Gibson and Bama Suck Face over Health Care

ABC followed up their Bama-Care promotion show a couple weeks ago with an article called Fact Check: The Truth Behind Obama's Health Care Plan.

Here is ABCs list of “Facts”:

1. Costs versus Wages – Bama has said health care costs are rising 3x faster than wages. ABC does him 2 better, claiming it’s actually 5x faster than wages. If they were talking about the costs to the industry they would have something, but they aren’t. ABC is relating the cost to the consumer to the consumer’s ability to pay. The obvious problem with this is that almost no individual pays the full price for a health care related service or procedure. So the real concern should be, why are the costs to the industry so high, and how can those costs be reduced and the savings passed on to the consumer. ABC was not even close on this.

2. Can you keep your current plan – Sure, says Bama, “If you are happy with your current plan, you can keep it.” Thanks, I think. It’s good to know you’ll allow me to keep something I pay for. But what does he mean “If you are happy…”? He repeats it a couple times, always using this same cryptic phrase. Whenever a politician uses some totally abstract measure like “happiness”, they are obviously digging loopholes. Anyway, ABC apparently accepts this statement as a fact, because they do not point out any other facts, content to just repeat Bama’s vague and ambiguous nonsense.

3. Comparative effectiveness – ABC reports this quote from Bama: "If we've got experts who are looking at this and they are advising doctors across the board that the pacemakers are saving money." Kinda leaves you waiting for the second half of a sentence that never comes, huh? Notice how the Linguist-in-Chief starts this statement like’s it’s going to be a conditional statement, with an “If”, and then ends it without a condition. This is a deliberate misuse of language to confuse people. The effect is, if you like Bama and voted for him, you’re satisfied that he understands the complexity of the issue even though you don’t. Furthermore, the issue is too complicated for him to try to explain it to you, but again, you’re satisfied that he gets it and you trust that he will do what is right by you. What is actually revealed in this statement is that Bama either does not have a clue how to tackle this very serious issue. ;)

4. The level playing field – Here’s a gem from our most-articulate leader: "We're not talking about an unlevel playing field; we're talking about a level playing field." If Bush had said that it would be written in a book somewhere with a cartoon cover. It’s just the sort of absolute nonsense this guy spews when the teleprompter is too far away. Then there’s this comment, paraphrased by ABC for your pleasure: Private insurers, he said, should be able to compete with "just one other option." Well wait a minute, isn’t the nature of private insurance that they already compete with each other? I have no idea what this means, other than it is crystal clear Bama does not understand capitalism and free markets.

5. Paying for it without adding to the deficit – There is so much wrong with everything about this heading. Without reading another line, the implication is that taxes will go up, because we know Bama is incapable of reducing spending – just the opposite. So reading on, ABC leads with this “fact” – Americans support health care reform. Many do, but we’re not all automatons! They mention the price tag is $1.6 trillion, but what they don’t say is that covers just 16 million people, and does anyone believe this will be limited to 16 million people? In the next paragraphs ABC admits taxes will be raised, but only “on the rich.” Those rich bastards – stick it to them! That will certainly have to happen, but it won’t cover the bill, so the other part of the plan, which Bama knows but never says is part of his plan, is that everyone else’s healthcare will be taxed. So if you’re on an existing private insurance plan, you will pay for someone who does not pay for anything but gets all the same benefits. This plan is sure to drive up costs for companies and individuals, who will then say, “Hey, why on earth should we pay for this if the government will just do it?” Overnight there will be no private health plans, and enrollment in the government plan will go from 16 million to 300 million in the blink of an eye. Bama has no plan for that, but trust me, it is part of his master plan.

6. Taxing benefits – Charlie Gibson “challenged Bama” on his apparent hypocrisy where he said no way to taxing benefits last year to his reluctant (yeah, right) acceptance of the premise today. Bama said he didn’t like the idea but can’t rule it out. Wow Charlie, you sure gave him the Palin treatment!

So the takeaways are that almost no actual facts were discussed. The skewering on Drudge over this propaganda event was justified. God help us if this thing becomes reality, but with the way Bama dominates his Democrat underlings, something will be passed, sooner than later.