Scare Tactics?

Gracie Marie Turner
The Galen Institute
July 30, 2009

A plethora of polls hit the news this morning, showing that the American people are increasingly worried about President Obama's health reform plan, fearing that their health costs will rise and the quality of their care will get worse if the plan goes into effect.

The president spent much of his time during his speeches yesterday answering what he described as cynical scare tactics by critics. "These folks need to stop scaring everybody," he said.

With all due respect, Mr. President, I think you are the one doing the scaring. It began during the ABC News broadcast at the White House last month:

In response to a question from a woman whose 105-year-old mother received a pacemaker at age 100, Mr. Obama said families need better information so they don't unthinkingly approve "additional tests or additional drugs that the evidence shows is not necessarily going to improve care."

Then he added: "Maybe you're better off not having the surgery, but taking the painkiller."

Yikes!

Then during his prime-time news conference last week, Mr. Obama angered doctors when he said: ". . . you come in and you've got a bad sore throat, or your child has a bad sore throat or has repeated sore throats, the doctor may look at the reimbursement system and say to himself, you know what, I make a lot more money if I take this kid's tonsils out."

Not good.

The president further fueled fears when he talked last week about "a blue pill and a red pill" and suggested that the blue pill is the better choice if it is "half the price of the red pill."

And many of those turning out at tea parties and holding up protest signs around the country are seniors, worried about the hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicare "savings" going to fund the health reform plan.

Time Magazine has a new cover story showing Mr. Obama in a doctor's smock. One thing people don't want is politicians making decisions about what health care they get, but that is the message he is sending.

The American people know best what's right for them, and they don't want government dictating their choices. The centralized reform plans making their way through Congress would do just that rather than realigning incentives so people can make more decisions for themselves. The remarkable thing is how quickly the American people are catching on.

It's not that we won't have rationing of health care. Someone has to make choices. The American people are just very frightened about turning this power over to big government.