Video: The Public Plan Deception
posted at 2:14 pm on June 12, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
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The guys at Verum Serum strike again with this new video of Democrats and their think-tank allies talking about the real goal of the “public plan” in ObamaCare, the new health plan getting rolled out in Congress this month. The White House says the plan will “keep private insurers honest,” but it seems the dishonesty comes from the Oval Office and Capitol Hill:
The people who designed this approach were very honest about it, as you can see in the above video. None of them talk about “keeping private insurers honest”; instead, they’re openly scornful of private insurance and want to rid us of them as soon as they are politically able to do so. The one couldn’t even bring himself to call the public plan a Trojan Horse, so obvious is its intent.
The entire premise of the public plan, as designed by its originators, was to crowd out the private insurers by undercutting them on price. After all, the government can take losses on the plan for as long as they need to drive everyone else out of the market. Once that process completes, voila! Single-payer remains as the only option.
Time to get on the phones and start telling your Senators and Congressment to vote no on the public plan. We will start next week on The Ed Morrissey Show. Get ready for some activism.
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So shoot me. I LIKE the public plan option.
In fact, I’m actively working for it.
AnninCA on June 12, 2009 at 2:16 PM
Same. USA is an embarrassment when it comes to healthcare. I always ask my state’s Republican representatives why private insurance companies are necessary.
No answers.
SouthernGal on June 12, 2009 at 2:17 PM
We can’t.
Once the plan passes we’d have to pay for the treatment of your wounds.
myrenovations on June 12, 2009 at 2:18 PM
Why`s private industry in general necessary?
ThePrez on June 12, 2009 at 2:19 PM
Open registration has consequences. Trollmania.
redrock on June 12, 2009 at 2:19 PM
Please list all of the government programs in history that were shown to be effective and efficient.
::Sound of Jeopardy music::
Patrick S on June 12, 2009 at 2:20 PM
Nah, she’d die while she’s on the 3 year waiting list for treatment.
Daggett on June 12, 2009 at 2:20 PM
The U.S. military.
SouthernGal on June 12, 2009 at 2:21 PM
I’m amazed at how quickly this administration is working to tear apart something that has taken us 100s of years to achieve. No, our health care system isn’t perfect, but the one I have is pretty close, and I’ll fight tooth and nail to keep it. Let them try to pry it from my cold, dead hands.
scalleywag on June 12, 2009 at 2:21 PM
Ooh, ooh! Me too! I love this idea! In fact, I walked up to my Congressman the other day and shook my wallet out at his feet. I begged him to take more of my money and leave me with less choice because I trust him more than I trust myself to make life and death decisions.
aero on June 12, 2009 at 2:21 PM
So where are the Canadians going to go for treatment?
redrock on June 12, 2009 at 2:22 PM
AnninCA thinks her HMO is the same thing as nationalized healthcare.
txag92 on June 12, 2009 at 2:22 PM
So when hundreds of private insurers go out of business, and peripheral jobs are lost in the process, and unemployment ticks beyond 10, 11, 12%, make sure you remember your active work.
atinga on June 12, 2009 at 2:22 PM
Great. Kill the sick and elderly to save costs. Finally the government will start saving money.
Riposte on June 12, 2009 at 2:22 PM
Hey! She got one right! Give that girl a soy cookie.
Double Jeopardy: Name another.
aero on June 12, 2009 at 2:22 PM
Damn that open registration! Trollville here we come.
Torch on June 12, 2009 at 2:23 PM
They have it in Cuba, so, y’know, you can go there. ASAP.
Akzed on June 12, 2009 at 2:23 PM
I was very impressed with a recent story where a Texas hospital analyzed their actual ER costs, which are all publicly funded, remember.
11 patients were responsible for a huge percentage of the charges. Why? Chronic conditions that became life-threatening. They had no insurance, so they waited until hospitalization was necessary.
That made a lot of sense to me.
I’m convinced a lack of a public plan, and it should be mandatory, btw, is responsible for my city, LA, losing 7 major hospitals over the past 3 years.
