Just too damn funny, the President and his people fell over themselves showing how unified they were going to be as he moves on health care. Now the industry people who he had at the White House this week are attacking the President.
WASHINGTON — Hospitals and insurance companies said Thursday that President Obama had substantially overstated their promise earlier this week to reduce the growth of health spending.Mr. Obama invited health industry leaders to the White House on Monday to trumpet their cost-control commitments. But three days later, confusion swirled in Washington as the companies’ trade associations raced to tamp down angst among members around the country.
After meeting with six major health care organizations, Mr. Obama hailed their cost-cutting promise as historic.“These groups are voluntarily coming together to make an unprecedented commitment,” Mr. Obama said. “Over the next 10 years, from 2010 to 2019, they are pledging to cut the rate of growth of national health care spending by 1.5 percentage points each year — an amount that’s equal to over $2 trillion.”
Health care leaders who attended the meeting have a different interpretation. They say they agreed to slow health spending in a more gradual way and did not pledge specific year-by-year cuts. "There’s been a lot of misunderstanding that has caused a lot of consternation among our members,” said Richard J. Umbdenstock, the president of the American Hospital Association. “I’ve spent the better part of the last three days trying to deal with it.”
It makes sense, if these guys could magically save trillions, why wouldn't they. Anyway it sounds like Obama , who has been using the alleged savings from electronic records and preventive care as an excuse to cover the actual cost of his programs, took his savings numbers and planted it on the Health Care industry. In other words it was a screw up:
“There’s been a lot of misunderstanding that has caused a lot of consternation among our members,” said Richard J. Umbdenstock, the president of the American Hospital Association. “I’ve spent the better part of the last three days trying to deal with it.”
Nancy-Ann DeParle, director of the White House Office of Health Reform, said “the president misspoke” on Monday and again on Wednesday when he described the industry’s commitment in similar terms. After providing that account, Ms. DeParle called back about an hour later on Thursday and said: “I don’t think the president misspoke. His remarks correctly and accurately described the industry’s commitment.”
Misspoke? What a joke it was a make believe news conference not based in reality. And what is Industries version of events:
The Washington office of the American Hospital Association sent a bulletin to its state and local affiliates to “clarify several points” about the White House meeting.In the bulletin, Richard J. Pollack, the executive vice president of the hospital association, said: “The A.H.A. did not commit to support the ‘Obama health plan’ or budget. No such reform plan exists at this time.”Moreover, Mr. Pollack wrote, “The groups did not support reducing the rate of health spending by 1.5 percentage points annually.”
He and other health care executives said they had agreed to squeeze health spending so the annual rate of growth would eventually be 1.5 percentage points lower.
So it was all Obama smoke and mirrors to cover up the unsustainable costs of his programs, and what is this all about, well the outlines are starting to emerge:
House Democrats on Thursday circulated the outline of a bill that would require all Americans to carry health insurance and would subsidize premiums for many people with incomes up to four times the poverty level ($88,200 for a family of four).Under the proposal, employers would have to offer coverage to employees or help finance it by paying a percentage of their payroll. The Democrats are proposing creation of a “public health insurance plan,” which would compete with private insurers.
There it is, Socialized Health Care in the House in its infancy. Just what we need, another massive entitlement program that will go bankrupt.
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