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Weekly Standard: Time To Celebrate Health Care?

President Barack Obama speaks about efforts to prepare veterans for the workforce, Friday, Aug. 5, 2011, at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington. On Friday the president also declated Aug. 7-13 as National Health Center Week.
Carolyn Kaster
/
AP
President Barack Obama speaks about efforts to prepare veterans for the workforce, Friday, Aug. 5, 2011, at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington. On Friday the president also declated Aug. 7-13 as National Health Center Week.

Jeffrey H. Anderson was the senior speechwriter for Secretary Mike Leavitt at the Department of Health and Human Services.

The stock market lost all of its 2011 gains on Thursday. Investors lost a staggering $787 billion — the exact same amount of money President Obama's economic "stimulus" was originally supposed to cost (before its costs were adjusted upward). Unemployment is now at 9.1 percent, up from 7.3 percent when the "stimulus" was being debated. Gas is now $3.70 a gallon, about double what it was on Inauguration Day. It is therefore entirely understandable that the president of the United States would have something to say to the American people — and, accordingly, President Obama issued a proclamation yesterday, hours before Standard & Poor's downgraded America's long-term debt. Dated August 5, 2011, it reads, in part,

"I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim the week of August 7 through August 13, 2011, as National Health Center Week. I encourage all Americans to celebrate this week by visiting their local community health center, meeting local health center providers, and exploring the programs they offer to help keep their families healthy."

The proclamation also notes that the "stimulus" and Obamacare have funneled "new money" into these centers, with Obamacare having "provided for the Health Centers Advanced Primary Care Practice demonstration project, which will use community health centers to test the impact of team-based treatment approaches on the care of elderly patients."

So, as we "celebrate" this week, we would also do well to remember Obamacare's contribution to it.

Copyright 2021 The Weekly Standard. To see more, visit The Weekly Standard.

Jeffrey H. Anderson