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| The Obama/Pelosi/Reid healthcare plan being debated right now on Capitol Hill may be the single most dangerous piece of legislation I have seen in my 35 years in Washington, and we urgently need your help today to STOP it! Please, before you do anything else, tell your U.S. Representative and Senators that you OPPOSE the absolutely unaffordable government takeover of healthcare being pushed right now by President Obama and Democratic leaders of Congress. The Obama/Pelosi/Reid healthcare plan poses a fundamental threat not only to our nation's and your own financial health and prosperity, but to every American's individual liberties and right to free choice. This healthcare plan will cost our country at a minimum $1 trillion when the federal deficit stands at an all-time record and the national debt is projected to nearly double over the next 10 years. President Obama has said that his healthcare "reform" will not add to the deficit over the next decade and will cut costs in the long run, but the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office recently testified before the Senate Budget Committee that "we do not see the sort of fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of health spending by a significant amount. And on the contrary, the legislation significantly expands the federal responsibility for healthcare costs." What's more, the healthcare legislation being debated in the House and Senate would inflict a whole host of new taxes and costly mandates on individuals and businesses as American families struggle to make ends meet and unemployment approaches double digits in the midst of our economic recession. As just one example, the House bill would impose a tax equal to 8 percent of a business' total payroll costs if the business cannot afford to purchase coverage for its employees. Even worse, beginning in 2018, the bill would also tax businesses whose employees decline employer-provided insurance and opt instead for government-sanctioned coverage. According to Council of Economic Advisors Chair Christina Romer, this employer tax would destroy 4.7 million jobs. And I can't believe I'm saying this, but the financial burden of this healthcare plan to our government and the costs to American businesses, taxpayers, and our economy aren't even the worst of it. The most dangerous part of the Obama/Pelosi/Reid healthcare "reform" is that it paves the way to a complete government takeover of healthcare in this country that will dramatically expand the size of government; allow bureaucrats and politicians to dictate your choice of doctors, treatments, and medicines; and ration quality care to control costs. President Obama has repeatedly vowed that "if you like your health plan, you can keep it," but the government health insurance option that President Obama, Democratic leaders, and their pro-socialized medicine backers insist on would gradually undermine private insurance by undercutting its costs. A study by The Lewin Group, a respected economics consulting firm, estimates that 83.4 million Americans would lose the private coverage they have today if the healthcare plan under consideration in the House becomes law. And if you're still not convinced that the real goal of the Obama/Pelosi/Reid legislation is to force all Americans into a one-size-fits-all, government-run and rationed healthcare system, look no further than page 16 of the House bill. Under "Limitation On New Enrollment," the bill states: "Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day" of the year the legislation becomes law. In other words, once the Obama/Pelosi/Reid healthcare regime takes effect, you can keep your existing plan, but.. if your employer stops offering healthcare coverage or if you are privately insured and your insurer cancels your coverage, you are no longer free to buy new coverage from a private insurance company on the open market. As Investor's Business Daily editorialized on July 15, "…the bill itself will kill the market for private individual coverage by not letting any new policies be written after the public option becomes law." Private insurance will just dwindle away, leaving only one option -- the government -- for healthcare coverage. And when that happens, you and I and all Americans will have no choice but to live under the mandates, restrictions, and rationing that federal bureaucrats and politicians in Washington will impose to curb costs. That's why it's so vitally important that you tell your U.S. Representative and Senators today that you oppose the Obama/Pelosi/Reid healthcare plan now before Congress. Public opinion polls are showing that support for President Obama's healthcare policies is slipping, and more and more Democrats in Congress are getting cold feet about the cost and sheer size of the Obama/Pelosi/Reid legislation. But to put the final nail in the coffin of this bloated, misguided plan, your elected officials need to hear from you today! There are other options to expand coverage for the uninsured and drive down healthcare costs, like providing tax credits for individuals who purchase private insurance and enacting tort reform to reduce expensive and frivolous malpractice lawsuits. But the crafters of the Obama/Pelosi/Reid plan aren't interested in those and other free-market healthcare reforms. Their goal is clear: to put all Americans under a single-payer, government-run healthcare system, like those in Canada and Great Britain, that will dictate our choice of doctors, treatments, and medicines and ration the care we can receive. Sincerely, P.S. The healthcare bill now before the House of Representatives provides for the creation, expansion, and extension of 33 entitlement programs and the implementation of an additional 53 offices, bureaus, commissions, and programs. This dramatic expansion of the federal healthcare bureaucracy comes at a time when Medicare is projected to go bankrupt in just seven-and-a-half years! Please tell your U.S. Representative and Senators that America cannot afford the Obama/Pelosi/Reid version of healthcare "reform." |
Thomas A. Schatz, President, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW)
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