Posted on 09/20/2009 5:45:07 AM PDT by reaganaut1
Give President Obama credit for persistence. And stubbornness. And lack of imagination. He declared again last week that his health care plan "will slow the growth of health care costs for our families and our businesses and our government." And this historic achievement will be accompanied by a dazzling array of new medical benefits that everyone will receive--guaranteed by law. Okay, you've heard this before. But that's the president's story, and he's sticking to it.
The question is, why? Does he think we're stupid? His argument has failed to persuade a sizeable majority of the American people precisely because they're not stupid. They understand the laws of addition and subtraction. When you offer more--much, much more in this case--of a good, it's going to cost more. Somebody has to pay for it. Yet Obama says we'll all be paying less, and that includes businesses and government.
If he could actually pull off this feat, he would indeed be the One we've been waiting for. But he can't. This is apparent whenever Obama explains where the "savings" will come from. They're from eliminating "hundreds of billions of dollars" in waste, fraud, and abuse (WFA) in the health care system. Surely, he knows better. Everyone in Washington recognizes these savings are imaginary. They're offered with a wink. They never happen. President Reagan promised to slash WFA in the 1980s. The result: zilch. Where Reagan failed, Obama is not likely to succeed.
Obama may be unaware, but there are three programs--in Maine, Massachusetts, and Tennessee--currently testing his idea of get-more-pay-less. The evidence is already in: Expanded health care coverage costs more, an awful lot more. There are no known exceptions.
(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...
Obama says: I have a health care plan.
Voters say: No thanks.
Obama says: Let me explain it to you again.
....repeat over and over again....
As I read the different parts of the House bill, I can’t find any provisions that cut costs.
However, there are lots of provisions to control prices. And we all know what happens when the government tries to control prices.
OK, folks, here’s the health care solution: pump oil on federal lands, sell the oil, use the money to provide health care for all U.S. citizens aged 0-18.
This “healthcare” debate is not about healthcare or costs, it is about control of the entire economy.
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Does anyone really believe this?
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