Research Briefing

In Final Push For His Government-Run Health Care Experiment, Obama Returns To His Favorite Falsehoods

OBAMA MAKES FINAL PUSH IN VIRGINIA. “For his final rally to pass his signature health-care initiative, President Obama chose Virginia, a familiar and comfortable place that the president seems to count on for these types of moments… Obama will be making his pitch to a smaller, but more crucial, constituency: the state's Democratic congressmen, at least four of whom are facing vigorous GOP challenges in the fall, including Rep. Gerald E. Connolly [D-VA], who represents parts of Fairfax and Prince William counties.” (Rosalind S. Helderman, “Obama's Final Health-Care Rally To Be Held In Virginia,” The Washington Post, 3/19/10)

OBAMA PLEDGES YOU CAN KEEP YOUR DOCTOR, PLAN WHILE RAMMING THROUGH A BILL THAT HE ADMITS VIOLATES THAT PLEDGE

Obama: “If You Like Your Doctor, You’re Going To Be Able To Keep Your Doctor. If You Like Your Plan, Keep Your Plan.” (President Barack Obama, Remarks At George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, 3/19/10)

Obama Says The Senate Bill “Might Have Violated” Pledge That Americans Could Keep Their Plan, Doctor. “For example -- for example, you know, we said from the start that -- that it was going to be important for us to be consistent in saying to people if you can have your -- if you want to keep the health insurance you've got, you can keep it; that you're not going to have anybody getting in between you and your doctor in your decision making. And I think that some of the provisions that got snuck in might have violated that pledge. And so we were -- we were in the process of scrubbing this and making sure that it's tight.” (President Barack Obama, Remarks At The House Republican Retreat, Baltimore, MD, 1/29/10)

But House Dems Will Have To Pass The Unchanged Senate Bill. “[T]he Senate parliamentarian is now saying that President Obama would have to sign a health care bill into law before Congress can amend it with a reconciliation measure. ... The parliamentarian ruling could foil Democrats' plans to avoid signing into law the ‘sweetheart deals’ that have tainted the Senate bill... Democrats are divided over a number of other issues, such as the Senate bill's tax on high-end insurance plans, which they planned to revolve through the reconciliation bill.” (Stephanie Condon, "Dems Dealt Blow On Health Care Reconciliation," CBS News's "Political Hotsheet" Blog, 3/11/10)

GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTH CARE WON’T LOWER PREMIUMS

Obama: “Americans who are buying comparable coverage in the individual market would end up seeing their premiums go down 14 to 20%.” (President Barack Obama, Remarks At George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, 3/19/10)

• Obama: “Because if this vote fails, the insurance industry will continue to run wild in America. They will continue to deny people coverage. They will continue to deny people care. They will continue to jack up premiums 40% or 50% or 60% as they have in the last few weeks without any accountability whatsoever.” (President Barack Obama, Remarks At George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, 3/19/10)

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) Admits Premiums “Would Go Up.”  “Anyone who would stand before you and say well, if you pass health care reform, next year's health care premiums are going down, I don't think is telling the truth. I think it is likely they would go up, but what we're trying to do is slow the rate of increase.” (Sen. Dick Durbin, Remarks on the Senate Floor, 3/10/10)

Congressional Budget Office Confirmed Senate Dems’ Bill Would Raise Premiums For Americans Purchasing Insurance Individually. “CBO and JCT estimate that the average premium per person covered (including dependents) for new nongroup policies would be about 10 percent to 13 percent higher in 2016 than the average premium for nongroup coverage in that same year under current law.” (Douglas W. Elmendorf, Letter To Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN), 11/30/09)

OBAMA WRONGLY CLAIMS TO HAVE USED REPUBLICAN IDEAS

Obama: “We Have Incorporated The Best Ideas From Democrats And Republicans.” (President Barack Obama, Remarks At George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, 3/19/10)

Obama Falsely Claimed In September That His Plan Used One Of Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) Ideas. “Based on the president’s remarks, one would be forgiven for thinking that Obama’s proposal on this subject is identical to McCain’s. It’s not. McCain’s proposal called for providing federal assistance to state-based high risk pools. Obama, by contrast, is calling for a national high risk pool, according to a White House document posted on-line which outlines the president’s plan.” (Teddy Davis, “Obama Didn’t Exactly Adopt McCain’s Proposal On High Risk Pools,” ABC News’s “The Note” Blog, 9/10/09)

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) Was Supportive Of Reform Efforts, Until Reid “Decided To Pursue A Democrat-Only Strategy.” “Snowe remains one of the most coveted votes by the White House and Senate Democratic leaders because she would represent the scent of bipartisanship in the face of a nearly united GOP opposition. But her role in the process became less prominent after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) decided to pursue a Democrat-only strategy in bringing the measure to the floor.” (Emily Pierce, “Snowe Chilled By Reid’s Slight,” Roll Call, 12/7/09)

GOP Congressmen Told Obama They Want To Work With Him To Achieve Reform But Were Rebuffed. “Boehner told reporters that the president has not invited House GOP leaders to the White House for meetings on healthcare reform since the end of April. Earlier this year, GOP leaders sent a letter to the president in May stating that they would like to work with the administration to find ‘common ground’ on healthcare reform. But the administration responded with a tersely worded letter indicating that they had healthcare reform under control.” (Molly Hooper, “Boehner: GOP Leaders Haven’t Met Obama For Health Talks Since April,” The Hill’s “Briefing Room” Blog, 9/9/09)

OBAMA WRONGLY CLAIMS THE CBO SAYS REFORM WILL SAVE A TRILLION DOLLARS

Obama: “It Brings Down Our Deficit By Over 1 Trillion Dollars Over The Next Two Decades.” (President Barack Obama, Remarks At George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, 3/19/10)

But CBO’s Analysis Of The 2^nd Decade Uncertain. “CBO has developed a rough outlook for the decade following the 2010-2019 period… The imprecision of that calculation reflects the even greater degree of uncertainty that attends to it, compared with CBO’s 10-year budget estimates… CBO has not extrapolated estimates further into the future because the uncertainties surrounding them are magnified even more… CBO anticipates that the reconciliation proposal would probably continue to reduce budget deficits relative to those under current law in subsequent decades, assuming that all of its provisions would continue to be fully implemented.” (Douglas W. Elmendorf, Letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 3/18/10)

And CBO Confirms New Reconciliation Fix Might Not Reduce The Deficit At All Over The Next 20 Years. “The incremental effect of enacting the reconciliation bill (over and above the effect of enacting H.R. 3590 by itself) would thus be to further reduce federal budget deficits in that decade, with a total effect that is in a broad range between zero and one-quarter percent of GDP.” (Douglas W. Elmendorf, Letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 3/18/10)