[StBernard] MyHeritage.org: Mr. President, Heritage does not support Obamacare

[Westley Annis]

March 30, 2010 | By Edwin J. Feulner, Ph.D.


Mr. President, Heritage does not support Obamacare


President Obama this morning cited The Heritage Foundation's research in an
attempt to sell his health care package as a "middle of the road, centrist
approach." We take great exception to this misuse of our work and abuse of
our name. This is but the latest act in a campaign to sell this
big-government program as a moderate law that incorporates conservative
ideas. Americans should not be fooled.

Let's be very clear: We oppose this new law because it is a radical new
intrusion into the daily lives of all Americans and a massive takeover of
one-sixth of the U.S. economy. We view the President's health care law as
inimical to our national interests and offensive to the historic American
dedication to the principle of self-government.

Our research has shown that President Obama's health approach is financially
unsustainable and will ultimately lead to health care rationing, a lower
quality of care and a greater degree of dependence on government. We deplore
those outcomes and are committed to making the intellectual case for this
law's repeal.
What part of that does President Obama not understand?

Specifically, President Obama told NBC's Today Show
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=FfuOdgIPjmyQ0RXdDVuIEA..>  host Matt
Lauer that a centerpiece of his health care package, "in terms of the
exchange, just being able to pool and improve the purchasing power of
individuals in the insurance market-that originated from The Heritage
Foundation."

But the President knows full well-or he ought to learn before he speaks-that
the exchanges we and most others support are very different from those in
his package. True exchanges are simply a market mechanism to enable families
to choose their health insurance. President Obama's exchanges, by contrast,
are a vehicle to introduce sweeping regulation and federal standardization
on health insurance.

Moreover, we completely disagree that President Obama's law improves the
purchasing power of individuals in the insurance market. On the contrary, it
will create a staggeringly complex and costly insurance system that will
drive up premiums for Americans.


The President's health care law is only eight days old, and already it has
cost our economy billions of dollars. Late last week, AT&T alone took a $1
billion charge because of the impact of the bill, and the consulting firm
Towers Watson told the Wall Street Journal that the total hit this year will
reach nearly $14 billion. It is sad, given the present state of our economy,
that the President's party in Congress has reacted not by trying to find
ways to spare the jobs that will be lost because of this law. Instead, they
are trying to intimidate companies that take such charges with threats that
they will be hauled in before the Energy and Commerce Committee.

It is also revealing that President Obama is still struggling to sell the
American people on a bill that he and his party rammed through passage by a
narrow margin in the face of bipartisan opposition. It is a sign of
desperation that he, his handlers and the media echo chamber are reverting
to the campaign practice of selling the President and his policies as
centrist, middle of the road and aisle-crossing. As the country has found
out the hard way in the past 15 months, they are none of those things.

The President has made a habit of using conservative talking points when
trying to sell a liberal ideology because he knows that this is a
center-right country that rejects his agenda when articulated honestly. His
supporters have even tried to pin the blame of the potentially
unconstitutional individual mandate on us. This approach brushes over the
details of our research and ignores our ability to evolve past further
developed research.

Over 16,000 new IRS agents will be hired by the government to enforce the
President's mandate on the American people. The President's health care plan
also raises premiums, taxes, and costs while lowering quality, and expanding
Medicaid. These are not conservative ideas.

And let's be clear, these are not ideas Heritage has ever, or would ever,
support.

We made every effort over the past year to share our ideas for better health
care reform with the President and members of both parties in Congress, but
were not invited behind the closed doors. Now, after the bill is signed, it
seems the President wishes we were along for the ride. We were not. We
remain fervently opposed to the President's partisan plan, and urge its
immediate repeal. This is not common politics, it's common sense.

Had President Obama limited his bill to centrist elements, he would have won
wide bipartisan support for effective reform both within Congress and among
the American people. He would have won it, too, at a fraction of the cost of
this intolerable, huge and intrusive legislation. He would not now be facing
popular rejection by the American people. And he would not need to
misrepresent Heritage policies and positions in an attempt to give his
radical health plan the patina of respectability.

