More untruths in Obama health care arguements

Donald Lambro:

President Obama repeatedly states two things about his national health care initiative that are not true.

The first untruth is that we cannot have truly long-term economic growth until we replace the present health care system with an entirely new government-imposed one. The second untruth is that the plan will end the explosion in health costs.

In fact, there have been periods in our country's economic history when we've experienced relatively long-term growth with the health care system we have now.

The most recent was the nearly 25 years of growth that followed the 1981-82 recession (with a shallow slide in the early 1990s) when the Dow rose to 14,000, unemployment fell to about 4 percent, U.S. exports were booming, and new-business formation soared.

Indeed, during that time, the health care industry was one of the biggest and most dependable sources of job creation even when jobs became increasingly hard to find elsewhere in the economy.

As for reducing spiraling health care costs, just the opposite is likely to result as health care demands skyrocket, fueled by trillions of dollars in government subsidies that will be poured into the system, overburdening an industry struggling to keep up with the demands we place on it now.

"The health care overhauls released to date would increase, not reduce, the burgeoning long-term health costs facing the government," said Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf on Thursday.

Meanwhile, despite claims that his health care plan will spur economic growth for years to come, Mr. Obama is pushing so-called health care reforms that will, in fact, weaken our economy.

The House and Senate bills making their way through the legislative system will impose draconian tax rates on investors and small-business owners, who will be forced to provide health insurance benefits that will drive many of them out of business.

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There is more.

The arguments against the Democrats' plan just keep growing as the pubic skepticism about the plan also grows. This should present a real dilemma for the Democrats. They are going to lose whether the scheme passes or not, but the country is better off if they fail.