A group called PolitiFact has recently declared that the lie of the year was calling Obama’s health bill a “government takeover.” That’s not just mistaken, claim the PolitiFact people, but a lie, because the legislation did not usher in a Soviet-style, complete nationalization of health care. Grace-Marie Turner of the Galen Institute replies here that the president’s legislation moved us far along the path to a thoroughly politicized health system and sets up structures that will keep that momentum going. So calling Obamacare a government takeover is at most a small, temporary exaggeration.
As an editorial in today’s Wall Street Journal said, a far better candidate for “lie of the year” would be the title given to the legislation: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. That is a whopper, but we should also consider Obama’s statement that anyone who is satisfied with his current doctor and insurance will be able to keep them. Nope. It is undermining existing insurance and driving doctors into early retirement.
