WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama told voters repeatedly during the health care debate that the overhaul legislation would bring down fast-rising health care costs and save them money. Now, he’s hemming and hawing on that.
So far, the law he signed earlier this year hasn’t had the desired effect. An analysis from Medicare‘s Office of the Actuary this week said that the nation’s health care tab will go up — not down — through 2019 as a result of Obama’s sweeping law, though the increase is modest.
Obama offered some caveats when asked in his news conference Friday about the apparent discrepancy between what he promised and what’s actually happening so far. On several other topics, too, his rhetoric fell short of a full accounting.
___
EDITOR’S NOTE — An occasional look at assertions by public officials and how well they adhere to the facts
___
A look at some of the claims at his news conference and how they compare with the facts:
OBAMA: Said he never expected to extend insurance coverage to an additional 31 million people “for free.“ He added that ”we’ve made huge progress” if medical inflation could be brought down to the level of overall inflation, or somewhere slightly above that.
THE FACTS: Those claims may be supported in the fine print of the plan he pitched to Congress and a skeptical public months ago. But they were rarely heard back then. “My proposal would bring down the cost of health care for millions — families, businesses and the federal government,” he declared in March.
Last August he predicted: “The American people are going to be glad that we acted to change an unsustainable system so that more people have coverage, we’re bending the cost curve, and we’re getting insurance reforms.”
On Friday, he conceded: “Bending the cost curve on health care is hard to do.” The goal: “Slowly bring down those costs.”
The White House contends that although health care costs will rise when most of the changes take hold in 2014 and coverage is extended to the uninsured, costs will go down over the longer term as controls kick in.
___
OBAMA: “We took every idea out there about how to reduce or at least slow the costs of health care over time.”
THE FACTS: One idea that most experts believe would do the most to control health costs — directly taxing health benefits — was missing in Obama’s plan. Opposition from unions and others was too great, and Obama himself had campaigned against the idea.
Some of the major cost controllers that did make it into the law — including a tax on high-value insurance plans — don’t start until 2018. That tax was watered down and delayed, and other cost-control approaches also softened after opposition from hospitals and other interest groups.
Health spending already accounts for about 17 percent of the economy and is projected to grow to nearly 20 percent in 2019.
___
OBAMA: “So these policies of cutting taxes for the wealthiest Americans, of stripping away regulations that protect consumers, running up a record surplus to a record deficit — those policies finally culminated in the worst financial crisis we’ve had since the Great Depression.”
THE FACTS: The president probably meant the broader economic crisis and not the meltdown of the financial industry when he talked about the “financial crisis.” True enough, George W. Bush entered office with a $236 billion budget surplus in 2001, and in January 2009, before Obama was sworn into office, the Congressional Budget Office projected the deficit for the fiscal year 2009 to be $1.2 trillion.
But the surpluses the government foresaw in 2001 were based on a bubble economy that was bound to burst. And the deficit Obama inherited was only partly from Bush’s fiscal policies.
Mostly it was a result of a recession that sapped tax revenues, increased the costs of safety net programs and demanded more government spending to stimulate the economy. As recently as 2007, the budget deficit was just $161.5 billion. The current annual deficit is now an estimated $1.5 trillion.
___
OBAMA: Asked how he can lecture Afghan President Hamid Karzai about corruption when it’s fueled in part by U.S. aid dollars, Obama said: “I’ve said to my national security team … Let’s be consistent in terms of how we operate across agencies. Let’s make sure that our efforts there are not seen as somehow giving a wink and a nod to corruption.”
THE FACTS: While acknowledging the situation is messy, Obama seemed to minimize it.
“Are there going to be occasions where we look and see that some of our folks on the ground have made compromises with people who are known to have engaged in corruption?” he asked. “You know, we’re reviewing all that constantly and there may be occasions where that happens.”
The United States spends more than $100 billion annually in Afghanistan, the world’s second-poorest nation and one of the most corrupt. U.S. officials acknowledge that a significant percentage of the U.S. bankroll enriches shady characters even as it may finance worthy projects, or is stolen outright.
The CIA has paid Afghan warlords and power brokers for years, relying on them as informants and as leverage in the country’s internal ethnic and tribal squabbles. Intelligence officials say payouts are cheap insurance, but development officials and diplomats say the money supports a culture of bribery.
