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Blacks, Hispanics biggest losers if health care reform flops
If President Barack Obama's drive for some form of universal health care falters the biggest losers by far will be blacks and Hispanics.
Blacks and Hispanics make up nearly half of the estimated 50 million Americans who have no health care insurance, according to a report by the Commonwealth Fund. But the danger signs for reform are real. A Washington Post/ABC News poll found that public support for Obama's plan is decreasing.
This is no surprise.
The instant Obama announced he would make health care reform his defining issue reform opponents kicked their attack into high gear. The two hit points are that it's too costly and too intrusive -- meaning that it will snatch from Americans the right to choose their own doctors and health plans and dump health care into the alleged slipshod, inefficient hands of government bureaucrats. The real fear of private insurers, pharmaceuticals and major medical practitioners is that they'll have to treat millions of uninsured, unprofitable, largely unhealthy blacks and Hispanics.