Obama—Fact Check

Here’s the fact check on Obama’s statements from yesterday’s press conference.

. . .OBAMA: "We must preserve what's best" about the current health care system, and that means "allowing Americans who like their doctor and their health care plan to keep them." He added:

"If your employer is providing you good health insurance, we're not going to mess with it."

THE FACTS: This is a pledge that's beyond the president's power to make. Health care coverage for 160 million people is provided by employers, and Obama's plan leaves companies free to change their health plans in ways that workers may not like, or to drop insurance altogether. In addition, his health care plan is only that -- an idea proposed by the administration -- and is subject to reworking by Congress. A preliminary analysis by the Congressional Budget Office estimates that a Democratic plan being worked on in the Senate would force 10 million Americans to seek new coverage because their employers would no longer offer it.
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OBAMA: Taxpayers would not have had to bear the burden of bailing out companies such as insurance giant American International Group Inc. if the federal government had the legal ability to unwind large failing companies in the same way that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. can use banking industry money to pay the costs of intervening in failing banks. "We want that power to be available so that taxpayers aren't on the hook," he said.

FACT: The administration has indeed proposed a plan to take over and either liquidate or restructure large interconnected companies whose failure could damage the economy. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the costs of such an action would be recouped over time by assessing a fee to other large institutions. But as Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., pointed out last week, taxpayers would still have to cover the costs of such an expensive intervention until the industry fees are collected. During that period, taxpayers would be on the hook.

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