Obama pledged to keep up pressure on Karzai. The Afghan leader recently intervened to free a presidential aide arrested on suspicion of soliciting a bribe. U.S. investigators played a central role in fingering the aide.
___
Associated Press writers Jim Kuhnhenn and Anne Gearan contributed to this report.
Submitting your tip... please wait!
Comments (92)
dressseller
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 8:57pmI’m with the first guy who posted…solvitur….on the dictator thing. Don’t be naive people.
Report Post »Donald
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 8:51pmVery well written and factual…Thank You Glenn Beck and Journalist Jonathon Seidl. Excellent !!!!
Report Post »Gigantopithecus
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 8:43pmObummer also said he wouldn’t raise taxes on anyone making under 200K – ObummerCare requires everyone (except those in the corrupt unions who were bribed for their support) to pay taxes on company provided benefits. This could easily add an additional 10K+ in tax liabilities for families living from paycheck to paycheck. This is one way he intends to pay for healthcare for 31 million moochers (translation – buying votes). As much as he waxes poetic, Obummer is a fraud and a sociopathic liar.
Report Post »Republic
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 8:37pmHe better go back on vacation. At least then perhaps he will cause less damage than when he is here.
Report Post »P.S. When his mouth is moving he is…(fill in the blank).
Gigantopithecus
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 8:57pmToday was classic Obozo – talk about the things were you can be philosophical and wax poetic, but ignore the brass tacks and dodge questions like why he’s apparently TRYING to bankrupt the country through entitlements.
Report Post »ncd22124
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 8:11pmMostly it was a result of a recession that sapped tax revenues, increased the costs of safety net programs and demanded more government spending to stimulate the economy. As recently as 2007, the budget deficit was just $161.5 billion. The current annual deficit is now an estimated $1.5 trillion.
What is so special about 2007? What happened in that year? It’s all so mysterious.
Report Post »RojBlake
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 7:48pmThis article amazes me, Kudos to the AP.
Of course it begs the question…what aren’t they telling us?
Report Post »smartypoop
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 7:43pmWell, its llike Madme Pelosi said, we have to pass the bill to see whats in it. Now that we are finding out whats in it, we are really pissed off.
Report Post »The health care bill had little to do with healthcare. It was about control, for example; what does buying gold have to do with h/c? Nothing. It was a means to track gold purchases so that gold could be recalled from American citizens like the last time. There is no power grab this Administration wont make and nothing they wont regulate and tax.
I got my bowel movement schedule from the Department of Health and Human services today, I am allowed one bowel movement per day at 9am. It may not weigh more than .002% of my RDA and must be a sufficient shade of brown, it may not use more than a pint of water to flush and myst be firm to assist in the flushing process. Any deviation from this schedule/weight/color or flushing restrictions will result in a fine not to exceed .0010% of my monthly income as indexed against the GDP…….Just kidding, I havent recieved the schedule yet.
GiantCarp
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 7:19pmIn regard to the so-called 2nd “bill of rights”:
Report Post »Those that would trade freedom for security deserve neither.
If you desire peace you must prepare for war.
Happiness and well being exist only in your mind and they are achieved through accomplishing a worthy goal through your own consistent effort and unwillingness to accept defeat.
Only a communist/socialist society could guarantee these so called “rights”.
The process by which people apply their own personal efforts earn these things you called rights is what makes America great. Its what drives people to succeed and become better people.
CV63Veteran
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 7:49pmYou are 100% correct, the only right you have is the right to be left alone, to be free of Government interference. So you can strive to attain these things on your own. I think this sums it up the best…
The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.
Report Post »Benjamin Franklin
needanotherReagan
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 6:49pmObama’s like pinocchio, every time he lies his ears grow.
Report Post »13thGenerationAmerican
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 6:40pm2nd Bill of Rights
Among these are:
The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;
The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;
The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;
The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;
The right of every family to a decent home;
The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;
The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;
The right to a good education.
All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.
For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world.
Report Post »GOTT-EM-MAUSER
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 8:28pmWith all due respect, YOU have the RIGHT to endorse all the tenents of Carl Marx’s Utopian Communist Dream, as you have. However, under the Constitution of these United States, all Freemen have ONLY the RIGHT to the OPPORTUNITY to achieve all these things. Big Difference between EQUAL OPPORTUNITY and GUARRANTEED EQUAL OUTCOME.
I see your folks are relative newcomers to America, so I understand your lack of perspective here. My ancestors have been on this continent for 14,000 years or so, being Freemen all that time makes it really difficult for us to adjust to the European Socialist Thinking that you brought with you.
