The Political Fish

President Obama’s town-hall style takeover of the press delivered on one thing that we are sure of. The ratings were an absolute disaster.

ABC’s “special report” delivered the worst ratings of any network in the 10 oclock time slot. The 4.7 million viewers stuck the special in last place, despite the Good Morning America interview done Wednesday morning attempting to promote the special. It also finished behind some comedy repeats in the 8 oclock hour for total number of viewers.

This should be a strong signal sent to the President. The American people do not want what your trying to force us to take.  The White House still tells us that there are 46 million people in this country who do not have health insurance. A Washington Times editorial today brings into question that number

Fourteen million of the 47 million are already eligible for government insurance, Medicaid, but have not signed up. (Pre-existing conditions do not exclude someone from joining Medicaid.) Those 14 million have not signed up because they do not want to pay the small monthly premium that Medicare charges. As a result, many who are eligible for Medicaid wait until they need care before they register. They are effectively insured at all times even when they are not formally enrolled in the program

What about the uninsured who are not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid? Most are not in dire financial straits. After all, 27 million of the uninsured have personal incomes of more than $50,000.

True, there is a group of people who are borderline poor but not eligible for Medicaid, but the group is relatively small and many (if not most) of those people are illegal immigrants. Unfortunately, government surveys never ask respondents if they are legally in the United States

So lets just assume for a second that these statistics are not even close to being accurate. Lets say there really are 46.6 million Americans that are suffering without any type of medical coverage.  Most major urban centers have many free clinics, hospitals cannot and will not turn you down if you need medical care, and if neither of those options suit you, Medicare and Medicaid are available. Why would we need government-run and government paid healthcare. When the government says it pays, it actually means the taxpayer will pay. So myself, I do in fact have health coverage. They plan on taxing that benefit to pay for the benefits of those who as the Times editorial points out, have just been too lazy to go ahead and get their own? Clear redistribution of my wealth (which is meager I might add) to those who really truly could get their own if they wanted to or tried to.

When did we become a full blown nanny-state? Government control of all aspects of our lives simply does not work.

The biggest and most obvious argument against socialized Obama-care is the simple fact that it would be government run. The US government has distinguished itself as being the most inefficient, clumsy beauracratic mess that the world has ever known. They simply are not good at these type of things. So will the American people needlessly suffer through the learning curve and the transition period? Will it ever become efficient? Medicare and Medicaid surely haven’t and they have been around for decades. Speaking of which, they are insolvent government entities. How long will Obama-Care take before it bankrupts itself?

All questions to consider. President Obama, nobody watched your one-night exclusion of the freedom of the press provision of our Constitution. Nobody is buying what your selling. And I say buying because as usual, the American people are going to be on the financial hook for this behemoth program.

Tags: Charles Gibson, Good Morning America, Health Care reform, Medicaid, Medicare, Obama, ObamaCare, Washington Times