President Obama today started touting once more his plans for American health care. Not surprisingly the spend-and-spend brand of neo-socialism Mr. Obama espouses is in full force.
But first, I must take offense at Mr. Obama’s blatant hypocrisy in trying to coopt an idea from Senator McCain, an idea Mr. Obama and his wingnut lefties demonized Mr. McCain for during the campaign. The idea: pay or play. While hypocrisy is nothing new to Mr. Obama’s still fledgeling administration the continued level of arrogance and deception is sickening.
So on to the “reforms” being championed:
- Generous packages covering a wide range of benefits such as in vitro fertilization, mental health, etc., while maintaining low deductibles.
- Federally impose what’s known as community rating. In other words all customers are offered same rates regardless of their health.
- Ban consumers from buying private insurance across state lines.
- The so called “public option” plan. In effect a Medicare-style plan to compete with private companies.
These sound good on the surface, don’t they? Take a closer look.
Generous Minimum Package Plans
These generous benefits and low deductibles sounds good, but where do the benefits end. For example, I do not feel in-vitro fertilization is a valid procedure that should be paid for by tax payers, but I have no problem with tax payer money going to assist those needing psychological help. There are others that would completely disagree with me. So where do these benefits start and end? Should abortion be considered a legitimate benefit? What about medically uneccessary plastic surgery or contraceptives?
More importantly is how does this reign in health care costs? By frocing federally mandated minimums on the health insurance providers and thereby the consumer. Minimums that should be noted can be chaned at the whim of the federal government. It takes away the choice of the consumer not to pay for items they don’t need or want. For example, if neo-natal care were included in the minimum coverage why would a a male have to pay for that? Conversely, if hair replacement was included for men, why would women be stuck with that coverage being in their plan?
The end result would be higher costs since unneeded or unwanted benefits and coverage would be foisted upon all, regardless of health, gender, age, or need.
Community Rating
A major problem with community rating is that it ends up forcing young people to pay much higher premiums even though they may be perfectly healthy. It is the community rating system that has partially led to this nation’s current problem with Americans being uninsured. It has the effect of subsidizing the elderly and unhealthy while burdening the young and healthy with costs actually higher than the actual costs would be.
Ban Consumer Choice
By banning Americans from being allowed to shop around outside of their state for potentially better alternatives this so called reform will actually increase health care costs by preventing comptetition and free markets to dictate health care costs. In effect there would be 50 seperate insurance markets completely non-interchangeable for individuals and companies that operate across state lines. This would, once again, have the effect of increasing costs on the individuals and businesses in terms of financial, economics, and social effects. It discourages the free movement of people and businesses in the pursuit of better business, education, and lifestyle opportunities over concern about health coverage and cost differences in each state.
As I plainly put it: no free market, no capitalism. Doesn’t sound very American to me.
This could even have the delitirious effect of establishing a hegemonistic system in which wealthy states would maintain their preeminence over poorer states by using their superior monetary resources to offer better packages, thereby drawing the best and brightest away from the poorer areas, further limiting those areas abilities to improve themselves.
Public Option Plan
The public option plan in effects puts the government in business against private enterprise. This is a dangerous step as the government running the system is the very same government creating laws that cripple the private enterprises from competing. One can not claim to have fair and free trade when the government would be so intimately involved and have undue influence over the governance of the the medical industry.
We then add in the government’s carrot to pushing people ontp government rolls: pay or play. In effect companies drop their coverage in exchange for a payroll tax. Most companies would drop their plans in a heartbeat, forcing employees to go to their individual federally funded state’s plan or a private plan whether they want to or not. In effect, you will stave have people without insurance as I know many people who refuse vehemently to take part in a socialized medical system.
In effect the end results from the three prior plans in conjunction with this plan makes the government run plan become the de facto socialized medical care system most Americans do not want and at an expense that is unsustainable.
In the end, these plans do not solve any problems with health care. All they are aimed at doing is creating a socialized medical system that will weigh down the American people with an ever increasing tax burden. It does nothing to contain costs and nothing to ensure all Americans will have coverage.
Now many won’t care about these concerns and will still want these foolish plans anyway. All I can say is consider the Federal government’s numerous failures with regards to anything medical related. Do you really want the Feds determining your health insurance and benefits after the fiascos of the Veteran’s Administration, Medicare, Medicaid, the deplorable conditions at Walter Reed, denying mental health assistance to soldiers, and so on?
Better yet, consider where the money is coming from. Nothing the government does is for free. Do you really want to the government taking more of your money and choices away? What about your children or grand children or great grand children? I for one do not. My only hope is Americans really look at what these “reforms” will do and choose what is best for the nation instead of choosing the path of self-centeredness and irresponsibility that have so many believing they are entitled to free everything: food, clothing, housing, education, etc.
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