The Truth About Obamacare [Paperback]

Sally C. Pipes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 3, 2010

In her new book, The Truth About Obamacare, Sally C. Pipes—president of the Pacific Research Institute and an acknowledged expert on health care reform—reveals what Democrats in Congress and President Obama don't want you to know: Obamacare is even worse than most critics suspect. Debunking the myths that the current administration has touted, Pipes shows exactly what the new health care law will mean for you, your family, your doctor, and your wallet. She also reveals how, contrary to its promises, Obamacare will make health care more expensive, limit your options, lead to deteriorating medical care, and weaken America’s already frail economy.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

This is going to hurt.

On March 23, 2010, President Barack Obama signed into law a bill that will lead to the largest expansion of government in the history of the United States. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was more than 2,400 pages long and will reportedly cost a cool $1 trillion over ten years, give or take a few hundred billion.

But sticker shock is just the beginning. In The Truth about Obamacare, Sally Pipes shows how Obama’s health care “reform” will crash into our economy and culture with a tidal wave of regulations that, taken together, will fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and see our doctors. How will all those changes affect you, your family, and your fellow Americans? Pipes goes over the bill with a fine-tooth comb, laying out the specifics of how and why Obamacare:

* will drive the country’s health care bill ever higher, according to the government’s own economists
* empowers bureaucrats to deny coverage of cutting-edge medicines in order to save the government money
* will exacerbate our nation’s shortage of doctors—and in fact, is already causing many to close up shop
* will make health care less affordable by forbidding insurers from offering inexpensive, bare-bones policies
* ratchets up Medicare payroll taxes—and adds brand new taxes on income—interest, capital gains, and dividends
* achieves every penny of its supposed “savings” through a series of legislative and accounting gimmicks
* creates a huge new enforcement bureaucracy—including 16,000 new IRS agents and an astounding 159 new boards and commissions—to hound taxpayers, businesses, hospitals, doctors, and insurers into compliance
* will still leave 23 million Americans uninsured by 2019, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Is it too late to stop Obamacare? By no means, argues Pipes—who shows how Americans can, and must, force its repeal. Then, she offers ten principles for real reform that would make health care accessible and affordable for all without destroying individual freedom, quality treatment, medical innovation, and the economy.

About the Author

Sally C. Pipes is president and chief executive officer of the Pacific Research Institute and a renowned expert on health care and economic issues. A former Canadian, and a refugee from Canada’s government-run health care system, she lives in California, is a frequent guest on network and cable news shows—from The Today Show to The O’Reilly Factor, from The Glenn Beck Show to 20/20 with John Stossel—is a columnist for the Examiner newspapers, Chief Executive, and Investor’s Business Daily, and has written for many other newspapers, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Regnery Publishing (August 3, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596986360
• ISBN-13: 978-1596986367
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #321,090 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #57 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Public Affairs & Policy > Cultural Policy

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

113 of 135 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Read and share and then take action to repeal this monstrous and wrongheaded law. August 19, 2010

By Craig Matteson HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback

Sally Pipes understands exactly what ObamaCare has in store for us and explains it clearly and powerfully in this important and very affordable book. Be sure to get a copy for yourself and another copy or two to give to your friends who will be willing to read it and take action to help us neutralize and repeal this unconstitutional monstrosity.

She knows what is coming because she lived with the Canadian version and fled it to come to America. Pipes runs the Pacific Research Institute to help Americans understand why personal responsibility and freedom go hand in hand and how government programs restrict our liberties.

This book is only 275 pages long, has 23 short but compelling chapters and hits hard on the key things you need to know about ObamaCare, why we need to repeal it, and what we can do to reform our healthcare system without handing our lives over to government bureaucrats.

The first few chapters show us what is coming, how the mess began, and what the legislative history of healthcare has been and how ObamaCare came to be. Pay attention to her discussions on mandates, the fact that government care gives us the minimum care at the maximum cost (but enriches bureaucrats), and will require every MORE taxpayer funding rather than less. We will have fewer choices and will experience rationing sooner rather than later. You know, those death panels that ObamaCare supporters mocked.

She demonstrates why ObamaCare will not only restrict what treatments you can have, but will crush development of new and innovative drugs and treatments because they would raise healthcare costs if they were ever allowed to be offered. Another problem is that drug and treatment developers could never recoup there costs....

