Video: The Public Plan Deception
posted at 2:14 pm on June 12, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
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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Health-care bill to include 600 billion dollars in tax increases.
deidre on June 12, 2009 at 3:13 PM
Can anyone tell me what the impact of putting the private health insurance industry out of business will be over the next 4 years? Any rough numbers of how many workers this will displace? And how many of these employees will transition to similar jobs in obamacare?
DrW on June 12, 2009 at 3:13 PM
My nasty, sexist post.
That type of junk is not OK, but it is OK for me to tout from the roof tops that I want socialized healthcare.
How you gonna feel when the entire government is probing around your orifices AND telling you what to do?
You told us what YOU were doing with your fingers, not me, and dammit, I can’t help being snarky with a fascist in the White House. And sexist: Well….
Look under my skirt, I am a GIRL HORNET. So, stuff it, feminazi!
HornetSting on June 12, 2009 at 3:14 PM
Where did you see in Obama’s plan any notion that he would prevent people from paying for any service out of their own pockets?
mycowardice on June 12, 2009 at 3:15 PM
Maybe he meant the old phrase “sit on your hands” since you had no real counterpoints. Maybe he meant it the way you think, maybe not. You should clarify first before chastising him though.
MarkABinVA on June 12, 2009 at 3:16 PM
Good final quote from Obama, “We can have an honest debate”.
They don’t want an honest debate. The charlatains want to deceive the American people every step of the way. Is it any less clear where they are taking us on other issues like devaluing our currency or mega increasing our debt?
These statists want to remake America into something it was never intended to be.
shick on June 12, 2009 at 3:16 PM
YouTube is not counting the hits on that video honestly. It’s been at around 7,600 for weeks.
obladioblada on June 12, 2009 at 3:17 PM
I see southerngal, one tooth, has left the building.
HornetSting on June 12, 2009 at 3:06 PM
No, lunchbreak at the carnival was over. Back to the Tilt-A-Whirl.
faol on June 12, 2009 at 3:17 PM
DrW on June 12, 2009 at 3:13 PM
According to the initial draft, from what I read they will use “Navigators” and it would not exclude union workers.
bazil9 on June 12, 2009 at 3:18 PM
Granted, but the military is the only institution that I think the U.S. government can do better than private industry would. I also think a privately-funded military, or multiple private military entities, would be very, very dangerous. So SouthernTroll gets credit for saying that it’s a government institution that is better run by government than anyone else.
aero on June 12, 2009 at 3:18 PM
thank you for that gut busting laugh!
Ghoul aid on June 12, 2009 at 3:18 PM
What the heck are they thinking?
canditaylor68 on June 12, 2009 at 3:19 PM
I wrote my congressman last week asking where he is on this issue and that he needs to get out and start publicly opposing it.
I received a decent reply and will keep up the e-mails and phone calls to him. Hope everyone does the same.
NYconservative on June 12, 2009 at 3:19 PM
That’s what all the Marines tell me.
SouthernGal on June 12, 2009 at 3:19 PM
Nope, Mark, AnninCa told us what she was doing…..I didn’t.
And, I’m a girl hornet.
And she’s the one with the dirty mind……
All I said was: You sit on your fingers often, don’t you, AnninCA. She’s from Kalifornia….you just don’t know what those nutcups are doing out there……
She’s a liberal…..they play the victim well, don’t you, Kalifornia?
HornetSting on June 12, 2009 at 3:19 PM
I read somewhere — Ace’s maybe? — that the Dems are threatening health care entities with cutting them out of negotiations if they even meet with Republicans to discuss plans, ideas, and options.
aero on June 12, 2009 at 3:20 PM
AnninCA, you have apparently had good luck at Kaiser, as you know how to “work the system” as you said, aka, cut-in-line. Well I have had good luck there to, in that surgeon Jay “Doctor Death” Patel did not kill me. He actually operated on me back in 1991 or 1992 to remove a few inches of damaged intestines and did a good job. So I suppose if I had your mind-set I would say he was a good surgeon as you say Kaiser is good. But I know others did not have such good luck with him so I condemn him. I guess that is a major difference between us.
