Strategist/communicator Frank Luntz released a study this week filled with advice for opponents of the Democrats' nationalized health care legislation. The study concluded that more Americans believe we will discover life in outer space than believe the current healthcare plan will be deficit neutral.Stuff like this prove that Americans are much, much smarter than the Democrats think.Our research this month shows that:
• Individuals believe this will add to – not reduce – their personal health care costs. We're not alone. That NBC/WSJ poll is only the most recent to uncover this painful perception. The margin is HUGE: 47% think their costs will go up thanks to "Barack Obama's healthcare plan," while only 13% think their costs will go down. This is NOT a good sign for legislation that's been sold as beneficial for the economy and promised to reduce health spending. Various public and private cost reports have clearly seeped into the national consciousness, despite Democrats' frantic efforts to discredit them. The longer the debate goes, the more likely people are to see healthcare costs rising, not falling.
• Claims of deficit-neutrality are roundly rejected and even ridiculed. No one believes that the government will enact a massive new entitlement without costing Americans more money. In fact – and quote this – by an incredible 61% to 14% margin, more people believe scientists will discover life in outer space than believe the current healthcare plan won't add a penny to the deficit. The President has clearly diminished his credibility by claiming this won't add "one dime" to the deficit.
• The intensity is with the opponents of the current legislation. Fully 25% of those surveyed said they would "actively work to defeat" members of Congress who vote for a government insurance plan, while only 8% said they would work to support them. • Overall opposition to the Congressional healthcare plan generally – and specifically to any kind of government-run insurance — is, predictably, more intense in the states of centrist Democrats.
• Seniors are soundly against the current plans. They aren't buying that $400 billion in cuts aren't really cuts and they really don't like the idea that Congress appears to be paying for health reform on their backs.
• This legislation may have been more tolerable to Americans months ago, before the various stimulus, bailouts, etc. – but now it is much too much. Americans are deeply concerned that Congressional Democrats are over-reaching and heaping too much on the table at the risk of bankrupting the country. The sense of fragility about the current "jobless recovery" is palpable – and you see it in the just-released consumer confidence numbers – but some people aren't listening.
The bottom-line is that pushing through major economy-altering legislation in the absence of any bi-partisan support is a recipe for disaster – either now or later. The fact that for most Americans the result of the legislation is expected to be higher taxes, higher premiums, and/or reduced services is not likely to engender great good-will after the fact.
Rush Limbaugh took it a step further and said Pelosi is a liar, thief and should go to jail for her bogus claims about this government takeover of health care.
Byron York has more on this study by Luntz.
Funny how the Democrats are essentially admitting their plan is a complete cluster waiting to happen:
Just read between the lines of the 2,000-page ObamaCare bill and you'll find two stark admissions. Democrats are convinced that the bill will lead to an unmitigated catastrophe.
Admission 1: After months of proclaiming the "urgent" need for health care reform, PelosiCare doesn't actually kick in for at least three (3) years.
There are two reasons for the delay.
First, it's a tacit acknowledgment that prompt implementation would destroy Obama's reelection chances in 2012.
Second, it's an outright financial scam authored by the Statist Democrats: " The CBO has scored the bill at $1.055 trillion [which] does not take into consideration that fact that the ten-year window contains ten years of revenue and only three to eight years of major payouts –- meaning that the bill will bleed red ink [in subsequent years."
Admission 2: The only Americans not required to join the national health care program are — wait for it — members of Congress. Democrats are so certain that their own health would be endangered that they want no part of the disastrous Rube Goldberg contraption they've created.
* * *
"ClusterCare" is a $700 billion tax hike that will bankrupt the country as certainly as night follows day. It is 2,000 pages of pure horror: a perfect read for Halloween, but completely inappropriate for children, who must ultimately pay for this disaster.
Finally, let's look at an interesting comparison concerning Obama's latest demonization target: the insurance industry.
As 60 Minutes reported last week, Medicare fraud is rampant and has now replaced the cocaine (ahem) business as the major criminal activity in South Florida. Both 60 Minutes and the Washington Post report that Medicare fraud now costs American taxpayers roughly $60 billion a year. That may sound like a lot of money, but surely it pales next to the extraordinary profits of private insurance companies, right?
Well, let's see.... Last year, the profits of the ten largest insurance companies in America were just over $8 billion -- combined. No single insurance company made even five percent of what Medicare reportedly loses in fraud.
While we're making comparisons, in its real first ten years (2014-23), the Senate Finance Committee bill would cost $1.7 trillion. At the rate of last year's profits, the combined ten-year profits of America's ten largest insurance companies would be $83 billion -- five percent of the costs of the Senate Finance Committee bill. Eighty-three billion dollars may not buy you much in comparison with BaucusCare, but -- on the bright side -- that ten-year tally is somewhat more than what Medicare loses each year in fraud.
So, the next time someone alleges that government-run health care is cheaper because of "lower administrative costs" -- a truly preposterous claim on its surface -- these numbers would be good ones to have at the ready: $60 billion in annual Medicare fraud, $8 billion in combined annual profits for America's ten largest insurance companies.
But you already know that, don't you?
There's my two cents.
No comments:
Post a Comment