Get in line to see the doctor amigos.
Posted on 06/24/2009 3:34:18 AM PDT by Man50D
President Barack Obama said it is “not logical” to think that a government-run health care program competing with private health insurers would eventually drive the private firms out of business.
The concern expressed by many Republicans and some private insurers has been one of the leading arguments against the president’s plan to establish a “public option” health care program.
At a White House press conference on Tuesday, Obama said: “Why would it drive private insurance out of business? If private insurers say that the marketplace provides the best quality health care; if they tell us that they're offering a good deal, then why is it that the government, which they say can't run anything, suddenly is going to drive them out of business? That's not logical.”
Obama also said there would be “some healthy debate in Congress” about how the “public option” plan would be implemented.
He further said: “I think there can be some legitimate concerns on the part of private insurers that if any public plan is simply being subsidized by taxpayers endlessly that, over time, they can't compete with the government just printing money, so there are going to be some – I think [there are] legitimate debates to be had about how this private plan takes shape.
“But just conceptually, the notion that all these insurance companies who say they're giving consumers the best possible deal, if they can't compete against a public plan as one option – with consumers making the decision [on] what's the best deal – that defies logic,” said Obama, “which is why I think you've seen in the polling data overwhelming support for a public plan.”
Obama also addressed a Congressional Budget Office report, which estimated the cost of a Senate health care reform plan sponsored by Sens. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) at $1 trillion over 10 years.
“So there's been a lot of talk about, well, a trillion-dollar price tag,” Obama said. “What I've said is, if we're going to spend that much money, then it's going to be largely funded through reallocating dollars that are already in the health care system, but aren't being spent well.”
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), in a statement released after the news conference, objected to Obama’s claim that the “public option” was not the first step toward a single payer system.
“Today, the president again claimed that the Democrats’ government takeover of health care would not force Americans off of their current plans, yet independent analysts have reported that at least 23 million Americans would lose their coverage under the bill drafted by Senate Democrats,” Boehner said.
“House Republicans have introduced a better alternative to make health care more affordable and accessible, ensure that Americans can keep their health plan, and keep doctors and patients, not government bureaucrats, in charge of critical and personal medical decisions,” he said.
Taking several questions, Obama insisted to reporters that the “public option” was not the beginning of an entirely government-owned health system. Rather, it would simply inject more competition into the system, he said.
“Now, the public plan, I think, is an important tool to discipline insurance companies,” the president said. “What we've said is, under our proposal, let's have a system – the same way that federal employees do, same way that members of Congress do – where we call it an exchange, but you can call it a marketplace where, essentially, you've got a whole bunch of different plans.”
“If you like your plan and you like your doctor, you won't have to do a thing. You keep your plan, you keep your doctor,” said Obama. “If your employer's providing you good health insurance, terrific. We're not going to mess with it.”
Obama continued: “But if you're a small-business person, if the insurance that's being offered is something you can't afford, if you want to shop for a better price, then you can go to this exchange, this marketplace, and you can – look, okay, this is how much this plan costs. This is how much that plan costs. This is what the coverage is like. This is what fits for my family.”
Asked whether the final bill would have to contain a public option, Obama said the only deal breaker would be a bill that did not keep costs down.
“We have not drawn lines in the sand, other than that reform has to control costs and that it has to provide relief to people who don't have health insurance or are under-insured,” Obama said. “You know, those are the broad parameters that we've discussed.”
Obama has loads of ignorance to go with his arrogance.
Well said, and accurate. It's a volatile and destructive combination.
Factor1: Aggressive narcissism
1. Glibness/superficial charm
2. Grandiose sense of self-worth
3. Pathological lying
4. Cunning/manipulative
5. Lack of remorse or guilt
6. Emotionally shallow
7. Callous/lack of empathy
8. Failure to accept responsibility for own actions
Government Health....will eventually lead to forced abortions and euthanasia. It’s about being “useful” in society.
I’ll tell you what’s not logical.
It’s not logical to expect Obama to understand economics.
What is logical is to expect Obama will make the economy worse.
He doesn't realize that the bottomless pockets of the federal government (also known as taxpayers) will run the private insurers out of business.
Since Zer0's entire life has been spent as a taker rather than a producer and since he views the Constitution as a "...flawed document..." because it doesn't say what the government must do for the individual, this makes perfect sense.
>>>> “if we’re going to spend that much money, then it’s going to be largely funded through reallocating dollars that are already in the health care system,” <<<<
“Reallocating” which dollars? From where?
If Zero believe this tripe he is pointing out, it is logical that instead of creating a government health care out of whole cloth, why doesnt the government just buy their health plan from a private carrier.
Obama isnt stupid he just thinks all Americans are. The ones that back him probably are.
He knows better but like before the election, he is lying his butt off, until it’s too late.
Get in line to see the doctor amigos.
Politicians and strategists praise Patrick Gaspard highly, although he stays away from the limelight.
"Patrick is the best political mind of his generation in New York and maybe the nation," says Kevin Sheekey, who as Michael Bloomberg's right-hand-man has frequently worked and battled with Gaspard.
"I wouldn't dispute that," said David Axelrod, Obama's chief strategist and Gaspard's cohort on the campaign trail. When reminded that such a title could be bestowed on Axelrod himself, the strategist said he was "happy to cede that" to Gaspard.
The Washington Post, among others, has announced that a longtime labor operative of Barack Obama's, Patrick Gaspard, will be named Obama's White House political director.
Gaspard served as national political director for much of Obama's general election campaign and was named deputy director of personnel for the transition effort. Prior to his work with Obama, Gaspard was the lead political operative for the 1199 branch of the Service Employees International Union, a huge and hugely influential union representing health care workers in New York. He spent the 2004 general election as the national field director for America Coming Together.
Gaspard was featured prominently in Ryan Lizza's recent New Yorker piece detailing how Obama won. Of his job interview with the Illinois Senator, Gaspard recalled Obama saying: "I think that I'm a better speechwriter than my speechwriters. I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And I'll tell you right now that I'm gonna think I'm a better political director than my political director."
LIAR, LIAR! The Narcissist Prezzie is a pathological liar. This freakzoid even said that everyone would get the same healthcare as the Gold Plated Congress gets even as the Congresscrats and Federal Employee parasites are exempt from the glorious public healthcare!
I don't "fear" government-run health care. Having seen it up close and personal in operation in a few other countries, I LOATHE it.
O takes the c out of Amerika.
LLS
Well, maybe because the government has the sole power to tax everyone in the country to hit its budget and to force doctors to accept its payment schedule or else lose their licenses for the medical takeover.
Why would it run private insurers out?
Nothing like regulating your competition all the while not having to make a profit and being able to make a loss and somebody pick up the tab.
How many people will want to go through the rigors of medical school just to become workers for a gigantic bureaucracy? Where is the incentive without freedom?
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