MB4 on June 12, 2009 at 3:20 PM
I have 13,267 anywhere roll over minutes and am ready to roll…
Odie1941 on June 12, 2009 at 3:20 PM
What does that even mean? The Republicans are only trying to stop Democrats from forcing people to support a government plan. There are plenty of public plans out there. Democrats just want one that people are forced to support.
That’s a really nice sentiment, but according to Truth or Fiction, Lincoln never actually said that.
JohnJ on June 12, 2009 at 3:20 PM
Healthcare is a right.
SouthernGal on June 12, 2009 at 3:21 PM
Social Choice Theory sheds a little light on this, too. Regimentation may work better than decentralized systems when there are few, or no, competing objectives. It wouldn’t work when trying to balance the interests of 300 million Americans, though.
I doubt SouthernGal was really suggesting we run the health care system like the military. But I wouldn’t put it past her.
DrSteve on June 12, 2009 at 3:21 PM
I just think USA’s system is embarrassing. It’s not something I look at with pride.
SouthernGal on June 12, 2009 at 3:22 PM
Try squaring that circle when the public option delists conditions or denies care. I promise you at some point it’ll have to.
DrSteve on June 12, 2009 at 3:22 PM
:)
I’m saving you a seat. He meant what I knew he meant.
See, I’m not quite as naive as you may imagine. I got it.
And it was pure sexism.
But anyway, enuf for today on healthcare.
We’ll see what emerges.
AnninCA on June 12, 2009 at 3:22 PM
Why would we do that?
SouthernGal on June 12, 2009 at 3:23 PM
Why isn’t food a right?
lorien1973 on June 12, 2009 at 3:23 PM
It means that Republicans are standing in the way of creating a public plan, one that everyone could join.
There are no public plans today that everyone can join.
mycowardice on June 12, 2009 at 3:23 PM
Limited resources.
lorien1973 on June 12, 2009 at 3:24 PM
Where did our founding fathers install that mandate?
canditaylor68 on June 12, 2009 at 3:24 PM
Pssst. HornetSting’s a woman.
aero on June 12, 2009 at 3:24 PM
Our wise founding fathers had no problem with slavery.
SouthernGal on June 12, 2009 at 3:25 PM
Tobacco today, what will the government try to regulate tomorrow?
This is just the stepping stone to government run healthcare. They will be able to inject themselves into every aspect of your life. What you eat….that will be next.
Big brother is watching.
HornetSting on June 12, 2009 at 3:26 PM
There is in Texas. It’s call the risk pool, I think. Even people with really expensive pre-existing conditions can buy this public insurance. It’s not cheap, but it’s there. You can get it for the price of dropping cable and getting rid of your cell phone.
So yet again, the states can fill this gap if they so choose. And you can choose to live in one of those states of you like.
aero on June 12, 2009 at 3:26 PM
We will not be rationing healthcare, if that’s what you mean.
SouthernGal on June 12, 2009 at 3:26 PM
We are getting closer and closer to the real SG.
lorien1973 on June 12, 2009 at 3:27 PM
How can healthcare be a right when you can’t acheive it on your own (i.e. religion, free speech, etc.). Don’t you have to rely on someone else for diagnosis and treatment. Should we mandate bright students go to medical school so you can fulfill your rights. I think not.
HoustonRight on June 12, 2009 at 3:27 PM
You just undermined what limited credibility you had.
You think everyone will get whatever healthcare they demand? Dream on, lady.
Ferris on June 12, 2009 at 3:27 PM
You poor sick puppy. If healthcare is a right, then shouldnt Food be a right too? I mean, you NEED food to live right? Without Food, healthcare would not even matter right? See where this game gets us?
javamartini on June 12, 2009 at 3:28 PM
Every other country with single payer does. Why do you suppose this will be different?
Does the idea of limited resources need to be explained?
Even those most in favor of single payer don’t -deny- that there will be rationing. Yet you do. Curious.
lorien1973 on June 12, 2009 at 3:28 PM
If it reduces costs and improves sustainability, I have no problem with this.
