Let’s just say there were some factual errors:
OBAMA: “I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits either now or in the future. Period.”
THE FACTS: Though there’s no final plan yet, the White House and congressional Democrats already have shown they’re ready to skirt the no-new-deficits pledge.
(…)
he long-term prognosis for costs of the health care legislation has not been good.
CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf had this to say in July: “We do not see the sort of fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal health spending by a significant amount.”
OBAMA: “Nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have.”
THE FACTS: That’s correct, as far as it goes. But neither can the plan guarantee that people can keep their current coverage. Employers sponsor coverage for most families, and they’d be free to change their health plans in ways that workers may not like, or drop insurance altogether. The Congressional Budget Office analyzed the health care bill written by House Democrats and said that by 2016 some 3 million people who now have employer-based care would lose it because their employers would decide to stop offering it.
(…)
OBAMA: Requiring insurance companies to cover preventive care like mammograms and colonoscopies “makes sense, it saves money, and it saves lives.”
THE FACTS: Studies have shown that much preventive care — particularly tests like the ones Obama mentions — actually costs money instead of saving it.
The one thing that Obama did get right ? The one that caused Joe Wilson to act like an ass:
The facts back up Obama. The House version of the health care bill explicitly prohibits spending any federal money to help illegal immigrants get health care coverage. Illegal immigrants could buy private health insurance, as many do now, but wouldn’t get tax subsidies to help them. Still, Republicans say there are not sufficient citizenship verification requirements to ensure illegal immigrants are excluded from benefits they are not due.
So, at least he got one right.
September 10th, 2009 at 7:49 am
For the most part, businesses can all ready change your health plans or drop plans all together with out employee input now. That isn’t something specific to the plan. It’s just all ready a fact of business.
My employer changes the company health plan fairly frequently in it’s efforts to get lower premiums, and they don’t do it to benefit the employees.
September 10th, 2009 at 7:59 am
“The House version of the health care bill explicitly prohibits spending any federal money to help illegal immigrants get health care coverage.”
Technically perhaps, but since citizenship verification is not part of the equation, this creates a loophole making the explicit language against illegal alien coverage basically meaningless, especially with the amount of SS# fraudulent numbers currently being used by illegals.
Government should not be in the business of verification of citizenship, or forcing people to pay others’ bills. Government is simply trying to straddle the fence while gaining more power behind the curtain. And since we don’t really have a finalized bill yet, I’d bet that particular provision will be stripped.
September 10th, 2009 at 9:13 am
On the rare occasions that I have had to go to visit the hospital or doctor for something, I was required to show some sort of identification.