The ER was overwhelmed. The compensation wasn’t enough. It’s mandated. The only choice was to close.
I’m also just convinced that the insurance companies reverted to old-fashioned trickery. The stories today are like the old stories from the 30’s, where they pretended to offer insurance, took payments for premiums, but really never had any intention of real coverage.
They have no excuse. Greed isn’t capitalism at work. Greed is simply unbridled capitalism, and we’ve always had to watch that.
I have a lot of opinions on this topic, and all of them will really bug most of you.
I’ll try to be polite. :)
AnninCA on June 12, 2009 at 2:23 PM
The concern trolls flocked to this thread. LOL!
Apparently their myriad medications keep them poor, so of course they will advocate for ‘publicly funded healthcare’
daesleeper on June 12, 2009 at 2:23 PM
Again, you prove yourself to be a government drone. How is Medicaid and Medicare working out? Not to mention Social Security. How will this be different? Do you really want some government drone deciding how eligible you are for coverage? You trust way too much Ann.
MarkABinVA on June 12, 2009 at 2:24 PM
Which is provided for in the Constitution. Healthcare is somewhere in the same section as abortion.
Akzed on June 12, 2009 at 2:24 PM
The Air Force.
SouthernGal on June 12, 2009 at 2:24 PM
And?
SouthernGal on June 12, 2009 at 2:25 PM
You guys are fun today. There’s another touche. You’re right. I’m betting my Kaiser program is similar to what will eventually emerge.
Big on prevention. They will NOT overprescribe. And you won’t get to call your doctor and demand this drug or that.
Kaiser doesn’t cater to hypochondriacs.
AnninCA on June 12, 2009 at 2:25 PM
As I recall you really like Kaiser, right?
Are you going to work to bring back long time Kaiser, and Kaiser praised, surgeon Jayant “Doctor Death” Patel to Kaiser or just work to have him made head of surgery for Obama/Kevorkian Care?
MB4 on June 12, 2009 at 2:25 PM
Right! And that’s the only one mandated by the constitution.
BacaDog on June 12, 2009 at 2:26 PM
No, the other choice was to deport the illegals, or at least don’t treat non-citizens without cash on the barrelhead or proof of insurance.
Akzed on June 12, 2009 at 2:26 PM
I really love Kaiser. Again, shoot me.
I would like to repeat: I know how to work that system, too. I never have a problem. :)
I got in young and figured it out.
AnninCA on June 12, 2009 at 2:26 PM
Part of the U.S. military. Try again.
aero on June 12, 2009 at 2:26 PM
Is part of the military.
Try again.
todler on June 12, 2009 at 2:27 PM
Ummmm, Gal? The Air Force is part of the military.
BacaDog on June 12, 2009 at 2:27 PM
AnninCA on June 12, 2009 at 2:23 PM
Did you know that men, on average, also wait to seek any sort of medical treatment until their health issue is severe. That’s men who have health insurance, by the way.
How are you going to encourage the government to solve that healthcare problem?
myrenovations on June 12, 2009 at 2:27 PM
Well, I bet this new plan will be a big help in the immigration fiasco, all those people who come here for health care, will have to stand in line and wait to die like the rest of us!
christene on June 12, 2009 at 2:27 PM
I got two words for you Ann: Screw you.
The only person I want making any decisions about my health care is me! And if I am incapacitated, it will [should] be my designatee, or next-of-kin.
I keep hearing that we “need to do something.” Here’s an idea: Get government out of the health care game entirely.
gryphon202 on June 12, 2009 at 2:27 PM
The Military? We can’t even shoot the terrorists without consequence nowadays. I’m just thankful we’re not in WWII.
They’re working on it.
maynila on June 12, 2009 at 2:28 PM
Efficient? Hahahahahahahaah.
LibTired (KO) on June 12, 2009 at 2:28 PM
I have a question for you. What will you do if you, or someone you love, becomes sick, and because of rationing, they tell you, that they won’t afford you any medical care, because of the rationing, and keeping costs inline?
capejasmine on June 12, 2009 at 2:28 PM
I love the Social Security program, that’s been treated as a general revenue fund for the government, for decades.
