AMERICANS SKEPTICAL OVER OBAMA'S HEALTH CARE

By NWV News writer Jim Kouri
Posted 1:00 AM Eastern
July 21, 2009
© 2009 NewsWithViews.com

[The following is a continuation of NewsWithViews.com investigative series on President Barack Obama's proposed Health Care Plan.]

With the US economy continuing in its tailspin, President Barack Obama appears to be obsessing over taking over US medical care, according to critics of what they're calling ObamaCare.

Last week while President Obama pushed for a government takeover of US medical care, the Congressional Budget Office released a report that analyzed the effects of changes in the health insurance system on the US labor market. Their report contradicted many of the statements made by Obama, his administration and liberal members of both houses of the US Congress.

With the American public beginning to question the sensibility and the cost of a huge government-run overhaul of the health care system, Congressional liberals released their incomplete plan Tuesday with a distinct sense of panic in the air.

In 2009, about three out of every five non-elderly American are expected to have health insurance that is provided through an employer or other job-related arrangement, such as a plan offered through a labor union, according to the CBO.

Changes to the health insurance system could affect labor markets by changing the cost of insurance offered through the workplace and by providing new options for obtaining coverage outside the workplace. Those new options for obtaining coverage outside the workplace are government controlled medical insurance that experts believe will cause rationing, lack of treatment options and other shortcomings.

"The CBO basically warned Congress that government health care or socialized medicine will actually hurt the economy while restricting access to medical care," warns political strategist Mike Baker.

"The President and members of Congress -- mostly Democrats, but some Republicans, as well -- appear to be obsessed with controlling life and death, health and sickness in the USA. This is a dangerous combination: Politicians making decisions on who lives and dies, who's healthy and who's sickly," explained Baker.

According to the CBO, in the current system, employment-based plans are popular largely due to three reasons:

They are subsidized through the tax code: Nearly all payments for employment-based insurance are excluded from taxable compensation and thus are not subject to income and payroll taxes.

Employers offering coverage usually pay a large share of the premium – partly to encourage broad participation among their employees, so as to limit the potential for “adverse selection.â€