My Response To Obama's Healthcare Press Conference On 7-22-09

OK, here we go. I'm sure a vast majority of you saw at least some of the health care press conference Obama held on 7-22-09. It's time I took a shot at analyzing the presidents comments for myself. Here's what I'll try to accomplish with this post:
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1. This is not going to be a partisan hit piece on the president. I'm simply going to add my own unique perspective to try and simplify his own words as I understand them.
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2. I'm not going to pretend that I'm an expert in the health care field. So for the record I'm NOT an expert in health care. My mother is, however, a registered nurse and I've consulted with her for more insight from someone in the medical field on her thoughts about Obama's plan.
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3. I want you to keep in mind that Obama is without question the greatest public speaker since Ronald Reagan. I won't deny him that. Teleprompter or not he's good. However, Reagan had experience as an actor and Obama's experience is as a lawyer. Right now Obama's client is his health care plan and he came prepared to fight for his case. All lawyers try to win their case, but logically only 1 side can actually be telling the truth.
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So let's start with Obama's introduction:
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Once Obama came out he made some of the usual talking points about the economy and deficit. He claimed that his policies, (stimulus etc.), had "pulled us back from the brink". He claimed he's provided tax relief. Don't laugh, it gets better. He also said that his policies will continue to "save jobs" even though unemployment will continue to rise for the next 2 years.
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Well Mr. President that's not exactly a message of hope. Americans want to see unemployment decrease and rather than hear about "saved jobs" we would like to hear about created jobs. The more we hear about saved jobs the more it sounds like a way of politically spinning news of lost jobs into a positive message. In other words it sounds better to say we saved 10,000 jobs than to say we lost 500,000 jobs. People respect honesty from our politicians more than positive spin.
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He claimed that our economy previously had been an "economy for the rich". Well let's compare that to what we're starting to see. I for one would rather have an economy "for the rich" that keeps people working for those evil rich folks who create the jobs. Instead of having an economy for the poor that eliminates personal responsibility and stops job creation. I don't know about you but I've never worked for a poor person.
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Mr. Obama mentioned that people can "keep your own coverage if you're happy". Yet he doesn't seem to understand that many of us get our health insurance through our employers. He claimed that "14,000 people a day lose their insurance". That's not surprising, many people are losing their jobs and losing your job will also mean losing your health insurance.
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Obama criticized the "go for the kill" remark by the GOP and I must say I agree with him on that. Hear me out on this one. A remark like "go for the kill" reflects an attitude that says we are more interested in stopping Obama's health care reform no matter what it is. That may or may not be true, however, remarks like "go for the kill" give Obama ammunition to use that says the GOP don't want to reform health care no matter what and are only interested in the usual partisan political bickering that Americans are starting to be more and more fed up with. Obama claims that Americans are "counting on us to get this done".
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The President mentioned that AARP has endorsed his health care plan but he failed to mention the money AARP has spent on lobbying so far this year. See for yourself. It's not so much that Americans are counting on you to get this done. We are counting on the government to take the time to GET THIS RIGHT.

The president did make several points I agree with. For example he said, "medicare and medicaid will break the budget", and he's right about that. However he didn't talk much about reigning in the fraud in medicaid/medicare which is a major factor in how they will break the budget. Notice how medicaid and medicare are the largest by far on the graph. That's only what they know about, it makes you wonder how much they aren't catching. His health care plan is going to increase medicaid and medicare yet does nothing about the fraud which means it will only get worse.


Obama said 2/3 of the money to cover the cost are already in the system. Given the right kind of reform that could be true but at the moment it's irrelevant. What is relevant is that he says part of the remaining 1/3 will come from "the wealthy losing deductions". Let me ask you something. Based on income what would you call a small business owner? Many pay taxes as individuals and Obama would call them "wealthy" and based on actual income they are wealthy.


