President Obama is pushing the most significant "misrepresentation" of the health care debate

While President Obama has been accusing health reform critics of dishonesty, Robert Robb, a columnist for the Arizona Republic, argues that it is the President himself who has been pushing the most significant untruth of all.

To blunt criticism, Mr. Obama has been promising Americans that if they like their current health insurance, they will be able to keep it under his plan. However, Robb notes that, under the provisions of the plan, Mr. Obama's assertion is true only in the short-term:

...The most consequential misrepresentation in the health care debate is when Obama and other supporters claim that if people like their doctor and their insurance plan, they will get to keep them. The reason for the heavy stress on that reassurance is the belief that health care reform that jeopardizes what people currently have isn't going anywhere.

The promise is false, however, even by the terms of the committee bills. Existing plans are grandfathered in, but only for five years. After that, they have to meet the new federal mandates, whatever they turn out to be. In the interim, they can accept no new enrollees.

More fundamentally, the Obama reforms completely scramble the health care market. There will be new governmental mandates, huge new individual subsidies and different tax treatments. What employers will offer after everything is scrambled up and resettles is entirely unknowable.

Simply put, the health care coverage people currently have would be subject to considerable change. An honest health care debate would acknowledge that.

Full article