PATHETIC

Bush's health care plan:

The big change in the tax code would encourage an additional 5 million people to buy health insurance, the Treasury Department concluded. But critics say the plan wouldn't help the remaining 42 million Americans who have no health insurance.

That's the big Bush breakthrough -- getting a whopping 11% of the uninsured on the insurance rolls, while leaving 89% still uninsured -- according to his administration's own rosy projections. (If this is the administration's boast, imagine what the reality must look like.)

And in this AP story, Kate Baicker, a member of the Bush's Council of Economic Advisers, is even less optimistic, talking about "upwards of 3 million or more newly insured people" -- which would leave approximately 94% of the uninsured uninsured.

And who pays to insure this tiny fraction of the uninsured? As the AP story notes,

About 30 million Americans could face a tax hike under President George W. Bush's plan to expand health insurance coverage and address rising health care costs, the White House said on Monday.

Ah, but:

Baicker said about 30 million Americans could face higher taxes under the president's plan "if they didn't change their behavior" -- meaning giving up an employer's more generous health plan in favor of a less-costly one.

Yeah, blame the ordinary citizens -- white-collar people, union members -- who can manage to get a good health plan. Talk about them the way you talk about drug addicts -- wag your finger and say they need to "change their behavior." That's the way to win the public over.