Most jobs in this country are in the small business sector. If a small business owner loses deductions then they will see an increase in the cost of providing health care. You know what that means don't you? If providing you with health care costs your employer more, then you will have to pay more for that health care plan you get through your job. When he says there will be "no tax on the middle class" he may not be lying, yeah right, but what's the difference? If the cost of your health care plan increases then isn't that no different than a tax? Either way YOU PAY MORE.


When asked about why the rush he replied with 3 reasons:

1. Letters from families asking for help? - big surprise, quick government come to my rescue and make me your slave!!

2. Without deadlines you won't see results. - True, but rushing the deadline prematurely leads to waste and massive mistakes. Remember stimulus? I rest my case.

3. He said he "won't sign if it won't work". Hurray!!!! But....we won't know if it's working until we have it....and we won't have it until you sign it. Hmmm...... I'll admit it, I'm confused about that one.


Obama says he wants to cover all 47 million uninsured people in the country and of course he's including all illegal immigrants with that one:
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PG 50 Section 152 in HC bill - HC will be provided to ALL non US citizens, illegal or otherwise.*
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*note: I have not yet verified this, (I'm working on it), but it wouldn't surprise me, how about you? I have much more individual information pulled from the bill but I must verify it first. I don't want to spread misinformation as Obama claims the Republicans are. More to follow in an upcoming post on the specifics in the bill.
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Obama claims we will have to give stuff up. Things that don't make us healthier. Does that sound like the government's getting ready to tell us what we can and can't do with our own habits as it pertains to our health? What industry will be taken over next? McDonald's? Burger King? When will he go after them since heart disease is the #1 cause of death in the country?
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This one's funny. He claimed to be "worried about spending" and said he wants to "eliminate waste". Stimulus again comes to mind but he went on to say stimulus is helping our economy!! The president did say reform will reduce the deficit. In truth reform can reduce the deficit but only if it's the right kind of reform. No one including Obama, he admits it himself, has even read this bill. How can he be sure that this bill will reduce the deficit by implementing the right kind of reform?
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He mentioned Medpac and deserves credit for doing so. Thank the Republicans in 1997 for that one, thanks Newt. He said Medicare benefits need to be more efficient, but in the bill all it talks about is rationing care.*
*Proof in progress on that one.
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Obama talked about regulatory reform and said that, "shareholders should know about bonuses" of CEO's etc. He also talked about putting rules on bonuses. Well here's an idea...Why not let the people know about ALL of congress' bonuses? Be they "pork" or whatever else. We only hear details when one of those non-representing representatives get caught in a sex scandal etc.
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This bill will limit doctor pay and that will lead to fewer doctors. Fewer doctors to more patients means worse care. Think about the classroom...If there are 5 kids in a class they will get a better education because there is more opportunity for individual learning with the teacher. If there are 35 kids to a teacher there can't be as good of a learning opportunity. The same argument could come to health care if we end up with fewer doctors. Fewer doctors to more patients means worse care.
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Remember how mad most Americans were with stimulus and TARP? Most of us would love to take it back and reclaim our money, remember as taxpayers it is just that, OUR MONEY. Are you ready to trust the same congress, Obama was part of that congress remember, with taking over our health care?!! My answer to that question is a big HELL NO!! If health care turns out like stimulus, or dare I say worse, then one day we may have to answer 2 huge questions from our children and all future generations:
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1. How could you bury us with so much debt?
2. How could you destroy our health care without understanding the reforms?
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Are any of you from any political party ready to answer those questions? Both parties will be responsible if those questions end up being realities of the future. Maybe it's time for the "parties" to end.

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By the way, you'll notice I've said nothing about the race question at the end. That was the distraction question. Meant to keep the focus off the main story. Have you noticed that since the press conference there has been more coverage of the cop story? Once again the great distraction caught many of you off guard. Here's what Obama's response to that last question should have been.

I came out to talk about healthcare tonight. Therefore I'd like to stick to healthcare, the arrest is irrelevant to the healthcare debate. Then he could have had time for another question that related to healthcare reform.