For Immediate Release Wednesday, July 22, 2009
WASHINGTON — Libertarian National Committee Communications Director Donny Ferguson issued the following statement Wednesday night, in response to President Barack Obama’s press conference:
‘Tonight’s press conference by President Obama, complete with scare tactics and wildly inaccurate claims, perfectly illustrated why more and more Americans are losing faith in his promises of prosperity through government control.
‘Libertarians, and all Americans, aren’t buying President Obama’s ludicrous claim that handing control of your health care over to the federal government keeps costs down. Congressional Budget Office reports show the Obama health care takeover sends costs skyrocketing and further explodes his own record-shattering budget deficits. That not only thwarts job growth but also threatens health care itself. The fiscally irresponsible core of government-run health care is why virtually every such system must eventually resort to cruel rationing to contain its unsustainable and damaging costs.
‘Under no rational model whatsoever does the Obama government takeover reduce costs and make health care affordable. The damage the Obama plan does to our economy, however, is real and hits Americans directly.
‘Americans also lost trust in President Obama when he accused doctors of conspiring to intentionally let children with illnesses get worse, and that government must seize control of health care to stop doctors from performing medical procedures he doesn’t approve of. President Obama was perfectly clear. He wants the government to seize control of your health care because he thinks government accountants in Washington are better at medicine your own family doctor.
‘As he did with the so-called ‘stimulus’ package, President Obama is exploiting people’s fears and insecurities to push his agenda of unquestioned and economically unsustainable government expansion. That is yet another disappointing failure from the man who promised to end ‘the politics of fear.’
‘But no amount of wild claims and inaccurate statements can hide the facts. Along with making health care rationed and unaffordable, the Obama government takeover currently being written in Congress outlaws private insurance (page 16,) sends government agents to your home to monitor your parenting (Section 44) and forces the sick and elderly to sit through meetings with government employees on how to end their life (page 425.)
‘Libertarians have a better idea to make health care accessible and affordable. To start with:
* Allow taxpayers to deduct the costs of their health insurance from their income taxes.
* Repeal health insurance mandates that force Americans to pay for treatments they won’t ever use.
* Scrap unneeded and unnecessary regulations that keep life-saving drugs and treatments off the market. Such regulations are often supported by health care lobbyists and are intended to freeze out competing products and companies.
* Allow Americans to shop for health insurance across state lines, forcing insurers to compete.‘Americans deserve health care that is affordable, effective and universally available. President Obama’s plan fails that test on every count, and he fails our trust. Only Libertarians are proposing the reforms we need to fix our broken health care system.’
For more information on this issue, or to arrange an interview with the Libertarian Party, please call Director of Communications Donny Ferguson at 703-200-3669 or 202-333-0008, x. 225, or email Donny.Ferguson@lp.org .
The Libertarian Party is America’s third-largest political party, founded in 1971 as an alternative to the two main political parties. You can find more information on the Libertarian Party by visiting http://www.LP.org . The Libertarian Party proudly stands for smaller government, lower taxes and more freedom.
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