THE US REPORT

Sen. George LeMieux pointed out 10 myths in the healthcare debate. One reality check: taxes will go up all around.When Florida governor Charlie Crist sent Sen. George LeMieux to Washington, conservatives in Florida paid little attention. After all, the senator LeMieux replaced would likely have supported HR 2454, Cap and Trade. What could be worse than that? But LeMieux served up a surprise on Monday by doing something President Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats neglected. The Republican senator from Florida released a list of 10 myths in the 'healthcare reform debate.' The word 'myth', by the way, is a more polite term than ‘lie.’


Self-employed will pay more for healthcare
Remember Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi talking about artistic types like photographers being reluctant to start a small business because of health insurance barriers? Under the president’s plan, LeMieux said, “CBO estimates that a majority of Americans who receive their insurance through an employer will notice only a negligible impact on their premiums. Essentially, this is a continuation of the status quo…Those who buy their own insurance from the individual market can expect premiums to rise.”

That’s been true with every plan I’ve seen, one reason I was horrified when a professional organization I belong to publicly called for passing proposed legislation after the House passed HR 3200. Apparently the board of directors of that organization, just like most every elected member of Congress, didn’t read the bill. Self-employed and others who purchase on the open market will pay more.

Bill, bill, did anyone read the healthcare bill?
On Monday, Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) told Fox News’ Greta van Susteren, “As of –we just all got back into Washington. We expect a long week. But the few members that I've seen, their votes haven't changed. No one has seen the reconciliation, the correction bill, if you will. No one has seen it. So it's hard for members to pledge their vote on a piece of legislation we've never seen.”

Healthcare fraud causes Medicare to lose 14 percent of total payouts
But ignorance isn’t the only behavior Democrats are guilty of—they are true obstructionists when it comes to fraud. The Florida Times-Union commented on LeMieux’s mythbusters in an editorial on Tuesday. Speaking about the “disconnect” between the president’s healthcare wish list and reality, the paper said, “There is no better illustration of this disconnect than Obama’s announcement of a new effort to crack down on waste and fraud in Medicare, Medicaid and other government programs.”

The problem? Obama’s plan will continue to pay the “fraudsters” up front and we will rely on law enforcement to get them. LeMeiux wants the fraud stopped on the front end, as do most voters. He thinks a model similar to that used by the credit card industry would increase recovery levels from the $2 billion Obama’s method—the same method we use now—to at least $20 million. And there’s plenty of ammunition in LeMieux’s argument: “Medicare, on the other hand, loses 1 out of every 7 dollars or approximately 14 percent of the entire payouts.” The Senator compared Medicare losses to credit card industry losses under “predictive modeling.” That industry lost just 7 cents out of every $100.

LeMieux also shreds the tax myth. As The US Report has frequently pointed out, taxes will go up.

On Monday, Fox News busted yet another Obama myth. The cancer patient who is the president’s latest straw woman will not lose her home. The woman is a small business owner who dropped her insurance as premiums rose. Premiums rose in our home too, but we anted up. Under Obamacare, our premiums will not decline.

Obamacare clouded by politics and myth
As the latest Democrat drama unfolds, it’s evident that whatever changes come about as a result of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid triumvirate, healthcare legislation is being governed by politics and myth. Despite all the rousing speeches our president delivers with show biz aplomb, Obama has never once spoken specifically about the makeup of the uninsured population and as a result, his bill will do nothing more than expand the welfare state and pass costs along to the rest of Main Streeters who work for a living and sacrifice in order to pay premiums for a necessity.

If cost for the middle class was really a concern, do you think Obama would have expressed wishes for our electricity bills to “skyrocket?” If concern for the middle class was first and foremost, do you believe various Democrats like Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) would be scrambling for more ways to tax us?

If you honestly believe that passing current healthcare legislation will be a blessing to the middle class, take a moment to find the nearest cold body of water and jump in. That’s how you’ll feel years from now when truth rises as it always does to the top, and you realize the biggest myth of all  is the healthcare bill Obama is pitching from Washington where the political machine, despite the charismatic former junior senator’s promises, still groans along doing business as usual.

There’s not a man or woman in the Democrat Party with the guts or for that matter the integrity to enact real government reform. The GOP isn't overflowing with true reformers either, but that party is being forced to look at federal spending with a new perspective because GOP voters are insisting their party return to core principals of smaller government.

LeMieux’s mythbusters speak directly to a political process that once again has permitted one party’s self-interest to displace the interests of the governed. (Kay B. Day/Mar. 16, 2010)