It Was the Day Before the Election

And still citizens around the country have not been properly informed concerning the consequences of Senator Obama's health care plan. Whenever I speak with someone concerning his plan, and the fact that it will actually hurt the very people he claims it will help, I get a blank stare and silence. Last week I asked a Democrat about this phenomenon and he basically said he did not agree with my premise and he asked me for data to back up my position. Here's what I told him:

In 2007 one of the Presidential candidates stated that it was “Wrong when businesses have to layoff one employee because they can’t afford the health care of another”. The premise that employers have to make choices between health care coverage and laying off employees is a sound one. Senator Obama’s plan MANDATES that large and small employers either pay a “meaningful” portion of their employee’s health care coverage, or they will be heavily fined. Millions of employers who make the choice now to hire more employees, rather than pay for health care for fewer employees, won’t have that choice under Senator Obama’s health care plan. By the way, that quote is from a speech given by Senator Obama. HE understands the consequences of his health care plan.

In 2008, a human resources company called Mercer did a study of large and small employers (http://www.mercer.com/summary.htm?idContent=1325605). Forty-three percent of the employers who said they did not provide health insurance coverage said that they did not provide it because they could not afford it. That study was probably completed before the markets went south. If they couldn’t afford it earlier this year, what makes you think they will be able to afford it now, or in the near future? A PDF with details about the study can be viewed at: http://www.mercer.com/attachment.dyn?idContent=1325605&filePath=%2fattachments%2fEnglish%2fFigures_for_health_care_reform_release.pdf&fileType=DB&siteLanguage=100.

One company in Massachusetts has tried to deal with the downturn in their field, and they’ve ended up putting all of their employees on a part-time work-sharing plan (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93581221). They’ve chosen this plan over laying off full-time workers completely, but how many companies are going to go through this trouble? A labor market economist in the article makes it clear: “If you still have to maintain benefits and so on, two half-time people are still more expensive than one full-time person”.

Layoffs and reduced payroll are definitely in the picture if Senator Obama’s health care plan is adopted.

You don’t have a problem with coverage for illegal immigrants? Well, Senator Obama does (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/21/us/politics/21demdebate-transcript.html?_r=4&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin&oref=login&oref=login). Coverage for illegal immigrants in a plan that Senator Obama specifically stated would not cover illegal immigrants would be another example of him stating one thing, but doing another. And, if illegal immigrants are given coverage, not only would that encourage more illegal immigrants to enter the country, it will increase the possibility that health care rationing will ensue as millions of previously uncovered people begin to actively use our health care system for routine health care, instead of using it sporadically for emergencies.

Senator Obama's health care plan is not in the interest of American workers, but the American media has not seen fit to make this clear. In the Wall Street Journal today, Senator Obama wrote a piece outlining why he should be President. Unfortunately, he did not see fit to properly inform the American voter concerning how his plans would really impact them.