James Quinn submits:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights,
governments are instituted among men, deriving their just
powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form
of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the
right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute
new government, laying its foundation on such principles and
organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most
likely to effect their safety and happiness.
Declaration of Independence
The reason this country continues its drift toward socialism
and big nanny government is because too many people vote in the
expectation of getting something for nothing, not because they
have a concern for what is good for the country.
Lyn Nofziger
No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge
the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States;
nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or
property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person
within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
I did not find the right to healthcare in the Bill of Rights. I
also did not find the right to an Ivy League education, the right
to a well paying job, the right to a fully paid for pension, the
right to drive a BMW X5, the right to a beautiful wife, the right
to reside in a 6,000 sq ft McMansion, or the right to get into
Heaven.
I did discover that government derives their
JUST
powers from the consent of the people. I also found that if those
who govern use their powers in a destructive manner, the governed
have the right to abolish that government and install a new
government. Those who have run up $12 trillion in debt, led us into
multiple trillion dollar foreign wars, left our children and
grandchildren with a $100 trillion bill for unfunded promises, and
have sold their souls to evil banks and corporations, have
exercised their powers in a destructive manner. Despite this record
of government corruption, failure and mismanagement, these
politicians are about to fashion a new government healthcare
bureaucracy that will cost trillions. Passage of this plan is a
fateful decision which will push the United States a step closer to
economic collapse. Abolition of this government will be necessary
and the people will need to install a new government that will
follow the U.S. Constitution.
HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE REALLY UNINSURED
Mystical references to society and its programs to help may
warm the hearts of the gullible but what it really means is
putting more power in the hands of bureaucrats.
Thomas Sowell
As the Democratic Party attempts to ram their socialist
government controlled healthcare plan down the throats of
Americans, they have stooped to lies and misinformation to mislead
the public. Last week I watched as Senator Jay Rockefeller declared
that 50 million Americans were uninsured. In his speech on
September 9, 2009 President Obama stated:
"There are now more than thirty million American citizens who
cannot get coverage."
On August 8th, President Obama said:
"Reform is obviously essential for the 46 million Americans
who don't have health insurance."
So what is it? Who's lying? Who's exaggerating? Who's misleading
the American public? If the Democrats can't even figure out how
many people are uninsured, how can we possibly trust their 1,990
page "solution"? The 46 million figure comes from the 2007 Census
Bureau report. So, why did Obama reference 30 million uninsured in
his speech? Maybe it was because 9.3 million of those were
non-citizens. Since the Democrats didn't want to let the public
know they were going to cover illegal aliens, Obama backed them out
of his figure. Another 6.4 million actually are enrolled in
Medicaid but mistakenly tell the Census they have no health
insurance. Another 4.3 million are eligible for Medicaid or SCHIP
but have not signed up. In addition, scores of the 46 million could
theoretically afford health coverage, but choose not to purchase
any. In 2007, 17.6 million of the uninsured had annual incomes of
more than $50,000 and 9.1 million earned more than $75,000.
Sally Pipes documents in the
Top Ten Myths of American Health Care: A Citizen's Guide
,
that those making more than $75,000 per year are part of the
fastest growing segment of the uninsured population. These people
have exercised their freedom and decided not to buy insurance. That
is their choice and not the responsibility of government or
taxpayers. Taking these facts into consideration leaves 8.4 million
people truly without insurance.
A 2003 BlueCross BlueShield study determined that 8.2 million
Americans are actually without coverage for a long term period of
time, because they are too poor to purchase health care but make
too much to qualify for government assistance. Even though these
people are without insurance they have access to healthcare,
because federal law prohibits hospitals from denying treatment to
patients who show up at hospital emergency rooms. The average
household in the U.S. has 2.5 people. This means there are 3.3
million households out of 114 million households without health
insurance. That is 2.9% of all the households in the U.S.
This appears to be an awfully small percentage of Americans to
warrant a $1 trillion new government bureaucracy. National health
spending in 2009 will reach $2.5 trillion. This comes to $8,000 per
person. If we gave the 8.2 million Americans without health
insurance an $8,000 voucher for healthcare, it would cost $65.6
billion. This amounts to a stimulus plan rounding error. The truth
is that Obama and the Democratic statists in Congress don't want to
make healthcare better or more efficient. They want control of your
life.
