John Thune on Obama's unhealthy lies

The Associated Press says that President Obama's address to Congress this week, “contained a variety of oversimplifications and omissions” and “used only-in-Washington accounting ... when he promised to overhaul the nation's health care system without adding ‘one dime’ to the deficit.”

President Obama: “First, if you are among the hundreds of millions of Americans who already have health insurance through your job, Medicare, Medicaid, or the VA, nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have. Let me repeat this: nothing in our plan requires you to change what you have.”

The Facts:

• Washington Post: “President Obama promises that, if health-care reform is enacted, people will be able to keep their current coverage. … However, under legislation drafted by House and Senate Democrats, that would not necessarily be true.”
• Associated Press: “This is a pledge that's beyond the President's power to keep.”
• Associated Press: "A preliminary analysis by the Congressional Budget Office estimates that a Democratic plan being worked on in the Senate would force 10 million Americans to seek new coverage because their employers would no longer offer it."
  

President Obama: “The plan will not add to our deficit.”

The Facts:

• Congressional Budget Office: "According to CBO's and JCT's assessment, enacting H.R. 3200 would result in a net increase in the federal budget deficit of $239 billion over the 2010-2019 period."
  
  

Read more fact checks from the President's speech to Congress.

This is a critical moment in the health care reform debate, and I hope you will get involved to help us prevent enactment of a government-run health care program that will increase spending and the deficit.

I recently launched a blog that outlines some of the principles that many of my Republican colleagues and I could support in a health care reform measure. HealthFreedomBlog.com serves as a forum for you to post your views and will be updated with the latest news and developments in the health care reform debate. I hope you will visit the blog, sign the petition, and share the site with your friends.

Thanks for your continued support.

Sincerely,

John Thune
U.S. Senator