THE US REPORT

by Chris Carter

In a taped interview with Oprah Winfrey on Sunday, President Barack Obama rated his first-year performance as a “good solid B-plus,” adding that had he would have given himself an “A” if he had more progress on his health care and economic agendas.

[Graph courtesy of Rasmussen Reports]But a Rasmussen poll on Monday marked yet another historic low for Obama's Presidential Approval Rating at -18. Also according to Rasmussen, only 40 percent of voters supported Obama's health care legislation. A Dec. 9 poll found only 30 percent feel that the country is headed in the right direction.    

Our president may feel that he just missed an “A,” but when only 44 percent of the voters say they somewhat approve of Obama's overall performance and only 40 percent approve of his health care plan, the result would be a failing grade in any education system.

 In a separate taped interview Sunday on CBS' “60 Minutes” program, Obama predicted that the Senate will pass his health care plan by Christmas.

"I think it's going to pass out of the Senate before Christmas," Obama declared.

Obama also claimed that the bill would not only lower insurance premiums but would also lower the deficit. However the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency in charge of Medicare and Medicaid, says that Obama's health care plan would increase health care costs. And it requires a “willing suspension of disbelief” to argue that a healthcare bill – estimated by some to cost nearly $3 trillion dollars – would not add to the deficit.

The Heritage Foundation summarizes the  CMMS analysis of the healthcare legislation:

1. Health care costs would rise by $234 billion.
2. 17 million Americans would be forced out of their existing health insurance.
3. 19 million Americans would pay $29 billion in taxes/fines and receive no health care in return.
4. 33% of all Medicare Advantage customers would lose their health care plan.
5. 18 million Americans would be put on welfare.
6. The $493 billion in Medicare cuts would force 20% of Medicare providers to become unprofitable thus jeopardizing access to care for all seniors.
7. The explosion in Medicaid recipients would exacerbate existing health care access problems for the poor.

Obama's Christmas timeline might be entirely possible for the Democratic-led Senate, which knows that the longer Congress takes to pass health care legislation, the more time information like the above government study has to reach the public. In fact, about the only thing that “the most honest, most open, and most ethical Congress in history” has on its side is passing the legislation before Americans have a chance to analyze the bill.