Obama has decided to sacrifice his credibility in pursuit of his health care agenda. If that wasn't perfectly clear before Obama's media blitz on Sunday, it certainly is now. In his interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, Obama explained that a tax ain't a tax unless he says it's a tax:
ABC: You were against the individual [health insurance] mandate...during the campaign.
OBAMA: Yes.
ABC: Under this mandate, the government is forcing people to spend money, fining you if you don’t. How is that not a tax?
OBAMA: Now what I've said is that if you can't afford health insurance, you certainly shouldn't be punished for that. That's just piling on. If, on the other hand, we're giving tax credits, we've set up an exchange, you are now part of a big pool, we've driven down the costs, we've done everything we can and you actually can afford health insurance, but you've just decided, you know what, I want to take my chances. And then you get hit by a bus and you and I have to pay for the emergency room care, that's...
ABC: That may be, but it's still a tax increase.
OBAMA: No. That's not true, George. For us to say that you've got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase. What it's saying is, is that we're not going to have other people carrying your burdens for you anymore than the fact that right now everybody in America, just about, has to get auto insurance. Nobody considers that a tax increase. People say to themselves, that is a fair way to make sure that if you hit my car, that I'm not covering all the costs.
ABC: But it may be fair, it may be good public policy...
OBAMA: No, but — but, George, you — you can't just make up that language and decide that that's called a tax increase. Any...
ABC: I — I don't think I'm making it up. Merriam Webster's Dictionary: Tax — "a charge, usually of money, imposed by authority on persons or property for public purposes."
OBAMA: George, the fact that you looked up Merriam's Dictionary, the definition of tax increase, indicates to me that you're stretching a little bit right now. Otherwise, you wouldn't have gone to the dictionary to check on the definition.
Obama makes a lot of audacious claims here. Particularly absurd is the assertion that the Dems are pushing ObamaCare to promote personal responsibility. There can be little doubt that the primary reason for the individual health insurance mandate is "far more cynical and political." As Rivkin and Casey note, the individual mandate is a "cross-generational subsidy...essential to winning insurance industry support for the legislation and acceptance of heavy federal regulations." The young and the healthy will be forced to carry the burdens of the old and the unwell (or illegal) by paying for excessive government-approved coverage...at the behest of the Obama regime.
Obama has admitted as much: "Unless everybody does their part, many of the insurance reforms we seek — especially requiring insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions — just can’t be achieved."
I also take umbrage with the notion that lack of insurance precludes payment for unexpected health expenses. Thomas Sowell has written an excellent article that shreds that myth to bits:
What did we do, back during the years when most Americans had no medical insurance? I did what most people did. I depended on a "single payer"— myself. When I didn't have the money, I paid off my medical bills in installments.
The birth of my first child was not covered by medical insurance. I paid off the bill, month by month, until the time finally came when I could tell my wife that the baby was now ours, free and clear.
In a country where everything imaginable is bought and paid for on credit, why is it suddenly a national crisis if some people cannot pay cash up front for medical treatment?
The most objectionable of Obama's claims is the incredible declaration that his tax isn't a tax...simply because he says it isn't.
In the very same interview Obama had said that this year's projected increase in total health care spending equates to a tax increase on American families:
"...you've got what is effectively a tax increase taking place on American families right now. The Kaiser Family Foundation report just came out last week. Health care premiums went up 5.5 percent last year at a time when the rest of the economy, inflation was actually negative. So that is a huge bite out of people's pockets."
So money that goes to the health care industry is a tax increase, but money that goes to the government is not? I'm confused.
As The blogprof points out, Obama has a history of dubious claims about tax cuts, taking credit for consumer savings that have nothing to do with tax revenues. "In the case of mortgage refinancing, Obama himself claimed a tax cut even though actual money paid to the government (i.e. - taxes) wouldn't change..."
Update:
Why don't we just point out the obvious?
Let’s all open up our copy of the Baucus plan and turn to page 29. We find ourselves in SUBTITLE D: SHARED RESPONSIBILITY. And what does the bill tell us will happen if you fail to purchase health insurance?
Excise Tax. The consequence for not maintaining insurance would be an excise tax.
