I guess it's not news that President Obama can stand up and make one statement, then in the very next sentence completely contradict himself. So no one thought it was all that surprising when he stood up yesterday and said the following with respect to the ObamaCare mess:
"“If you’ve got good ideas, bring them to me — let’s go — but we’re not repealing it as long as I’m president."
Got that? Bring me any good idea as long as it doesn't involve the only thing that can actually solve the problem. In other words, don't even bother bringing me anything serious.
I guess that's why he's not returning the phone calls of Rep. Tom Price, who is also a physician and who tried taking Obama up on his offer to talk to him about H.R. 2300, which would not only repeal ObamaCare but would usher in a far superior system of health care finance than the one we had before ObamaCare. Price tried his best:
"I've got a better idea, Mr. President, but I haven't heard from you!"
Price even publicly announced the phone number to his office so as to be helpful to the president in getting back to him. I won't publish it here because I'm sure Rep. Price wants to keep the lines clear for when the president calls, which should be any minute now . . .
One reason Obama doesn't want to talk to Tom Price or hear from Tom Price is that Obama is so invested in the fiction that Republicans have no alternatives to ObamaCare. In fact, there are many good ideas coming from Republicans for how to replace ObamaCare, and Price's H.R. 2300 is one of the best, as we've discussed in this space before:
The basics of the bill are these:
It extends tax deductions for health insurance to those who buy as individuals, thus eliminating the perverse incentive that favored employer-purchased insurance.
It gives patients true portability by making them the owners of their insurance – not their employers.
It gives doctors the real power to make treatment decisions, not insurance companies or the government.
It reforms medical liability laws and thus saves money by reducing the practice of defensive medicine.
Apparently Obama only believes something is a legitimate idea if he thought of it, or at least if it consists of a massive government takeover of something.
Well, just because Obama doesn't want to know about Price's idea doesn't mean you shouldn't. There are lots of ways to improve health care in this country, and pretty much all of them are better than ObamaCare. Then again, how could they not be?
