San Diego, June 24th - Having lived under, and experienced, government-run healthcare in his native country of Sweden, Republican Party of San Diego County Chairman Tony Krvaric today released the following statement, in response to tonight's upcoming one-sided government-takeover-of-healthcare infomercial:

"Growing up in Sweden - a country often held up as a model for a government-run healthcare - I can personally attest to the fact that such systems only provide one thing; equally poor, rationed healthcare for everyone except those well-off enough to buy their way out it - not unlike what's happening with public education in our country.  In America we understand that the best solutions come from the private sector - not the government.

"As a matter of fact, whatever the government touches or provides ends up costing twice as much, with about half the quality - at best.  The real solution to lowering the cost of healthcare and making it more accessible is to provide more competition and to reform medical liabilty laws to discourage junk lawsuits, Krvaric concluded.

* RNC Research Briefing: Republican Proposals Decrease Costs, Increase Access Without Government Takeover (PDF)

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What Obama says: "If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan." (President Barack Obama, Remarks To The American Medical Association, Chicago, IL, 6/15/09)

Translation: Under government-run health care, your employer will stop offering health benefits and cancel your plan.

THE FACTS: CBO Says Democrat Plan Would Result In Employers Canceling Insurance for 10 Million Americans In 2017 Alone. "Looking at one year--2017--as an example, CBO estimates that, under the HELP proposal, about 147 million people would have employer-sponsored insurance in that year, 15 million fewer than would have such insurance under current law. What changes would produce that result? ... [S]ome employers would decide not to offer their employees health insurance coverage, opting instead to provide other forms of compensati on. CBO estimates that about 10 million individuals who would be covered through an employer's plan under current law would not have access to that coverage under the draft legislation because some employers would choose not to offer it." (Douglas W. Elmendorf, "How The HELP Committee's Draft Legislation Would Affect Employer-Sponsored Insurance," Congressional Budget Office's "Director's Blog," 6/16/09)

What Obama says: "If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor." (President Barack Obama, Remarks To The American Medical Association, Chicago, IL, 6/15/09)

Translation: Under government-run health care, your doctor will refuse you because your new insurance won't cover their costs.

THE FACTS: Government-Run Health Care Pays Much Less Than Private Insurance, Which Makes Doctors Refuse Patients.  "Despite more Michiganians piling onto the Medicaid rolls, fewer doctors are treating or accepting new patients insured by this state-run medical program for low-income residents ... Doctors say the state-set reimbursement rates are already too low, in some cases covering only one-third of the actual costs of patient visits ... About 71 percent of doctors surveyed last year by Michigan's health department reported they were accepting new Medicaid patients, a decrease from 80 percent in 2006. Michigan's Medicaid enrollment increased from 1.49 million in 2006 to 1.54 million last year." (Christina Rogers, "Doctors Balk At Medicaid Program," The Associated Press, 6/7/09)

What Obama says: "[W]e want some competition. If the private insurance companies have to compete with a public option, it'll keep them honest and it'll help keep their prices down." (President Barack Obama, Remarks At A Town Hall Meeting On Healthcare, Green Bay, WI, 6/11/09)

Translation: A "public option" will become the only option, a government takeover of health care that puts insurance companies out of business.

THE FACTS: Berkley Professor And Obama Advisor Who Wrote Book Outlining "Public Option" Confirms It Will Lead To Government Takeover Of Health Care.  "Someone once said to me, this is a Trojan Horse for single-payer, and I said, 'Well, it's not a Trojan Horse, right? It's just right there.' I'm telling you, we're going to get there over time, slowly, but we'll move away from reliance on employment-based health insurance, as we should, but we'll do it in a way that we're not going to frighten people into thinking they are going to lose their private insurance, we're going to give them a choice of public and private insurance when their in the p ool, and we're going to let them keep their private employment-based insurance if their employer continues to provide it." (Jacob Hacker, Remarks at The Tides Foundation's Momentum 2008 Conference, San Francisco, CA, 7/21/08)

Chicago Tribune Editorial: Government-Run Health Care Will Crowd Out Private Competitors. "But the federal government isn't competition. It is the health care equivalent of Bigfoot, with so many Americans on its rolls that it dictates prices for doctors, drugs, and other benefits. It sets low prices, to be sure, lower than many insurers are able to match. But that just means those doctors and hospitals recoup the losses by shifting costs onto those with private insurance -- amounting to an estimated $89 billion a year, one insurance exec told a Senate committee a few months ago. A new public option may start small. But it could easily crowd out private plans depending on how premiums, benefits and subsidies are s tructured." (Editorial, "Hope and Experience," The Chicago Tribune, 6/16/09)

