To Tell The Truth

Posted by Larry Miller on August 6, 2009 under Why | Be the First to Comment

There has been a great deal of controversy over the ability to keep existing health insurance policies under the proposed government controlled plan. The president tells us that there we can keep existing insurance if we desire. Others who have looked into the the proposal tell us this is just not the case. So the question is, who is telling the truth? Could it be both are, and it’s just a matter of interpretation and perspective?

Even though the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed the bill a week ago, with a hundred fifty pages of amendments, the copy is still not available. We can, however, check out the original version of the bill. This should give us a hint.

Pages 15 and 16 cover the retention of existing policies… it reads:

(A) IN GENERAL.-Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day of Y1.
(B) DEPENDENT COVERAGE PERMITTED.
-Subparagraph (A) shall not affect the subsequent enrollment of a dependent of an individual who is covered as of such first day.
LIMITATION ON CHANGES IN TERMS OR CONDITIONS.
(2)-Subject to paragraph (3) and except as required by law, the issuer does not change any of its terms or conditions, including benefits and cost-sharing, from those in effect as of the day before the first day of Y1.

What it says, in plain English, is the new policies can be written up to the implementation date of the bill, dependents can be added and that there can be no changes in existing policies.

So it looks like sooner or later, all policies will die off through attrition. Technically, the president told the truth, but not the whole truth. We will be able to keep existing policies as long as they are available… which may not be too long as conditions will, sooner or later, require changes in current insurance plans.

When I was growing up and learning right from wrong, I learned that withholding important information was just as bad as an outright lie since people make decisions based on the information they are given. Perhaps this is not the standard they teach in Kenya, Indonesia, Hawaii or where ever our fearless leader was raised. It is, however, the standard by which I judge communication and raises doubts about anything else we are told about the government run scheme.

Rule Two from Saul Alinsky says “Never go outside the experience of your people.” Basically this means the organizer should tell the people what they are expecting and want to hear. Barack Hussein Obama is telling people they can keep their existing insurance. What he is not saying is that their existing plan may not be available for long. This is not what most people want to hear… and many may make decisions based on this disinformation.

There are many flaws in the plan and this is just one of them… a major one. One that shows the character of the man who scoffs at his opponents, demonizing and trivializing them, all in the name of imposing his version of fairness on a society he considers unjust at its’ core.

If you want to check it out for yourself, you can find a copy of the original bill at http://www.politicalchristian.org/healthbill.html. It will not include the 150 pages of amendments as they are still being kept under wraps for reasons that can only be surmised. Unfortunately I have not able to come up with an acceptable reason for the most open and transparent administration in history to withhold this information from those that will have to live with it and pay for it.