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Jindal Slams 'Dishonest' Health Plan

Dems' current version as bad as Hillarycare, Louisiana gov writes

By Jason Farago, Newser Staff

Posted Jul 22, 2009 9:47 AM CDT

(Newser) – President Obama is presenting health care reform as a bipartisan effort, but, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal writes in the Wall Street Journal, he and fellow Democrats have taken “a fundamentally dishonest approach to reform.” Obama is “repeating the mistakes” of Hillarycare, forcing Americans to join a public plan, diminishing the quality of services, and raising middle-class taxes. “They might as well try to argue that up is down,” he writes.

Needed reform can only take place “once the current over-reach by Obama and [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi fails.” Genuinely bipartisan reform would ensure consumer choice, stop frivolous lawsuits, and offer the poor refundable tax credits to buy private care rather than a public plan. For Jindal, this alternative would cut costs, “and not bankrupt our nation or increase taxes in the midst of a recession.”

[Images (2)]

[Quotes (2)]

Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal is seen in a 2008 photo. (AP Photo)

Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius walks with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal after meeting with President Barack Obama, Feb. 23, 2009. (AP Photo)

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The government plan will become so large that it will set, rather than negotiate, prices. This will inevitably lead to monopoly, with a resulting threat to the quality of our health care. - Bobby Jindal, Louisiana governor

In 1993 and 1994, Hillary Clinton’s health care reform proposal failed because it was concocted in secret without the guiding hand of public consensus-building, and because it was a philosophical overreach. Obama is repeating these mistakes. -

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Jindal Slams 'Dishonest' Health Plan