President Obama's drive for government health care began in earnest on June 6, in thousands of neighborhood house meetings where his supporters listened to his sales talk via a video on the Internet and participated in a live conference call. Those who attended were given their orders to reach out to neighbors, knock on doors and build a grassroots network to force Congress to pass the legislation "the same way we won the election, building support one block, one neighbor, one conversation at a time."

*** Special Offer ***

Obama's promise that government health care will produce "reduced costs, guaranteed choice and quality care for all" is as phony as a $3 bill. Based on all our experience with government programs, government-managed health care will result in much higher costs, the absence of choice and inferior care for all.

We're already getting a taste of Obama-style government by czars (who happen to be Obama's financial contributors), and now we are learning about government by stealth. The Obama legislative procedure is to write a massive piece of legislation in secret, without hearings, press coverage, open debate or public comment, and then tell Congress it's essential to hurry up and pass it quickly because "we've got to get it done this year."

Only the broad structure of the bill is shared with Congress, while the details will be filled in after passage by the Department of Health and Human Services or by Tom Daschle, who has re-emerged (without a title) as a key player on health care. The legislative vehicle for this health care deception is planned to be the budget reconciliation bill, which requires only 51 Senate votes for passage instead of the 60 needed to authorize new programs.

The Obama team is well aware it was the details that sank Hillary Health Care in 1994. So, goodbye to the transparency that candidate Obama promised.

Although Obama has referred to "my plan," there isn't yet any defined Obama plan. He apparently favors the plan drafted by Sen. Ted Kennedy.

The Kennedy plan promises that all Americans will have health care, employers will have to contribute to the costs, a government insurance program will subsidize premiums for people with incomes up to 500 percent of the poverty level ($110,000 for a family of four), and private insurers will have to pay out a specified percentage of their premium revenues in benefits.

Kennedy's bill doesn't give a clue as to how this extravagance would be financed. No doubt it would be the same way the stimulus and the omnibus are being paid for: by printing money and by tacking more debt on younger generations.

The most unpopular features of the Obama and Kennedy plans are being kept under wraps, but here are some of the bad ideas being floated. Modified community rating is a euphemism for forcing young, healthy people to pay more for their insurance in order to subsidize older, less healthy people. Continued...