Loading ...By: Gov. Haley Barbour
Americans are alarmed about the current federal efforts to change health care, and for good reason. After all it not only represents 18 percent of the U.S. economy, the health care system literally involves life and death decisions.
The White House and other proponents of a government-run health care system claim the concerns about and protests against the various proposals pending in Congress are politically generated and intended to hurt the president’s popularity. This is simply not the case.
Citizens, whether seniors or medical providers, have received little solid information as proposals have changed and major differences have emerged in House and Senate versions.
What we do know, however, is all plans contain large cuts (hundreds of billions of dollars) in Medicare spending and large tax increases (hundreds of billions of dollars more) that fall very heavily on small businesses.
No wonder people are concerned, and that concern is exacerbated by the Democratic leadership’s attempts to force passage of this complicated, life-changing legislation by artificial deadlines.
It took Obama six months to pick out a family dog. Cramming health care reform down the country’s throat in a fraction of that time scares people who have been told, accurately, the various bills contain a billion-dollar combination of tax increases and Medicare spending cuts.
