Wrapup: Media Ignores DeMint While ABC Gives Away The Store to Obama

Here are the odds that Republicans are up against with this healthcare fight. The media have stacked the deck against any GOP idea or plan weighing heavily in favor of Obama’s plaintiveness over our healthcare system. The media gives him all the air time he wants to say that he knows best how to “fix” healthcare and has everyone’s best interests at heart even as he simply refuses to answer any tough questions on his bald-faced untruths. Yet when a member of the GOP puts a plan forward, near silence is heard among the Old Media.

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On Wednesday afternoon, Senator Jim DeMint (R, SC) and Representative Tom Price (R, GA) presented their ideas on American healthcare at a panel co-sponsored by several conservative organizations such as the Media Research Center, Americans for Tax Reform, and the Health Care Freedom Coalition. And what was the response by the media? Essentially this: “Say, did you know Obama’s going on ABC? Oh, and I think some Senator did something today, too. It was John DeMott, er sumpthin.” Yes, the media pretty much ignored Jim DeMint’s event and waited patiently for ABC to sell it’s soul to the White House later that evening. See video of DeMint/Price event here. After watching the DeMint/Price event, I was struck with the direct challenge to Obama’s claims that we “can keep our insurance if we like it.” This Obama drumbeat is just starting to sound wrong to Americans as more and more begin to realize that it is simply a bald-faced lie. In fact, even Obama is realizing that his steady claim is ringing hollow as he has subtly changed its premise in the last few days. He’s gone from saying we can keep our plans if we like them to “government won’t take them away” directly. But, this new spin still does not satisfactorily speak to the plain truth that the a “public plan” will destroy everyone’s private coverage. So, while Obama is technically correct that the government won’t say directly that we will lose our plans, its policy will force the same outcome regardless. For his part, DeMint pointed out the president’s fallacy. At the Wednesday event, DeMint said, “Well, what Obama is talking about is not true. A government option will replace private health insurance and there’s no question about that. It will not pay doctors enough to see patients. It’ll shift more of the cost on to private health insurers. And so, the competition there will basically eliminate those who are trying to operate in the free market.” DeMint is exactly right here. Government does not “compete” with the business sector. It overwhelms, dictates, sets controls, and eventually replaces it. It really can’t be any other way and time and again history has shown this to be true. DeMint reminds us all that, “the parts of healthcare that are not working are the government plans” — a reference to Medicare and Medicaid. So, the big question is how are we going to pay for all this business? Even DeMint’s plan will have a cost. For his part, DeMint proposes a voucher idea. Americans without employer-based health insurance can receive vouchers to purchase their own coverage — $2,000 for individuals and $5,000 for families. Obviously some of the costs will be laid on the individual’s pocketbook, but a government voucher will help quite a bit. So where does the voucher money come from? DeMint proposed that it come from the repayment of TARP money that he says will be paid back over the next five years. I did perceive a problem, though, with DeMint’s idea on how to pay for this voucher system. What happens, say, at year six when the repaid TARP money is supposed to run out? How does his voucher plan continue? I do not believe an answer was extent on this question. Further, this is still a government subsidy and will certainly effect the marketplace, too — granted not nearly so badly as Obamacare will. Then we come to another one of Obama’s untruths, that supposed 46 million uninsured Americans claim. DeMint and Price dispute this number as a fantasy. DeMint pegs the figure at more like 20 million. The Obama touted number includes 7 million illegal immigrants as well as 12 million that either don’t want insurance (like young people) or people that qualify for current government programs (like SCHIP, or Medicaid) but haven’t bothered to apply, not to mention those that are simply between jobs and get healthcare in a matter of months, and these people are not legitimately counted as chronically uninsured. DeMint’s voucher plan seems to cover this number easily, though, as I said, I am not sure how the longevity of the plan is assured? Still, there is doubt being spread about Obamacare and those of us that stand against this socialist takeover of nearly 20 percent of our economy need to keep pounding the message home to rise above the Obama-gobsmacked media. DeMint’s ideas were a place to start at the very least. With the DeMint plan, at least we are moving in the right direction. And that is away from Obamacare.