Saturday Voice – Health Care Redux

Tonight, the Senate takes a vote as to whether the Senate Health Care Reform proposal will be put up for debate. This proposal and the one from the house has several, in fact many, proposals that concern me greatly.

First, where in the Constitution is Congress granted the authority to even consider managing our health care? I know this is not the first time this has happened (e.g., Medicare, Social Security, etc.), but this will be one of the biggest power grabs in our country’s history.

Second, I do not want even a cent of my taxes to go for abortion, yet the Senate proposal will do just that. Again, where do they get the authority to force me to pay for something I find morally objectionable?

Third, if I were a young person (and I’m not), I would be concerned about being mandated to pay for health insurance and, if I don’t, I will be financially penalized and, in some proposals, even subject to legal sanctions.

Fourth, costs and taxes are going to go up. There is no way around this. You can not cover 37 million more people and it not cost more – particularly if a significant part of the system is controlled by the government which is very inefficient. A big part of the cost increase is supposedly covered by almost half a trillion dollars in reduction in Medicare costs through supposed fraud and waste. Do you really think this will happen? Government has never reduced spending or become more efficient in anything. If, by some miracle, the government pulled this Medicare reduction off, it would result in a reduction in health care for seniors which is already happening in other countries with socialized medicine.

Fifth, this will result in a tremendous increase in our country’s debt burden. The estimates you hear from entities such as the Congressional Budget Office are based on the assumptions they are given by the Congress. Congress has NEVER gotten an estimate right. In 1967 the House Ways and Means Committee estimated that Medicare would cost $12 billion in 1990. Actual Medicare spending in 1990 was $110 billion – off by nearly a factor of 10.

Sixth, all of this, especially the expanded costs, will result in medical rationing – long waits for tests and treatments, seniors being denied certain tests and treatments because their ‘value’ doesn’t warrant them. This is already happening in countries that have had this kind of government control over health care for years (e.g., Canada, England, etc.)

Finally, and this always gets my dander up, Congress will be exempted from the bill's provisions. What's good enough for us folks is not good enough for them. And, they will exempt their union supporters from a lot of the bill's provisions.

Health Care Reform is all about grabbing a significant portion of control over 1/6 of our economy and grabbing a significant control over our lives. It is a political bill, a payoff bill, not a health reform bill.

In Canada and England where they have had this kind of program they are looking at how they can go back to privatization of health care because it is costing so much money for tremendously reduced services. Why are we trying to move toward a system that has already failed in other countries? Do we really trust politicians and government agencies to make health care decisions for us and our loved ones?

There are solutions to what problems we do have. First, allow competition among health insurance companies across all states (this is not included in any bill). This would help reduce insurance premiums. Second, deal with the legal suits that drive up medical insurance premiums (this is not included). Third, look at health savings accounts that could be supported by government funds for those people who truly cannot afford insurance. Finally, where ever possible, get government out of the health care business.

As Reagan said, “Government is not the solution, it’s the problem.”