By: CHRIS STIREWALT
Political Editor
Washington Examiner
10/13/09
The president and his fellow Democrats like to talk about being closer to the goal of universal health care than ever before, but what is being discussed in Congress isn’t really universal health care but rather a plan to regulate insurance companies and force Americans to buy their products or pay a fine. And at the end, at least 17 million people will still be uncovered.
With warnings that private premiums would go up, Medicare coverage would go down, and access to care might be limited, American taxpayers may find the goal of near-universal coverage an unworthy of such a high price.
Examiner colleague Susan Ferrechio points out today that the only choices available to Democrats to remedy the problem are to increase the penalties for lower-middle-class folks who opt not to buy insurance or to increase taxes on others to pay for bigger subsidies for the folks who opt out.
Neither is very appealing politically and as Democrats squabble in the days and weeks that follow today’s vote in the Senate Finance Committee about a government-run health insurance program and whether to tax “gold-plated” policies they are really discussing how to get from 94 percent coverage to 100 percent coverage, which they believe will also reduce costs.
Continues at the Examiner.
