News about the pinheaded things by politicians and governemt.
Posts tagged Health Care
Obama’s “new” Health Care Proposal: Universal Health Care by Proxy
Feb 22nd
Barack Obama has finally released his own proposal for Health Care Reform. Most of his proposal is just a rehash of the Bills before the House and Senate with proposals for how differences should be reconciled. In other words, not that much is new.
Some highlights (or lowlights depending on your perspective).
One of the new proposals is for a new bureaucracy called the Health Insurance Rate Authority. This bureaucracy is slated to oversee increases in insurance premiums. The idea is similar to State oversight of Utility rates.
The problem here is that the justification for Government oversight of Utility rates is that Utilities are Government granted monopolies, and these type of monopolies need to be regulated to prevent “obscene” profits. The term “monopoly” usually doesn’t apply to the Health Insurance Industry and their profits can hardly be termed “obscene”.
Health Insurance Providers have a profit rate hovering around 3.5%. The average profit rate for a typical American Corporation is closer to 10%. How can you possibly justify regulating what an industry with lower than average profit rate can charge its customers? Especially when they are in a field where there is competition between providers.
This proposal to control Insurance Premiums becomes even more troublesome when coupled with all the other regulations being proposed.
Under the current proposals, the Government will control what conditions Insurers will cover, it will mandate that Insurers cover everybody (no preexisting condition clauses), will mandate no coverage limits, will mandate coverage of “dependents” up to the age of 26, etc.
Now, Obama proposes the Government control what premiums Insurers will be able to charge as well.
With the Government making all the decisions, how can we say that we have private Insurance?
Instead, we will have Government Health Care by proxy, with the only decision being made by private companies being who is employed. And even the terms of employment stand to be regulated by the Government under the current proposals with the mandate that 85% of revenues be spent on health care.
Latest Health Care Proposal: Expand Medicare!
Dec 11th
The Democrat’s latest proposal for Health Care “Reform” is a real doozy.
They’ve proposed expanding Medicare Coverage to those people in the 55-64 year bracket. This one is just so jaw-droppingly bad that I’m really not sure where to begin with criticism.
First, Medicare is already going bankrupt. The amount of money being spent will be far more than what the plan takes in within the next decade. Adding people in the 55-64 range will greatly increase the cost of the program, making it go bankrupt even sooner.
Only Government officials could conclude that extending a Government program they already have problems paying for would be a good idea.
Congress will either have to increase payroll taxes, cut benefits or engage in extra deficit spending (or a combination) in order pay for the additional costs.
Then there is the fact that people in the targeted age group are usually still employed, often with health benefits. Plus they have access to Health Insurance through AARP, and are likely to be able to afford it. The 55-64 year bracket are the people least likely to need Government Health Insurance.
Then there is the way that the Democrats planned to pay for there Health Care Reform. You know. That 500 Billion in savings from Medicare.
So is that still in the works?
How much sense does it make to take $500 Billion out of Medicare in order to finance an extension of Medicare?
Otherwise known as “The Government Givith and the Government Taketh Away.”
Doesn’t Anybody in Washington Pay Attention to the Rest of the Country?
Oct 9th
One of the things lost in the Health Care Debate currently going on in Washington is the fact that some of the States have already tried the approach being pushed by President Obama and Congressional Democrats.
8 States have implemented guaranteed issue and community rating rules for insurers in their states (a large portion of the current proposals before Congress). In every instance the results were a disaster.
Why?
Community Rating means that insurers can’t charge people based on the risk of covering them. They must charge everybody the same rate. The result of this is that healthy people (the people least likely to use insurance) have to pay the same amount for coverage as the people that utilize insurance the most.
At the same time, Insurers can’t refuse coverage for conditions that exist before coverage began.
This means that healthy individuals have an incentive not to buy insurance due to its high cost. At the same time, they bear no consequences for that decision because they can purchase it if they do become ill without having to pay more and they are covered for their illness.
As a consequence, only sick individuals carry insurance. As a result, Health Insurers are now faced with increased costs with a lower pool of policy holders. The only way to stay in business is to drastically increase premiums. The only way to force the healthy to buy insurance under this system is to impose a fee that dwarfs the cost of buying insurance.
All of this is a predictable result based on basic human nature.
Plus there is empirical evidence based on the results of implementing theses proposals in 8 States.
Yet, the Democrats are still insisting on implementing these failed policies nation wide.
Someone once said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing that has been done in the past and expecting a different result. Couple that with the belief that the result will be different because you’re the one doing it, and what you get is a God Complex.
Here’s a “Concept” for Democratic Senators
Sep 23rd
The Senate today voted down a proposed Amendment to its latest Health Care Bill that would have required the Bill to be posted online 72 Hours before being voted on. They decided to post a “conceptual” version of the bill, instead. After all, posting the actual Bill would result in the vote being delayed for several weeks.
So? It’s not like any provision in the Bill is going to be implemented immediately. Most provisions don’t take effect for several years.
There is absolutely no reason not to post the Bill before voting on it.
Except for the obvious. The more the American people know about the Bill the more they oppose it.
Can’t let those peons know what’s in the Bill if it will get them all worked up, can we?
Something struck me just after I posted this. Posting the Bill will result in delaying voting for weeks in order to get an accurate cost estimate.
In other words, the Senate is going to schedule a vote on a Bill without having any idea as to how much it will cost.
It also suggests what the “conceptual” version of the Bill will be like. The “concept” being telling the American people whatever they need to in order to get it past.
I have a “concept” for those Senators, but I don’t think I can post it without getting in trouble.
And if you needed an illustration on just how disingenuous the decision not to post the bill is, Baucus’s proposal has already been posted online by OpenCongress.
And this editorial makes interesting reading on the subject.
It makes an important point. It wouldn’t take much effort at all to make these sorts of Bills readily accessible. If nothing else, Congress could simply use some sort of XML format.
The fact that these bills aren’t readily accessible kind of makes you think about whether our Senators want out input.
Another Amendment gave lie to the statement that the Bill wouldn’t result in anybody loosing their Insurance. Orrin Hatch proposed an amendment exempting Medicare Advantage Plans (Medicare in the form of Private Insurance) from Medicare Cuts.
The Amendment was voted down.
Good-bye Medicare Advantage Plans.
There are a large percentage of Seniors with these plans, and they are very happy with them. The fact that the Government is targeting these plans for elimination is why many Seniors are up in arms about Health Care Reform.
Recent Comments