On the same day that President Obama is poised to deliver a key speech to Congress regarding his healthcare plan, former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin wrote an editorial in The Wall Street Journal countering the specifics of his proposal.

Governor Palin first addresses Obama’s assurance that health care reform will decrease waste and inefficiency:

“First, ask yourself whether the government that brought us such ‘waste and inefficiency’ and ‘unwarranted subsidies’ in the first place can be believed when it says that this time it will get things right. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) doesn’t think so: It…told the Senate Budget Committee…that ‘in the legislation that has been reported we do not see the sort of fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal health spending by a significant amount.’”

She then counters the President’s suggestion that a council be formed with the goal of cutting costs:

“He’s [Obama] asked Congress to create an Independent Medicare Advisory Council—an unelected, largely unaccountable group of experts charged with containing Medicare costs…the president suggested that such a group, working outside of ‘normal political channels,’ should guide decisions regarding that ‘huge driver of cost…the chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives…’  Given such statements, is it any wonder that many of the sick and elderly are concerned that the Democrats’ proposals will ultimately lead to rationing of their health care by—dare I say it—death panels?…the Democrats’ proposals would still empower unelected bureaucrats to make decisions affecting life or death health-care matters.”

Second, Mrs. Palin argues against the Democrats assurance that health care reform will reduce the deficit.  She writes that “The CBO estimates that the current House proposal not only won’t reduce the deficit but will actually increase it by $239 billion over 10 years.”  The increased deficits will then drive wages down for Americans, with those of low earnings seeing the largest decrease in their paychecks.  She smartly concludes, “Only in Washington could a plan that adds hundreds of billions to the deficit be hailed as a cost-cutting measure.”

Third, Governor Palin refutes Obama’s claim that his health care plan will provide “consumer protection” for Americans against their insurance companies.  Although she acknowledges that this initially sounds like a reasonable idea,

“…insurance companies can be unaccountable and unresponsive institutions—much like the federal government. That similarity makes this shift in focus seem like nothing more than an attempt to deflect attention away from the details of the Democrats’ proposals—proposals that will increase our deficit, decrease our paychecks, and increase the power of unaccountable government technocrats.”

Mrs. Palin ends her editorial with several suggestions for improvements in health care:

“…giving all individuals the same tax benefits received by those who get coverage through their employers; providing Medicare recipients with vouchers that allow them to purchase their own coverage; reforming tort laws to potentially save billions each year in wasteful spending; and changing costly state regulations to allow people to buy insurance across state lines.”

Her concluding sentence encourages Americans to tell Washington “we’re not buying it” regarding Obamacare.  Based on the town halls and protests against socialized health care, we’ve been communicating our happiness with the proposed plan.  But our out-of-touch, elitist, arrogant politicians don’t seem to be listening to us.

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