GOP 'Flat-Out' Lying About Health Care

When it comes to health care reform, Republicans have become “political terrorists,” trying to scare Americans in an effort to block consensus, writes Steven Pearlstein for the Washington Post. “There is no credible way to look at what has been proposed and conclude that these will result in a government takeover of the health-care system,” Pearlstein writes. That’s a “flat-out lie.”

“Under any plan likely to emerge from Congress,” private insurance and private doctors will keep taking care of “the vast majority of Americans who are not old or poor.” All told, taxpayers would see only a “one-time increase equal to less than 1% of a national income that grows at an average rate of 2.5% every year.” Meanwhile, Republicans, supposedly fiscal guardians, are knocking almost every idea to rein in health spending.