1/21/2008 9:42:37 PM
Tonight Obama said "I never said that we should try to go ahead and get single payer."
It was the AP who reported that Sen. Obama could have “a pretty good debate” with himself: “If he wanted, the Barack Obama of today could have
a pretty good debate with the Barack Obama of yesterday.”
The fact is, Sen. Obama said he was a “proponent of a single payer health care plan” – not just in principle but in practice:
“So the challenge is, how do we get federal government to take care of this business? I happen to be a proponent of a single payer health care program. I see no reason why the United States of America the wealthiest country in the history of the world, spending 14% of its Gross National Product on health care cannot provide basic health insurance to everybody. And that’s what Jim is talking about when he says everybody in, nobody out.
A single payer health care plan, a universal health care plan. And that’s what I’d like to see. And as all of you know, we may not get their (sic) immediately. Because firs (sic) we have to take back the white house, we have to take back the senate, we have to take back the house.” (VIDEO: Obama remarks at AFL-CIO,
6/30/03)
Today, he opposes
single payer health care, and attacks Sen. Clinton for proposing a plan that covers everyone.
Note that two of the links at Hillary's site do not work.
January 21, 2008
MANDATES DON'T LOWER COSTS
Massachusetts Officials Concede Mandates Don't Lead To Universal Coverage. "Jon M. Kingsdale, executive director of the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority, the agency that markets the subsidized insurance policies...acknowledged that their universal coverage plan is not likely to be universal anytime soon. 'There's good evidence,' Mr. Kingsdale said, 'whether it's buying auto insurance or wearing seat belts or motorcycle helmets, that mandates don't work 100 percent.'" (New York Times. 11/20/74)
One In Five Uninsured In Massachusetts Will Be Exempt From The Mandate, Individual Mandate Would Only Apply To "Those Who Can Afford The Premiums." The Boston Globe reported, "Interestingly, the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority, the bureaucrats in charge of implementing the plan, decided that the universal individual mandate does not apply to everyone, but rather only those who can afford the premiums. Therefore, nearly one in five of the currently uninsured will be exempt from the law." (Boston Globe, 5/15/07)
OBAMA COVERS EVERYONE UNDER HIS PLAN
Washington Post: "It Could Be A Struggle For Clinton To Find Someone Who Wants Health Insurance But Doesn't Qualify Under The Obama Plan, Because It's Not Clear Such A Person Exists." The Washington Post reported, "For people who want to get health insurance and make an effort to do so, Clinton and Obama have almost exactly the same plan …It could be a struggle for Clinton to find someone who wants health insurance but doesn't qualify under the Obama plan, because it's not clear such a person exists." (Washington Post, 11/28/07)
MORE PEOPLE WOULD COMPLY WITH OBAMA'S PLAN
Antos: Obama's "Health Care Plan Could Actually Have A Better Compliance Rate" Than Hillary's.
The New York Times reported, "Mr. Obama's health plan could actually have a better compliance rate. The 15 million who would supposedly be left out equal about 5 percent of the population — a smaller portion than are going without auto insurance, said Joseph Antos, a health policy expert at the American Enterprise Institute, a nonpartisan group." (New York Times, 12/5/07)
Reich: Obama's Health Care Plan Would Cover "More People" Than Hillary's. "I've compared the two plans in detail. Both of them are big advances over what we have now. But in my view Obama's would insure more people, not fewer, than HRC's. That's because Obama's puts more money up front and contains sufficient subsidies to insure everyone who's likely to need help – including all children and young adults up to 25 years old…In short: They're both advances, but O's is the better of the two. HRC has no grounds for alleging that O's would leave out 15 million people." (Robert Reich, 12/3/07)
CLINTON PLAN WILL NOT INCLUDE EVERYONE
Clinton Campaign Health Care Adviser: Clinton's Health Care Plan Will Not Include Everybody. "MIT economics professor Jonathan Gruber, one of Clinton's health care advisers…acknowledges that the Clinton plan will not include everybody. 'Any system that does not have a single payer will not have 100 per cent coverage,' he told me, when I reached him after the Las Vegas debate. 'But you can come very close.'" (Washington Post Fact Checker, 11/19/07)
Clinton's Plan Could Leave Out As Many As 4.5 Million People. The Washington Post wrote, "The system proposed by Clinton is more analagous to the government-subsidized private insurance system in the Netherlands, where roughly one and a half per cent of the population is estimated to fall through the cracks." One and a half percent of the US population is 4.5 million people. (Washington Post Fact Checker, 11/19/07; US Census, accessed 12/1/07)
Harvard Program On Public Opinion And Health And Social Policy's Robert Blendon: Clinton's Health Care Plan Isn't Going To Cover Everybody. "Robert Blendon, director of the Harvard Program on Public Opinion and Health and Social Policy (said that) 'At the end of the day…it's not going to be everybody.'" (FactCheck.org, 11/16/07)
Urban Institute's John Holohan: Clinton's Plan Won't Eliminate The Problem Of Uninsured Altogether. John Holohan, the author of a study conducted at the Urban Institute, a Washington-based think tank, does not believe that either the Clinton or the Obama plan will eliminate the problem of the uninsured altogether. "We would all be very happy if we got down to one and a half per cent," he said. (Washington Post Fact Checker, 11/19/07)
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