by Michael S. Steele
There is much about President Obama’s government-run health care plan that should have Americans alarmed. It would make health care more expensive. It would raise taxes on families and small businesses. It would let a government bureaucrat determine what treatments patients can receive. And it could force 88 million Americans off of the private health insurance they now have.
None of that is likely the kind of change the American people expect when President Obama and Congressional Democrats talk about reforming our health care system. But it must have big-government liberals jumping with joy. It gets worse, however. Hidden deep within the over 1,000-page House Democrat health care bill is language that could require all health insurance plans to provide taxpayer-funded abortions.
Under the Democrats’ scheme, insurance plans would have to provide people an “essential benefits package.” This package would be created by the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services based on recommendations from a new federal advisory committee. As the bill is written, there is nothing that could keep federal bureaucrats from mandating that coverage of abortions be included in the “essential benefits package.”
This abortion mandate would not just apply to the Democrats’ government-run “option.” Any private plans that receive taxpayer subsidies to provide coverage to people with low to moderate incomes -- and under the Democrats’ plan that would be nearly all of them -- would have to provide coverage for abortions, and pay for them with taxpayer dollars, too.
President Obama claims he wants to reduce the number of abortions in America, but he has not raised a single concern with this language in the House Democrats’ government-run health care plan -- despite objections from conservative Democrats whose votes he needs to pass his health care experiment. The president’s press secretary, Robert Gibbs, even called concerns over taxpayer-funded abortions in the Democrats’ health care reform plan a “red herring.”
Either the president’s claim of wanting to reduce abortions is nothing but lip-service to mask his true liberal agenda, or he is kowtowing to Nancy Pelosi and other House liberals to get his government-run health care scheme passed as quickly as possible. One thing is certain: the Democrats’ ill-conceived government-run health care experiment is the most dangerously liberal legislation we’ve seen in some time, and it should scare the living daylights out of all Americans.
It is bad enough that liberals in Congress regularly attempt to impose their taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand agenda on America at every opportunity. Now they are sneaking language in their health care reform bill that leaves the door wide-open for taxpayer-funded abortions and has absolutely nothing to do with improving health care. It is not a “red herring” -- it is a poison pill.
I have said that President Obama’s experiment with America’s health care system is something that will fundamentally transform the very way of life of our country and its citizens. I have warned that the Democrats are attempting to rush through Congress a dangerously flawed government-run health care plan that does too much, too fast and too soon. This abortion mandate is further proof that those warnings are correct.
President Obama says he wants to reduce health care costs. Republicans agree. Health care today simply costs too much. Health insurance premiums have risen three times faster than wages. Health insurance costs families and businesses too much, and we need to fix that.
But why will the Democrats’ plan to save money actually cost us more money? How come their plan to reduce health care costs will cost us trillions more in tax dollars? Let’s just use a little common sense -- when has Washington, D.C. ever made anything cost less? If you are a small business owner, you will see a tax hike on your income, your payroll, and your investments, none of which will help you to grow and create new jobs. If you are a senior citizen, you face over $300 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. If you are a physician, you face a federal bureaucrat determining the treatments, tests and procedures you can provide to your patients.
That is simply the wrong diagnosis for our health care system. But President Obama and Democrats are determined to rush their dangerous health care bill through Congress without taking a moment to consider if it would really work, or worse, to think about the consequences it could have on our nation. They want their liberal wish-list right now -- a government-run health care system financed with higher taxes that requires taxpayer-funded abortions -- and they won’t stop until they get it.
Voters want health care reform. So do Republicans. But we don’t want the kind of radical reform Democrats are proposing. Republicans will continue to stop this dangerous experimentation with our health care system while continuing to promote reform that fixes what’s wrong in our health care system while protecting what is right.
Visit www.BarackObamaExperiment.com to learn more about the Democrats’ flawed health care plan.
None of that is likely the kind of change the American people expect when President Obama and Congressional Democrats talk about reforming our health care system. But it must have big-government liberals jumping with joy. It gets worse, however. Hidden deep within the over 1,000-page House Democrat health care bill is language that could require all health insurance plans to provide taxpayer-funded abortions.
Under the Democrats’ scheme, insurance plans would have to provide people an “essential benefits package.” This package would be created by the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services based on recommendations from a new federal advisory committee. As the bill is written, there is nothing that could keep federal bureaucrats from mandating that coverage of abortions be included in the “essential benefits package.”
This abortion mandate would not just apply to the Democrats’ government-run “option.” Any private plans that receive taxpayer subsidies to provide coverage to people with low to moderate incomes -- and under the Democrats’ plan that would be nearly all of them -- would have to provide coverage for abortions, and pay for them with taxpayer dollars, too.
President Obama claims he wants to reduce the number of abortions in America, but he has not raised a single concern with this language in the House Democrats’ government-run health care plan -- despite objections from conservative Democrats whose votes he needs to pass his health care experiment. The president’s press secretary, Robert Gibbs, even called concerns over taxpayer-funded abortions in the Democrats’ health care reform plan a “red herring.”
Either the president’s claim of wanting to reduce abortions is nothing but lip-service to mask his true liberal agenda, or he is kowtowing to Nancy Pelosi and other House liberals to get his government-run health care scheme passed as quickly as possible. One thing is certain: the Democrats’ ill-conceived government-run health care experiment is the most dangerously liberal legislation we’ve seen in some time, and it should scare the living daylights out of all Americans.
It is bad enough that liberals in Congress regularly attempt to impose their taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand agenda on America at every opportunity. Now they are sneaking language in their health care reform bill that leaves the door wide-open for taxpayer-funded abortions and has absolutely nothing to do with improving health care. It is not a “red herring” -- it is a poison pill.
I have said that President Obama’s experiment with America’s health care system is something that will fundamentally transform the very way of life of our country and its citizens. I have warned that the Democrats are attempting to rush through Congress a dangerously flawed government-run health care plan that does too much, too fast and too soon. This abortion mandate is further proof that those warnings are correct.
President Obama says he wants to reduce health care costs. Republicans agree. Health care today simply costs too much. Health insurance premiums have risen three times faster than wages. Health insurance costs families and businesses too much, and we need to fix that.
But why will the Democrats’ plan to save money actually cost us more money? How come their plan to reduce health care costs will cost us trillions more in tax dollars? Let’s just use a little common sense -- when has Washington, D.C. ever made anything cost less? If you are a small business owner, you will see a tax hike on your income, your payroll, and your investments, none of which will help you to grow and create new jobs. If you are a senior citizen, you face over $300 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. If you are a physician, you face a federal bureaucrat determining the treatments, tests and procedures you can provide to your patients.
That is simply the wrong diagnosis for our health care system. But President Obama and Democrats are determined to rush their dangerous health care bill through Congress without taking a moment to consider if it would really work, or worse, to think about the consequences it could have on our nation. They want their liberal wish-list right now -- a government-run health care system financed with higher taxes that requires taxpayer-funded abortions -- and they won’t stop until they get it.
Voters want health care reform. So do Republicans. But we don’t want the kind of radical reform Democrats are proposing. Republicans will continue to stop this dangerous experimentation with our health care system while continuing to promote reform that fixes what’s wrong in our health care system while protecting what is right.
Visit www.BarackObamaExperiment.com to learn more about the Democrats’ flawed health care plan.
Michael S. Steele is Chairman of the Republican National Committee
No comments:
Post a Comment