A wise wag once defined a political gaff as telling the truth. If that is so, Rep. John Conyer made a whopper yesterday when he admitted that Obamacare is flawed, but that’s okay because it is a necessary platform to impose single payer on the USA. From the story (and see video above):
Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, told CNSNews.com today that the health-care law that President Barack Obama signed last March is a “platform” for a building single-payer health care system in the U.S. During a newsmakers program at the National Press Club on Monday, Conyers said that after discussing the issue with Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D.-Ohio) he voted for the health-care law because he saw it as a necessary “platform” for building toward a single-payer health-care system in the United States.
Speaking with CNSNews.com after the event at the National Press Club, Conyers said, “What we’re trying to do is insure everybody, right? We’re trying to insure more people, not less and so it’s my feeling that the rising costs that are going on will not be solved by getting rid of people’s health insurance—that throws them into emergency rooms and charity and other things. That’s why HR 676 is our ultimate solution—is that everybody’s insured from birth on and that’s what we’re still fighting for.”
As I have written, single payer leads inexorably to invidious health care rationing. Worse, it eventually causes a systemic collapse, as in the “NHS Meltdown” I have frequently documented here. (For the many examples, do type the term into the search option.) And don’t forget, Medicare is going broke, too—and it only covers about half the costs.
During this time before the 2012 election, our elected officials need to do what they can to hobble implementation of Obamacare. It won’t be easy, but it is necessary. Then, if and when power shifts, they can’t leave the status quo but enable greater coverage and access to care without a centralized, bureaucratic government takeover.