Many of the 17.6 million people who make more than $50,000 per
year choose not to purchase health insurance because they are self
employed. The tax code exempts people from paying taxes on health
care benefits purchased through their employer, while denying the
same tax advantages to individuals. Ending this discrimination
would make health care more affordable to those who are
self-employed or not covered through their workplace.
This would allow Americans to have health care policies that are
portable, so it would reduce the gaps in coverage people can face
when they quit or lose a job. There are easy cost effective
solutions to covering the 30 million uninsured referenced by
President Obama in his September "You Lie" speech. The Democratic
Party has no interest in easy cost effective solutions. They want
power over doctors, insurance companies, hospitals, and the
American people. They are pushing for government intervention in
health care by distorting the 46 million uninsured figures to
advance their goal of socialism. The liberal mainstream media is
disseminating the lie widely without further elaboration, therefore
rigging the game in favor of the Democratic Party.
COST OF HEALTHCARE
It is amazing that people who think we cannot afford to pay
for doctors, hospitals, and medication somehow think that we
can afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, medication and a
government bureaucracy to administer it.
Thomas Sowell
The U.S. health care system is riddled with inefficiencies,
outrageous administrative expenses, inflated prices, pitiable
management and inappropriate care, waste and fraud. These problems
increase the cost of medical care associated with government health
programs like Medicare and Medicaid, and health insurance for
employers and workers and affect the security of families. There is
one thing that conservatives, liberals and libertarians can all
agree upon. The cost of healthcare in the U.S. is out of
control.
Source: Perot Charts
We spend more than every other country on the planet, and with
our rapidly aging demographics, costs are situated to soar. We've
allowed the system to hurtle out of control for decades, with no
attempt to rein in costs. There are too many corporate lobbyists
paying off too many Congressmen. These people do not care about the
American people. They care about obscene profits and the power to
control our lives. Government intervention in the healthcare market
has already created a $100 trillion unfunded liability for our
children and grandchildren.
According to the National Coalition on Health Care:
-
National health spending is expected to reach $2.5 trillion
in 2009, accounting for 17.6 percent of the gross domestic
product ((
GDP
)). By 2018, national health care expenditures are expected to
reach $4.4 trillion-more than double 2007 spending.
-
National health expenditures are expected to increase faster
than the growth in GDP: between 2008 and 2018, the average
increase in national health expenditures is expected to be 6.2
percent per year, while the GDP is expected to increase only
4.1 percent per year.
-
In just three years, the Medicare and Medicaid programs will
account for 50 percent of all national health spending.
-
Medicare's Hospital Insurance ((
HI
)) Trust Fund is expected to pay out more in hospital benefits
and other expenditures this year than it receives in taxes and
other dedicated revenues. In addition, the Medicare
Supplementary Medical Insurance ((
SMI
)) Trust Fund that pays for physician services and the
prescription drug benefit will continue to require general
revenue financing and charges on beneficiaries that will grow
substantially faster than the economy and beneficiary incomes
over time.
-
According to one study, of the $2.1 trillion the U.S. spent
on health care in 2006, nearly $650 billion was above what we
would expect to spend based on the level of U.S. wealth versus
other nations. These additional costs are attributable to $436
billion outpatient care and another $186 billion of spending
related to high administrative costs.
In 1960, health services as a percentage of GDP was 3%. Today,
health services are 10% of GDP. At the current rate of increase,
along with a quickly aging population, health services will pass
20% of GDP in the next two decades. I hear Democrats refer to
Medicare and Medicaid as successful government programs. I guess my
definition of success is slightly different than a U.S.
Congressman's definition. A program riddled with $200 billion in
fraud, astonishing amounts of paperwork, a Federal bureaucracy that
costs $750 billion per year, and has run up $89 TRILLION of
unfunded liabilities, is not a winning program in my book. The
Medicare/Medicaid system will bankrupt the country. It is on an
unsustainable path. Creating a new trillion dollar National
Healthcare plan will only accelerate our demise. Obama and Congress
need to address the unsustainable path of Medicare and Medicaid
before introducing another trillion dollar inefficient corrupt
government bureaucracy.
Source: Perot Charts
The Federal government has promised far more than it can
deliver. They cannot fulfill these promises. Medicare and Medicaid
were enacted in 1965, the last time a Democratic President decided
to improve the lives of Americans by enacting Great Society
programs that have saddled future generations with society
crippling debts. The initial beneficiaries never paid a dime into
the plan. When it was enacted there were 6 workers per beneficiary.