America is not a health-conscious nation. Fitness should be embraced and the culture of greed, sloth and overconsumption should be discouraged.
SouthernGal on June 12, 2009 at 3:28 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
The U.S. military.
SouthernGal on June 12, 2009 at 2:21 PM
Sorry, wrong answer. The correct answer is money printing.
Vera71 on June 12, 2009 at 3:28 PM
We will not be rationing healthcare, if that’s what you mean.
SouthernGal on June 12, 2009 at 3:26 PM
If they follow CAnada and the UK’s plan they will.
Did your name used to be noneya?
kingsjester on June 12, 2009 at 3:28 PM
Perhaps you’d prefer this.
DrSteve on June 12, 2009 at 3:28 PM
Once again, when it comes down to choice v control. SG chooses control.
You are all chattel.
lorien1973 on June 12, 2009 at 3:28 PM
The only people who assert that we will be rationing healthcare are people who think that smoking does not kill and that climate change is not real.
SouthernGal on June 12, 2009 at 3:29 PM
At an estimated cost of 600 billion the average family of four is looking at a cost of ~$8000.
That’s bad enough but, then consider a few reality things.
1) government estimates of program costs are historically far lower than the true cost.
2) $8000 if everybody pays an equal share. That ain’t gonna happen
3) Politicians will still have their own private plan and consequently won’t give a rats ass how the public plan is working beyond the election cycles
oldernwiser on June 12, 2009 at 3:29 PM
Psst. Don’t bother, aero. Anninca doesn’t deal with facts….she’s a liberal.
I’m a sexist pig, sitting on my couch, in a wife beater and sweatpants, my hand in my pants, cheeto grease all over my face, trying to coerce her into my lair.
Nah, I’m a girl hornet, just wondering if she always sits on her fingers? She’s the one that gave us all that strange picture, I SHOULD be offended. But, nah, I’m also a conservative. I’ll leave the victim game to the liberals.
HornetSting on June 12, 2009 at 3:29 PM
Time to break out logical fallacies.
lorien1973 on June 12, 2009 at 3:29 PM
Gee, I’m back to “Do you believe this?” LOL*
Thanks for the tip.
AnninCA on June 12, 2009 at 3:29 PM
Medicare does not pay for everything and that’s why we have Medicare Supplement plans. I’m betting that if we have a government run health plan, we’d end up with supplements anyway. My mother has a med. Sup from the Carpenter’ union and it is excellent but she still pays $200 a month for it.
Vince on June 12, 2009 at 3:30 PM
What is it you find embarrassing about Americas health care?
oldernwiser on June 12, 2009 at 3:31 PM
re: Healthcare is a right…
so is food and clothing… afterall, if I don’t eat, I’m sick, if I’m sick it’s my RIGHT to get well on someone else’s dime. If I don’t have a place to stay, I get sick, if I’m sick, it’s my RIGHT to get well on someon else’s dime
gatorboy on June 12, 2009 at 3:31 PM
Only in certain situations.
SouthernGal on June 12, 2009 at 3:32 PM
Hornet- you have me cracking up…thx I needed some laughs this afternoon.
bazil9 on June 12, 2009 at 3:32 PM
I don’t give a damn what YOU think should be and what should not be, one tooth. In this country, if I want to sit on my ass and eat cheetos and drink chocolate milk all day, I am free to do so. If I want to use my pilates machine as a clothes hanger, I am free to do so.
YOU, one tooth, and the DAMN GOVERNMENT are not going to tell me what to do with my life. It is not your place and it is not your right. If you want to be a sheep, fine, be a damn sheep, but I still believe that this country is free and as long as I pay for my own health insurance and as long as I pay my damn taxes, leave me the (*$&#@ ALONE!
HornetSting on June 12, 2009 at 3:32 PM
You are chattel.
lorien1973 on June 12, 2009 at 3:32 PM
America is not a health-conscious nation. Fitness should be embraced and the culture of greed, sloth and overconsumption should be discouraged.
