By John Boehner

Why is President Obama letting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Congress run health care reform into the ground?

Since President Obama took office, Republicans have stood ready to work with him to pass bipartisan health care reforms that reflect the priorities of struggling American families and small businesses.

But instead of listening to the American people, the president has allowed Speaker Pelosi, the Democratic Congress and special-interest groups to write a bill that puts Washington in control of Americans’ health care — something most Americans staunchly oppose. And instead of using the power of the bully pulpit to rein in the speaker and her allies, the president has attempted to use it to spin the American people about the hopelessly flawed bill the speaker is seeking to pass in September.

‘A radical bill’

In a town hall meeting in New Hampshire Tuesday, President Obama once again dramatically misrepresented the Democrats’ health care bill. But Americans aren’t buying it. Opposition is mounting, and Americans are increasingly angry about being jammed with a radical bill they don’t want.

The backlash isn’t fabricated, and those expressing vocal opposition are not "un-American," as Speaker Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer suggested on this page Monday. To the contrary, it is real, and it exists for a single, simple reason: The more the American people learn about the Democrats’ health care bill, the less they like it.

No one condones the actions of those who disrupt public events. Every citizen should have the opportunity to express his or her views in an orderly and respectful way. But those in Washington who dismiss the frustration of the American people and call it "manufactured" do so at their own peril.

Health care is a very personal issue, and it affects everyone. Families and small businesses want answers to some basic questions. How much will the Democrats’ plan cost? Will it add to the debt my children will pay? Are new taxes really necessary? Can I keep my health plan and my doctor? Will the cuts to Medicare impact services for my parents? Will it impact my job?

President Obama made four claims Tuesday that don’t pass the straight-face test.

• First, he said, "Under the reform we’re proposing, if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor," and "If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan." USA TODAY’s assessment of this statement: "Not necessarily." And the Associated Press and ABC News have proved this claim false, noting that White House officials have acknowledged the president’s rhetoric shouldn’t be taken "literally." That’s because the White House cannot guarantee that Americans will be able to keep their health plan. They simply don’t know how many employers will drop their coverage altogether if their plan goes into effect. Experts at the Lewin Group estimate the number could be more than 100 million Americans.

• Second, the president said, "I look at the federal budget and realize that if we don’t control costs on health care, there is no way for us to close the budget deficit — it will just keep on skyrocketing." Yet according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the House Democrats’ bill would raise costs and the deficit by $239 billion over 10 years.

• Third, the president said, "We’re not talking about cutting Medicare benefits." But one of the reasons seniors are so alarmed is that the plan would cut Medicare to the tune of $361.9 billion over 10 years. That means fewer choices and lower quality care — exactly what then-Sen. Obama blasted during his campaign.

• Finally, the president claimed the plan will not lead to rationing. But the bill, on page 30, section 123, would create a "Health Benefits Advisory Committee" that would make determinations about what kinds of treatments, items and services can be covered within certain benefit classes, and what kind of cost sharing will occur.

Americans want a better plan

The White House has mounted yet another new "offensive" this week to make its case. But Americans don’t want a better sales pitch; they want a better plan to lower costs and improve the quality of health care.

Americans are frustrated and angry, and they don’t believe Washington gets it. It’s not just about health care, it’s also about out-of-control government spending that’s piling debt on our kids and grandkids. It’s also about jobs. Families and small businesses are struggling, and they’re rightly asking, "Where are the jobs?" The last thing Americans want is more double-talk.

Republicans are offering better solutions that would make quality health care more affordable and accessible for every American. It’s time for President Obama to call on Speaker Pelosi to scrap this costly plan, start over and work with Republicans on reforms that reflect the priorities of the American people.

John Boehner of Ohio is the Republican leader in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Health care reform: A simple explanation

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What we still don’t know

Obama hoped to have bills passed by the House and Senate before the August recess. That didn’t happen, but the House did produce a complete draft bill, and one Senate committee — the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, or HELP — also produced a bill. But a key committee, the Senate Finance panel, left for the recess without concluding its negotiations. This committee is widely considered to be pivotal, and we don’t yet know where it will weigh in on a number of issues. Among the questions yet to be answered:

• Will a public option make it into the final bill, and how will it be structured? The Finance committee is also considering, in place of the public option, a co-operative model. A co-op would not be government-run, but it’s not clear if it would have enough bargaining power to offer genuine competition to private insurers, which is important to lowering costs.

• What kind of new taxes will be used to pay for health care? The Senate seems unlikely to go along with the House idea to put a surcharge on the wealthy. The Finance Committee has considered all sorts of ideas, including taxes on soda pop or capping the tax-exempt status of employer-provided insurance. What they will finally decide on is one of the great unknowns.

• Will the promised cost savings actually materialize? The independent Congressional Budget Office has examined the health care plan and concluded that it will cost about $1 trillion over 10 years and, as currently envisioned, cause a shortfall of $239 billion. But the Obama administration believes that CBO may be undervaluing cost-saving measures in the plan. The CBO says it likes to err on the side of caution. The truth is that it’s very difficult to put dollar figures on many of these things, because of the size of the health care industry and the inherent unpredictability of major policy changes over many years. It’s good to keep in mind that when it comes to health care reform, no one has a crystal ball."

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2009/aug/13/health-care-reform-simple-explanation/

You may recall the debacle of the Clinton Administration’s attempt to take over the U.S. health-care system called "Hillary Care".

The Democrats think the catastrophic failure was because the plan was derived inside the Whitehouse by HRC and her anonymous pals. Remember the "secret meetings" scandle?

When her plan was ready for prime-time, congress felt disrespected and started picking it apart, detail by detail, followed by howling public outrage that resulted in the Republicans taking a majority for the first time since 1953. (41 years)

Obama thinks he has the solution this time by allowing the Congress to write the whole thing, (Obama actually has no plan), and try to get it ram-rodded through without getting mired in the details.

I think this plan will fail for several reasons. Not the least among them is that when a bill gets created by a majority party in congress, (especially Democrats), it is chock-full of goodies for each congressman and their district.

 These guys are reaching too far to the left and it’s going to bite them in 2010 and they’ll have people to thank, like Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and…. well you get the picture.

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