Now that the Obama administration has released a statement on its health care plan, I have more questions than answers. Since they’ve only released a statement, we’re forced to accept as fact the Democrats’ claims. At this point, that isn’t something that I’m willing to do. Here’s a glimpse at the Obama administration’s statement:

One key improvement, for example, is eliminating the Nebraska FMAP provision and providing significant additional Federal financing to all States for the expansion of Medicaid. For America’s seniors, the proposal completely closes the Medicare prescription drug “donut hole” coverage gap. It strengthens the Senate bill’s provisions that make insurance affordable for individuals and families, while also strengthening the provisions to fight fraud, waste, and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid to save taxpayer dollars. The threshold for the excise tax on the most expensive health plans will be raised from $23,000 for a family plan to $27,500 and will start in 2018 for all such plans. And another important idea included is improving insurance protections for consumers and creating a new Health Insurance Rate Authority to review and rein in unreasonable rate increases and other unfair practices of insurance plans.

The first question I have is how much extending the Louisiana Purchase and the Cornhusker Kickback to all 50 states will cost taxpayers. Another question is how much it’ll cost taxpayers to close the Medicare donut hole. Third, will the excise tax on so-called Cadillac plans be levied on union thugs just like corporate CEOs?

This should scare everyone:

And another important idea included is improving insurance protections for consumers and creating a new Health Insurance Rate Authority to review and rein in unreasonable rate increases and other unfair practices of insurance plans.

Couple that with this:

It will end discrimination against Americans with pre-existing conditions.

If we take President Obama at his word, then what he’s saying is that (a) government will tell insurance companies that they have to insure everyone and (b) that the federal government will tell the insurance companies what is a fair price & what’s excessive. I’ll admit that that isn’t identical to a single-payer plan. I’ll say, though, that there isn’t much of a difference between a single-payer insurance plan and and the plan outlined in President Obama’s press release.

It’s important that we understand that President Obama isn’t interested in cutting waste, fraud and abuse. If he was, he would’ve sent up legislation that would’ve eliminated waste, fraud and abuse. That isn’t dependent on health care passing.

It’s important that we understand that President Obama’s plan doesn’t truly reduce health insurance costs. The premiums are artificially controlled with subsidies, which are paid for by tax increases.

President Obama’s plan isn’t sustainable. President Obama’s plan will doom insurance companies because, according to this AP article, the federal and state governments will be able to set insurance prices:

A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity because details have not yet been officially released, said the insurance rate proposal would give the federal Health and Human Services Department, in conjunction with state authorities, the power to deny substantial premium increases, limit them, or demand rebates for consumers.

Ladies and gentlement, does anyone think that a future Democrat administration won’t expand that power to essentially turn the health insurance industry into a regulated utility? For that matter, does anyone think that the HHS secretary will hesitate in expanding that authority?

The bottom line is that the Democrats’ plan is based on the premise that the government is the only thing that can keep people from getting ripped off. It isn’t. The Democrats’ plan is also based on the belief that government is needed to lower health insurance premiums through subsidies. That should be a hint that their plan is seriously flawed.

The Democrats’ plan also eliminates HSAs, which are wildly popular with the American people.

It’s time to put an end to the Democrats’ health care legislation once and for all. Whether it’s because the government will tell insurance companies what they can charge or them telling insurance companies that they have to insure everyone that applies or whether they’re loading the bill with hundreds of billions of dollars of tax increases, the Democrats’ health care legislation will be rejected by the people.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t guarantee that the bill will be defeated.

Technorati: Liberalism, Health Care, President Obama, Tax Increases, Regulations, Mandates, Medicaid, Medicare, HSAs, Union, Cadillac Plans, Democrats

Cross-posted at California Conservative