Obama Interview With Bret Baier

After watching Barack Obama's interview with Bret Baier Wednesday evening, I suspect that people who like Obama will believe that Baier was rude interrupting the non-stop talking of Obama, while those who don't like Obama will believe that Obama was defensive and never really answered any of the questions directly. One of the first questions was if this bill was so great for America, why has it been so messy trying to get it passed by Democrats who control both houses? Obama eluded that question.

What struck me most in the interview though was the question about Medicare. The question had to do with the double accounting taking place with the 500 billion "savings" in Medicare. That in and of itself is a huge question that, again, Obama didn't want to have anything to do with answering. Actually the answer he gave was the stuff for those who like to run fact checks. I doubt that anything he said was actually true. But what struck me more was his admission that Medicare is in deep trouble financially, to the tune of 38 trillion dollars. Medicare is essentially a government run insurance program, primarily for the elderly, started back in the mid 1960's. There are three ways you can describe what Medicare has become over the years: 1) heavily depended upon by elderly citizens, thereby making it impossible to change; 2) a cesspool for fraud and waste; and 3) a huge drain on our overall financial deficit. So the big elephant in the room question is this: how is this health care bill, with the inevitable takeover of all health insurance by the federal government, going to be any different than Medicare? What will prevent this entitlement from becoming an even bigger cesspool for fraud and waste, or from driving our economy into complete ruin?

I suppose the answer from Obama would be that with all Americans forced to carry insurance, younger healthy Americans will be paying into the system, helping to cover older and sicker Americans. Two problems: 1) what scheme does this sound like . . Social Security . . and we all know what great shape that is in; and 2) All that money out of the pockets of the young means that they will have even less to spend on buying a house or going to school or to save for eventually raising a family.

One other question that I have heard no one explain, even though Obama uses it over and over again in his talking points, with no one asking him how this actually will work: how do you cover people with pre-existing conditions and make it work financially? What happens when people hold off buying insurance (paying a penalty instead), then apply for insurance when they need it, knowing they cannot be turned down? Are there limits in how much coverage a person would get before someone comes along and says "enough". Right now, according to Obama, this bill will provide all things good and nothing bad. Somehow I just don't believe that. Apparently though, there are a lot of people who do.