Research Briefing

For Obama And Congressional Dems,  Restricting Freedom With Government-Run Health Care Is Cause For A Party

“President Barack Obama Will Sign Health Reform Legislation Into Law On Tuesday Morning … Flanked By House And Senate Lawmakers Who Supported The Legislation.” (Michael O’Brien, “Obama Plans To Sign Health Bill Late Tuesday Morning,” The Hill, 3/22/10)

WHAT WILL OBAMA BE CELEBRATING THIS MORNING? RISING PREMIUMS FOR AMERICANS AND LOST BENEFITS FOR SENIORS?

CBO Says Average Premiums For Americans Purchasing Health Insurance Individually Will Be 13 Percent Higher Under Obama’s Bill. “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 Honorable Evan Bayh, 11/30/09)

Obama’s Government-Run Health Care Experiment Reduces Benefits For Seniors By Cutting Over $523 Billion From Medicare, Which Would Cut Many Seniors’ Benefits In Half. SEN. MIKE CRAPO (R-ID): “So approximately half of the additional benefit would be lost to those current Medicare Advantage policy holders.” ELMENDORF: “Those who would be enrolled otherwise under current law, yes...” (Douglas W. Elmendorf, Letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 3/18/10; Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) And CBO Director Douglas W. Elmendorf, Senate Finance Committee Markup Hearing, 9/22/09)

AMERICANS LOSING THEIR DOCTORS?

Obama Conceded Senate Bill “Might Have Violated” Pledge That Americans Could Keep Their Doctor. “[W]e said from the start that -- that it was going to be important for us to be consistent in saying to people ... 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)

And Mayo Clinic Says Government-Run Health Care Will Force Doctors To Drop Patients. “[L]awmakers are on track to approve across-the-board federal payment reductions of $155 billion over 10 years for hospitals ... ‘Across-the-board cuts will be harmful to everyone and we think it is particularly bad to penalize the high-value organizations,’ said Jeff Korsmo, executive director of the Mayo Clinic Health Policy Center. ‘We will have to violate our values in order to stay in business and reduce our access to government patients.’” (Phil Galewitz, “‘Model’ Health Systems Press Case For Medicare Fix In Reform,” Kaiser Health News, 7/20/09)

TAX HIKES ON SMALL BUSINESSES, INVESTMENTS AND MEDICAL INNOVATION?

Obama Pays For His Government-Run Health Care Bill With $569.2 Billion In Job-Killing Taxes On Small Businesses, Investments And Innovation. (Douglas W. Elmendorf, Letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 3/18/10)

Obama’s Tax On Health Insurance Would Hit Small Businesses And Their Savings Hardest. “Small employers would also probably be hit by the taxes ... small businesses tend to pay more for their insurance than bigger employers that can negotiate better premiums ... About 14 percent of small employers, counted as those with fewer than 500 workers, now offer policies that would be subject to the excise tax ...” (Reed Abel son, “A Proposed Tax On The Cadillac Insurance Plans May Also Hit The Chevys,” The New York Times, 9/20/09)

Obama’s Tax On Medical Device Companies Would “Jeopardize Thousands Of High-Paying” Jobs In Medical Innovation. “The proposed tax would have a significant and unfair impact on our industry, a worldwide leader in biomedical innovation ... Such a rate would dramatically increase our overall effective tax rate, and, in turn constrain resources used for research and development and investment in physical manufacturing capacity. In short, the tax would jeopardize thousands of high-paying scientific and engineering jobs, precisely the types of jobs we must keep and grow in the United States ...” (California Health Care Institute et. al., Letter To Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), 9/18/09)

MORE DEBT BURDENED ON THE NEXT GENERATION OF AMERICANS?

CBO Admits That When You Take Out Democrats’ Double Counting Of Medicare And Social Security Savings, Obama’s Health Care Bill Actually Creates $260 Billion In Deficits Over The Next Decade. (CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf, Letter To Rep. Paul Ryan, 3/19/10)

And The “Doc Fix” Provision That Would Add $371 Billion To The Deficit Is Not Included In The Democrats’ Cost For Their Health Care Experiment. (Table S-7, President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2011, Accessed 3/11/10; Page 17, Douglas W. Elmendorf, Letter To Senator Harry Reid, 11/18/09)

MORE GOVERNMENT INTRUSION?