By 2030 there will be 2.4 workers per beneficiary. The
Congressional Budget Office estimates that to cover the future
deficits through tax increases would require a doubling in tax
rates, with a top marginal rate of 66%. The current cast of
Congressional criminals won't dare touch Medicare. They fear the
wrath of the AARP and the liberal do-gooders who refuse to deal
with reality. Their solution to every problem is - TAX THE RICH
(the 53% of Americans who actually pay taxes).
The entire healthcare debate needs be put on hold until the
looming Medicare disaster is solved. A combination of the following
ideas must be enacted:
- Since Medicare is a fee for service model, millions are
wasted on unnecessary tests. Researchers at Dartmouth Medical
School estimate that 30% of Medicare spending does nothing to
make beneficiaries healthier. This is a waste of $150 billion per
year. The incentive to conduct unneeded tests must be taken
away.
- Medicare's lack of controls and administrative oversight
results in annual fraud losses of $200 billion. The GAO found
that questions from providers at Medicare Call Centers were
answered correctly 4% of the time. A commission of experts from
industry and the GAO needs the ability to make drastic changes in
the system to eliminate this fraud.
- Allow the free market to work by giving new enrollees a means
tested voucher that can be used to purchase the health plan of
their choice.
- Allow seniors to opt out of Medicare, without losing their
Social Security benefits.
- Allow new workers to save their 2.9% Medicare tax in an
inheritable account dedicated to retirement healthcare costs
Total spending on medical malpractice, including legal-defense
costs and claims payments, was $30.4 billion in 2007, according to
an estimate from consulting firm Towers Perrin.At the University of
Miami's School of Medicine patient practice, 14 cents out of every
dollar collected in fees for services to patients goes toward
buying medical malpractice insurance. In a 2003 report that called
for medical liability reform, the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services estimated that limits on malpractice awards could
save between $70 billion and $126 billion a year. This is likely on
the low end, as it is extremely difficult to gauge how many
unneeded tests are ordered to avoid a lawsuit.
The Democratic congressional leadership has evaded solutions to
the random, costly and time-consuming jury-by-jury malpractice
system. Texas passed a law in 2003 that caps liability awards at
$250,000 for noneconomic damages such as pain and suffering, a move
that has led to fewer malpractice suits being filed. According to
Texans for Lawsuit Reform, a lobbying group that supports the caps,
medical-liability-insurance rates have declined an average of 21%
in the state since the law change, with almost a quarter of doctors
seeing a 50% decrease. Pilot projects could test whether this
system should be replaced with expert health courts, but leaders
who say they want to cut costs will not even consider them. Expert
courts might succeed and undercut the special interest of the trial
lawyers. An expeditious and reliable new system would compensate
patients more quickly and at a fraction of the overhead of the
current medical justice system, which spends nearly 60 cents of
every dollar on lawyers' fees and administrative costs.
Expert health courts would eliminate the need for "defensive
medicine," thereby helping to save billions in costs. Defensive
medicine, the practice of ordering tests and procedures that aren't
needed to protect a doctor from the remote possibility of a
lawsuit, is ever-present. A 2005 survey in the Journal of the
American Medical Association recounted that 93% of high-risk
specialists in Pennsylvania admitted to the practice, and 83% of
Massachusetts physicians did the same in a 2008 survey. The same
Massachusetts survey showed that 25% of all imaging tests were
ordered for defensive purposes, and 28% and 38%, respectively, of
those surveyed admitted reducing the number of high-risk patients
they saw and limiting the number of high-risk procedures or
services they performed.
Defensive medicine is notoriously hard to quantify, but some
estimates place the annual cost at $100 billion to $200 billion or
more. Quantification is difficult because defensiveness is now
entrenched in the culture of American health care. It's hard to
separate the financial incentives from the distrust of the American
justice system. There are hundreds of billions in savings that
could be achieved if Congress chose to focus on the right issues.
Instead they will add a $1 trillion bureaucracy that will increase
costs for all Americans while delivering poorer quality
healthcare.
The waste and fraud in the current healthcare system will not be
alleviated by inserting a new government bureaucracy into the
equation. A Thomson Reuters report disclosed these findings:
- Unnecessary care such as the overuse of antibiotics and lab
tests to protect against malpractice exposure makes up 37% of
healthcare waste or $200 to $300 billion a year.
