The healthcare debate rages on. Supporters point the finger at the evil, wicked, profiteering insurance companies as being all that is wrong with the healthcare. And, while that may be a bit of an exaggeration, for the most part supporters feel that if we can just get rid of insurance companies all will be well.
I am sorry to disappoint, but according to President Obama, even HE is not wanting to get rid of private insurance. Instead, he wants a government option. He wants to provide competition for private insurers for what I can only assume is to keep them honest. This is a falsehood, though, as both President Obama and top leaders of the Democrat Caucus are on record for their support and desire to move to a single-payer health care system. He can say what he wants now, but the fact remains that for his entire career he has fought for it, supported it and preached it to his supporters. I highly doubt that now that he has been brought to office by those supporters he suddenly has a change of heart. As they say, baby steps.
So with Medicare being a government program, it was bound to come up in the debate; and how. It is the number one thing thrown in my face by Obamacare supporters. How can those against the bill, who want nothing of government care, say that they are fine with Medicare? It is a government run program. Over 60% of those on Medicare are in favor of it while only 42% say that they like their private insurance.
This is, actually, a good question. So here is my answer. Those receiving Medicare are of retirement age (mostly). They paid into the system for years and are now able to benefit from it. Because the government subsidizes it, costs are relatively low. But the cost to the government is enormous. When it was first started, Medicare was projected to cost roughly $9 billion by 1990. The actual cost that year was around $66 billion, over seven times the original projection. Because of the cost, the government is losing more and more money on the program.
Those costs are not really pushed onto the consumer, but they are passed onto the doctors; with less and less actually being paid out in an effort to save. In one case, a radiologist spent 12 hours with a patient only to receive a check from Medicare for $12. Doctors are avoiding Medicare patients. Those who do accept them are, with good reason, pushing their lost revenue onto people with private insurance. Because of the skyrocketing cost of malpractice insurance as well, doctors need to find ways to make a lot of money annually just to break even.
The cost is the reason so many people are not happy with their coverage. Yes, I am sure some feel they cannot get what they want for services, or have been dropped for various reasons, but I know those I talk to tell me that the cost for insurance is what they dislike most.
So now the government wants to take a failing program like Medicare and expand it to everyone, illegals included. The government will be both a referee and a player in the game. If it loses money, it will tax something or shift money over from elsewhere to support it. Private industry, however, cannot do that and would fail. With the government undercutting private insurance, slowly people will be forced to the program.
It isn’t that they will want it. The reason they will be forced over is because it will be more cost effective for businesses to drop their plans. With a government safety net, I would do the same thing. This is why Wal-Mart is supporting the plan. In order to compete, if Wal-Mart drops their insurance plan, their competitors will be forced to as well. Wal-Mart, paying more for its plan than others, will have a bigger net profit.
With so many people getting on to the rolls of the government plan, it will become burdened. With doctors fees being leveled, specialists will slowly become more rare. With less specialists comes longer waits and poor quality of care. It is a natural fact. It has happened in other countries, and it will happen here. Everywhere you can find people who like their system, but overall, look at the quality of care provided and the USA is tops in the world. If it were not, world leaders would not come here to get treated.
Contrary to all of the liars out there, we (conservatives) are not objecting to reform. What we are objecting to is taking Medicare and expanding it to millions of people. It cannot work. It WILL fail and go bankrupt eventually or taxes will skyrocket to afford it. There is no third choice with this option. (Well, cutting and rationing services will help save money, but liberals, President Obama and the media assure us that we are just fear mongering.) Every social program begun by the government has failed or is looming failure. We need to fix what is broke, not install yet another government takeover of industry.
Read the signs. See what is really going on. Once on the path, turning back will be mighty hard.
The revolution is at hand. Will you be a leader or a follower?
Vets On The Watch 