“Hope” is what we wanted, “change” is what we’re currently receiving – and it’s not for the better. President Obama has a track record of expressing a strong encouragement for universal healthcare as a great option for United States citizens.

The problem many citizens have with a government-run healthcare option is simple: failure. Medicare and Medicaid, two government options that provide healthcare to those in need of it, are already run by the government. They do work, but at a major cost to our economy.

A universal healthcare program would just further the ongoing problem Americans already have with Medicare and Medicaid, all the while increasing taxes, the national debt and national deficit at the same time.

For those of us who don’t fully understand Medicaid, it is a government-run health insurance program that provides care for people “who cannot pay for their own medical expenses. Medicaid covers hospital stays, doctor visits, emergency room visits, prenatal care, prescription drugs, and other treatments.”

To me, Medicaid sounds awfully familiar to a government option already, and it still has its problems after 44 years in existence. Imagine how much spending, regulating and ongoing fights the citizens of these United States would have to endure to gather half-decent universal healthcare in the coming years. It’s almost unbelievable how smoothly our government can argue for a $1.8 trillion healthcare plan to be created, when they could just pump more money into Medicaid and also improve Medicare for seniors.

The other underlying issue that surrounds the fear of government-run healthcare with Americans is the thought that President Obama believes in not only providing an option for Americans without healthcare, which is fine, but to also run a socialized program on the United States and eventually – say in 15 to 20 years – make universal healthcare the staple of every American’s lifestyle.

As early as 2003, President Obama expressed an ideological vision of a future America to the Illinois AFL-CIO, “I happen to be a proponent of a single-payer universal healthcare program . But as all of you know, we may not get there immediately because first we have to take back the White House, we have to take back the Senate and we have to take back the House.”

The stepping stones have been put in place, my fellow Americans. As we all know, President Obama has recently taken back the White House, and Democrats are currently controlling the majority in Congress. And as recently as 2007, he was quoted as saying, “I don’t think we’re going to be able to eliminate employer coverage immediately. There’s going to be potentially some transition process. I can envision a decade out, or 15 years out, or 20 years.”

Ladies and gentlemen, I’m no conspiracy theorist, but something fishy is going on here, as if Obama is telling a little white lie to keep us all calm as sheep.

“I have not said that I was a single-payer supporter because, frankly, we historically have had an employer-based system in this country with private insurers, and for us to transition to a system like that I believe would be too disruptive.”

I’d have to agree. An expensive, unnecessary healthcare program forced on the American people is disruptive, as is my president lying about his true beliefs.

Alan Rhea is a junior broadcast journalism major.