- Fraud makes up 22% of healthcare waste, or up to $200 billion
a year in fraudulent Medicare claims, kickbacks for referrals for
unnecessary services and other scams.
- Administrative inefficiency and redundant paperwork account
for 18% of healthcare waste.
- Medical mistakes account for $50 billion to $100 billion in
unnecessary spending each year, or 11% of the total.
- Preventable conditions such as uncontrolled diabetes cost $30
billion to $50 billion a year.
- The average U.S. hospital spends one-quarter of its budget on
billing and administration, nearly twice the average in
Canada.
HISTORY OF GOVERNMENT FAILURE
It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of
making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands
of people who pay no price for being wrong.
Thomas Sowell
There is one thing that is beyond doubt. When government gets
their grubby little fingers on any aspect of society, it costs the
taxpayer more money and the task gets done incompetently, or not at
all. It has taken decades of dreadful judgments, mismanagement and
corruption to get to this breaking point. We went from a logical
market based pay-as-you-go healthcare system in the 1950s to an
illogical, bureaucratic, wasteful, litigious system that is
bankrupting the country. The sorrowful path through the years is
painful.
1950s
At the start of the decade, national health care expenditures
are 4.5 percent of the Gross National Product. Many more
medications are available now to treat a range of diseases,
including infections, glaucoma, and arthritis, and new vaccines
become available that prevent dreaded childhood diseases,
including polio. The first successful organ transplant is
performed.
1960s
Over 700 insurance companies are selling health insurance.
Concern about a "doctor shortage" and the need for more "health
manpower" leads to federal measures to expand education in the
health professions. Major medical insurance endorses high-cost
medicine. President Lyndon Johnson signs Medicare and Medicaid
into law in 1965. Costs immediately begin to accelerate.
1970s
President Richard Nixon renames prepaid group health care
plans as health maintenance organizations (HMOs), with
legislation that provides federal endorsement, certification, and
assistance. Healthcare costs are escalating rapidly, partially
due to
unexpectedly high Medicare expenditures
, rapid inflation in the economy, expansion of hospital expenses
and profits, and changes in medical care including greater use of
technology, medications, and conservative approaches to
treatment. American medicine is now seen as in crisis.
1980s
Corporations begin to integrate the hospital system
(previously a decentralized structure), enter many other
healthcare-related businesses, and consolidate control. Overall,
there is a shift toward privatization and corporatization of
healthcare. Under President Reagan, Medicare shifts to payment by
diagnosis ((
DRG
)) instead of by treatment. Private plans quickly follow suit.
There are growing complaints by insurance companies that the
traditional fee-for-service method of payment to doctors is being
exploited. Corporate profits trump care. Charitable non-profit
hospitals are driven out of the market.
1990s
Health care costs rise at double the rate of inflation.
Expansion of managed care helps to moderate increases in health
care costs. Federal health care reform legislation fails again to
pass in the U.S. Congress. By the end of the decade there are 44
million Americans, 16 % of the nation, with no health insurance
at all. The long-term viability of Medicare and Medicaid is
ignored by Congress.
2000s
Health care costs are on the rise again. Medicare is
unsustainable under the present structure and must be "rescued".
Changing demographics of the workplace lead many to believe the
employer-based system of insurance can't last. Direct-to-consumer
advertising for pharmaceuticals and medical devices is on the
rise. National health care expenditures are 17.6 percent of the
Gross National Product by 2009. Obama is about to pass healthcare
legislation which will result in a dramatic increase in
costs.
Government did not get involved in healthcare until 1965, when
Medicare and Medicaid were passed by a Democratic President and a
Democratic Congress. The charts below paint a picture of waste,
mismanagement, administrative nightmares, and out of control costs.
Annual national health expenditures have risen from $50 billion in
1960 to $2.5 trillion in 2009. Government intrusion and control is
the single biggest explanation for this disastrous result. The
policies instituted by the government through Medicare, Medicaid,
and HMO laws, along with mandating that insurance companies meet 50
separate state requirements to do business have bastardized the
free market.
There is no competition between doctors, hospitals, or insurance
companies. The incentives are all geared towards charging more for
services. Introducing a government run insurance option will now
decrease competition and drive people into the government option.
