Government-Run Health Care?

Summary
A group called Conservatives for Patients' Rights began airing a television ad this week that criticizes government-run health care and falsely suggests Congress wants a British-style system here in the U.S.:

The ad neglects to mention that President Obama hasn't proposed a government-run plan and, in fact, has rejected the idea.
 
It claims that a research council created by the stimulus bill is "the first step in government control over your health care choices." The legislation actually says the council isn't permitted to "mandate coverage, reimbursement, or other policies."

The ad quotes a Canadian doctor who has been critical of his country's system, but leaves out the fact that the doctor has praised other government-funded systems, such as those in Austria and France.

Analysis
Conservatives for Patients' Rights is, as its name indicates, a conservative group, and it's also quite obviously not a proponent of government-run health care. Its minute-long ad was launched April 27 with what the group said was a month-long $1 million buy. (We've seen it on CNN several times this week.) CPR was launched this year and is led by Rick Scott, former head of Columbia/Hospital Corporation of America.

The ad states that government-run health care systems, in particular those in Britain and Canada, take control away from patients and ration health care. CPR is certainly entitled to state its own view. But the ad implies that the U.S. Congress wants to implement a health system like those in Britain and Canada. That's contrary to what President Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress have said.

CPR Ad: "Not So Innocent"
Rick Scott, chairman, CPR: Deep inside the stimulus bill Congress buried an innocent-sounding board, the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research.

It's not so innocent. It's the first step in government control over your health care choices. This federal council is modeled after the national board that controls Britain's health system. Listen to Britain's Dr. Karol Sikora about what happens to patients once the government takes over.

Sikora: They'll lose their own choice completely. Lose control of their own destiny within the medical system.

Scott: Not only could a government board deny your choice in doctors but it can control life and death for some patients. Ask Canada's Dr. Brian Day about bureaucrats rationing care.

Day: Patients are languishing and suffering on wait lists. Our own Supreme Court of Canada has stated that patients are actually dying as they wait for care.

Scott: Tell Congress you won't trade your doctor for a national board of bureaucrats. Let's put patients first.

Obama hasn't called for such a government-run plan, also called a "single-payer" plan. In fact, he has flatly rejected it. The administration has said on the White House's "Health Care" Web page (and previously on its transition site) that "President Obama and Vice President Biden believe" that government-run health care is "wrong." And they also believe, the administration says, that the other extreme, "letting the insurance companies operate without rules," is wrong. (The White House redesigned its health care page on April 30; a cached page with the quoted language is attached to this article.)

Obama has long said he would allow individuals or small businesses to buy insurance through a public plan – like the one now available to members of Congress. But nobody would be forced to drop his or her current insurance, and private plans would exist as they do now. This was the health care plan he promoted as a presidential candidate.

As we pointed out several times during the campaign, Obama's proposal was mischaracterized as a Canadian-style plan by his opponents. In Canada and Britain, all citizens have health care coverage, provided by the government and paid for with taxes. Only two Democrats ran for president on a single-payer platform: Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who called for "Medicare for all," and former Sen. Mike Gravel. Clarification, May 1: Gravel has called his plan a "single-payer Health Care Voucher plan," paid for by the government. But advocates have said it's not a true single-payer plan, since private insurance would still play a role.