Who Should Really Be Apologizing for Last Wednesday's Health Care Speech?

President Obama used two examples of people who were supposedly wronged by insurance companies in his speech to America last week.

Both of his examples were bogus.


Here is my latest column at American Issues Project:

If Representative Joe Wilson was asked to apologize for his remarks during President Obama’s speech last Wednesday to Congress, should the president have to apologize for his remarks, too? Joe Wilson rudely interrupted President Obama calling him a liar. On the other hand, Barack Obama misrepresented the present health care situation to America.

During his speech to Congress last Wednesday President Obama told the American people about two very tragic cases of insurance company abuse. He used these two examples to build his case for nationalized health care.

One man from Illinois lost his coverage in the middle of chemotherapy because his insurer found that he hadn’t reported gallstones that he didn’t even know about. They delayed his treatment, and he died because of it. Another woman from Texas was about to get a double mastectomy when her insurance company canceled her policy because she forgot to declare a case of acne. By the time she had her insurance reinstated, her breast cancer more than doubled in size. That is heart-breaking, it is wrong, and no one should be treated that way in the United States of America.

It sounds horrible, doesn’t it? It’s just too bad it isn’t true…

…Barack Obama searched America and only found two cases of insurance malpractice. Now we find out they were both untrue. We also find out the insurance industry has a stellar record and a very low rescission rate. In fact there were laws passed in 1997 that actually allow states to act without federal intervention, against bad faith denial of claims or other misbehavior by health insurers. So who should really be apologizing for Wednesday’s speech?

You can read the rest on Obama’s misrepresentations here. There is also a list of my recent columns on this page.

UPDATE: American Issues Project was just awarded the 2009 Webaward for Outstanding Achievement in Web Development.
Congratulations!

Photo of author
Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016. In 2023, The Gateway Pundit received the Most Trusted Print Media Award at the American Liberty Awards.

You can email Jim Hoft here, and read more of Jim Hoft's articles here.

 

Thanks for sharing!