This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," June 28, 2012. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
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LAURA INGRAHAM, HOST: The Supreme Court upholding most of President Obama's healthcare law. This decision affects nearly every American requiring almost everyone to have health insurance or pay a fine. The court saying that fine is essentially a tax and the government has the power to impose this tax.
But Republican lawmakers and Mitt Romney are vowing to repeal it if the law... the law if they win in November making this a huge campaign issue in the presidential race.
Joining us now from North Carolina where he is on vacation is Bill O'Reilly. No rest for the weary. So Bill, how does this affect the average American.
BILL O'REILLY, FOX NEWS HOST (via telephone): Well, I think everybody has to take a deep breath and step back from emotional analysis. And here is really what Justice Roberts did today. And it's Justice Roberts who did it because the four conservatives, I'm including Kennedy in that, they saw that this was an overreach by the government. And the four liberals they want the government to overreach.
And it was Roberts who really stunned everybody. This basically says that the Supreme Court will allow the federal government to take over the healthcare system. All right?
So up until now, the private sector ran the healthcare system, the insurance company. And they screwed it up because they kept making it more and more and more expensive and a lot of people can't afford it and then if you get really sick, you can lose every penny you have if you don't have the right insurance.
So the government stepped in and said no we can do it better. This is what they do in Canada, this is what they do in Great Britain and most European countries, all right? You can call it socialized medicine, you can call it whatever you want. But the government calls the shots.
And the Supreme Court has said now that they're ok with the government running the American healthcare industry. All right, what does that mean?
It means that for poor Americans, it's good because the government is going to give them health insurance. Just hand it to them for free. Just like they give welfare, food stamps and whatever. It's another entitlement.
For more affluent Americans and some working Americans, it's bad because they their taxes are going to go up to pay for the free stuff, the free healthcare that's going to the poor Americans.
And for business, it's bad, because now they don't know... small business in particular... how much the health insurance is going to cost them because the government can charge whatever the government wants to charge. Because Justice Roberts said it's a tax. So they can tax you as much as they want. They can charge as much as they want. So for business, it's bad.
Because the uncertainty continues, the hiring is going to be blunted. And the economy is going to be harmed. So that's across the board what it is for everybody.
INGRAHAM: Well, Bill, one thing that is for sure here is when you have the Chief Justice, of course, nominated by George W. Bush, deciding this monumental case, he was the swing vote, 5-4 decision; that without a doubt erodes personal liberty, throws people's lives into question. The rich people can always afford to buy the coverage they need or pay for health -- healthcare out of pocket.
But the middle class that Barack Obama said he was going to protect, under this ruling written by the Chief Justice, they're really going to get shafted here because they are going to pay for this -- this monstrosity one way or another through this, quote, "taxation" or through continued ramped up care that ends up being rationed in the end.
O'REILLY: Well, it's going to be rationed because there aren't going to be enough doctors to -- to distribute the care. If you want a hip replacement you're going to wait a much longer time than you would now.
But you hit it right. The rich people are going to be able to pay a doctor to do it. A lot of doctors are just going to opt out. They're just not going to be involved with it and they won't take Medicare and Medicaid. And they're just going to say I'm going to be a private person and that's what they do in Great Britain.
But here is the big rub here. Americans have to decide what kind of country they want, Laura. Because in November, if Americans go to the polls and say we don't want the government running everything because that's what Barack Obama wants. He wants this huge federal government to level the playing field and redistribute income. That's what the man wants. It's obvious this is another play on that.
So working Americans, middle-class Americans have to decide do you want to be Sweden or do you want to go back to the free marketplace? The problem with the Republicans -- and this is huge -- is they have to put forth something better.
Romney can't just say "I hate Obamacare I'm going to repeal it if I'm president." Number one, he can't repeal it unless the Senate goes Republican. All right? And number two, he is not going to win the presidency unless he says here is what I'm going to do that's better. Because there is no -- there is no question that the private insurance companies have allowed it to get out of control -- the cost, the medical costs to get out of control.
INGRAHAM: Well, a lot of that is because --
(CROSSTALK)
O'REILLY: -- yes the hospitals have done it.
INGRAHAM: Yes, competition is not really in the insurance marketplace. We know that.
O'REILLY: -- right, the law suits, the medical malpractice it's all out of control. And instead of the government saying we're going to fix the private system, we're going to fix it by setting up rules about lawsuits, by setting up rules about catastrophic insurance, instead of doing that they said no, we're going to run it all and -- and this is a huge power grab.
So now, under President Obama, the federal government is becoming a huge colossus. And you're right it, intrudes on personal freedom because you don't have the right to do anything other than what the government tells you to do unless you have big bucks.
INGRAHAM: Yes I mean, the bottom line is now that this is called a tax and this is not the way the statute was written, the court rewrote the statute to uphold it. But if you call this a tax, Bill, that means that pretty much the government can make you do anything that's in the general interest and then call it a tax.
(CROSSTALK)
O'REILLY: The government will call every shot they want, every shot they want. They can charge as much as it wants or as little as it wants.
INGRAHAM: Right, exactly. And Romney, Bill -- before we let you go, Romney raised about $2 million, since the decision came down, the blogosphere has been going crazy. People tweet in the Romney campaign --
(CROSSTALK)
O'REILLY: Sure. But that has to translate into votes. You know, the conservatives don't want this because they want smaller government, not more powerful. But what Romney has to do is put something better, very specific. Say this is what I'm going to do to make the healthcare system better in the private hands. If he does that he's got a chance.
How much time we got?
(CROSSTALK)
INGRAHAM: Eric Holder, we have time to do Eric Holder. Eric Holder contempt vote. Your take on it.
O'REILLY: Ok, all right. Here is what this is all about ladies and gentlemen and I want everybody to listen. What this is all about is the Democratic Party walking out on the family of the border patrol family Brian Terry who was killed. That's what this is all about.
Nancy Pelosi and her -- and her acolytes who walked out of that chamber today instead of just casting a vote of conscience, all right, against -- because that's what they believe. They believe that Eric Holder shouldn't have to explain what happened here. That's what the Democratic Party believes. They walked out on this family.
This family has a right to know how their son was killed. Who ordered the program? When the Attorney General and the President knew about the program, and what the Attorney General did after he knew. We have a right, but more importantly, the Terry family has a right as Americans to know how their son was killed. And the Democratic Party and the President of the United States says to the Terry family "Blank you, we're not going to tell you." That's what it is all about.
All of the other stuff is BS. It's telling the family we're not going to tell you how your son was killed. We are not going to do it. That's outrageous.
But instead, all of this stuff is being -- is being lost in the political morass.
So I want to boil it all down. Reviewing -- this decision by the Supreme Court heightens the power of the federal government. They take over the healthcare industry, period.
The walk out of the Democrats and the executive privilege invoked by the President says to the Terry family and every other American we are not accountable to you. We will not tell you how this border patrol agent and dozens of other people were killed. We are not going to do it.
It's outrageous, but people have got to figure it out and they got to go to the polls in November and they have to decide what kind of country they want. Period.
INGRAHAM: Bill O'Reilly, great to talk to you. Thanks so much.
O'REILLY: All right, Laura. Have a good show.
INGRAHAM: We will.
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