A Washington Takeover of Health Care

Kathryn Nix / October 14, 2009

In his September 9th address to Congress and the American people, President Obama acknowledged that, “my health care proposal has…been attacked by some who oppose reform as a ‘government takeover’ of the entire health care system.”

The President attempted to refute this claim and defended the idea of a public option as a means to enhance competition amongst private insurance companies. The President emphasized that the intention behind creating a public option was not to put insurers out of business, but to hold them accountable.

But health reform, with a public option, would amount to a Washington takeover of the current system. It would likely put a majority of Americans in public coverage and would concentrate unprecedented power in the federal government. In addition to rising enrollment in Medicare and expansions in Medicaid, reform with a so-called public option could result in the dependence of 74% of Americans on government controlled health care. (more…)