"Government-run Health Care": Fact or Fiction?

President Obama has posted a health care reform proposal designed as a "legislative blueprint" for Thursday's health care summit. The response from GOP House leadership was sadly predictable.

Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the House minority leader, said that Mr. Obama had “crippled the credibility” of Thursday’s meeting by proposing “the same massive government takeover of health care.”

This GOP accusation has been repeated throughout the health care reform debate starting in the 2008 Presidential campaign. The factual accuracy of this claim has consistently been found wanting by non-partisan fact-check website Politifact.com. Most recently, a similar claim by Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) was rated false in March, 2009. FactCheck.org has reached the same conclusion.

Health care is a serious issue in which reform is desperately needed for both the physical and economic health of our country. I have no problem with the GOP disagreeing with the President's plan so long as they offer a plausible alternative. However, it is disappointing that Rep. Boehner and other Republican leaders can't seem to come up with a better response than this long discredited accusation.

--Ballard Burgher