Report Post »No More
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 8:52pmDid you copy this from FDR? …You crazy little leftist you… It sure looks like it. He was a RAGING socialist President, who thought that interning american citizens without due process or Constitutional rights
Report Post »M31Sailor
Posted on September 11, 2010 at 3:59pmYou have the right to remain silent . Any thing you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.You have the right to speak to an attorney, if you cannot afford an attorney one will be appointed to you. Do you understand these rights, President Obama?
Report Post »30moves
Posted on September 11, 2010 at 7:31pmWho gives us those rights?
Who pays for these rights?
Report Post »AstrOptika
Posted on September 12, 2010 at 1:04amFor all FREEDOM loving Americans: The right to rebel with force is guarenteed in the Declaration of Independence when a government becomes tyannical. This should be a caution to all Socialist Communists and other asorted progressive ilk.
Report Post »WolfSong
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 6:36pmThe cry was heard across America: “Keep your hands off my Healthcare”.
Obama and his administration chose not to listen to what we were saying. Now he is in political trouble (thank goodness) and he is trying to rewrite history.
Some of the most disgraceful behavior was observed: Republicans were shutout of the process and we were told – “wait until the bill is passed so you can see what is in it”. This is insane and should not be allowed.
Some good work could have gone into revising our healthcare system, but the easy, fit-in and run route was taken to our peril. And I hope Obama’s peril. They could have taken the parts that were broken and worked on solutions and left what was working alone. This bill was not created and passed to benefit our healthcare system, it was written and passed to support the progressive agenda.
People have access to healthcare (the best in the world). They might choose not to have insurance, but it is their choice.
I think this bill has made Americans angrier then any of the other bills that have been passed under Obama and that is saying a lot. I get a kick out of members of congress pretending not to know that they voted for this bill. They think that if they don’t mention this bill we will forget how they voted – NO, we will not forget how you voted – ever!!
Nothing is free.
Report Post »Repeal this Healthcare bill!
debak
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 6:34pmObama’s so called shift is just another political ploy. Truth is none of us will know the true affects of this so called healthcare bill until it directly screws us as individuals. And believe me it will. Before it’s all said and done we will see higher premiums, rationed care and inferior service to all but the wealthiest, and of course, the administration, who won’t be under the same healthcare systems the rest of us are on. This is all a part of his redistribution goal and because he knows the America Public would not voluntarily support this, he made it a federal mandate. He‘s setting up his liberal supreme court so it won’t be overturned or ruled un-constitutional. You will soon see longer waits, less testing, cheaper medications regardless of effectiveness, and Gov. bureaucrats deciding on your treatment as they pour through your healthcare records and rate the type and amount of care THEY think you should have. It will never again be a choice of the individual, their families and doctors who make the decisions. You will be scored on your age, family history, overall health status and valued on your usefullness to society, then they will give your doctors a lists of treatments for each individual based on their scoring.
Report Post »WolfSong
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 6:43pmI agree with your comments 100%.
Report Post »belleharbor
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 6:33pmLIES AND NO CHANGE thats the bama drama this clown is a complete failure i here he is losing his mojo but he is a fake show me his proof of running anything except away from work
Report Post »a disgrace to all who serve AMERICA
Eagle07
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 6:30pmEvery time his lips move BS comes out.Glad I’m not standing down wind.
Report Post »robert5635
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 6:29pmAs long as obama won’t have to pay for his medical insurance, what would he care? POTUS is nothing more than a cheap, lying, huckster.
Report Post »JeffW65
Posted on September 11, 2010 at 4:12pmNo! He is a very EXPENSIVE, lying huckster. Pride, freedom, independence, wealth and integrity are only some of the things this POTUS is costing the American People. These are the things he is demanding as payment for his “collective salvation” of the us all.
I REFUSE TO PAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Report Post »Bill Wallace
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 6:28pmHis lies are constant.
See the Executive Order to close Gitmo. Last I checked, Gitmo is still open even though it violates his own order.
See his promises on lobbyists in his government, and the 3 changes to the promise, followed by an Executive Order that he violated the very next day with a Presidential waiver.
The promise about health care not covering abortions and the Executive Order restricting such. Too bad an executive order can not override actual law, and Obamacare allows for abortion.
When Joe Wilson declared “you lie” and people got in an uproar, they should have applauded Joe for being correct.