 Edwin J. Feulner, Ph.D.
 President
 The Heritage Foundation



> Other Heritage work of note



*	Though he remains committed to increasing spending on foreign
defense, Defense Secretary Robert Gates is seemingly unconcerned about
threats to our domestic security,
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=-8w9u_dcFtK3tSOUZA88gA..>  writes
Heritage national security expert James Carafano. In fact, the Pentagon has
decided to reduce the number of troops to be trained in catastrophic
emergency preparedness. If a disaster were to strike U.S. soil, we would
need tens of thousands more troops to be prepared than we currently have,
says Carafano. "This White House refuses to fund national security
adequately. To pay for operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, Gates mortgaged
the military's future capabilities."

*	Mississippi Gov. Hayley Barbour recently visited The Heritage
Foundation to discuss the importance of tort reform in the states
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=Ig2H9OB2S6tCEVx5HHi_sA..> . States
should take a lesson from Mississippi, he said, offering up several
examples. One year after the reform became law, medical liability lawsuits
were down 91 percent from their peak before passage of this reform.
Mississippi's new law also attracted new businesses, especially small
businesses that no longer had to worry about going broke trying to win
lawsuits because of the cost of defense and the time involved. 

*	The CBO has finally admitted what we have been saying all along-that
they never actually examined the "stimulus" bill's effect on the economy
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=WaQduescDGUnOKoYPZ12SQ..> . Instead,
they simply reiterated what they had predicted and passed this off as proof,
says Heritage's Brian Reidl. "This is like a weather forecaster saying that
the high yesterday was 65 degrees, because that is what had been predicted
-- even though it actually never topped 50 degrees." 
	 
*	Newly-disclosed secret Japanese-American agreements may spark
anti-U.S. sentiment
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=GXPqjKlmzuzTpz5dSyhX_g..> ,
Heritage's Bruce Klingner argues. He recommends several remedies, including
refusing a presidential visit to Hiroshima. "The symbolism of a presidential
visit is so loaded that it cannot but be seen as an apology, [which is]
inappropriate given the causes and course of the Second World War." 

*	Last Wednesday, Heritage Foundation vice president Stuart Butler
spoke to Heritage members during a teleconference on health care reform and
the new Obamacare law. Members asked great questions and enjoyed a lively
discussion. Over 3,000 members participated in the call. Listen to the full
teleconference online
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=MIOFx22nrD4rUq7Z32LyUg..> . 

*	Speaking last week at an event sponsored by the Naples Committee for
Heritage, Heritage scholar Mathew Spalding shared some inspiring remarks
with the attendees about the state of our nation and how conservatives can
come back by returning to first principles. Watch Dr. Spalding's speech
online <http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=RYrSfXybxVkjV8MrJgwrtA..> . 



> In other news





*	Two suicide bombers
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=0Aopk4vz2kj-45u6YYzXTQ..>  struck
Moscow's within 40 minutes of each other during the height of rush hour,
killing 37 commuters and injuring 65. President Dmitry Medvedev has declared
that Russia would act "without compromise"to root out terrorists 

*	The AP reports on a brewing Washington scandal
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=KrLDYIZSCbZ91DkAaenV6w..> : "The
Republican National Committee has fired a staffer who helped organize a
$1,946 visit last month to a sex-themed Hollywood club, and the GOP says it
will recoup the money from a donor who also participated." 

*	The Wall Street Journal reports:
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=jekj-3gco-a5opVjFVeRVQ..>
"President Barack Obama, after a year of fitfully searching for compromise,
is taking a more aggressive tack with his Republican adversaries, hoping to
energize Democratic voters and possibly muscle in some Republican support in
Congress."

*	Nine suspected members of a militia based in Michigan were charged
on Monday with conspiracy to kill a police officer and bomb a funeral as
part of a so-called "battle with the anti-Christ.
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=LaYtEjNHUyPffgp5gbf13A..> "

*	In its annual report to Congress, the CIA reports that Iran is
capable of producing nuclear weapons.
<http://members.myheritage.org/site/R?i=IpQKJAw5QzhTkFw2VG8EEg..>  The
report also states that North Korea, based on a nuclear test in May 2009,
now "has the capability to produce nuclear weapons with a yield of roughly a
couple of kilotons TNT equivalent."