Oh, and I love the thought of a Congress [with control over the budget] that presides over a bankrupt government, who, nevertheless, spend trillions of dollars – for which our backs will be whipped as the ultimate source of payment.
Oh, and I want that same bureaucracy to determine whether or not my life is worthy of the cost/benefit analysis that will determine the viability of any medical procedure for me and mine.
Anybody who wants the Government to meddle in health care, is naive at best, or a Socialist at worst.
OhEssYouCowboys on June 12, 2009 at 2:28 PM
Southern, how’s that Medicare thingy going?
BacaDog on June 12, 2009 at 2:28 PM
The military works because it is a justifiable function of government unlike healthcare and the myriad departments and bureaucracies with which we are burdened. It ain’t rocket surgery.
Akzed on June 12, 2009 at 2:29 PM
Probably. I try to watch that trait. I’m a bit of an optimist and/or overly-trusting type. I do confess, my favorite phrase, “Do you believe that happened?” I’m forever surprised. LOL*
Still, that’s not a terrible trait. I don’t like cynicism.
AnninCA on June 12, 2009 at 2:29 PM
You support a plan that needs to be lied about in order to pass?
lorien1973 on June 12, 2009 at 2:29 PM
Patrick S on June 12, 2009 at 2:20 PM
You’re playing with gnat brains.
Schadenfreude on June 12, 2009 at 2:29 PM
The U.S. military is effective and efficient in battle (most of the time), but pretty much the opposite the other 99.9% of the time. Anyone who has spent any time in uniform can tell you that. Just think of that military truism: “hurry up and wait.”
And that’s with the professionalism and discipline of the military, which wouldn’t and couldn’t be replicated in any other government endeavor.
zerosheep on June 12, 2009 at 2:29 PM
You aint kidding.
javamartini on June 12, 2009 at 2:29 PM
Gotta love summer vacation when all of the kids are out of skool applying the knowledge they gleaned over the past year.
MarkABinVA on June 12, 2009 at 2:30 PM
They sure catered to surgeon Jayant “Doctor Death” Patel for ten years, even heaped praise on him repeatedly. I am not sure where he is now. Last I heard Australia was trying to extradite him to stand trial for multiple counts of manslauter.
MB4 on June 12, 2009 at 2:30 PM
Also, for all of the cheering for the public plan, how can you possibly endorse the federal government lying to the public about what the plan actually is?
You got really worked up over the 16 words in Bush’s SOTU speech.
But this is a much bigger fraud and you seem to be supporting it because the ends justify the means.
myrenovations on June 12, 2009 at 2:31 PM
Partial credit. The U.S. Military is effective but it isn’t always efficient. No government entity can be because, as in the case of national defense, the product may not lend itself to efficiencies.
That being said, the Constitution specifically calls for a military and a role for government in defending the nation. I see nowhere in that document the permission that gives the federal government the right to take over the health industry and destroy it just because a bunch of myopic morons cannot see had bad an idea nationalized medicine is.
Only stupid people want the feds to run the healthcare indusrty. Really stupid people will sign on to the plan being put forth by the filthy liar in the White House.
highhopes on June 12, 2009 at 2:31 PM
Mainly because of Liberal Lawyers. Tort reform first. And why American health care an embarrassment? The Canadian and Britain models are the embarrassment. America is much more diverse, state to state, and a lot of the so called “issues” are just because of people being ignorant.
kirkill on June 12, 2009 at 2:31 PM
My own opinion is that people who demand neverending treatment are unrealistic, selfish, and actually part of the problem. There is virtue in accepting that life ends.
But then, I’m from Germanic stock. We like stoicism.
I think that’s part of our out-of-control medical costs that hasn’t led to real success overall.
Too many people are unwilling to face consequences of their own choices and want miracles.
AnninCA on June 12, 2009 at 2:31 PM
Under public plans, they would be made “comfortable” and be left to die of their expensive chronic conditions.
They’re freeloaders, against whom the current system has no defense, thanks to government.
