deficit in mid-July, which will likely increase the public's fear of deficit spending. The current fiscal year's $1.8 trillion deficit is likely to grow significantly.”

Also:

Americans who refuse to buy affordable medical coverage (which is 64 million Americans, which Obama had said himself in the video) could be hit with fines of more than $1,000 under a health care overhaul bill unveiled Thursday by key Senate Democrats looking to fulfill President Barack Obama's top domestic priority.

Hmmm… Let’s see… 64 million Americans times $1,000 = $6.4 Billion/year.

What he’s saying:

We have to ask ourselves why there are places like Geisinger Health Care Systems in rural Pennsylvania or Intermountain Health in Salt Lake City that offer high quality health care at costs that are well below average. In some cases, (it’s) 30% lower than in other communities.

Why he supports Geisinger Health Care systems and Intermountain Health:

“Jerry Lynott in the Times-Leader reports that Geisinger Health Plan has filed requests to increase its rates with the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance.”

Geisinger obviously can’t do this while keeping its head above water.

Intermountain Health Care has partnered with Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah and GE Healthcare for the benefit of patients it serves.

Keep in mind that GE owns NBC and MSNBC. We all know how much they were in the tank for Obama during election time. Don’t tell me this doesn’t have anything to do with Obama’s re-election.

What he’s saying:

There are some places like the Mayo Clinic, if any of you ever heard of it, and it provides outstanding care, some of the best in the world. People fly in from everywhere to go to Mayo Clinic. It turns out Mayo provides care much more cheaply than a lot of other health systems even though it’s better care. And part of the reason is that they do some things that are common-sensible that unfortunately, we don’t do in the health care system. For example, instead of you going to your primary care physician, who has you do a bunch of tests, then refers you to a specialist who has you do a bunch of tests, then you go to a third specialist for another bunch of tests, and you go to the hospital, and they retest you, what they do is, at Mayo Clinic, when you meet with your primary physician, he calls in all the spcialists all at the same time. And as a team, they evaluate you, do all the tests right there, so you’re not duplicating a whole bunch of stuff, and that coordinated care drives down costs tremendously.

Really? It’s really disheartening when we see doctors express the REAL cost of the Mayo Clinic like this:

On March 17 the Times Colonist carried a large advertisement from the Mayo Clinic. In it, the Mayo Clinic described itself as a not-for-profit organization. Readers should be advised that not for profit is not the same as low cost, and most of us would find Mayo Clinic quite expensive, whether costs are described as "profit" or something else.

For example, an MRI brain scan done both with intravenous contrast and without (two scans) would cost in the range of $1,000 to $1,200 at a private for-profit facility in Victoria, and $4,600 (probably U.S. dollars) at the not-for-profit Mayo Clinic.

- Jim Nugent M.D.

As with anything else, we really have to be careful of what Obama says versus the facts. Republicans know he’s misleading. We just have to get the word out.

[MissDairyGoodnessVT]

as we all know bammies right hand does one thing and his left hand does another.

please send me a private email for clarification-

[Brad from Tennessee]

[. . .we really have to be careful of what Obama says versus the facts. Republicans know he’s misleading.]

Misleading? He's a psychopath.

[browniexyz]

anyone who thinks he’s concerned about “health care” think again. Just look at WaPo’s invites “underwritten” by Kaiser Permanente—this is big business, that’s all, mafia-style. Health care is the LEAST of these thugs’ concerns.