Health Reform: If Democrats in Washington think their health care reform with a public option is a good thing, why have they exempted themselves from it? Why isn't what's good for their constituents good for them? During ABC's June 24 infomercial for government-run health care broadcast from the White House, President Obama was asked if he and his family would abide by the restrictions and limitations that came with his proposed reforms.
In what Ed Morrissey at HotAir.com called "Obama's Michael Dukakis moment," President Obama refused to make such a pledge and confessed that if "it's my family member, if it's my wife, if it's my children, if it's my grandmother, I always want them to get the very best care."
There was no commentary about evil insurance companies making excessive profits or greedy physicians and hospitals doing unnecessary tests and procedures to run up your bill.
There was only a dutiful husband and father wanting the best care for his wife and children, as do we all.
Yet here was the president arguing for the need for 50 million new patients officially in the system while adding no new doctors, a plan that inevitably leads to rationing.
Add to this situation doctors who will retire in droves and doctors who never will be, all to avoid a clone of Britain's draconian National Health Service.
Dr. Orrin Devinsky, a neurologist and researcher at the New York University Langone Medical Center who asked Obama that question, says elites often propose health care solutions that limit options for the general public, secure in the knowledge that if they or their loves ones get sick, they will be able to afford the best care available, even if it's not provided by insurance.
Congress is no exception.
As World Net Daily points out, on Page 114 of the Orwellian-titled Affordable Health Care Choices Act authored by Sen. Ted Kennedy's staff and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP), there is a provision that specifically exempts members of Congress from the public plan.
At a news conference June 23, President Obama said people would be able to choose their insurance "the same way that federal employees do, same way that members of Congress do."
That statement was false.
Rep. John Fleming, R-La., a physician, told Fox News: "All these health care bills that are coming out on the Democrats' side — the 'reform' bills — basically say that Congress is exempt for at least the first five years, and perhaps longer.
"I've issued H. Res. 615 that simply says, look, if you vote for this, then you should choose it."
House Resolution 615, which is nonbinding, says "members who vote in favor of the establishment of a public, federal government run health insurance option are urged to forgo their right to participate in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) and agree to enroll under that public option."
On July 16, Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev., went further and offered an amendment to the House version during the Ways and Means Committee markup that would require members of Congress to enroll in its own government-run health care program.
Democrats defeated the amendment, 23 to 18.
The irony here is that under the health reform he is sponsoring, it is unlikely that Sen. Ted Kennedy would have gotten the treatment he needed for his brain tumor if his case had to be reviewed by some cost-effectiveness board.
The likelihood is that if Ted Kennedy were British and subject to the tender mercies of that nation's National Health System, he'd be dead by now.
As Fleming says, his resolution offers "members of Congress an opportunity to put their money where their mouth is."
Congressmen, heal thyselves.
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