Countless illegals freeloading off the system closed those hospitals. I’m convinced that deporting them (and it should be mandatory) would have kept those hospitals open to serve the citizens who pay for them.
My private insurance has always covered everything I or my doctors asked for. Everything. And promptly. The only trouble I or my family has ever had was with Medicare when my mother got Alzheimers. Night. Mare.
aero on June 12, 2009 at 2:31 PM
Overreach is such a beautiful thing. But give Barry credit for the old (affirmative action) college try. A battle royale is brewing. :)
JiangxiDad on June 12, 2009 at 2:32 PM
Everything in moderation. I tend to think you’re generally a good person. A little cynicism is healthy, else you’ll fall for any scheme.
MarkABinVA on June 12, 2009 at 2:32 PM
I think it’s instructive to see the type of people who support these things.
SG wants to be controlled by the government. It’s a common theme in her posts.
The more the others post, their conditions will become more apparent as well.
lorien1973 on June 12, 2009 at 2:32 PM
AnninCA on June 12, 2009 at 2:31 PM
Eugenicist.
kirkill on June 12, 2009 at 2:32 PM
This is a story I know nothing about. Sounds interesting.
AnninCA on June 12, 2009 at 2:32 PM
Akzed on June 12, 2009 at 2:32 PM
Let me help ya, Southern.
FEMA?
NEA?
US Postal Service?
Border Patrol?
Medicare?
Medicade?
Social Security?
And the biggest federal program of all…………Congress?
BacaDog on June 12, 2009 at 2:32 PM
Can somebody,anybody? tell me what is wrong with health care in this country. Don’t give me that crap about all the uninsured.If you have a hangnail just go to your local ‘clinic’ (hint the signs will say emergency) and you will be taken care of.
What is there that needs to be “fixed”?
oldernwiser on June 12, 2009 at 2:33 PM
Those who sacrifice Medical Liberty for Medical Security deserver NEITHER
Skywise on June 12, 2009 at 2:33 PM
Well then maybe, until we get Obama/Kevorkian Care in the U.S.A., you can get any health care that you may need in Canada or Cuba. Good luck.
MB4 on June 12, 2009 at 2:33 PM
Wrong! We have the best, and most up to date medicines, and procedures in the world. That will end though. Why do you think Natash Richardson died? Because there were no doctors near enough, to do a procedure that could have, and most likely would have saved her life, in Canada.
The problem here is, even when insurance is offered in some form, there are those, that don’t want to pay for it. It’s easier to let others pay for their wants, and needs.
capejasmine on June 12, 2009 at 2:33 PM
I think shooting you is the better option
izoneguy on June 12, 2009 at 2:33 PM
Kudos for astuteness over there.
I had to join a 12-step program to deal with just that. :)
*chuckling over here, since I love to think I got over it*
AnninCA on June 12, 2009 at 2:34 PM
What a concept.
+1,000
Daggett on June 12, 2009 at 2:34 PM
So you like the idea of taxing other people to pay for your health care?
So you like the idea of having people die while waiting for medical services, in order to keep costs down?
MarkTheGreat on June 12, 2009 at 2:34 PM
The only embarrassment with American health care is Medicare and Medicaid, and this is more that embarrassment.
kirkill on June 12, 2009 at 2:34 PM
If the feds could control health costs, why haven’t they done so with medicare?
Why don’t they show how good they are it, by fixing medicare?
Furthermore, if you are in favor of single payer, why not just do it in CA? And see if it works?
We know it doesn’t work in other countries. Services are curtailed, private insurance has to make up the difference, there are waiting lines etc. If it doesn’t work any where else, why would it work here?
lorien1973 on June 12, 2009 at 2:34 PM
Having the best health care in the world is an embarrasment?
I guess you are just embarrassed about having to pay for your own care, rather than getting govt to force someone else to do it for you.
MarkTheGreat on June 12, 2009 at 2:35 PM
Maybe they can come on down and help us fight this disease or they will be screwed as well.
izoneguy on June 12, 2009 at 2:35 PM
That’s funny because in every discussion of this issue that’s involved you in the past few weeks, people have brought it up to counter your Kaiser claims.
