By JOE BETTA
An April 27, 2004, Capitalism Magazine article, ‘Watchout for Hillary Health Care’ by Thomas Sowell says that Hillary’s legitimate reasons for government universal healthcare are “soaring health costs and millions of uninsured,’ and the government can do it better and cheaper. She also believes that our mental health systems are underfunded.
I listened to presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s health care plan for everybody for free on national TV. She said that her plan had a $110 billion annual budget; but not to worry taxpayers, the business community will get tax credits or the option of joining her new federal insurance system that will cover all of their employees. Hillary said that unlike her ‘93 one-size fits all solution, the people have choices this time.
Joe Klein also analyzed her new approach to universal healthcare in a Sept. 20 ‘What Hillary has learned from ’93’ article in “Time” archives. Klein says that nearly a third of the 47 million who don’t have health insurance are healthy young people thinking that they don’t need insurance, but much like car owners, they too will be forced to buy it.
If those figures are correct and these people show up in emergency rooms with medical insurance coverage, the universal healthcare system numbers may be down to 30 million; but from where do these people come? If her proposals reflect from where they come, they must be from job losses, low salaries and the working poor above eligibility levels.
Small businesses will get tax breaks or government subsidized employee health insurance, but what do we do with folks that value immediate gratification more than buying healthcare insurance, for which they perceive no immediate need? Skepticism is rampant on how politicians can force anybody to buy anything without incentives or intimidation.
What if large numbers of patients hold off on buying insurance until they discover needs for body parts or long term expensive medical treatment, especially after the free loaders discover that insurance companies must take aboard all comers with no right of refusal?
If it isn’t a blank government check to be paid for by you and me, insurance companies will have to up the ante on our premiums. Either that or they accept the ‘out of business’ option like some hospitals had to do after they were forced to accept illegal immigrants, for free, in emergency rooms in California. Revoking Bush tax cuts may soften the blow.
Hillary intends to cancel the Bush tax cuts beginning with the rich, but what defines rich?
Despite an ABC Poll claiming that 51% of us are willing to pay more taxes for universal healthcare, what if we don’t want politicians forcing one healthcare system on all of us?
Why would she think that hard working Americans sacrificing a lifetime for lifelong care insurance would forfeit their right to choose their insurance or to select their own doctor?
Why would she even think of bundling hard working accountable folks with insurance with an estimated 47 million uninsured Americans in a single plan?
Massachusetts began by requiring most of their citizens to have healthcare coverage; but very interestingly, Maine, Vermont, and California plans cover uninsured ‘residents’ in their states. Romney already is distancing himself from his Massachusetts’ plan. They seem to be having problems, but what government plan doesn’t.
Anybody out there know of even one single government initiative that functions better or cheaper than the like business in a competitive market? What if she totally destroys our competitive healthcare system and we get left with a bunch of Walter Reed hospitals?
Why do Canadians and Brits have a six-month plus waiting time to see a specialist or get an operation that we get in days?
Why do the English and Dutch newspapers report dirty hospitals where nurses can’t even get a floor mopped after a patient vomits without checking government labor regulations? Yes, when in dire need of good healthcare they rush to the U.S., and if I was the father of a large family north or south of our border and had major medical problems, guess what? I’d probably be headed here, too, but illegal immigrants or people from other places reflect only a bit of the problem. What about you who sacrificed immediate gratification for lifelong medical coverage or chose professions guaranteeing lifetime healthcare? How many have chosen professions with lifetime healthcare coverage as one of the incentives?
Since everybody will be covered for free, what happens to current incentives that draw us to life threatening vocations such as policeman, fireman, military or any other hazardous profession requiring family separation for nights, weeks, months or a year at a time, but knowing that when it’s over, their family has earned healthcare for the rest of their life?
The wheat should be separated from the chafe; but, if we must, we have many state-run plans that can be observed and analyzed for a few years before leaping into the unknown. If all goes well with them, we can pick and choose from the best of the lot and begin by including the most deserving Americans first: Veterans according to time served are first.
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