Remember: This is not a government takeover of the health insurance industry. They just want to dictate who the insurance companies must cover, what kind of coverage they must offer, how much their executives can earn, and now, how much they can charge for their product.

But a government takeover? You're dreaming.

Jon Ward of the Daily Caller:

Obama on Monday will include in a health care proposal new authority for the secretary of health and human services to veto insurance rate hikes that it deems excessive, and will create a federal panel that would set guidelines for health insurers to follow in determining their rates. The details were first reported by the New York Times and confirmed by the Daily Caller.

"This seems to be an admission on the part of the Obama Administration that their massive government takeover of health care will, despite their promises, increase health care premiums for millions of Americans," said Kevin Smith, a spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner, Ohio Republican.

But a White House official said the federal government's regulatory powers were more of a stopgap measure designed to immediately address the problem of skyrocketing premiums.

"This goes into effect immediately, while the exchanges take a few years to get up and running. And we know the insurers aren't wasting any time in jacking up rates," the White House official told the Daily Caller Sunday night.

However, the administration official said the government's regulatory powers would not be diminished or eliminated once the government-run insurance exchanges are fully operational.

Did you get that? A "stopgap measure" with the permanence of Mount Rushmore. If they have no plans to repeal the idea of setting rates, how can they possibly call it a "stopgap" measure?

Because they are lying. 

Not only liars, but abject cowards. If they were proud of what they were doing, they'd loudly proclaim their government takeover of the health insurance industry to all. They wouldn't couch their efforts in weasel words, hidden ball tricks, and political double talk.

Obama puts his own health insurance proposal (6 months after Democrats in Congress begged him to do so and 5 months after his joint session speech where he promised a White House bill) online today at 10:00 AM eastern.

Will he go for the gold and add the public option? Now that the Democrats have apparently decided on reconciliation as a tactic to pass the bill, anything is possible. My guess is Obama's bill wil be slightly left of what the Senate passed and less than what the House liberals want but with some kind of public option that, of course, he won't call a "public option." That's been the SOP of this administration to date.

Meanwhile, the insurance companies will either bankrupt themselves by voluntarily refraining from increasing premiums or will be forced into failure by government action. Either way, liberals will eventually get what they want - a single payer system, taxpayer supported, that is inimical to freedom, injurious to the public purse, and a death sentence for decent health care in the United States.