Employers will be dropping employees from their insurance plans by
the millions. A new bloated government bureaucracy will
"surprisingly" get out of control. Price fixing by government will
drive service levels downward and rationing of care will be the
result. Prepare to wait months for knee surgery. They'll get to you
as soon as your appendix bursts. Dr. Ron Paul describes how
government has already destroyed our healthcare system, so the
massive overhaul proposed by the Democrats will surely blow up in
Americans' faces again:
We should remember that HMOs did not arise because of
free-market demand, but rather because of government mandates.
The HMO Act of 1973 requires all but the smallest employers to
offer their employees HMO coverage, and the tax code allows
businesses - but not individuals - to deduct the cost of health
insurance premiums. The result is the illogical coupling of
employment and health insurance, which often leaves the
unemployed without needed catastrophic coverage. While many in
Congress are happy to criticize HMOs today, the public never
hear how the present system was imposed upon the American
people by federal law. As usual, government intervention in the
private market failed to deliver the promised benefits and
caused unintended consequences, but Congress never blames
itself for the problems created by bad laws. Instead, we are
told more government - in the form of "universal coverage" - is
the answer. But government already is involved in roughly
two-thirds of all health care spending, through Medicare,
Medicaid, and other programs.
The pie charts below compare costs in 1960, before government
intervention, to 2004, after four decades of government control.
The three slices of the pie that stick out like a sore thumb
(future cost $8,000) are Administration, Public Health Activity and
Research. In 1960, 5.9% of costs were incurred for Administration
and Gov't and 2.5% for Research. In 2004, 10.3% of our costs were
related to Administration and Gov't and 2.1% for Research. We spend
vastly more on paper pushing and government regulations and less on
research and care. The FDA government bureaucratic jungle imposes
billions in useless costs on the developers of every new drug. This
money goes to lawyers and compliance experts, not research
scientists. Government thrives while average Americans pay and
suffer.
You will never understand bureaucracies until you understand
that for bureaucrats, procedure is everything and outcomes are
nothing.
Thomas Sowell
Texas Congressman Ron Paul, a man who has delivered 4,000 babies
into this world, has experienced the pre-government market and the
post government control of medical care in America. Barack Obama,
Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid are inflicting their socialist fantasy
theories on America. Ron Paul has real life experience. Who should
you trust? His view couldn't be any clearer:
I started medicine when there was no Medicare and no
Medicaid and let me tell you, I don't remember one time when I
saw people out in the streets begging for medical care. Now we
do. With managed care and now with socialized medicine coming,
believe me, quality will down, costs will go up, there will be
shortages, there will be lines and nobody is going to be happy.
We've had corporate medicine now for about 30 years which is
managed medicine by the government, and it has been a total
disaster and it didn't do much more than push the costs up.
The more the government is involved in an industry or
service, the higher the prices go. So, in education costs go up
way beyond the cost of living, and the cost of medicine goes
way up. So you can't solve the problem of medical care by
ignoring this. Now, Obama says, "What we're going to do is
we're going to tremendously increase the services and we're
going to cut all the payments to the doctors in the hospitals."
I mean, where is he coming from? That can't possibly work.
Dr. Paul has proposed logical market based solutions to the
healthcare crisis for years and as usual, has been ignored by
Democrats and Republicans alike:
-
Allowing families to claim a tax credit for the rising cost
of health insurance premiums. With many families now spending
close to $1,000 or even more for their monthly premiums, they
need real tax relief - including a dollar-for-dollar credit for
every cent they spend on health care premiums - to make medical
care more affordable.
-
A dollar-for-dollar tax credit that permits consumers to
purchase "negative outcomes" insurance prior to undergoing
surgery or other serious medical treatments. Negative outcomes
insurance is a novel approach that guarantees those harmed
receive fair compensation, while reducing the burden of costly
malpractice litigation on the health care system. Patients
receive this insurance payout without having to endure lengthy
lawsuits, and without having to give away a large portion of
their award to a trial lawyer. This also drastically reduces
the costs imposed on physicians and hospitals by malpractice
litigation. Individuals can purchase negative outcomes
insurance at essentially no cost.
-
A $500 per child tax credit for medical expenses and
prescription drugs that are not reimbursed by insurance. Create
a $3,000 tax credit for dependent children with terminal
illnesses, cancer, or disabilities. Parents who are struggling
to pay for their children's medical care, especially when those
children have serious health problems or special needs, need
every extra dollar. Waive the employee portion of Social
Security payroll taxes (or self-employment taxes) for
individuals with documented serious illnesses or cancer.
