Health Care Reform: Republicans, Beware the Trap of ‘Limited’ Reforms
Controls breed more controls. The seemingly innocuous “reform” of requiring insurers to cover all pre-existing conditions would merely set the stage for ever-tightening controls until liberal Democrats achieved their long-held dream of a complete government takeover of health care — only gradually, rather than all at once.
The Republicans must not help them succeed.
The government’s function is not to guarantee “universal coverage” any more than it is to guarantee everyone a car or a job. Instead, the proper function of government is to protect individual rights, including the rights of insurers and customers to trade in a free market under any mutually agreeable terms to their mutual benefit.
To specifically handle the issue of patients with pre-existing conditions, John Goodman of the National Center for Policy Analysis has detailed “Ten Small-Scale Reforms for Pre-Existing Conditions” based on (predominantly) free-market principles that would “encourage insurers to compete to cover patients with chronic illnesses, rather than trying to avoid them.” Similarly, University of Chicago professor John Cochrane has proposed an innovative system of “health status insurance” which would allow individuals to purchase options now which would protect them against future rate increases or loss of insurability due to illnesses they might develop later.
These proposals would address the problem of pre-existing conditions by removing (or at least reducing) existing controls, thus allowing patients, providers, and insurers to trade more freely to their mutual benefit.
More broadly, Republicans should advocate repealing existing bad laws that prevent many Americans (including those with pre-existing conditions) from purchasing affordable insurance. Insurers should be allowed to sell policies across state lines. States should repeal onerous mandates specifying what benefits insurers must offer, who they must cover, and what prices they may charge. Patients should be allowed to use Health Savings Accounts for routine expenses and purchase low-cost “catastrophic-only” policies to cover rare expensive events. Such free-market reforms could reduce insurance costs up to 50% for millions of Americans, without setting the stage for a future government takeover of health care.
The Democrats’ current difficulties with passing ObamaCare legislation have created both an opportunity and a danger for Republicans. The GOP has a golden opportunity to demonstrate leadership by fighting for genuine free-market health reforms. But they also risk being suckered into supporting seemingly-innocent faux “reforms” that will merely give the Democrats a victory they couldn’t win at the ballot box.
Duke University professor John Lewis once observed that the Democrats’ last “secret weapon” against the American people was the Republicans’ willingness to compromise. For America’s sake, let’s hope the GOP avoids that trap and instead chooses free-market reforms.
Excellent article. I had this “great idea” for how to solve the preexisting condition problem, and I was all set to share it here… but it appears that the Health Status Insurance concept already covers it.
What I did not find was a good analysis of how we transition to a system that offers transportable Health Status Insurance, and also allows people who have (the normal regulated) health insurance that presently covers their existing conditions to gain initial access to that HSI coverage. What you want is to provide the opportunity for people to purchase HSI with a status as if they were at the point where they first started uninterrupted purchase of their present health care, before any of the medical conditions that arose under coverage arose. Solving that problem may be the proper purview of future bipartisan battles.
The strategy being employed here by the Democrats/Socialists is “incrementalism” and it has worked successfully for generations. Unfortunately the Stupid party continues to aid and abet this strategy.
Incrementalism is simply when the Democrats propose legislation that will move the government Left by 1 mile or increase its size by 10%. The GOP, rather than reject the premises and/or solution by the Democrats put forth instead “negotiate” with the Democrats to reduce their goal to 1/2 mile or 5%. The Democrats, acting upset, are thrilled to have advanced, yet again, their agenda because in coming years they will again propose another mile or 10% increase, settle for 1/2 or 5% and have obtained their original goal. The GOP, not wanting to appear to be “mean” or “obstructionist” falls into this trap. This is why I personally am against any negotiation with Democrats when using their proposals as the starting point.
Everyday I hear more people asking why that the liberal Democrats are proceeding on with their suicidal agenda. Why would the members of Congress be willing to sacrifice their careers and lives for Obama?
The answer is simple. Obama, his administration and the Democrat leadership aren’t interested in bits and pieces when it comes to healthcare reform or anything else on their agenda.
They are all drunk with their own power and share the same blood thirsty, sick minded goals of delivering one punch knockout blows to the GOP while the entire world watches and cheers them on.
An arrogant, cocky Obama was convinced that he could pull this off within the first 20 minutes of taking office. His mistakes were turning thing over to two dunces in Congress and assuming that the American people didn’t stand a chance of stopping him.
After a year of dirty, vicious street fighting it would choke Obama to death if he had to sign a puny token of healthcare reform into law now.
The American people have given the leaders of the GOP in Congress everything they need on a silver platter. Their strength came from not accepting or being fooled by any part, portion or version of what Obama is peddling.
