Today President Barrack Obama came to Colorado to make his case for Health Care Reform, or Health Insurance Reform as he now calls it.  

What is interesting is that the health insurance industry offered to cover everyone regardless of pre-existing conditions when they came to the table to discuss the goals of health reform months ago.  Yet President Obama continues to talk about the need to cover everyone regardless of pre-existing conditions over and over, as if it is not a forgone conclusion.

Why is President Obama now trying to demonize the health insurance industry when from the very beginning they agreed with almost everything proposed?  Because the insurance industry opposes establishing a government run public plan, which is something near and dear to President Obama’s heart. The public plan option will almost certainly (if not now, then in the not too distant future) have the government paying providers less than private insurance. This will make private insurance more costly than the public plan so a significant number of people will leave the private plans in favor of a cheaper public plan.  In a short time the public will end up with what President Obama wants, a single payer health care system.

President Obama says we can keep our existing plans, but that is a farce.   Once people start abandoning the private insurance market that will further drive up the costs for those plans and simple economics will force all but the very rich onto the public plan, which in turn will become our nation’s single payer system.

Did you know that the government will control the sales and distribution of private and public health insurance with its Health Insurance Exchange through which ALL new health insurance must be purchased?  This is right there in the Congress and Senate health reform bill and is further evidence of big government reaching out and not just deciding what we can buy, but how and where we can buy it.

Health insurance does need regulatory changes to help protect consumers. In fact, everyone is in full agreement about that.  However, there is no need for a 1000+ page bill to accomplish that goal. 

Why was President Obama so adamant about trying to get the legislation passed before the August recess?  Because he didn’t want to give the public and the media time to delve into 1000 page bill to discover what they are really up  to.  President Obama and Congress tried to catch the nation napping during the dog days of summer while they tried to socialize one of the largest and most personal sectors of American industry.

If President Obama really has the public’s best interests in mind, he should spend less time giving sweetheart deals to the pharmaceutical industry, roll up his sleeves and do the hard work required address the ever escalating health care costs that keep driving up our health insurance rates.  That is where the real problem is!!

Otherwise, we’ll just wind up with fewer choices and still have escalating costs that will add to the federal deficit and cause a return to big government, reduced control over our health care and higher taxes. When Obama ran for President many cheered along with him, “Yes, we can. ”  Now, the phrase that comes to mind is, “No, please don’t.”