Report Post »John Clark
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 6:20pmThe problem with what is going on is that he was running for president with one of the biggest things being transparency. But it has been anything but…
So now that we are learning about all these things that are in these bills and the effects that they were supposed to have not happening, he has to back track on everything that he has said or try and explain it away.
All this while saying that everyone that was railing against these plans were out of their mind. They are slowly being proven right and now he has to explain it away.
This is a president that serves special interests and he doesn’t care about the will of the people.
Report Post »RamboTheDog
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 6:19pmNiether this administration, or any other, will ever force me to buy anything. I will not partake in this socialist agenda.
Report Post »Tom Smallridge
Posted on September 12, 2010 at 7:49pmThat’s a very good point. How did they get this around the 10th Amendment?
Report Post »Marylou7
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 6:16pmThe effect of the healthcare bill is exactly what this administration and congress wanted. It is to break the backbone of America and put their marxist policies in place. May God Almighty have mercy.
Report Post »LibertyDoctor
Posted on September 11, 2010 at 3:29pmThe 2000+ pages take about a week to read.
Report Post »What you are left with is how many unintended consequences we can expect.
Not only in what is spelled out but more importantly what is left to be forced upon us by unelected government and new agencies yet to be formed.
Like so many entitlements, this is another example how the government wishes to control our lives rather than allow the liberty of freedom to the individual.
An example of redistribution where the government can take our liberty and redistribute that to where they know best.
Disc_Coastie
Posted on September 12, 2010 at 8:06amAgain, I say, Who is John Galt?
Report Post »VM
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 6:15pmYes Obama short changed America. He enthusiastically said during the campaign “YES WE CAN” and now he will have to change it to “YES WE SHORTCHANGED AMERICA”.
Report Post »Debrabate
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 6:04pmI have to give it to Jake Tapper (ABC) for pointing out the while the healthcare bill successfully bent the cost curve for healthcare, it bent it UP not down and getting the president to admit it.
And I love how Mr Obama didnt truely answer the NBC’s Reporter Question, “How have you CHANGED Washington?” Instead he answered with a list of what CONGESS and the democratic party did to us… no change in washington though… just a list of laws passed by dems, while the people have to grab our ankles and say thank you.
Report Post »beekeeper
Posted on September 13, 2010 at 10:24amJake Tapper is one of the few MSM reporters I follow with any regularity. I understnad his politics to be left of center, but I only know that based on things OTHER THAN his reporting. He’s willing to grill the President if the proof is there.
Report Post »baldwin4freedom
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 5:57pmThe two negative effects that created the health care problem to begin with is the government supplied services and employer based insurance. Individuals must be fully responsible for their insurance or health care costs so that they feel the impact of how they use it.
Report Post »kb1200cc
Posted on September 13, 2010 at 11:38amHere here!
50 years ago if you were sick you went to the doctor and paid cash for the most part. It was much less expensive and manageable to most. ever since FDR and LBJ and forcing doctors to virtually give their labor away, combined with orders of magnitude more people receiving benefits and having it being paid for by a shrinking percentage of people this has become the crisis it is. BIG GOVT> BIG PROBLEM cant be a coincidence.
Report Post »Large Eagle
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 5:56pmControl – control – control – control – controlled by a bunch of self righteous lazy impudent sloathes.
Great article Blaze – Flame on
Report Post »slwolfgram
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 8:56pmCONTROL is the word. How stupid he thinks everyone is.
Report Post »Rickfromillinois
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 5:55pmIt’s election time and the truth goes out the window, unless of course he actually believes the bs he is trying to sell us, in which case he is a nut job.
Report Post »slwolfgram
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 8:55pmYou said it. He is either the greatest impostor in the world or he is completely inept. “BOTH” you say…
Report Post »SheriS
Posted on September 11, 2010 at 10:10amWhen you have grown up entitled as O did, then you add he has never really held a job outside politics other then as a “community organizer” which is not a job, his whole life has been aimed at becoming the first black President! When you have no business background, you are incapable of leading anything! HE HAS PROVEN THIS IN GREAT MEASURE!
Report Post »solvitur ambulando *** Deo
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 5:52pmEverything he has said has been nothing but lies. READ the act…. it is deception… it is not about health care it is about control…. a dictator’s control. The most blatant lie is that it will not go into effect until 2014. Do not believe it. The infrastructure is being built. A cage is being built around us. 2014 is when the trap door to the cage will spring. Read the Act.