Democratic Congresswoman told Supporters "Public Option" Will Drive Private Insurers Out of Business.  Rep. Schakowsky, (D-IL):  "'I had the pleasure of being invited to the Health Care Summit that the president had at the White House and had the opportunity to argue--as forcefully as I could--the public health care insurance option - making the point that it's less expensive, more accountable, more affordable, more secure, and more responsive to consumer's needs ... 'An d next to me was a guy from the insurance company who then argued against the public health insurance option, saying it wouldn't let private insurance compete - that a public option will put the private insurance industry out of business and leave the single payer. My single payer friends, he was right; the man was right ... I am so confident in the superiority of a public healthcare option that I think he has every reason to be frightened.'" (Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Remarks at the Health Care for America Rally, Chicago, IL, 4/18/09)
 
What Obama says: "[R]eforms that we're introducing ... [mean] faster economic growth, higher living standards, and falling, instead of rising, budget deficits." (President Barack Obama, Remarks To The American Medical Association, Chicago, IL, 6/15/09)

Translation: Government-run health care means higher deficits, higher costs and higher taxes.

THE FACTS: CBO Director Says Plans For Government-Run Health Care Would Worsen Budget Outlook. "President Obama's plan to expand health coverage to the uninsured is likely to dig the nation deeper into debt ... 'Without meaningful reforms, the substantial costs of many current proposals . . . would be much more likely to worsen the long-run budget outlook than to improve it,' he said. ..." (Lori Montgomery, Shailagh Murray & Ceci Connolly, "Obama's Health Plan Needs Spending Controls, CBO Says," The Washington Post, 6/17/09)

Washington Post: Experts Warn Obama's Plan Means "Higher Costs" For Private Sector. "President Obama's plan to rein in federal spending on health care could end up shifting costs to the private sector, economists say. Unless doctors and hospitals are able to respond to the government cuts by becoming more efficient, the result could be higher costs for insurers, employers, and people with private medical coverage, they say." (David S. Hilzenrath, "Health-Care Cuts Could Shift Costs," The Washington Post, 6/18/09)
 
House Democrats Have "Lots Of Potential Targets For Higher Taxes" But Are Trying To Keep It Secret. "House Democrats have lots of potential targets for higher taxes as they aim to expand health care coverage to reach the roughly 50 million that experts say are uninsured. Also under consideration are higher alcohol taxes, increases to the Medicare payroll tax and a value-added tax, a sort of national sales tax, of up to 1.5 percent or more ... The [other] tax options include: increasing the price of soda and other sugary drinks by 10 cents a can, applying a potential 2 percent income tax increase to single taxpayers earning more than $200,000 a year and households earning more than $250,000, a new employer payroll tax could target 3 percent of employers' health care expenditures, taxing employer-provided health insurance benefits above certain levels ... House Democrats planned to unveil a draft of their sweeping health care bill Friday ... The draft, being released at a news conference ... was not expected to mention the potentially unpopular tax options." (Erica Werner, "House Eyes New Taxes As Senators Pare Health Bill," The Associated Press, 6/19/09)
 
What Obama says: "There will be no reason for anyone to remain uninsured." (President Barack Obama, Remarks At A Town Hall Meeting On Healthcare, Green Bay, WI, 6/11/09)

Translation: Government-run health care will force you to buy coverage or pay a fine.

THE FACTS: Obama Now Receptive To An Individual Mandate For Health Care. "Don't have health insurance? Don't want to pay for it? Too bad. It's looking like President Barack Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress are going to require yo u to pick up the bill. In Washington-speak, it's called an individual mandate--or a requirement that people who don't already have health insurance to purchase it, much like most states require drivers to have automobile insurance ... Any plan is likely to be modeled after one in Massachusetts, which required that virtually everyone have health insurance or face tax penalties." (Liz Sidoti, "No Health Care? Expect A Requirement To Get It," The Associated Press, 6/22/09)

* RNC Research Briefing: Your Obama Healthcare Translation Guide For This Evening's Infomercial (PDF) 

1. Log on tonight to www.GOP.com/LiveResponse during Obama's informercial.

2. Forward this message to a frend.

3.