Obama’s Argument Against His Own Healthcare Plan

By Noel Bagwell
August 11, 2009

Barack Obama likens the government’s potential management of the health care industry to the United States Postal Service, saying,

“I think private insurers should be able to compete. They do it all the time. I mean, uh… th-… if you think about, if, if you think about it, uh, uh, UPS and FedEx are doin’ just fine. Right? The uh… no, they are, I mean, it’s, it’s the Post Office that’s always havin’ problems.”

Well said, Mr. President. Well said. He’s so eloquent, don’t you think? I think so… so eloquent. I’m enthralled.

In the video, above, if you didn’t watch it, he goes on to say,

“There’s nothing inevitable about [the Democrats' "health care reform"] somehow destroying the private marketplace as long as – and this is a legitimate point that you’re raising – that it’s not set up where the government is basically being subsidized by the taxpayers so that even if they’re not providing a good deal, we keep having to pony up more and more money.”

Isn’t that the way it is, though? Do not the taxpayers subsidize the federal government with our taxes? I mean, that are our taxes for, if not to “subsidize” the federal government, and don’t the taxpayers keep having to pony up more and more money for failed government programs on a regular basis? Isn’t that precisely what happened with the “cash for clunkers program”? Not to mention that we’re spending more and more money in bail-outs and “stimulus” bills for which the taxpayers are going to have to pay.

The obvious disingenuous nature of the President’s characterization of how health care will be managed aside, it is worthwhile to point out that the President has, in these recent remarks, made a fantastic argument against his health care reform plan – one I, myself, have been making in nearly every personal conversation I’ve had with anyone on the issue since the legislation first enter the news.

The President likens his (and the government’s) proposed management of health care to the Postal Service, which he says is “always havin’ problems,” when the private companies in the same industry – UPS and FedEx – are “doin’ just fine.” Why, then, would anybody want the “postal service insurance plan?” Honestly? Why is this not an argument FOR private sector management of the health care industry, and AGAINST government-run health care?

I mean, it’s not like the government has a very good record on running businesses. Look at AmTrack. In a recent article on the government’s acquisition of General Motors (aka “Government Motors), Judson Berger and Major Garrett wrote,

Analysts said the government’s hope of creating an efficient mass transit service through a partial nationalization of the rail system was stymied by its inability to get tough on unions and rein in labor costs. The same could hold true, they say, as the Obama administration deals with the UAW.

Amtrak has fielded criticism over the years for being guided by officials with little or no transit experience. Today, Obama’s Auto Task Force has a combined experience of zero years in the auto industry.

With Amtrak, the government got too involved in decision-making, leading to inefficiencies in the system that would never be corrected, say analysts. Since its creation in 1970, Amtrak has sucked up $30 billion in taxpayer money, and the money is still flowing. The original aid package from Congress in 1970 was $340 million with an expectation the railroad would make a profit in five years.

The potential parallels are worth being concerned about, critics say.

“I think the $50 billion might as well be kissed goodbye. I would expect that this is just the beginning,” Cox, principal at the Wendell Cox Consultancy, said of the GM deal.

So, the future looks grim for GM, at least in part because the goverment’s track record on Amtrack has been so abysmal. In fact, Dr. Robert D. Utt, Ph.D. has made a compelling argument that the government should accept industry offers to buy Amtrack. Innovation and competition are simply not present when the government has a monopoly on an industry. Giving over industry to the private sector and opening it up for competition promotes innovation and ingenuity and provides incentives for those providing the relevant goods and services to the public to do so in an efficient way and with a more qualitative approach than that with which the government has in the past or would in the future.

Remember your last trip to the DMV? Were you getting a new driver’s license? Renewing an old one? Updating your last name after you got married? How long were you there? How were you treated? How about the last time you went to the Social Security Administration office?

When was the last time you went to the airport? How were you treated by the TSA? Were they rude or polite, when forcing you to take off your shoes? Did they treat your property with care and respect when inspecting it? Were they bureaucratic about the size of your travel shampoo bottles? Were you groped when you were searched?

Now, imagine those DMV employees or TSA agents working in the health care industry, not as doctors or nurses, of course, because they probably aren’t up to the task or they would already be working as doctors or nurses for much more money than they’d be making under Obamacare, but imagine those people in charge of making the decisions about your health. Imagine those people between you and your doctor.

I barely trust those people to deliver my mail, or take my picture and put it on a plastic I.D. card. I don’t want them deciding whether or not I get a much-needed kidney, liver or heart transplant or whether or not I receive cancer treatment. Do you? Congress doesn’t. They won’t be on the health care plan they want everyone else to be on. Neither will Obama, and Obama knows it will be another broken government program from Day One, a fact that is evidenced by his remarks.

So, do you want UPS or FedEx quality health care or do you want USPS “flat rate box” health care? It’s your call, America. Contact your Congressman or Senator, today, and tell them to vote “NO” on “health care reform.”