Small Biz Health Care Daily: Not Giving Up on a Bad Idea

President Barack Obama is proving tenacious. When it comes to injecting more government into our health care system, he appears unwilling to give up on a very bad idea.

The February 3 New York Times reported on the President’s visit to New Hampshire: “His town-hall-style meeting at a local high school here was the fifth time he had taken questions from an audience or over the Internet in 12 days, and he rejected the notion that the Massachusetts election doomed the health care overhaul. ‘Suddenly everybody says, “Oh no, it’s over,’”’ Mr. Obama said in mocking tones. ‘Well, no, it’s not over. We just have to make sure that we move methodically and that the American people understand what’s in the bill.’”

The President is correct on one level. The battle over health care policy never seems to be over. After all, the push for socialized medicine has been going on in this nation since the 1930s.

Where the President is wrong is to be part of that push for government-run health care, and to assume that a large chunk of the American people turned against ObamaCare because he did not explain it adequately. Health care reform has been front and center since Obama took office, and the White House and leaders in Congress have been everywhere pushing their agenda. It is not a matter of failed communication.

The reality is that the more people learn about the high costs and the harsh realities of government gaining more control over health care, the less people like the idea.

Among the most egregious arguments made by the pro-big government health care forces was that small businesses would somehow benefit. But small business owners understand that, as always, more government mandates, more regulation, and more taxpayer dollars spent add up to big negatives for the entrepreneurial sector of the economy.

But make no mistake, the battle for and the spin of GovernmentCare is not over.

Raymond J. Keating
Chief Economist
Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council