Do Health Care Reformers Fear A Reading Public?
*Senator John Cornyn gives pause for thought as he outlines the need for President Obama to answer directly to the questions being asked by the American public. How can we trust the President when he says one thing and then turns around and says something entirely different? Can we believe our representatives when even they do not understand the health plan bill? Where are the answers to the questions demanded by the American public? Will the President be honest and upfront with the nation during tonight’s telecast in front of the joint houses of Congress?
Those questions and more will be on the table tonight as Americans tune in to see Obama’s take on getting across his message on support of the health care bill. Will it be rhetoric as usual or will he be honest and open? I have serious doubts that his speech will change the image of the bill for most of our citizens. Miracles do happen but this would take a big one; one I don’t think Washington can deliver. We must stand vigilant and firm – keeping our voices heard and hearts lifted in prayer to know the truth.
FAR Editor
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“The president can bank a huge reservoir of public trust Wednesday by engaging the public with direct answers to their commonsense questions, such as:
–We spend nearly double per capita what some other industrialized nations spend on health care; how will another trillion dollars really reduce health care spending?
–How can we cut nearly $500 billion from the Medicare program for seniors when it is now underfunded by three times the national debt and currently projected to be bankrupt by 2017?
–How will a new government-run insurance program “keep insurers honest” when our two current public plans, Medicare and Medicaid, are riddled with unmatched fraud, waste and abuse?
–How do we reconcile the claim that lobbyist influence in Washington is decreasing with the fact that those most closely consulted on these gargantuan bills are special interest groups like the pharmaceutical industry?
–”Minimum benefit packages” that are mandated as a part of every insurance plan sound great, but since there’s no such thing as a free lunch, don’t mandated benefits actually reduce choices and drive up costs for all patients?
–Will employer “pay-or-play” mandates accelerate the job losses we are seeing across the country?”
*Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, serves on the Finance, Judiciary, Agriculture and Budget committees and is the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Benjamin E. Sasse, former U.S. assistant secretary of health, teaches at the University of Texas and advises health investors.
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