I stole that line from Don Surber, to whom I link at the bottom of this post, but it should become our description for Obamacare.
There's no such thing as a free lunch and the Democrats are feeling that pain as they try to kill the American medical system by nationalizing health care. It's important for Democrats to do this, since it would create another whole class of potential Democrat voters (witness the fealty many elderly have given Dems because of Social Security and Medicare). But the proposals don't come without cost to every American taxpayer:
Democrats in the House and Senate are crafting legislation that would require all Americans to have health insurance, prohibit insurers from refusing to cover pre-existing conditions and place other restrictions on the industry.
The legislation would establish online exchanges for individuals to purchase insurance and would require employers to provide health benefits to workers or pay a penalty. Some Democrats also are backing creation of a government-run program to expand coverage to the uninsured...
Rangel said Democrats are still considering options for tax increases that might be in the bill, including a possible end to the income tax exclusion for employer-paid health benefits...
Obama has pledged that health-care changes won’t add to the deficit. To accomplish that, he’s proposed getting about $600 billion by reducing tax deductions available to the wealthy, and by trimming Medicare payments to insurance companies.
Emphasis mine.
All the boldfaced words mean higher taxes and fewer choices for American consumers. There's no statement about how big a company must be to provide insurance, but if a store employing three people has to include health care in the costs, it might not stay in business. That's because most small businesses are run on a shoe string. Perhaps Democrats don't think one should be able to own one's own business unless one is a millionaire.
Don Surber says we should switch the word "education" for "health care" to understand just how bizarre Obama's prescription is.
Not once did he (Obama) mention improving the quality of health care. He is simply promising to reduce spending on health care — which he knows cannot be done by government except through rationing.
Hope. Change. Die.
William Jacobson notes Obama's flip-flops on health care. Remember when taxing employer benefits was just plain wrong? That is sooooo 2008.
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