In his non-State of the Union speech Tuesday night, President Obama claimed that health care “is a cost that now causes a bankruptcy in America every 30 seconds,” and that, “in the last eight years, premiums have grown four times faster than wages.”
Further, he claimed that “one million more Americans…lost their health insurance” in “each” of the eight years of the Bush administration.
Each of these statements is so demonstrably false that the only two conclusions one can reach about their inclusion in Tuesday’s speech are (1) President Obama was willingly lying, and was counting on the American people to be too stupid to fact-check him or too apathetic to do anything about his untruths, or (2) President Obama and his researchers and speechwriters are either too ignorant or too intellectually lazy (or both) to get their factstalking points remotely straight.
My money’s on a combination of the two. I don’t think the researchers and writers care all that much about accuracy (it’s not like a Democratic president is going to get hit with a make-believe controversy over, say, sixteen words that are actually true); likewise, I don’t think President Obama particularly cares whether he’s telling the truth or lying to the great unwashed in this country, just so long as his talking points are getting out and his agenda enacted.
Courtesy of some research help from Greg Scandlen, director of Consumers for Health Care Choices at The Heartland Institute, here’s the real info on the health care stats Mr. Obama just couldn’t help but fudge:
Health care “is a cost that now causes a bankruptcy in America every 30 seconds.”
There are 525,600 minutes in a year, so that rate of medically-induced bankruptcy would be 1,051,200 per year. But the total number of bankruptcies in 2007 was just 822,590, and only a fraction of those, possibly as low as 5% according to a University of California study, were due to medical costs. Interestingly, the population with the greatest growth in bankruptcy rates are those covered by Medicare. Since 1991, bankruptcies have actually decreased for people below age 65, but increased 125% for those between 65 and 75 and increased 433% for those over age 75.“By the end of the year, it could cause 1.5 million Americans to lose their homes.”
This one is a mystery. Sure, plenty of people are “losing their homes,” about 3 million this year, but to think that half of those are due to medical bills rather than ARMs or lay-offs seems like a reach.“In the last eight years, premiums have grown four times faster than wages.”
Actually, premiums have stabilized for the past five years at about 6% annual increase, while wages have been increasing about 4%, according to Mercer. Mr. Obama may have been thinking about the spike in 2002 when premiums rose 14% and wages rose about 3%, but that was a one-year exception and not representative. It’s worth remembering, also, that some companies - notably those that have adopted consumer directed plans - are seeing premium increases well below either inflation or the increase in wages. Watson Wyatt found that the “best performing” companies had a two-year cost increase of just one percent while other companies increased 10% over the same time.“And in each of these years, one million more Americans have lost their health insurance.”
That’s not true, either. According to the most recent report by EBRI in September, 2008, the raw numbers of uninsured rose from 39.5 million in 2001 to 45 million in 2007. Raw numbers aren’t the right way to count in any case due to population growth. The percentage of uninsured between 2001 and 2007 went from 14.8% to 15.3% according to the Census Bureau, which is lower than the percentage in 1995 (15.4%), 1996 (15.6%), 1997 (16.1%), or 1998 (16.3%).
Like The battery commercial w/ Robert Conrad
Common_Cents Thursday, February 26th at 5:04PM EST (link)“Cmon, I dare you to call me out on my lies.”
Obama is a bold faced liar, rationalized by his election.
When he said there are NO earmarks, that confirmed it wasn’t lazyness or ignorance.
He thinks most Americans are too dumbed down to challenge him, and as of now, he is right.
“Never interrupt your enemy when he’s making a mistake.” Napoleon - Well, unless he is ruining your country! Common Cents
A cult of personality arises when a country’s leader uses mass media to create a heroic public image, often through unquestioning flattery and praise.[1] Cults of personality are often found in dictatorships.
Obama lies?
roma Thursday, February 26th at 5:15PM EST (link)OMG, a POTUS who lies? Obama is so disingenuous that he makes Bill Clinton look like an amateur snake oil salesman. He’s a danger to this country because he’s the personification of the Manchurean Candidate. Beware America, wake up citizens.
He and his staff are just that IGNORANT and they LIE!..nt
JadedByPolitics Thursday, February 26th at 6:11PM EST (link)…
Whoever has his enemy at his mercy &
does not destroy him is his own enemy
No Lie Told
itdiehard Thursday, February 26th at 6:20PM EST (link)Just like 95% of Americans will receive a tax cut
Obama thinks we're stupid
EagleWatcher Thursday, February 26th at 6:20PM EST (link)If you add up the lies and misleading statements he made in the non-SOTU the answer to you question is option 1. I suspect that option 2 may come into play to some extent, however. He looked into the camera with a straight face and said there were no earmarks in the stimulus package.
He gets away with it because his followers are willing to forgive anything at this point. At some point, though, I suspect they will begin to peal off.
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No, BHO KNOWS a majority of us are stupid. nt
Achance Thursday, February 26th at 6:29PM EST (link)In Vino Veritas
oui -nt
Doc Holliday Thursday, February 26th at 6:32PM EST (link)nt
Molon Labe!
