Obama's Right, There Have been Distortions, by Him!

Aug. 22 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama said debate over revamping the U.S. health-care system is being dominated by “willful misrepresentations and outright distortions.”Obama, after leaving Washington to start a weeklong vacation, used his weekly address on the radio and Internet to urge Americans to “rise above our differences” to fix a costly and ineffective health-insurance system.

The president pushed back against what he called “outrageous myths” about his proposals.“This is an issue of vital concern to every American,” Obama said. “But it should also be an honest debate, not one dominated by willful misrepresentations and outright distortions.”

I demand these distortions be stopped so we can have a civil debate!

1. On the budgetary affects and Obama's deficit neutral nonsense:

From the CBO:

The federal government’s budgetary commitments to health care (including both spending programs and tax preferences) total more than $1 trillion in 2009. Many proposals to significantly expand health insurance coverage would add to federal costs by providing large subsidies to help lower-income individuals and families purchase insurance. Such proposals could permanently boost the government’s budgetary commitments to health care by something in the vicinity of 10 percent. Improving the long-term budget outlook would require addressing that added cost in addition to the budgetary strains anticipated under current law. Health care legislation might include provisions that would make it budget neutral over the first 10 years, but such legislation might nevertheless add to budget deficits in later years.

2. Obama claimed along with the Hospitals he had found 2 trillion in Savings what actually happened:

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.”

This was the time Obama allegedly misspoke on the savings until it was clarified that he didn't.

3. Of course there was also the great Pharma Deal which Obama and associates never could get their story straight on:

As pointed out time and time again, of course they had a deal, via HA:

It says the White House agreed to oppose any congressional efforts to use the government’s leverage to bargain for lower drug prices or import drugs from Canada — and also agreed not to pursue Medicare rebates or shift some drugs from Medicare Part B to Medicare Part D, which would cost Big Pharma billions in reduced reimbursements.

In exchange, the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers Association (PhRMA) agreed to cut $80 billion in projected costs to taxpayers and senior citizens over ten years. Or, as the memo says: “Commitment of up to $80 billion, but not more than $80 billion.”

Representatives from both the White House and PhRMA, shown the outline, adamantly denied that it reflected reality. PhRMA senior vice president Ken Johnson said that the outline “is simply not accurate.” “This memo isn’t accurate and does not reflect the agreement with the drug companies,” said White House spokesman Reid Cherlin…

4. Then there is the electronic records and preventive care cost saving argument:

(Obama)"I think one basic principle that we know is that the more we do on the (disease) prevention side, the more we can obtain serious savings down the road. ... If we're making those investments, we will save huge amounts of money in the long term.''

The Facts:

And a study released in December by the Congressional Budget Office found that increasing preventive care ''could improve people's health but would probably generate either modest reductions in the overall costs of health care or increases in such spending within a 10-year budgetary time frame.''

Budgetary Impact of Electric Records:

The Potential and Limits of Health Information Technology

Health information technology has the potential to significantly increase the effi­ciency of the health sector by helping providers manage information. In particular, electronic health records—comprising electronic documentation of providers’ medical notes, electronic viewing of laboratory and radiological results, electronic prescribing of medications, and an interoperable connection among providers of health care—could have a significant impact on medical practice.¹⁵ When used effectively, electronic health records could reduce the duplication of diagnostic tests; remind physicians about appropriate preventive care; identify harmful drug inter­actions or possible allergic reactions to prescribed medicines; and help physicians manage the care of patients with complex chronic conditions. Such steps could yield significant health benefits for patients, but research indicates that the extent to which health IT also generates reductions in health care spending depends largely on the incentives facing providers who have adopted it. By itself, the adoption of more health IT is generally not sufficient to produce substantial savings because the incentives for many providers to use that technology in ways that control costs are not strong.

Of course there is the foolishness of labeling the townhall movement astro-turf, the claim he won't raise taxes on 95%, the list really could go on and on. I could talk about death panels, but the VA's death book should suffice.