No it's not. The statement by Nancy Pelosi today is a Big Lie. She and Obama were introducing plans for sweeping "health" care reform (meaning medical insurance reform) this summer. Her statement defines exactly what Democrats, and sadly most Americans, think of as "health". They think health is something you buy from doctors and hospitals. They define "health" as fixing the symptoms of disease. They don't ever imagine that "health" is something each individual creates by way of personal lifestyle choices. The presumption is that Americans are passive receivers of "health" from paid professionals.
The new definition of "health" includes: gastric bypass surgery for everyone. A free lifetime supply of dozens of daily prescription drugs to mask symptoms of all those preventable chronic diseases. A lifetime of free stents to open clogged arteries and free liver transplants for obese children with fatty liver disease. The list goes on. And on.
For PR image-enhancement purposes, The Dems pay lip service to wellness. They plan to look at changing Federal laws to encourage employers to offer wellness programs. But the Dems also plan to tax employer-sponsored medical insurance. Once each employee realizes that they owe an additional $3000 per year in taxes, thanks to the $10,000 insurance premium their employer is paying for their policy, those employees are going to abandon those policies. What alternative will they have? The free government controlled plan. How convenient.
Meanwhile the employer stops offering insurance because no one wants it, and now has no incentive to invest in any time-consuming wellness programs. Why was wellness the employer's responsibility anyway? Why are the owners of a software company or auto repair shop or coffee bar expected to become wellness experts? I can just see how this would work at Vic's Espresso: "Excuse me. We won't be serving any coffee for the next hour because the employees have to sit and listen to a lecture about cholesterol".
Nancy Pelosi's goal is not to have a "healthier" America. It's to have a more highly treated America. An America addicted to medical care and prescription drugs. And an America so dependent on that 'free' care that they will have no choice but to keep the pushers in office, so they can continue to get their daily medical fix.