ü Reality: Republicans support common sense reforms that will control cost, preserve quality and provide the health care that Americans deserve.
Our plans will:
· Reduce and control individual costs.
· Protect the doctor-patient relationship.
· Preserve and improve quality & choice.
· End lawsuit abuse in order to reduce costs to consumers.
· Responsibly reform health care without further bankrupting the country.
o Democrat Myth #2: President Obama’s government-run plan will be budget neutral.
ü Reality: The president’s plan costs more money than we have or can afford to spend.
· The price tag for the president’s plan is somewhere between $1 and $2 trillion dollars. The president has already submitted a budget which doubles the national debt to $15 trillion.
· The president will either have to break his pledge to not raise taxes on those earning less than $200,000 per year or break his pledge to have his reform plan fully paid for.
· The burden of proof is on the president as to how exactly his reforms will be paid for.
· If the president intends on breaking his campaign promise not to raise taxes on Americans making less than $200,000 a year—and we knew he would – it’s long past time that he says so.
o Democrat Myth #3: The president’s government-run plan will equal fair competition.
ü Reality: When government competes, government wins. A government-run plan, backed by tax dollars and subsidies, will create a monopoly, not choice, and will:
· Undercut private insurance rates.
· Set rates, set prices and determine what treatments to cover.
· Force private insurers out of business.
o Democrat Myth #4: President Obama’s government-run plan will reduce costs.
ü Reality: President Obama’s plan will drive up the cost and drive down the quality of health care.
· Nothing ever becomes cheaper by being more expensive.
· Everything the government touches becomes more expensive.
· Americans will pay more for health care because of huge tax increases on everything from their health care benefits to a new national sales tax, among others.
· The president wants to finance his plan by raising over $300 billion dollars in new taxes and cutting over $600 billion dollars from Medicare and Medicaid.
o Democrat Myth #5: “If you like your plan you can keep it.”
ü Reality: The president’s plan will force Americans to join a government-run plan even if they like their current plan and their doctor.
· Employers, especially small businesses, will stop offering private health care plans because their employees could get coverage through the government-run plan.
· The non-partisan Lewin Group analyzed how a Medicare-like public plan, the kind insisted on by House Democrats, would result in 119 million Americans being driven from their private insurance to the government “option.”
Conclusion
Every Republican should stand up for health care reform that controls cost, preserves quality and provides the health care that Americans deserve. This means standing up against President Obama’s health care plan. The Obama administration is acting with extreme haste, hoping to push through their health care experiment as fast as they can. Make no mistake—their timeline is based on what works for them politically, not on what will result in the best health care policy for Americans. The reckless speed with which they are attempting to jam through this experiment is a grave threat to America’s health care, and America ’s health.
Our playbook on this issue is simple and straightforward: Fight for health care reform while fighting against the elements of the Democrats’ plans that will adversely impact care and further bankrupt our country. Republicans should stand firm against each of the following:
n The decline in quality of care that will come from a government controlled insurance option.
n Government deciding what treatments we can have, and who can have them.
n Tax hikes to pay for President Obama’s risky and expensive plan.
n Cutting Medicare to pay for President Obama’s risky and expensive plan.
n More debt and more spending that will prolong the recession.
n Rushing another flawed bill that will cost trillions and hurt existing health care.
n Punishing small businesses in this time of unprecedented unemployment.
n The “public plan” – gateway to a government takeover of health care.
The Republican National Committee will engage in every activity we can to slow down this mad rush while promoting sensible alternatives that address health care costs and preserve quality. Republicans in the U.S. House and Senate have proposed alternatives that would help make health care more affordable and ensure that patients and doctors remain in control of their health care decisions.
Please add your voice and your talents to this effort before it is too late.
