Democrats in Congress are once again trying to push legislation through as fast as possible, without debate and without exploration of free market ideas. Obama for his part has accused those who do not support his government run plan of fear mongering as if lowering healthcare costs is not everyone’s goal. Americans want lower healthcare costs; they just do not want another industry controlled by the government. The Kennedy-Dodd healthcare bill is based upon our current Medicare system. The same system that will soon run out of money because of our government’s mismanagement. I do not think that you will find anyone who thinks the Medicare system is run well, so how anyone could support this bill is beyond me. But Obama, Kennedy and Dodd are still pushing it.
The reason for the push to expedite this legislation is the same as it was for the stimulus bill. It is going to cost a lot of money and they want to get it through before all the facts are in. Just as the CBO issued its analysis that the stimulus bill would stunt long term GDP growth, they have also released some damaging facts about the Kennedy-Dodd healthcare bill. The CBO released cost numbers on this bill at a whopping $1 trillion and stated that it could be much higher. As high as $1.6 trillion. The really bad news for liberals is that the net gain for those insured is only 16 million Americans, which is not exactly everyone. More bad news is that the bill does not show where this money will come from. Because healthcare is exempt from Obama’s pay as you go strategy it will likely be additional deficit spending.
In addition to the costs of the bill that have not been addressed, other key elements of the legislation have been questioned by just about everyone who is an expert in the field. As The Heritage Foundation President stated in his open letter to the President and Congress , President Obama is misleading the American public. The first element is the public (government) option. Obama has stated time and time again that no one will have to give up their private plan and that the private and public plans will provide competition that will lower costs. The experts do not agree. An independent study by the Levin group shows that as many as 119 million Americans could be forced into the government plan. Harrington, from the famed Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, also shoots down Obama’s assertion that the public and private plans can co-exist. In this WSJ article he explains how “an ostensibly competing public plan would make a single-payer system inevitable”. I will warn you though that the article is full of those troublesome things called facts and logic. Many other economists have come out publicly to say that Obama’s healthcare plan will simply shift healthcare costs to the private sector. Others such as CBO director Douglas Elmendorf have stated that the lower healthcare costs expected by Obama will not necessarily come to fruition with this overhaul.
Despite Obama’s insistence that he is open to all ideas to fix our healthcare problems, it is very obvious that the only thing he is really open to is a government run system. Calling those who have opposing ideas fear mongerers is not productive and is not good leadership. He doesn’t have to look far to find additional ideas. Rep. Paul Ryan currently has a piece of healthcare legislation called the Patients choice act. You can read it here if you wish. The bottom line is we do not need the government running a healthcare system. History has shown that they are not good at it, especially at a $1 trillion price tag. We have lived with the current system for quite some time. There is no reason to rush legislation through. All ideas should be brought to the table, but I just do not believe it will happen with this administration.
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Having access to affordable health care coverage as costs rise, is a key issue for many Americans right now and should be Congress’ top priority. Friends of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce supports alternatives for individual health coverage. Learn more about some of the proposals and sign a petition at http://www.friendsoftheuschamber.com/takeaction/index.cfm?ID=40 .