‘Is everybody wrong’ about health care except Obama?

Weekly Editorial   —   Posted on September 26, 2013

(by Joseph Curl, The Washington Times) – ‘Is everybody wrong?”

That, in three simple words, was the question a reporter asked President Obama last week.

“Yes, they are,” the president said with a straight face. “People will look back and they’ll be asking, ‘What was the argument about? Why is everybody fighting this so much?'”

Why? Well, here, Mr. President, are just a few of the many, many reasons:

• You can’t keep your own health care. The president spent the past four years assuring Americans that “if you like your plan, you can keep it.” Not so, said doubters, but he castigated them as obstructionist naysayers playing politics.

Except they turned out to be right: You can’t keep your plan. But the media say: wrong. Companies are killing coverage they once offered to employees and heading into government exchanges. Huge companies like Home Depot. More – many more – will follow. What does it mean? Millions of workers will soon be forced to choose only from government policies.

Just as bad, other giant corporations, like the country’s largest drugstore chain [Walgreens], are opting for private exchanges in which workers will need to buy their own insurance. What it means: fewer choices and higher costs (as companies likely won’t raise contributions when premiums rise – as they always do).

• Your health records no longer will be private – and [you will now be forced to answer many additional personal questions that have nothing to do with receiving medical care].

Why? Because once the government’s involved, everything is its business. Doctors and hospitals won’t get your tax money unless they comply with every jot and tittle of the law. And the president is hiring tens of thousands of IRS workers to police his program, so he’ll have the firepower to get your data.

What’s more, the government will be storing all your health records. Think they’re safe? The feds can’t even keep a low-level NSA worker from pilfering America’s most secret intelligence. Please. Soon, anyone who wants to know can find out [all of your most personal medical information].

• Prices are already spiraling out of control. One self-employed friend has seen a torrent of changes: First, his provider did away with his type of low-cost, high-deductible policy. Next, his rates went up 44 percent in 2012 for the new policy. Then, they went up again by 27 percent in 2013 — and he already has received word that they’ll rise again by 31 percent for 2014.

• The president and Congress are exempting all their friends. Hundreds of companies have won exemptions from the law — not surprisingly, most of them in blue [Democratic], Obama-supporting states. Congress also quietly voted to make itself, lawmakers and staff, exempt — although members routinely lie to the American people that they’re not. (Fact: All will get a “special subsidy” worth $11,000 per family, which, any way you slice it, makes them exempt.)

So, just 6 days before the law takes effect, the verdict is in: America hates Obamacare. Just 39 percent now have a “favorable” opinion. What’s more, unions nationwide, once among the biggest supporters, are balking at what they suddenly realize will be much higher premiums.

“Why is everybody fighting this so much?” That’s why, Mr. President. Just, you know, FYI.

• Joseph Curl covered the White House and politics for a decade for The Washington Times and is now editor of the Drudge Report. He can be reached at josephcurl@gmail.com and on Twitter @josephcurl.