SouthernGal on June 12, 2009 at 3:28 PM
Knock,knock: Evening sir, we have a report of twinkies in your cupboard please come with us.
faol on June 12, 2009 at 3:32 PM
Aero,
This doesn’t look like a public plan. For example you can’t join if you are eligible or covered by employer-sponsored health coverage.
mycowardice on June 12, 2009 at 3:32 PM
You’re welcome, bazil9. I saw your post last night. Welcome to the party.
HornetSting on June 12, 2009 at 3:33 PM
Good point gatorboy. I’m sure they will ignore your point.
deidre on June 12, 2009 at 3:33 PM
You’ve got your liberal talking points mixed up… I fixed it for you
gatorboy on June 12, 2009 at 3:33 PM
Many things.
SouthernGal on June 12, 2009 at 3:33 PM
I’m the enemy, ’cause I like to think, I like to read. I’m into freedom of speech, and freedom of choice. I’m the kinda guy that likes to sit in a greasy spoon and wonder, “Gee, should I have the T-bone steak or the jumbo rack of barbecue ribs with the side-order of gravy fries?” I want high cholesterol! I wanna eat bacon, and butter, and buckets of cheese, okay?! I wanna smoke a Cuban cigar the size of Cincinnati in the non-smoking section! I wanna run naked through the street, with green Jell-O all over my body, reading Playboy magazine. Why? Because I suddenly may feel the need to, okay, pal?
lorien1973 on June 12, 2009 at 3:33 PM
HornetSting on June 12, 2009 at 3:33 PM
Thanks Chica! :)
bazil9 on June 12, 2009 at 3:34 PM
Global Warming is a myth, one tooth. Prove it is not!
HornetSting on June 12, 2009 at 3:34 PM
the camels nose under the tent wall
oldernwiser on June 12, 2009 at 3:34 PM
Indeed and if the the food supply system would be so broken, I hope the government would do something about it.
If you get sick and can’t afford to get medical services, should we let you die?
mycowardice on June 12, 2009 at 3:34 PM
Obama will sprinkle magic unicorn dust on it, and it will magically work. Even though it has failed every time it has been tried, in every country and in every state where it has been tried, over and over and over again. The only possible explanation for faith in its success now is a belief in Obama’s ability to work miracles. He’ll do it RIGHT, where everyone who has ever tried it before him just screwed up somehow. It wasn’t a flawed concept, they just didn’t have The One on their side, poor stupid schlubs.
aero on June 12, 2009 at 3:34 PM
Should abortion and gay marriage be legal?
SouthernGal on June 12, 2009 at 3:34 PM
Did you watch the video?
lorien1973 on June 12, 2009 at 3:35 PM
Of course there are. There are all kinds of public plans. There are also plenty of charities which provide assistance. That statement is bizarrely insane.
Bread is something to which everyone has a right, and which is publicly available to anyone who wants it. But if the government were to decide to get into the bread business, it would bankrupt bread suppliers who are already in the business because government doesn’t have to worry about losses. Democrats constantly worry that corporations will collude to prevent competitors from offering cheap alternatives. Well, this is the ultimate expression of that kind of collusion. A “public plan” for bread would destroy the bread industry.
JohnJ on June 12, 2009 at 3:35 PM
Oh my g-d.
SouthernGal on June 12, 2009 at 3:35 PM
You’ve just lost any credibility you had.
darwin on June 12, 2009 at 3:35 PM
Yes, and you’re still chattel.
DrSteve on June 12, 2009 at 3:35 PM
Yep. As long as they aren’t smoking while doing it, right, SG?
lorien1973 on June 12, 2009 at 3:35 PM
Why am I chattel?
SouthernGal on June 12, 2009 at 3:36 PM
Gee, thanks for the non answer.
Come on, enumerate.
oldernwiser on June 12, 2009 at 3:36 PM
No, the government should stay out of the way so that I can rely on private charities to help me. To suggest otherwise is to believe that other people are slaves to my needs.
JohnJ on June 12, 2009 at 3:36 PM
lorien1973 on June 12, 2009 at 3:33 PM
Quit channeling Dennis Leary. It’s gonna be alright.
