Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander opened the bipartisan health care summit today by pleading for Democrats to “renounce this idea of going back to the Congress and jamming through on a partisan vote, through a little-used process we call reconciliation.” Things soon got heated as Alexander and Obama sparred over Congressional Budget Office estimates surrounding the rising costs of health care.
But it seems the President got his facts wrong in the exchange, reports the Daily Caller’s Jon Ward:
Republicans are jumping all over Obama’s backtracking during the morning session about whether his plan raises premiums. Here’s the exchange from early in the session where the president initially said that his proposal would not raise health care prices:
SEN. LAMAR ALEXANDER (R-TN): “The Congressional Budget Office report says that premiums will rise in the individual market as a result of the Senate bill.”
PRESIDENT OBAMA: “No, no, no, no. Let me — and this is an example of where we’ve got to get our facts straight.”ALEXANDER: “That’s my point.”
OBAMA: “Well, exactly, so let me — let me respond to what you just said, Lamar, because it’s not factually accurate. Here’s what the Congressional Budget Office says. The costs for families for the same type of coverage that they’re currently receiving would go down 14 percent to 20 percent.”But later in the session, after an aide handed the president a note, Obama admitted he had been wrong.
“What the Congressional Budget Office is saying is, is that if I now have the opportunity to actually buy a decent package inside the exchange, that costs me about 10% to 13% more but is actually real insurance, then there are going to be a bunch of people who take advantage of that. So yes, I’m paying 10% to 13% more because instead of buying an apple, I’m getting an orange.”
Rep. Tom Price, Georgia Republican, called it the “gaffe of the morning.”
Going back to Lamar’s opening statement (and speaking of factual inaccuracies), it’s hard to renounce something if you deny you did it in the first place:
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