Telling the Truth

Yesterday morning the Associated Press published an opinion by Ricardo Zaldivar in which he questioned all the complaints over the House Health Reform bill released by Speaker Pelosi. He stated that the government plan would not shut down private providers.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, only six million would sign up. This represents just 2% of the 282 million under age 65. The "overwhelming majority of the population would remain in private plans sponsored by employers. Others would be covered through an expanded Medicaid program." The CBO also claimed "a less healthy pool of enrollees" would be attracted to the public option, and this would result in higher premiums than most private plans.

This bill has new taxes for the rich, as well as fines and penalties for individuals and businesses that do not participate. Employers will cut costs and opt out of private plans leaving employees no choice but the government plan. This bill also proposes a $426 Billion cut in Medicare which would fall on the backs of senior citizens.

The government option puts in place the machinery that will run the private health insurance companies out of business. You can't expect the plan to jump in with a huge market share. This may scare voters. But they will increase their share by using the bottomless well of taxpayer funds and an endless parade of new government regulations to run the private insurers out of business. That is my opinion.