President Obama and Speaker Pelosi are undoubtedly better at providing people with the care they need than insurance companies, according to the hyperbolic headline of this Media Matters blogpost: “Worst. Talking point. Ever.”
There, they highlight a quote by the Cato Institute's Michael Cannon, in which he says: “Insurance companies save more lives in a single day than President Obama or Nancy Pelosi will save in their entire lifetimes.” The video is below.
What's wrong here? Cannon's point that insurance companies attempt to maximize care for the maximum amount of people possible under budgetary constraints is a fact, not an opinion. The claim that government-run health care will be more responsive to people ignores that it will be subject to political decision-making, government waste, and unnatural price controls.
Also, if we're going to split hairs about it, insurance companies cannot wage war. Wacky result: Obama kills more people than insurance companies. Should he be trusted with your health care? (Take that straw man!)