Skywise on June 12, 2009 at 2:35 PM
Only more government can fix the problems that government creates.
lorien1973 on June 12, 2009 at 2:35 PM
They won!
BuckeyeSam on June 12, 2009 at 2:35 PM
We all know that the current example of government run health care, the VA system, is such a model of efficiency and effectiveness.
coyoterex on June 12, 2009 at 2:36 PM
Under the current system, the federal government does not have nearly enough control over our lives.
That must be fixed.
myrenovations on June 12, 2009 at 2:36 PM
As a healthcare provider (Physical Therapist) I CANNOT tell you how much this absolutely terrifies me. I dont sleep at night, I worry about it constantly, its horrible. I own a small buisness (my own outpatient clinic) and simply put, Im going to be run out of buisness. The reimbursement will so low (its pathetic now as is) that I wont be able to keep my doors open. Thats just part of the horrifying prosepects…millions of other healthcare providers are going to be going the same route as me if this boondoggle ObamaCare load of dump gets passed. Shortages of healthcare providers, massively long lines for basic care, massively high taxes to fund WORSE care, sounds like tons of fun huh? It all adds up to … much, much poorer quality of life, much shorter lifespan for individuals and needless, pointless death. Its horrific. STAND UP AND FIGHT NOW AMERICA. This is beyond serious. This is grave. This is your damn life at stake. Dont let this sickening dictator and his band of thugs dictate your future and most probably your life, or your loved ones lives.
By the way…BO Hussein keeps telling us that theres what…47 million uninsured Americans that we just “have” to cover? Who says? Health coverage is NOT a right, its a damn responsibility, its YOUR body and its YOUR responsibility to take care of it…not mine, not anyone elses. If your body breaks down and you need care then you have the insurance to get it “repaired.” This entitlement, I deserve everything for free mentality has got to freaking stop. Its insane and out of control. AND…how does Hussein Obama know that these so called 47 million uninsured arent that way BY CHOICE?? Perhaps not all of them are but I would wager that a majority are. In my practice, I see people all the time with great jobs, making very good money who have employer provided health insurance (they pay half their employer pays half type of plans) and they choose NOT to be apart of it. That infuriates me. So Hussein Obama tells us its up to the rest of us to pay for these losers healthcare, even though they have access to it but would rather use that money on something else, like toys and beer and cigs.
This is dire. We cannot let this man destroy and kill us. Fight now. Its your life on the line. Ask Canadians, Brits, Germans, Australians…just ask them how much they love Socialized Crap Healthcare.
Jackson1227 on June 12, 2009 at 2:36 PM
No, Los Angeles is losing hospitals because it has an overabundance of illegal aliens who don’t pay into a state public health system that mandates excessively generous benefits. LA, like the rest of California brought most of their problems on themselves and I’m glad the state is turning into a rathole as a result.
highhopes on June 12, 2009 at 2:36 PM
In Cuba the sick have to bring their own linens to the hospital.
MarkTheGreat on June 12, 2009 at 2:37 PM
Yeah, we have that in my family, too. It is a rough one.
But my mom had premier insurance, like doesn’t exist much anymore.
We laughed. The doctors were frantic to run tests and over-treat her. She was like a cow-on-the-hoof! I told her, “This is downright dangerous.”
LOL*
She was a good stoic and just blew them off.
AnninCA on June 12, 2009 at 2:37 PM
I especially like how Obama states that “you can go to your doctor that you go to now”. What stupid people don’t understand is that doctor will now have to work on government set pay limits. I already see a lot of doctors retiring, how do you think this will work out?
Aggie85 on June 12, 2009 at 2:37 PM
So you figured out a way to cut in line ahead of others. You may not be able to do that with Obama/Kevorkian Care.