Suspend Social Security taxes for primary caregivers with a
sick spouse or child. There is no justification or excuse for
collecting Social Security taxes from sick individuals who
literally are fighting for their lives.
FREEDOM, LIBERTY & FREE MARKETS
Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word,
equality.
But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in
liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and
servitude.
Alexis de Tocqueville
The Constitution of the United States and its Bill of Rights
clearly define our method of representative government. Both our
social and economic systems are based on private enterprise from
which springs initiative and ingenuity. Ours is a system where the
Federal Government should undertake no governmental, social or
economic action, except where local government, or the people,
cannot undertake it for themselves. No one in Washington DC, other
than Representative from Texas Ron Paul, understands or believes
this. Over time, government has taken unwarranted actions to
protect people from the consequences of their actions by
restricting citizen options. In addition to invoking government to
heavily regulate the economy and redistribute wealth, Democrats now
insist that we need government to make many of our private
decisions for us, because individuals can't be trusted to make them
on their own. The passage of this 1,990 page socialist control bill
will impose more restraint on your rights and inflict increased
servitude to the State.
What is ominous is the ease with which some people go from
saying that they don't like something to saying that the
government should forbid it. When you go down that road, don't
expect freedom to survive very long.
Thomas Sowell
Government has imposed policies on Americans in the name of
public health that are aimed at regulating personal behavior.
Anti-smoking initiatives, reducing alcohol consumption, demanding
seatbelt and motorcycle helmet use, regulating diet and lifestyle
in the name of curbing obesity, federalizing local issues like
speed limits and the minimum drinking age, and generally using the
unbending authority of the state to police away lifestyle risk. H.
L. Mencken, a fierce critic of government during the early
Twentieth Century, wrote
,
"The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face
for the urge to rule it."
This couldn't be any truer today, as our "saviors" enforce laws,
regulations, and government "awareness campaigns", thrusting the
filthy hands of government into every aspect of our lives. Barack
Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and the liberals in Congress are
not passing the healthcare bill because they care about your
health. They are passing the bill because the corporate lobbyists
who wrote the bill have written it to benefit themselves.
Government's power over your every health decision will increase
exponentially.
Before Medicare and Medicaid, the poor and elderly were admitted
to hospitals at the same rate as they are admitted today and
received excellent care. Before those programs came into existence,
every physician understood that he or she had a responsibility
towards the less fortunate and free medical care was the norm.
Physicians take the Hippocratic Oath seriously. These facts do not
fit into the current liberal script of government rescuing us from
greedy insurance companies and evil doctors. The fact is that no
one in this country is dying because they lack healthcare. Every
person in this country, including illegal aliens, can walk into an
emergency room and they will be treated by the best doctors and
nurses in the world. Dr Ron Paul explains how it was and how it
will be:
For decades, the U.S. healthcare system was the envy of the
entire world. Not coincidentally, there was far less government
involvement in medicine during this time. America had the
finest doctors and hospitals, patients enjoyed high-quality,
affordable medical care, and thousands of private charities
provided health services for the poor. Doctors focused on
treating patients, without the red tape and threat of lawsuits
that plague the profession today. Most Americans paid cash for
basic services, and had insurance only for major illnesses and
accidents. This meant both doctors and patients had an
incentive to keep costs down, as the patient was directly
responsible for payment, rather than an HMO or government
program. The lesson is clear: when government and other third
parties get involved, health care costs spiral. The answer is
not a system of outright socialized medicine, but rather a
system that encourages everyone - doctors, hospitals, patients,
and drug companies - to keep costs down. As long as "somebody
else" is paying the bill, the bill will be too high.
You can bet that Lyndon B. Johnson and Democrats in Congress
assured the American public in 1965 that Medicare and Medicaid
would save money. I doubt they would have been able to pass the
bill if they had told Americans that it would result in a $100
trillion unfunded liability and would be racked with fraud,
mismanagement and would drive healthcare costs dramatically higher.
Obama, Pelosi, and Reid are lying to Americans again. Costs will
rise dramatically and service levels will deteriorate. Within five
years, Democrats will be calling for a Value Added Tax of 10% to
20% in order to cover the "unexpected" cost overruns in the new
plan. More government control, less choice, less freedom, less
liberty, and a country closer to bankruptcy will be the
outcome.
NATIONAL RUSSIAN ROULETTE
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary
security, deserve neither liberty or security."
