Mike Schauer, Mandan
In his convention speech in Charlotte, President Barack Obama vowed to block the Republican Medical reform plan because "no American should ever have to spend their golden years at the mercy of insurance companies."
But, lo and behold, back in Washington, his Health and Human Services Department has launched a pilot program that will immediately shift 2 million of the poorest and most vulnerable Americans out of the Medicare/Medicaid program and into private health insurance plans run by the states. In other words, he is forcing them into the dreaded "voucher" program demonized by the liberal Democrats.
The administration has accepted applications from 18 states to participate in this program which gives the states federal money to purchase managed-care plans to people who are disabled or poor enough to qualify for both Medicare/Medicaid. The HHS Department approved the first state plan last month to none other than Massachusetts.
This is a very good thing, I'm glad that some one in his administration has seen that competition in choosing various medical plans drives down the cost of insurance. But you talk about flip-flopping, this is one of Biblical proportions. Why promise to never turn Medicare into a voucher program and while he's saying it on the floor of the convention, his HHS Department is implementing the very thing he said he would never do? Did he not know that this plan was being implemented? Or did he choose not to reveal it at this time because of the heat he'd take from the progressive extremists within the Democratic Party? I think President Obama knows the only way to save Medicare/Medicaid is by the voucher program, and he is putting his own version of it out there to save his political career and attempt to turn things around for his re-election. What's next Mr. President? Privatize Social Security?