SouthernGal on June 12, 2009 at 3:33 PM
You are embarrassed by American Exceptionalism, period. You and your kind wish to bring this country down to the level of weaker nations.
kingsjester on June 12, 2009 at 3:36 PM
Global Warming is a myth, one tooth. Prove it is not!
HornetSting on June 12, 2009 at 3:34 PM
That phrase is sooooo 90′s.
It’s climate change now.
faol on June 12, 2009 at 3:37 PM
Crap.
SouthernGal on June 12, 2009 at 3:37 PM
Chattel is a serf who only exists to benefit the state. That is what you want; so that is what you are.
lorien1973 on June 12, 2009 at 3:37 PM
Yes I did.
mycowardice on June 12, 2009 at 3:37 PM
Health care is a personal responsibility. You are the one in charge of your well being – not the government.
Illegals are running up the cost of all programs – that is the first thing that needs to be fixed. Close the borders, secure them against the illegals that come over with undetected diseases that infect and run up OUR health care system.
The Government should do what WE tell it to do – not the other way around!!
whatzit2u on June 12, 2009 at 3:37 PM
Please don’t use words like that.
portlandon on June 12, 2009 at 3:38 PM
Come on. That’s an awesome rant.
lorien1973 on June 12, 2009 at 3:38 PM
I’m not a nationalist. Anyway I was born in Israel, so I don’t really care for nationalism in any form.
SouthernGal on June 12, 2009 at 3:38 PM
As long as the government pays for it, right, one tooth?
That’s all you got about proving Global Warming, cursing God? He did make the sun and the moon, and Earth….so yeah, he makes the sun hot…..Damn.
HornetSting on June 12, 2009 at 3:38 PM
See, in a FREE country….YOU can go to school for 15+ years and provide FREE life saving surgeries all day long and no one will stop you. In fact, no one is stopping you now. Feel free, get medical education and provide all the free checkups you like…this is still a free country, you dont need our permission to do this.
javamartini on June 12, 2009 at 3:38 PM
Baaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
DrSteve on June 12, 2009 at 3:39 PM
Ok, so we should let the people that can’t get private charity help die at the front steps of the hospital?
mycowardice on June 12, 2009 at 3:39 PM
Banning smoking and making healthcare affordable for all benefits the 50 million who are uninsured.
I don’t mind taking a few lumps for the team if it means that in the end, all Americans are covered.
SouthernGal on June 12, 2009 at 3:39 PM
There are options besides the government for these things. Charities, etc. Private organizations are far more efficient.
The real point is:
If you are sick should you have the option pay every last penny you have to save your life; or should government make that decision for you?
lorien1973 on June 12, 2009 at 3:40 PM
Hitler felt exactly the same way.
darwin on June 12, 2009 at 3:40 PM
But we’re talking about “filling the gap” for those who absolutely can’t get coverage any other way right? The ones that are falling through the cracks of private insurance coverage? It is public because it’s subsidized by taxpayers and available to anyone who can’t get any other form of coverage. Of course we taxpayers in Texas would like people to pay for their own private coverage if they can before they lean on the rest of us to cover them. Isn’t this what Team Obama is proposing? Yes, we all know that he’s lying and he wants it to be more than that, but on the surface, the first proposal is to provide public insurance coverage for those who are uninsured and being denied coverage by private companies. Right? In Texas, you won’t go uninsured unless you’re truly indigent or just don’t want to buy insurance. I
thinkknow that states can cover this. And Texas isn’t even bankrupt!aero on June 12, 2009 at 3:40 PM
Exactly! That’s why we elected Obama. Create a real alternative in this broken health care system…
mycowardice on June 12, 2009 at 3:40 PM
I don’t mind taking a few lumps for the team if it means that in the end, all Americans are covered.
SouthernGal on June 12, 2009 at 3:39 PM
i got your first lump right here.
Ghoul aid on June 12, 2009 at 3:41 PM
Well he was right about one thing then.
SouthernGal on June 12, 2009 at 3:41 PM
People are free to offer all the help they want. I don’t want the government stopping anyone from helping anyone. Neither do I want the government forcing anyone to provide for another. Why can’t people just be free to offer as much help as they want?
JohnJ on June 12, 2009 at 3:41 PM
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