Barack Obama is so Generous!

The healthcare plan on Barack Obama's website says, "Obama will make available a new national health plan to all Americans..."

Wow! That Obama is so generous to make that available to all Americans.

Wait, where's he going to get the money? Ohhh, that's right, from me. And isn't there a little something in the constitution about consulting some other people, like congressional representatives and senators?

He mentions a lot of "easy", "simple", and "affordable", but not so very much "how". If it was that easy, simple and affordable, wouldn't someone else already have done it, particularly in the countries with collapsing healthcare systems like Canada?
The position paper cites an interesting statistic: "Over 133 million Americans have at least one chronic disease..." That's almost half of Americans! Is he sure that’s correct? "...and these chronic conditions cost a staggering $1.7 trillion yearly." Um, I don’t think I can afford to pay for all that no matter how easy and simple it is.

But perhaps I won’t have to. The plan says, “Obama will invest $10 billion a year…” Maybe he has another way to come up with the money other than taking it out of my pocket. Here is how he addresses it in the FAQ to his plan:

“The Obama plan will realize tremendous savings within the health care system to help finance the plan. The additional revenue needed to fund the up-front investments in technology and to help people who cannot afford health insurance is more than covered by allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire for people making more than $250,000 per year, as they are scheduled to do.” Oh, found money then. Well that’s all right.

“Obama will require...” “Obama will tackle...” “Obama will strengthen…” When is Obama going to have time to govern the country? I don’t think the primary function of government is to provide healthcare. I think the primary function of government is to defend our borders and manage things like roads and money that individuals and even states can’t do alone. It sounds to me like he is going to be so busy investing and requiring and tackling and spending money on chronic conditions, he won’t have time for much else. And the Democrats aren't as famous for saving money as they are for spending it. Funding lavish new entitlements with yet unrealized savings can be problematic.

I do have to agree with him that it is a good idea for health insurance to be portable, especially because employers are pretty restive under the burden of providing health benefits and are cutting back or promoting universal healthcare so the government will shoulder it.

The FAQ for the plan is as vague as the plan itself. It all sounds lovely, but awfully pie in the sky. It is much better than Hillary’s plan though. Obama may be a dreamer, but at least he has retained some elements of choice. Hillary’s plan requires garnishing wages of employees who don’t voluntarily buy insurance.