MB4 on June 12, 2009 at 2:38 PM
Soy cookies are the interim step. Soylent Green cookies come after that, when the government health care officials decide that 60 is old enough and start letting all the Boomers die off so we can eat them and save the health care budget for younger, healthier people.
aero on June 12, 2009 at 2:38 PM
Didn’t they try this in Massachussetts, and it was a miserable failure?
capejasmine on June 12, 2009 at 2:38 PM
I hate what’s happening to our country. I hate that the president has powers to hire and fire people. I hate his strong arm tactics and his lies and his arrogance and his apologies to other countries. I’ve never hated a president in my life, well, Clinton maybe, but that’s because he lied and lied and lied, it wasn’t because he seemed determined to ruin everything that was good with our country. With Obama, there’s something more disturbing every single day.
scalleywag on June 12, 2009 at 2:38 PM
I’m still trying to figure out what the problem is we’re trying to fix with this one. No One is turned away from an emergency room. Medicaid takes care of that. By all means, restructure it (and Medicare). By all means, take care of the root cause driving up private insurance premiums. But for the l.o.v.e. of the vast majority who enjoy good, high-tech healthcare, do not give the same group who have screwed up social security and the little part they do play in healthcare, single payer status.
Americans are awesome when it comes to striving for something just beyond. Level the playing field and mediocrity rules. Mediocrity is something I, for one, do NOT want in a physician.
ExPat on June 12, 2009 at 2:38 PM
Just words.
faraway on June 12, 2009 at 2:38 PM
It has nothing to do with hospitals being forced to care for people who will never pay. And never get reimbursed for that care, either.
See how government creates the problem; which requires more government to fix?
lorien1973 on June 12, 2009 at 2:38 PM
The Air Force is not part of the military?
Well surprise, surprise, surprise!
MarkTheGreat on June 12, 2009 at 2:38 PM
The U.S.military is only as good as its leaders allow them to be. Without the proper funding and enlistment quotas, the military would not be a feasible organization. When you look at healthcare within the military, that too fails to provide for all. You are suggesting that we “enlist” doctors to accept less pay and more hours along with more paperwork and patients. This fails.
canditaylor68 on June 12, 2009 at 2:39 PM
The specifics escape me, but I recall a skating [?] event in Moscow, where an American skater was injured, and a Russian skater made it known that he would provide an unused hypodermic needle, should it be necessary.
OhEssYouCowboys on June 12, 2009 at 2:39 PM
So perhaps some young child, in need of care, was screwed out, because you know how to work the system? Do you have no self respect?
capejasmine on June 12, 2009 at 2:39 PM
Sending 50 million illegal immigrants home would alleviate some of the congestion in the system and also save money by reducing the free visits to the emergency room when the kids have a cough.
lonesomecharlie on June 12, 2009 at 2:39 PM
You will become elderly and you will become a poor investment for government health dollars. That’s how money will be saved. Didn’t you read Daschle’s screed on that? This is all about picking winners and losers. I suspect special needs children may also be high up on the list.
a capella on June 12, 2009 at 2:39 PM
And Hawaii and Tennessee…
myrenovations on June 12, 2009 at 2:40 PM
Fixed for accuracy.
lorien1973 on June 12, 2009 at 2:40 PM
What better way to fix $63 trillion in debt, than by adding trillions more onto it?
lorien1973 on June 12, 2009 at 2:41 PM
You have Kaiser, and you like Kaiser…
My kids have Kaiser, under the X wifes coverage (I pay, her plan).
I am on Champus Prime, a government run health care system for Retired Military folks.
My kids get seen sooner. They have a MUCH larger choice of Doctors. The go to a brand new Hospital, I go to a 40 year old VA Hospital, with much longer lines. They get more tests, more easily.
I can call and get an immediate consult for them… for me? I have to see my doctor, who calls Champus, who call the VA… who then gets back to me to make an appointment.
You have NO idea what you are working towards… you will get it, and then complain bitterly.
Romeo13 on June 12, 2009 at 2:41 PM
Grow up, honey. Kaiser doesn’t cater to SICK people, either.
anniekc on June 12, 2009 at 2:41 PM
Of course once the govt plan has driven all the private insurers out of business, they will quickly declare everyone to be a hypochondriac.
MarkTheGreat on June 12, 2009 at 2:41 PM
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