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Diane Tilson, Chair
of the Watauga County Democratic Party, released the following statement:
Virginia Foxx thanks you very much for paying for the
generous government health-care plan you provide for her and her family each
year (and which you will supply for the rest of her life). She's on the
government dole. You're paying for her health care. She's got hers. To heck
with yours!
That's what Ms. Foxx said in her recent guest column in The Watauga Democrat on health-care reform (July 6), a
column full of scare tactics and untruths about a proposed non-profit, public
health-care plan open to every American.
In Ms. Foxx's column, she claimed that the health-care proposals being
considered by Congress will cost $1.6 trillion. This is untrue. In fact, her
figure is completely fabricated and has been discredited by non-partisan news
outlets as a Republican scare tactic.
Ms. Foxx says the costs of a public plan will add to the
deficit. False again. President Obama has explicitly stated that any plan
cannot be allowed to add to the deficit. The public plan would be optional for
Americans (you can keep what you have if you prefer), and it would not be paid
for by taxpayers. The public plan would be self-sustaining, financed by the
premiums paid by the people who enroll in it.
So where does Ms. Foxx come up with such nonsense and why is she spreading it
around?
Turns out Ms. Foxx got her "talking points" from a man named Frank
Luntz, a top Republican "language"
consultant. Back in May, Mr. Luntz studied up on how Americans could be scared
into opposing health-care reform, and he issued a confidential report to Ms.
Foxx and other Republicans on just how to do it.
Unfortunately for Mr. Luntz and for Ms. Foxx, the report escaped onto the
Internet and is there for anyone to see. Mr. Luntz said Americans could be scared into not supporting their best
interests if the Republicans used words like "bureaucrats" and "government
takeover" and "rationing" and "making people stand in line
and denying treatment" and "putting government between you and your
doctor."
Sound familiar? It should. Ms. Foxx's guest column uses all of Mr. Luntz's
talking points, some almost word for word. The truth doesn't matter to Ms.
Foxx. Just the "words" do.
Why would Ms. Foxx write such lies? To scare you into being
happy with the crumbs you've got and not to expect anything more from her. Ms.
Foxx was more than happy to finance a war in Iraq to the tune of over $710
billion, but she now says there's just not enough money to help you and your
family out with health-care costs.
People want health-care reform -- even over 50% of Republicans want it. Americans view it as essential. Too many of
us are going bankrupt from health-care costs. Americans are being turned down
by insurance companies for pre-existing conditions, or they can't afford even
the most basic policy. Co-pays continue to go up. Americans who do have what
they think is a good policy end up being dropped when they get sick. Americans pay more and more for health
insurance and get less and less, while insurance company profits soar.
With Americans clamoring for health-care reform and over 70% in favor of a
non-profit public plan that would compete with the big insurance companies and
drive down costs, how on earth could Ms. Foxx convince us to continue to
protect insurance companies' profits and stop any reform in its tracks?
Easy. She apparently thinks we're stupid, stupid enough to think that a
non-profit public plan competing with the big insurance companies and bringing
down costs for all is actually a bad idea. And stupid enough to continue to pay
for her exclusive
government-sponsored health-care plan, no questions asked.
Diane Tilson, Chair
Watauga
County Democratic Party
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