Here’s more from the President’s health care reform town hall in Portsmouth, New Hampshire:

THE PRESIDENT: We also want to make sure that everybody has some options. So there’s been talk about this public option. This is where a lot of the idea of government takeover of health care comes from.

The President is correct that “a lot of the idea of government takeover of health care comes from” the public option. Many of the critics are missing that, even if the public option drops out of legislation, other provisions in these bills will effectively put insurance under government control, even while it is offered by private firms.

Continue to the next post in this series…

Other posts in this series:

  1. The President’s overpromise that everyone can keep their health plan
  2. Putting the government in charge of your health insurance
  3. Waiting in line
  4. Government-mandated benefits
  5. Preventive care does not save money (in the aggregate)
  6. The House bill would increase short-term, 10th year, and long-term budget deficits
  7. The President was incorrect — AARP opposes the bill
  8. The bills would take Medicare savings needed for solvency and spend them on a new entitlement
  9. Medicare is not a good example of government-run health care because Medicare is fiscally unsustainable