Obama’s Bill Makes Americans Purchase Government-Approved Insurance Or Pay A Tax And Face Criminal Penalties. “Democracy for America, the successor to the Dean campaign, which is now run by his brother, is out today with an email attacking health care legislation on a vulnerable point: The individual mandate. ... ‘[T]hey say that even without a public option, the bill still “covers” 30 million more Americans. [The bill] requires every single American buy health insurance or break the law and face penalties and fines. So, the bill doesn’t actually “cover” 30 million more Americans - instead it makes them criminals if they don’t buy insurance from the same companies that got us into this mess.’” (Ben Smith, “Dean Group Attacks Mandate,” Politico’s “Live Pulse” Blog, 12/16/09)

Which Could Be Unconstitutional, And Eventually Challenged In Court. “A major component of the health bills grinding through Congress right now is a new requirement that nearly everyone buy health insurance -- a so-called individual mandate. ... A legal battle could end up in the Supreme Court. Georgetown University law professor Randy Barnett is already gearing up for that. He maintains Congress would be overstepping its powers enumerated in the Constitution if it required people to buy health insurance. ‘Never in the history of the United States has the federal government ever required someone to engage in an economic activity with a private party ...’” (David Welna, “Opponents Threaten Court Battle On Health Mandate,” NPR, 1/18/10)

Obama’s Bill Also Gives The IRS Authority To Hire 16,000 To Investigate Americans And See If They’re Buying Government Approved Insurance Plans.  (Shayndi Raice, “US House Republicans Say Health Bill Expands IRS Power,” Dow Jones Newswires, 3/18/10)

MORE CORRUPTION OF THE POLITICAL PROCESS?

White House Admitted Obama Would Do “Whatever It Takes” To Push Bill Through. “White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama will push hard. ‘Whatever it takes to get healthcare done,’ he said.” (Patricia Zengerle, “Obama Seeks To Push Healthcare To Final Vote,” Reuters, 3/3/10)

• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “I Think We Would Do Almost Anything To Pass A Healthcare Bill.” (Mike Soraghan, “Pelosi: ‘We Would Do Almost Anything To Pass A Healthcare Bill’,” The Hill, 12/10/09)

Obama Aides, Small Group Of Dems Are With Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) And Dodd To Write Final Bill Behind Closed Doors. “It’s the invite that every senator with an opinion on health care wants to get: a reserved seat at the conference table where Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will merge two competing reform bills. But most of them won’t get in. Reid’s guest list will be an exclusive one. Reid has decided to keep the group intimate, limiting entree to Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.); Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), who ushered the bill through the Senate health committee ... The merger, which will unfold across Reid’s suite of offices, should take a week, sources said. White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, White House Director of Health Reform Nancy-Ann DeParle and perhaps budget director Peter Orszag will represent the president, sources said.” (Carrie Budoff Brown, “Members Jockey For Seat At Reid’s Table,” Politico, 10/7/09)

Democrats Cut Backroom Deals To Secure Votes. “Democrats’ concerns will be addressed in individual amendments, but many others will be crowded into an omnibus ‘manager’s amendment,’ a package Reid is expected to offer at the end of the process that will include many of the perks and fixes that members of his caucus are requesting. As a longtime member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, where crafting bills is done one favor at a time, Reid is hardly a stranger to deal-making.” (Shailagh Murray, “Reid’s Recipe For Getting Health-Care Deal Done,” The Washington Post, 12/4/09

And House Dems Attempted To Bend The Rules To Pass Government Takeover Of Health Care “Without An Actual Vote On The Senate’s Legislation.” “Party leaders have discussed the possibility of using the House Rules Committee to avoid an actual vote on the Senate’s bill ... They would do this by writing what’s called a ‘self-executing rule,’ meaning the Senate bill would be attached to a package of fixes being negotiated between the two chambers -- without an actual vote on the Senate’s legislation ... the Senate bill would be automatically attached to the reconciliation package, if the House passes reconciliation.” (Patrick O’Connor and Carrie Budoff Brown, “A Dizzying Array Of Options To Pass Health Care,” Politico’s “Live Pulse” Blog, 3/9/10)

OR OPPOSING THE WILL OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WHILE THEY’VE BEEN LOSING JOBS?

Since Obama Started To Push His Government-Run Health Care Experiment Last May, Over 7,600 Jobs On Average Have Been Lost Per Day. (U.S. Bureau Of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, Accessed 3/5/10)

CNN Poll: “59 Percent Of Those Surveyed Opposed The Bill, And 39 Percent Favored It.” (“CNN Poll: Americans Don’t Like Health Care Bill,” CNN’s “Political Ticker” Blog, 3/22/10)

• “In Addition, 56 Percent Said The Bill Gives The Government Too Much Involvement In Health Care…” (“CNN Poll: Americans Don’t Like Health Care Bill,” CNN’s “Political Ticker” Blog, 3/22/10)
  
  
• “On The Question Of Costs, 62 Percent Said The Bill Increases The Amount Of Money They Personally Spend On Health Care…” (“CNN Poll: Americans Don’t Like Health Care Bill,” CNN’s “Political Ticker” Blog, 3/22/10)
  
  
• “The Poll’s Results About The Bill’s Fiscal Impact Were Particularly Stark: 70 Percent Of Respondents Said They Believed Deficits Would Go Up Because Of The Bill…” (“CNN Poll: Americans Don’t Like Health Care Bill,” CNN’s “Political Ticker” Blog, 3/22/10)