The dope on healthcare reform

That should read "dopes." Pelosi and Hoyer write up some propaganda for ObamaCare. They get their shots in at Americans who dare to raise their voices in opposition:

However, it is now evident that an ugly campaign is underway not merely to misrepresent the health insurance reform legislation, but to disrupt public meetings and prevent members of Congress and constituents from conducting a civil dialogue.

Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American. Drowning out the facts is how we failed at this task for decades.

and push the usual lies about the legislation:

Reform will mean affordable coverage for all Americans. Our plan's cost-lowering measures include a public health insurance option to bring competitive pressure to bear on rapidly consolidating private insurers, research on health outcomes to better inform the decisions of patients and doctors, and electronic medical records to help doctors save money by working together. For seniors, the plan closes the notorious Medicare Part D "doughnut hole" that denies drug coverage to those with between $2,700 and $6,100 per year in prescriptions.

Reform will also mean higher-quality care by promoting preventive care so health problems can be addressed before they become crises. This, too, will save money. We'll be a much healthier country if all patients can receive regular checkups and tests, such as mammograms and diabetes exams, without paying a dime out-of-pocket.

A few problems with that. The public option, rather than creating competition, which would be good for everyone, will kill private insurance. That's an important goal of ObamaCare proponents. Quality of care will go down as it has in every country that has government-run healthcare. Our country can't afford this monster program which becomes less and less sustainable with time. Medicare, already a mess, will be cut to pay for it. And preventive care doesn't save money. Neither does electronic record keeping, which doesn't lead to better care, either.

Pelosi and Hoyer decline to mention the inevitability of rationing and the necessity for a board to decide who is worthy of which treatments. They avoid the end-of-life counseling controversy. And they don't mention the hit likely to be received by healthy young people and others. So much for letting the facts be heard.

And oh yeah, Americans don't want it.

*Update: William Jacobson comments on the Pelosi-Hoyer piece. Excerpt:

What does it now mean to be Un-American? For people, many of them elderly, to stand up at town halls and demand to be heard on the Democratic health care proposals. Rather than the tightly controlled puff pieces which politicians love, the town halls have turned into the one outlet people have to let politicians know how they feel.

Almost all other outlets have been shut down; the mainstream media is overwhelmingly liberal and supportive of the Obama administration, as is academia. We have single party rule in Washington, and it is almost impossible to criticize the Obama administration without being falsely branded a racist.

Town halls have become a primary forum for people who have no voice to be heard. While people attending town halls should not disrupt the proceedings to the extent of shutting them down, people do have a right to voice their opinions loudly if the way the town hall is being run is meant to stifle not encourage debate. Other than the internet, town halls may be the only forum where ordinary people, not connected to the party in power, have a voice.

Read the rest.

More from Jim Geraghty.

h/t: Jonah Goldberg

Comments welcome.
Linked at Michelle Malkin (buzzworthy)
Most recent posts here.