Keith Hennessey Blog On Obama Health Care Reform

Keith Hennessey Blog On Obama Health Care Reform – Keith Hennessey who served as President George W. Bush’s Assistant for Economic Policy and Director of the U.S. National Economic Council did a very long post on his blog today called “Fishy statements about health care reform.” Here is what Hennessey wrote:

Fishy statements about health care reform
I sent the following email to flag@whitehouse.gov this morning.
/blockquote>

From: Keith Hennessey
Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2009 7:47 AM
To: flag@whitehouse.gov
bcc: surveil@fbi.gov; bigbro@dhs.gov; patriot.act@nsa.gov; anon6427@dni.gov
Subject: Fishy statements about health care reform
The Honorable Linda Douglass
Communications Director
Health Reform Office
The White House

Dear Ms. Douglass:

I write in response to the request posted on the White house blog, “Facts are stubborn things.”

If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov .

I call to your attention several fishy statements about health care reform legislation made by a gentleman named Dr. Douglas Elmendorf. He claims to be Director of the “Congressional Budget Office” and has posted frequently about health care reform on his website, cbo.gov. This information takes the form of personal posts on his Director’s Blog, as well as in-depth reports that have the veneer of competent, thorough, impartial professional analysis. The IP address of his site is 206.106.246.254, and his organization has named their hideout the “Ford House Office Building.”

Elmendorf appears to have several hundred followers in his organization, which has extraordinary influence over many in Congress. I understand that some right-wing Members of Congress support and even vote for his annual funding source.

CBO and Elmendorf make extraordinary claims about bills moving through Congress that attempt to implement the President’s plans for health care reform. I bring them to your attention so that you can refute them. I have included these allegations below. Specifically, Elmendorf and his rabble-rousers make the following claims:

* The House bill would increase the budget deficit by $239 B over the next ten years. This conflicts with the President’s goal of not increasing short-term deficits.
* Ten years from now the House bill would add $65 B to the budget deficit. This conflicts with the President’s insistence that legislation must not increase the deficit in that year.
* The House bill would increase long-term budget deficits by ever-increasing amounts, making our long-term debt problem worse than under current law. This of course conflicts with the President’s statements that “health care reform is entitlement reform,” and that health care reform is essential to addressing America’s long-term budget problems.
* Rather than “bending the cost curve down” as the President has laudably insisted, Dr. Elmendorf said the Senate HELP Committee bill would “raise the cost curve.”
* Under the House bill, in the year 2015 about 8 million uninsured Americans would remain uninsured and pay higher taxes. This would violate the President’s pledge not to raise taxes on anyone earning less than $250,000 per year.
* Under the House bill, about 3 million people who now have employer-sponsored health insurance would lose that coverage because their employer drops it, violating the President’s bold promise that no one will lose the health plan they have now.
* The President’s Medicare Commission proposal would probably save only $2 billion over ten years, and there is a high probability it would save no taxpayer money. In the long run the saving would be “modest.”

If this suspect “Congressional Budget Office” is publishing disinformation about either health care reform, I hope you can correct it. A lot of important people seem to listen to this Elmendorf guy. Left unrefuted, these claims suggest that the bills being developed in the House and Senate would harm the U.S. economy and millions of Americans in violation of the President’s stated goals.

Sincerely,

Keith Hennessey
KeithHennessey.com

Do you share Keith Hennessey’s views?

Please share this story:

• 

Related posts:

1. House Health Care Reform Bill
2. Sarah Palin Calls Obama’s Health Care Plan Evil
3. Health Care Bill Page 58:Fake Vs Real
4. John David Lewis Health Care
5. Barack Obama Statement On Historic Step

Tags: Barack Obama

Category: Democrats