The public is only recently learning that President Obama’s administration lied to promote Obamacare.
For Catholics, this is very old news.
The most recent example came in Zach Galifianakis’ online comedy interview, “Between Two Ferns.”
Young people “can get coverage all for what it costs you to pay your cell phone bill,” President Obama told the grumpy comedian.
Uh … no they can’t . “Discounting taxes nationwide, a [basic cellphone] plan costs about $90 on Verizon, $80 on AT&T, $70 on Sprint, and $60 on T-Mobile every month,” one critic pointed out. Whereas in Obamacare “the cheapest middle-of-the-road equivalent silver plan is $181.01 per month.”
So, the lesson is learned once again: What the President tells you about Obamacare should be taken with a grain of salt.
We all know this already, of course, because of the mother of all Obamacare lies has been so thoroughly exposed.
“If You Like Your Health Care, You Can Keep It.”
The clearest iteration of that one came as early as 2009:
“No matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period. If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period. No one will take it away. No matter what.”
That turned out to mean something far more complicated, which can be simplified by just saying: Many, many people can keep neither.
But Catholics were not surprised by any of the new Obamacare lies. That’s because we have been hearing them for six years.
“If You Like Your Conscience, You Can Keep It”
That’s the lie Obama told Notre Dame in 2008:
“Let’s honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion, and draft a sensible conscience clause, and make sure that all of our health care policies are grounded not only in sound science, but also in clear ethics, as well as respect for the equality of women.”
Thus spoke Obama at the University of Notre Dame, a university that is now suing for the second time in a desperate attempt to keep their conscience rights in the face of Obama’s anti-conscience onslaught.
That lie to Catholics was soon followed by another …
“Federal Dollars Won’t be Used for Abortions”
Catholic democrat Bart Stupak almost killed Obamacare over fears of federally-funded abortion, staging a brave weeks-long holdout over abortion payments.
It started with the Stupak–Pitts Amendment that would have prohibited Obamacare from using federal funds “to pay for any abortion or to cover any part of the costs of any health plan that includes coverage of abortion” (except in cases of rape, incest or “danger to the life of the mother”). When the amendment died in the Senate, Stupak led a group of pro-life Democrats who wouldn’t support the final legislation unless it forbad taxpayer dollars for abortions.
Stupak only relented on the day of the final vote when Obama promised him an executive order to satisfy the pro-lifers. The promised executive order never came; instead came language offering plans with abortions and only one without, and Obamacare coverage for drugs that carry FDA labels identifying them as abortifacient.
In the words of Stupak, “I am perplexed and disappointed that, having negotiated the executive order with the President, not only does that HHS mandate violate the executive order, but it also violates statutory law. I think it is illegal.”
There was more dishonesty to come. Call it …
“If You Like Your Religion, you can Keep It”
At a White House meeting in 2011, it seems Obama promised conscience rights for Catholics and their institutions once again.
“The president seemed very earnest, he said he considered the protection of conscience sacred, that he didn’t want anything his administration would do to impede the work of the Church that he claimed he held in high regard,” Dolan remembered a few months later, at Fordham Law School . “So I did leave a little buoyant.”
When Obama broke that promise, he called Dolan personally to tell him.
“I have to say, there’s a sense of personal disappointment,” Dolan said at Fordham after the promise evaporated. “I had to share with him that I was terribly let down, disappointed and disturbed, and it seemed the news he had given me was difficult to square with the confidence I had felt.”
So it should come as no surprise that Obama makes outlandish claims that you will keep your doctor or your plan will be inexpensive. It has become his M.O.: Find out what your opponent wants; promise him he can have that thing; continue on as planned.