Live, It’s Obama Night!

Wednesday night President Obama managed to coerce the TV networks into giving up another block of free time for him to hype his health care ideas.  This will be his fifth prime time news conference the media have generously granted him in six months.  Here are some excerpts from his opening remarks, followed by our comments:

This is about the fact that the biggest driving force behind our federal deficit is the skyrocketing cost of Medicare and Medicaid.

If the biggest cost driving the deficit is the two existing health care programs, Medicare and Medicaid, does it make sense for government to start a third, major program to compete with, and draw customers away from private sector insurance companies?  That’s what the government will do if ObamaCare passes.

So let me be clear:  if we do not control these costs, we will not be able to control our deficit.

But ObamaCare, as drafted so far, doesn’t begin to control costs.  It will increase government health care costs by at Trillions of extra dollars, over and above the cost of current programs.  That’s why Senators are scrambling to find something or someone to hit with an extra tax.

If you already have health insurance, the reform we’re proposing will provide you with more security and more stability.  It will keep government out of health care decisions, giving you the option to keep your insurance if you’re happy with it.

The House bill requires all health insurance companies to join a new “exchange,” where consumers will shop for insurance.  The bill includes a long list of conditions a health policy must meet in order to be included in the exchange.  So, a policy with the same name as the one you have now may still be available.  But after it meets the admission requirements for the exchange, it will not be the same policy you have now.  It will be different.   Nobody yet knows just what the differences will be, and there will be no time for your Senator or Congressman to figure that out before the vote.  They won’t even read the thousand page legislation before voting for it.