My answer to ..... "Did President Obama Lie About Health Care in His non-SOTU Tuesday Night, or Are He and His Staff Just That Ignorant ?"
Kenny Solomon Thursday, February 26th at 6:29PM EST (link)Yes and yes.
Seriously though, call me paranoid, but I sincerely believe they’re doing EVERYTHING ON PURPOSE and all at once. They want as many of our side really mad at them, because one day, somebody is going to do something REAL STUPID and then they’ll simply seize the government “for the good of the people and country” - at that point, all bets are off and we’ll have King Obama and his civilian defense corps on the march.
I also deep-down know they’re going to over-reach and then….. ooh boy, it’s not gonna be pretty.
Of course you can have my guns……. Bullets first.
I didn’t say rounds, shells or magazines……
I said bullets first.
Not pretty?
MikeO Thursday, February 26th at 7:40PM EST (link)Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Yes and yes....
jcheney Thursday, February 26th at 7:55PM EST (link)…..to being paranoid and believe they’re doing everything quick and on purpose.
I need to check the tape
10ksnooker Thursday, February 26th at 6:31PM EST (link)Who was talking?
How dare you call the leader a liar!
dvdmsr Thursday, February 26th at 6:49PM EST (link)The checks are on the way!
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Of course he lied
DerKrieger Thursday, February 26th at 8:23PM EST (link)He lies each and every single day. He’s a Marxist and that’s what they do. Reread animal Farm. Obama is the biggest pig of the bunch.
“In questions of power, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.” - Thomas Jefferson
“I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence (OBAMACARE – mine), the money of their constituents.” – James Madison
Jeff Emanuel is the REAL Liar...see below
bill2009 Sunday, March 1st at 9:06AM EST (link)RE: Jeff Emanuel Article Calling Obama a Liar on RedState, in ERROR, see referenced article below. In his RedState Column he calls Obama a Liar for stating that a Bankruptcy is filed every 30 seconds due to a serious health problem. Jeff Emanuel bosts that he write for your Magazine. He should submit a correction to his error; you should expect integrity from your writers, not incompetence.
Obama did not lie. He quoted this article based on a 2005 study conducted at Harvard. Perhaps Jeff Emanuel should call Harvard Professors the liars, rather than Obama. Obama did not Lie, he just repeated what was already documented.
Sick and Broke
By Elizabeth Warren
Wednesday, February 9, 2005; Page A23
The problem is not in the bankruptcy laws. The problem is in the health care finance system and in chronic debates about reforming it. The Harvard study shows:
• Health insurance isn’t an on-off switch, giving full protection to everyone who has it. There is real coverage and there is faux coverage.
Policies that can be canceled when you need them most are often useless. So is bare-bones coverage like the Utah Medicaid program pioneered by new Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt; it pays for primary care visits but not specialists or hospital care. We need to talk about quality, durable coverage, not just about how to get more names listed on nearly-useless insurance policies.
• The link between jobs and health insurance is strained beyond the breaking point. A harsh fact of life in America is that illness leads to job loss, and that can mean a double kick when people lose their insurance. Promising them high-priced coverage through COBRA is meaningless if they can’t afford to pay. Comprehensive health insurance is the only real solution, not just for the poor but for middle-class Americans as well.
Without better coverage, millions more Americans will be hit by medical bankruptcy over the next decade. It will not be limited to the poorly educated, the barely employed or the uninsured. The people financially devastated by a serious illness are at the heart of the middle class.
Every 30 seconds in the United States, someone files for bankruptcy in the aftermath of a serious health problem. Time is running out. A broken health care system is bankrupting families across this country.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9447-2005Feb8.html
Fail.
Brian Simpson Sunday, March 1st at 9:13AM EST (link)Just because someone else got the math wrong, doesn’t mean that your messiah is right. Seriously, check out just how stupid that statistic is:
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Important principles may and must be inflexible. ~ Abraham Lincoln
I miss Markdown -nt-
Brian Simpson Sunday, March 1st at 9:14AM EST (link)The Minority Report | Twitter | Facebook | Digg | Politics4All | Missouri Matters | Rebuild the Party
Important principles may and must be inflexible. ~ Abraham Lincoln
He's a liberal. Math is not is strong suite.
Brian Hibbert Sunday, March 1st at 10:07AM EST (link)Concepts like:
1.05 million > 815,000 are a bit too much for a liberal brain to comprehend.
Giving him a percentage problem as well is just unfair!
Socialism doesn’t work. It looks nice on paper, but it’s been tried and it’s failed miserably every time (usually accompanied by widespread death and suffering).
Proud member of the V.R.W.C.
Join the RedState Strike Force
Oh, my. Did you send that along, spelling errors and all?
Moe Lane Sunday, March 1st at 9:15AM EST (link)And you people wonder why not even President Obama takes you seriously.
Blam.
Check out my new blog at http://moelane.com/.
http://twitter.com/moelane
My (blogging-related) wish list.
You could simplify this a bit
bk Sunday, March 1st at 9:34AM EST (link)Q: Did President Obama Lie About (fill in anything), or Are He and His Staff Just That Ignorant?
A: Most likely Yes to the first and who cares about the second.