Those in Congress who oppose a public health care option can't really say out loud that it's because they're beholden to the moneyed special interests who are threatened by a public plan. And so they try to tell us that they oppose it because it would cost too much. They want to appear not as corporate shills but as fiscally responsible elected officials with the people's best interests in mind.
Don't fall for it.
First of all, their fiscal argument holds no water. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the combined House bill introduced by Speaker Nancy Pelosi this week "would result in a net reduction in federal budget deficits of $104 billion over the 2010–2019 period. In the subsequent decade, the collective effect of its provisions would probably be slight reductions in federal budget deficits."
See that? It would actually lead to reductions in the budget deficits!
Second, a public option is what the people want. Don't believe House Minority Leader John Boehner, who yesterday said this about the House bill: "The American people have spoken. Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats have ignored them. Through the month of August, the American people let Members of Congress from both parties know that they didn't want a government takeover of health care. That hasn't changed."
Boehner is, of course, referring to the tea party crowd and the frightened town hall crazies who were programmed like robots by Fox News to make a lot of noise against health care reform.
The truth is that a majority of Americans want a public health care option. The polls have reinforced this time and time again.
But, of course, Washington is famous for not letting facts get in the way of the politicians' selfish agendas.
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