SUMMARY: A Wall Street Journal op-ed by David Gratzer falsely equated "a new public insurance program" supported by "Congressional Democrats" to the Canadian "single-payer" system. In fact, President Obama has explicitly rejected a Canadian-style system and supports a "public plan" option alongside private insurance plans.
In a June 9 Wall Street Journal op-ed, headlined "Canada's ObamaCare Precedent," Dr. David Gratzer, a senior fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute, falsely equated "a new public insurance program" that "Congressional Democrats will soon put forward" to the Canadian "single-payer" system, which he suggested was "government health care" that is neither "compassionate" nor "equitable." In fact, President Obama and key congressional Democrats -- such as Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee chairman Ted Kennedy and House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Henry Waxman -- have stated that they support the creation of a federally funded "public plan" as one of many insurance options available in the health care market, not as the sole option, as in "single-payer" systems such as Canada. Moreover, Obama has explicitly rejected a Canadian-style system.
No comments:
Post a Comment