Benjamin Franklin
The United States of America is at a crossroads. If we allow the
government to take over our healthcare system and inflict more
regulations, more rules, and more cost, while rationing care, this
will be the final nail in our capitalism coffin. A country that is
already $12 trillion in debt, with unfunded liabilities exceeding
$100 trillion, fighting two wars of choice, policing the planet by
occupying 170 countries, funding insolvent criminal mega-banks,
running bankrupt car companies, conquering global warming, and
solving peak oil with solar and wind, will now take over one-sixth
of the U.S. economy by adding its profound wisdom to the healthcare
system. Based on the Obama administration's own 10 year budget
plan, adjusted for the new healthcare plan, the U.S. National Debt
will rocket to $25 trillion by 2019. By 2020 the number of
Americans over 65 will reach 54 million, up from 40 million in
2010. By 2030 it will reach 71 million.
Table 2a. Projected Population of the United States, by Age:
2000 to 2050
(In thousands except as indicated. As of July 1. Resident
population.)
(leading dots indicate sub-parts)
Population or percent, sex, and age
2000
2010
2020
2030
2040
2050
POPULATION
.
TOTAL
..TOTAL
282,125
308,936
335,805
363,584
391,946
419,854
..0-4
19,218
21,426
22,932
24,272
26,299
28,080
..5-19
61,331
61,810
65,955
70,832
75,326
81,067
..20-44
104,075
104,444
108,632
114,747
121,659
130,897
..45-64
62,440
81,012
83,653
82,280
88,611
93,104
..65-84
30,794
34,120
47,363
61,850
64,640
65,844
..85+
4,267
6,123
7,269
9,603
15,409
20,861
Source: US Census Bureau
"Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that
only an intellectual could ignore or evade it."
Thomas Sowell
The "intellectuals" in the White House and Congress, who have
never run a business and whose only experience is knowing how to
spend your money, believe wholeheartedly in socialism. Once a
national healthcare plan is enacted, there will be no turning back.
The politicians running our country have completely disregarded the
warning of David Walker:
The U.S. government is on a "burning platform" of
unsustainable policies and practices with fiscal deficits,
expensive over-commitments to government provided health care,
swelling Medicare costs, the enormous expense of a prospective
universal health care system, immigration, and overseas
military commitments threatening a crisis if action is not
taken soon.
Our leaders should be curtailing spending, repealing unspent
stimulus funds, eliminating fraud and waste, instituting spending
caps on Congress, ending our wars, and withdrawing troops from 170
foreign countries. Instead they are introducing the largest, most
expensive entitlement program in history. This is national
suicide.
When I watch the actions of Barack Obama and the Democrats in
Congress, I can't help but think of the scene in the movie
Deer Hunter
where the Viet Cong make the American POWs play Russian roulette
for entertainment. Michael (Christopher Walken) insists on putting
three bullets in the gun in a desperate plan to kill his captors
and escape. In the movie, Michael's plan works and he escapes. The
American people will not be so lucky. Barack Obama is playing
Russian roulette with our country's finances. This national
healthcare plan will be the bullet that splatters our brains all
over the wall. There will be no happy ending to this movie. It is a
gory horror film.
Michael:
We gotta play with more bullets.
Nick
: What?
Michael
: More bullets... [
gunshot
]
Michael
: I gotta get more bullets in the gun.
Nick
: What?
Michael
: We gotta play with more bullets.
Nick
: More bullets in the gun?
Michael
: More bullets in the gun.
Nick
: How many more bullets?
Michael
: Three. That means we gotta play each other.
Nick
: More bullets against each other?
Michael
: We gotta do it!
Nick
: What? Are you Crazy?
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like
men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
Thomas Paine
Americans have chosen to surrender their freedom and liberty for
safety and security. We've decided it is too much work to support
freedom. We have allowed our government to be overrun by the
military industrial complex, the financial industrial complex and
the healthcare industrial complex. The safety and security we think
we have is an illusion. We have neither. These deals with the devil
will lead to the economic collapse of our Republic. At that time,
we will have the opportunity as described by our forefathers, to
abolish this government and start anew. Until that time we are
destined to lose more freedom and undergo a long period of crisis
and misery. It was our choice.
"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance,
and the gospel
of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of
misery."
Winston Churchill
See also
Gold Party Intermission Is Nearly Over
on seekingalpha.com