Unwary tourists coming to New York City and other large cities are often targeted for a con game called "Three Card Monte." The victim is encouraged to gamble on whether they can spot the money card among three face-down playing cards. Like a shell game, the key to the fraud is sleight of hand and misdirection. The con man confuses victims into thinking they can spot the right card. In fact, they cannot. Typically the con men work with shills who try to convince victims that the game is not rigged. The health care debate is beginning to resemble this con game.
For years now many Democrats have pledged their support of a single-payer government universal health care system. A few days ago a You-Tube video surfaced in which candidate Obama promised the same thing. The White House angrily denounced the clip as misleading. Yet his support for a single-payer health-care system in the clip could not be any clearer. A little like those "Three Card Monte" operators, the more red handed they are caught, the louder they protest their innocence.
Before the last election, Rep. Chris Van Hollen made a similar promise, writing to one group: "I will continue to fight for universal health care and support a single payer approach.[1]"
Voters on the left are now being promised that under a "Public Option" it will be just a matter of time before private health insurance withers away and all care will come from the government. You think they would be furious at being misled by their candidates, and some are. But many are content because they are being told: "Don't worry. Trust us. This is the way we will get you single-payer government care."
Other voters are also being told that the so-called "Public Option" will be only one of several alternatives and that all existing health care coverage will continue to be available as before. When the Heritage Foundation predicts that nearly 90 million people would see their current private, employer-sponsored health plan go away and that they will be shifted to the "Public Option" plan, the ObamaCare supporters denounce them as insurance company shills and worse.
Remarkably Rep. Chris Van Hollen has not yet scheduled a town hall meeting on health care or any other issue during the August recess. Understandably his constituents want to question him on where he stands on this important issue. For example, has Van Hollen now given up on his single-payer goal or does he regard the "Public Option" as the best way to reach a single-payer universal government system?
Questions for Van Hollen are only natural considering that 74% of voters rate the quality of care they now receive as good or excellent and 50% fear that if Congress passes health-care reform, it will lead to a decline in the quality of that care.[2] His shrill attacks on private medical insurance companies gives those who want to continue their private coverage even more reason for anxiety.
Sen. Ben Cardin, commenting on his own townhall meetings, has said: "The overwhelming majority of Americans want to participate and find out what is in it. They want to find out how it affects them. Those are legitimate questions." [3]
Maybe it would be just too hard for Van Hollen to explain that although he still supports a single payer health government health care system, the bill he supports is not really a single-payer system, but (wink to the left) it will likely result in a single payer government health plan system, but (wink to the right and center) not really.
It is a position that makes John Kerry's "I actually did vote for the 87 Billion before I voted against it" seem like a model of clarity. It would also be a performance that the card sharks in front of the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York would be proud of.
MCGOP CONVENTION!