You’ll note that President Obama has all but dropped “health insurance for the 45 million without coverage” from his health overhaul stump speech.
Why? Because recent polling shows Americans don’t care nearly as much about the “universal” availability of health coverage when they have to pay extra to provide it, and, as the Congressional Budget Office noted, the health overhaul plans currently making their way through Congress will provide coverage for just over a third of the uninsured at most.
You’ll note that President Obama’s newfound emphasis on cost reduction as the chief feature of his health overhaul is accompanied at every stop by an attempt to smear and shut up those who point out that the bill he is demanding be passed will increase costs, not decrease them.
Why? Because with recent polls showing that high cost is far and away the number one concern among Americans about health care, and because 60% of Americans believe real health care reform can be accomplished without costing them any more money, Obama needs to be able to say that costs will come down as a result of his legislation — and, as everybody from Blue Dog Democrats to the director of the Congressional Budget Office (who was appointed jointly by Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Robert Byrd) have noted, the bills being considered by Congress and demanded by Obama will cause health care costs to skyrocket and cause the deficit — already a record, thanks to Obama’s demand for one spending bill after another — to continue its unprecedented growth unabated.
