Heritage.org
3/30/2010
The Heritage Foundation reacted angrily today to President Obama’s claim that a centerpiece of his health care legislation “originated” from the conservative think tank.
“We take great exception to this misuse of our work and abuse of our name,” said Heritage President Edwin J. Feulner.
On NBC’s “Today Show,” the President characterized the so-called “insurance exchange” established under Obamacare as “just being able to pool and improve the purchasing power of individuals in the insurance market, [an idea] that originated from The Heritage Foundation.”
But, Feulner charged, “the President knows full well” that the exchanges Heritage advocates “are very different from those in his package.”
“True exchanges,” Feulner explained, “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.
Feulner decried the President’s misrepresentation as “but the latest act in a campaign to sell this big-government program as a moderate law that incorporates conservative ideas” and called it “a sign of desperation.”
Feulner stressed that Heritage research shows that President Obama’s approach to health reform “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 remain fervently opposed to the President’s partisan plan, and urge its immediate repeal, Feulner added. “What part of that does President Obama not understand?”
[Full text of Dr. Feulner’s message is here.]