Report Post »Deutscher
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 6:01pmOh come on. Have a real argument. A dictator? How is he going to accomplish that feat? Just call off elections and the health care bill is going to help with that? Unless you have a law degree I doubt you could make heads or tails if the over 2000 pages. Why try to scare people?
Report Post »Beckofile
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 6:07pmNothing this guys says should be taken without your Socialism filter in place. Stimulus, Obamacare and FinReg do nothing about what they said. In Fact these were overall concepts and the revenooers are busy bulding the exoskeleton that will unleash socialism on you and your family.
Report Post »Beckofile
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 6:15pmFor the 2007 budget…If you back spending for Iraq, Afganistan and Katrina that 161 billion deficit would not look so bad.
Report Post »redneck
Posted on September 10, 2010 at 6:21pmThe lady and I will be filling up the tub with pork and beans, takes awhile. Please summerize the act for us so we can all understand the dict thing.
Report Post »merillorang
Posted on September 11, 2010 at 1:12amPlease take not that the president, his family, and all of congress are exempt from his healthcare bill. If it is not good enough for your children, obama, then why should it be good enough for mine? When a government or government official makes laws for the people that do not apply to themselves, a dictator they shall be. I do have to say though, it’s not just obama. Congress is just as guilty. The fact that the bill is over 2000 pages long should tell you some things. One, the people are not meant to read it. Two, there are provisions hidden inside of provisions, inside of provisions, pointing to other provisions. It is written the way it is in order to hide provisions. And thirdly, congress was not meant to read it or understand it BEFORE they voted on it. It was voted on 4 days after the final copy was realeased. It took a speed reader 3 solid days to read it. Know of any congress men or women that are speed readers? Fact is, none of this surprised me. It was admitted on the house floor that 90% of all bills passed are done without even a vote. How is that possible when that is exactly what congress was elected for?????? The system works, the people we have elected now WORK the system for their own benefit. We need to oust every single one of them, dems and republicans alike. They are all guilty of not fulfilling their public offices. A law of the land should be easily read and understood by every American. As it stands now, do you know if you have broken any laws recently? I bet you have and just don’t know it, yet.
Report Post »Trying2Understand
Posted on September 11, 2010 at 8:42amI believe that the health care bill was shoved down our throats for one reason only…to provide the government with another very large, constantly revolving, source of money. Period. This huge fund will allow the government to “borrow” from it, like they did the social security fund, in order to float other programs that are un-funded. Although everyone knows that the social security system is now nothing more than a Ponzi scheme, and the government recognizes that they are getting away with it, they have every motivation to repeat it.
Report Post »Independent Tess
Posted on September 11, 2010 at 12:32pmWhat Solvitur says may sound alarmist, but I understand his concern.
Report Post »Congress continues to give up its power and hand over responsibilities (that the Constitution intended to reside in Congress) to the President (Executive Branch). Meanwhile Obama gathers power to himself that was intended to remain with the individual states (watch lawsuits against states). If it continues in this way the presidential office could wind up a dictatorship in all but name.
Disc_Coastie
Posted on September 12, 2010 at 8:04amWho is John Galt?
Report Post »wingedwolf
Posted on September 12, 2010 at 9:33amdoucher-bag, I don’t have a law degree. I have downloaded and read each and every page of the OVER 2700 pages of the dictator medical takeover act. I understand each and every word on each and every page because I went to school in America at a time before revisionist history was taught and we still had to learn to speak the English language and to comprehend the English language, something which you obviously doubt your own ability to do. If you could actually read and understand proper English, you would know what other educated people know, BECAUSE THEY CAN READ, about that bill. It is an abomination. Unless and until you HAVE read it, please excuse yourself from any discussion pertaining thereto. You are absolutely uninformed and have nothing pertinent to offer in such discussion. You are as a child trying to sit at the “big people’s table” at Thanksgiving. Why is it that people of low education and intelligence who cannot, will not or are simply too lazy to read that behemoth and inform themselves about this abomination of a takeover of their own lives see themselves as appointed to defend it? How can you possible defend, even in your own mind, with any credibility, the “virtues” of a piece of legislation you haven’t read and by your own admission, wouldn’t understand? I make it my practice to never get into a battle of wits with an unarmed man, but in your case I was strongly moved to make an exception.
Report Post »