True North

If Nancy Pelosi isn’t taking a day off on her quest to have government run the health care industry, neither will Sarah Palin in her quest to stop ObamaCare.  Using her Facebook platform, Palin reminded her followers what the Pelosi plan means for health care, small business, unemployment, and personal choice (via The Corner):

How much will this bill cost us? It’s unclear because the figures coming out of Washington keep changing – and always in the direction of costing more, not less. The latest numbers show it will cost more than a trillion dollars over the decade, but when has a government program ever come in on or under budget?

How will we pay for it? Taxes, of course – and not just on the “rich” (you know, the people who spur the economy by buying goods and running companies that employ people), but also on just about everyone, especially small businesses – the job-creating engine of our economy. One of the points of health care reform was to help small businesses with the cost, but this bill hurts them – and right at a time when so many Americans are out of work and need the jobs that small businesses produce.

What’s in this bill? The “death panel” provision is in it. Medicare cuts are in it. Coverage of illegal immigrants is in it. And federal funding for abortion is in it. I commend the many Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats who are taking a principled stance to fight this.

Critics will howl over the “death panel” reference, but Pelosi still has the Comparative Effectiveness Panel in the bill.  The language establishing it takes up 22 pages of the bill (pages 739-760), and it does include experts on “health economics”.  It doesn’t explicitly give government the power to dictate treatments — in fact, it does explicitly say that federal officers cannot dictate them — but findings by this panel will be used as baselines for payment by insurers, including the federal government, when it comes to deciding what options for treatment are available to whom.  After all, comparative effectiveness is explicitly a rationing process.  If it’s in the bill, it means that Pelosi plans on cost savings through rationing, which is really no surprise at all.

Palin also does well by hammering on the unemployment news from yesterday.  This bill will not alleviate health-care costs for smaller businesses, the engine of new job growth.  In fact, it will create a larger burden through mandates and new taxes, especially for small business owners who file taxes as individuals rather than corporations.  They will have to pay excise taxes to fund ObamaCare, and the mandates will make small business owners think twice before expanding their labor force.

Pelosi proved Palin correct today in retreating before the Blue Dogs howling over abortion.  Will the Blue Dogs stop howling after the Stupak amendment vote, or will they represent their constituents who oppose a government-run heath-insurance scheme and the infringement of their personal choices?

Update: I forgot to put this chart into the post from the Republicans on the Joint Committee for Taxation, which Palin linked in her Facebook statement.  Click to enlarge (via Power Line):

Cross-posted at Hot Air. Comments welcome.