And anyone who is now a senior or hoping to live long enough to become one will want to read the chapter on how seniors are going to have their treatments cut to help fund other parts of the healthcare system. Not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your, probably shorter, lives.

She then tackles the truth about costs, the way the system is designed to cut into the profits that are the lifeblood of any industry, so that insurance companies and healthcare providers will be put out of business. And the lack of competition or alternatives to government plans mean that you will continue to pay more and more. You will see why the demand for doctors will explode, why fewer of the truly talented will want to become doctors and how the government will have to fill the gap with people with the same titles as before, but with much less skill and ability. The chapter on what ObamaCare will look like in 2050 (if we don't successfully repeal it) is truly chilling. And my life experience tells me that this nightmare is not really a picture of how bad it will be. It will be worse.

Instead, we need to repeal this very bad law, engage in real reform that includes portability, the opportunity to purchase our own healthcare at group rates apart form our job, make better health care savings accounts available to everyone, lawsuit reform in every state, allow doctors to deduct their charitable care from their taxes, reform medicare to make it much less dependent on bureaucrats, and provide health care vouchers to the needy.

Good stuff. Please read it and share it with everyone you know.

Oh, and for those of you who still believe the nonsense about the British National Health Service, please read this, too:
Welcome to Obamaland: I Have Seen Your Future and It Doesn't Work

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Saline, MI Read more ›

37 of 42 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic and much needed! August 3, 2010

By Brian J. Calle

Format:Paperback

Yet again Sally Pipes proves to be the foremost expert on real, common sense free-market solutions to health care reform in the United States. And having been born in Canada where socialized health care efforts have failed patients and stifled innovation she has a unique vantage point for critiquing the intended and perhaps untended impacts and consequences of Obamacare. This book is a must read for those concerned with how Obamacare will ravage the United States health care system leaving deeper problems for later generations to address.

66 of 78 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Complacency is not the answer. August 3, 2010

By Le List

Format:Paperback

Pipes does an excellent job at unveiling the seemingly endless multitude of hidden caveats that exist within the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. If you "don't know much about health care," or even if you think you do, this book is an informative read based on sound principles, not logical fallacies and emotional games. No jargon here, just plain old facts that reveal the true nature of the legislation that was passed in March.

39 of 45 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The last book you'll ever need on understanding ObamaCare August 30, 2010

By Anna VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Best book out there on what is wrong with ObamaCare and why it has to be repealed. Every politician should read this - every TEA party member, Republican, Conservative, Libertarian,...anyone right of center or fiscally conservative should memorize the data in this book! I have been highlighting and writing notes in the margins on every page just to make certain I remember all the facts that Ms. Pipes lays out.

Easy to read, easy to understand, and above all - easy to retell to those people convinced that government is the answer to every problem. Excellent price too - buy a few, and hand them out.

38 of 44 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Truth About Obamacare August 18, 2010

By Country doctor

Format:Paperback

Great Book. Everyone who is worried about the cost and quality of their healtcare after Obamacare must read. Sally makes it crystal clear that we will pay more for lower quality care through this quasi nationalization of our healthcare system. Substituting the federal government for your doctor is clearly not the solution.

37 of 43 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Now We Know What's In It August 6, 2010

By Michael Lynch

Format:Paperback

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, rallying her troops, declared that Congress had to pass the health care bill so that they could find out what was in it. Thanks to Sally C. Pipes Americans can now know not only what is in the multi-pound bill but also what it will mean for seniors, taxpayers, doctors and those of us who rely on the U.S. health care system for care. This book is a must read for engaged citizens who want to know what our government is doing to us. It is accessibly written and a great read.

52 of 63 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book - a must read August 3, 2010

By DWhite

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Wow. What a fantastic book. Easy to read and understand. Extremely straightfoward. Pipes walks the reader through every component of the bill, explaining why Obamacare is leading us -- quickly -- down a road to nationalized healthcare. This book is critically important for everyone to read.

32 of 38 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Sending to all my friends August 3, 2010

By Rebecca

Format:Paperback

If you liked Sally Pipes's Top 10 Myths of American Health Care, you will LOVE The Truth About Obamacare. Those of us who want the law repealed can't give up! I am buying many copies and sending them to friends.