Five myths about Obama's health care

Sally Pipes article in Forbes dated Nov. 1 is not an eye opener, if you’ve been paying attention. But she does use Obama’s own words and then debunks them. She is president and CEO of the Pacific Research Institute and author of the newly released book Top Ten Myths of American Health Care: A Citizen's Guide.

MYTH #1: "If I were designing a system from scratch, I would probably go ahead with a single-payer system."

A single-payer system is a great idea--until you get sick.

MYTH #2: "One of the issues we must face and can't ignore is the explosion of health care costs that is crushing families and businesses across our country."

. . . the longevity gains associated with medical innovation are currently worth $2.8 trillion annually. That's larger than the GDP of the U.K.

MYTH #3: "Under my plan, we'll make sure insurance companies cover evidence-based, preventive care services--weight loss programs, smoking-cessation programs and other efforts to help people avoid costly, debilitating health problems in the first place."

Contrary to popular belief, medical spending on the average smoker is $100,000 less than that on the nonsmoker. An ounce of prevention may help Americans live longer. But it certainly won't lead to reduced health care spending.

MYTH #4: "[John McCain] loves to talk about his tax credit. But what he doesn't tell you is that he taxes health care benefits for the first time in history. "

By combining a credit with the modified tax treatment of employer benefits, as the McCain plan does, families at all income levels would pay lower taxes on average. Obama can't say the same about his health plan.

MYTH #5: "I know the outrage we all feel about the 45 million Americans who don't have health insurance."

Foolish as it may seem, a sizable number of financially comfortable individuals--particularly the young---opt against owning insurance. Another 12 million are eligible for government programs and haven’t signed up.

There’s much more detail in the article than what I’ve included.
http://www.forbes.com/opinions/2008/10/31/obama-health-care-oped-cx_scp_1101pipes.html

Is Obama still smoking? Just asking. Maybe it's like the brother and auntie living in poverty. Do as I say, not as I do?