RUSH: Obama actually said today that too many Americans are ‘skimping on health care’ because they’re in financial straits. You know, they’re not spending on health care because they need to do other things, and they ought to be spending on health care. So that was his push for national health insurance. He had one of these meetings today with all these health insurance groups. It’s like Don Corleone bringing these people in and telling them what’s going to happen to them if they don’t go along. We know this is the modus operandi. We know that threats and intimidation are used by this administration to get what they want.
Now, there’s a story about the health care meeting today from the Associated Press: ‘President Barack Obama’s plan to provide medical insurance for all Americans took a big step toward becoming reality Sunday after leaders of the health care industry offered $2 trillion in spending reductions over 10 years to help pay for the program. Hospitals, insurance companies, drug makers and doctors planned to tell Obama [today] they’ll voluntarily slow their rate increases in coming years in a move that government economists say would create breathing room to help provide health insurance to an estimated 50 million Americans who now go without it,’ and that’s a phony number!
‘With this move, Obama picks up key private-sector allies that fought former President Bill Clinton’s effort to overhaul health care.’ You read a little further and you find this… You might be asking a question, by the way. Before I tell you this, you might be asking a question: ‘Well, if these people could offer $2 trillion in spending reductions over ten years, why didn’t they do it? Why do it now?’ If there are $2 trillion in overcharges…? Look at it this way: if there are $2 trillion in overcharges, why not just avoid a lot of hassle and cut some prices ten years ago? Well, then you read… You have that question, you read the next ‘graph, and it says (ahem), ‘The industry groups are trying to get on the administration bandwagon for expanded coverage now in the hope they can steer Congress away from legislation that would restrict their profitability in future years.’
So what they know is, they have heard Obama say (and he’s used these words) that he’s going to squeeze the doctors. He’s going to squeeze the insurance companies. He’s gonna squeeze the pharmaceuticals. Which means he’s going to demand that they make less money, and he’s talking about profits. So these industry groups think if they go along now and show some goodwill, that they’ll be taken care of down the road. They are fools! They are big-time fools who happen to be blind. Just look at the car companies and the banks. What profits? And whatever profits there are, are going to go to Obama and the government. Obama is going to ‘fix’ health care just like he’s ‘fixed’ GM? He’s going to ‘fix’ health care like he’s ‘fixed’ Chrysler?
He’s gonna ‘fix’ health care like he ‘fixed’ Wall Street? How can a government that has no money bail out one-seventh of the US economy, which is our health care sector? It’s one-seventh of the economy. How in the world can they bail it out when they don’t have any money? How? ‘[I]ndustry groups are trying to get on the administration bandwagon for expanded coverage now in the hope they can steer Congress away from legislation…’ This is like us saying, ‘You know what? If we release the prisoners at Club Gitmo, then Bin Laden will like us and will never attack us again!’ These guys are saying, ‘If we just give Obama some spending cuts now, then he’ll leave us alone down the road.’ (laughing)
Fools! But they’re scared. They’re scared to death. They can see what’s happening to other private sectors. They can see what’s happening. They saw what happened to Rick Wagoner. They hear the scuttlebutt that Obama might fire more CEOs on Wall Street. They see the legislation coming out on pay caps for Wall Street and so forth. They’re thinking that if they just don’t make Obama mad, then he won’t restrict them that way. They’re just fools. So, fewer and fewer people are willing to stand up to this. That’s, again, why I focus everybody’s attention on Dick Cheney. He’s standing up to all of it, and what motivates him? It’s national interest, love of country. He doesn’t need the money. He doesn’t want to run for office again. He’s not hot for interns. He’s doing it because of love, huge heart, for the country.