HARRISBURG – Republican Party of Pennsylvania Chairman Rob Gleason is concerned about the long-lasting ramifications of President Barack Obama’s government-run, socialized health care plan.
“The American people recognize that Obama’s socialist health care plan is going to be terrible for our country,” Gleason said. “After inserting government control and power over the banking and automobile industries, President Obama is now looking to take over the health care industry as well. In the midst of a massive economic downturn, President Barack Obama is promoting a health care plan that will saddle our nation with over $1 trillion of debt in the next ten years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The creation of a socialized health care plan would cause many employees in this country to lose their current privately-owned insurance and force them to become dependent on our federal government for their health care.
“Whether you look to examples of government-run health care in Europe or Canada, the concept of socialized medicine is nothing new and has consistently failed everywhere it has been implemented. Not only do patients have to cut through a bureaucratic red-tape nightmare, but they are often made to wait months for care or denied treatment all together.
“Even President Barack Obama doesn’t believe his own rhetoric when it comes to health care. The relationship between a patient and a doctor is sacred, yet President Obama acknowledges that there is no guarantee that Americans will be able to keep their doctors under his cumbersome plan.
“Putting this country on the road to socialized medicine is a surefire way to worsen our current health care crisis. It is time to find real solutions to this critical problem that put the interests of patients and their doctors ahead of the government.”
On June 15th, a letter from Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas W. Elmendorf to Senator Edward Kennedy noted that "enacting the proposal would result in a net increase in federal budget deficits of about $1.0 trillion over the 2010-2019 period.”