GOP, Don’t mess it up! Do that and the Democrats; including Obama are finished. If you buckle, cave in or kneel in any fashion now then your careers are stone dead!
“One of the Democrats’ favorite limited proposals has been to require insurance companies to accept all customers regardless of pre-existing medical conditions — an idea supported by many Republicans.”
It is utterly insane to demand that a company provide insurance with somebody suffering from a pre-existing medical condition. Such so-called competition with a government entity with seemingly unlimited resources guarantees the ultimate destruction of this private sector business. It would absolutely guarantee the inevitable takeover of American health services by the government.
We must not allow Barack Obama and other lefties to disown the socialist label. It does not matter if the president seems sincere. The man is simply not arguing in a logical manner. Anyone advocating for nationalized health care is by any reasonable definition a socialist! That they might wish to deceive themselves—is their problem.
Insurance is a tool for mitigating financial risk. It should NOT be used to pay for every dollar of routine health care we consume.
Paying for health care with comprehensive, group health insurance has destroyed the economic relationship between health care provider and consumer and, in so doing, destroyed ALL downward pressure on health care costs – the pressure that keeps all other commodities relatively affordable.
The result of this phenomenon has been – and will continue to be – skyrocketing health care costs; it began when government first began meddling with the way we pay for health care and was then kicked into high gear by subsequent government meddling (HMOs, subsidized employer plans, etc.).
Every action by government with respect to health care has caused the price of it to skyrocket. Now the socialists in government want to exploit that skyrocketing cost, claiming we can only “cover” it by spreading the cost around with mandated, “universal” insurance (see also: spreading the wealth around).
But here’s the thing…
Insurance IS NOT HEALTH CARE.
So someone explain to me: why does EVERY Democrat and RINO plan for “health care reform” start and end by taking either small or large steps to meddle even further in the health care insurance industry, to create a mandate to purchase insurance, and to replicate every aspect of a system that is currently failing in Japan? Last I checked, Japan’s debt-to-GDP ratio was almost 200%. Is that really the goal? Because that’s where this will lead.
Endlessly compromising with the moral adolescents of the left has dragged this country closer to outright totalitarian fascism than it has ever been in its history. It’s time to just say no to Socialism, in all of its forms – fascism, corporatism, syndicalism, collectivism and marxism – all of the tenets BHO seems to be apply as he “reshapes” America in his own twisted image. Socialized medicine will destroy what’s left of this Republic.
Here’s a cause that the Republicans should take up:
THE WAY to Really Call The Democrats’ Bluff and Save Us in the Process
Barak Obama just wants to give granny a pain killer, not treat her condition. And the state of Oregon would rather assist suicide than give one of its residents cancer treatments/medications.
In response, here’s what we do:
Introduce and pass legislation that would prevent the Federal government, or any of its agencies, from harming us, killing us, or otherwise prevent us from receiving life-preserving treatment, as a matter of its operating any sort of health care system (to include the murdering of infants in the womb).
Push for a constitutional amendment. Really raise as much stink as possible.
Credit Rose Pappas, senior citizen, Chicago, Illinois.
Let’s get behind this. I have a premium membership with Rush and have already emailed him. If you have access to Glenn Beck and/or Sean Hannity and/or Mark Levin through premium membership, please email them.
#1 Myno may be making excellent points, bit I must say they are a little technical for me. But I will say this: coverage of pre-existing conditions, out side of transferring policies is not, say again not, insurance. I agree with everything Paul says.
Insurance is a contract made with a company to help defray the costs of unforeseen problems in the future. If my house is uninsured but suddenly is struck by lightening, starting the house on fire, I may call an insurance company and want to sign up for coverage of the house in flames. I won’t get it.
Insurance is not available for “preexisting” fires, nor car wrecks, nor sudden death, nor anything else. Only a government employee, specifically a Democrat, would think that pre-existing conditions are subject to “insurance” payments.
This proposal to cover such conditions is a simple order by the government for an insurance company to pay up to someone who has no insurance. To pretend otherwise is a simple distortion of our language.
Some say the government is moving towards socialism (and others say fascism) by requiring people to buy health insurance. And, of course, the insurance companies should not have to insure people with preexisting conditions, because health care premiums will obviously go up even higher than nowadays. And clearly, making people buy something they don’t need is undemocratic.
Well, I’m sorry but all that’s a bunch of bull.
First of all, everyday people buy auto liability insurance because states like New York (among others) say you can’t register a car without it. If you have a preexisting history of an accident within the past three years, your premium is raised. If you drop liability insurance, your license is suspended. Period. Yet nobody is accusing the state of New York of having a socialist or fascist government.
Secondly, health care premiums have been going up even before Obama’s time. One reason is that hospitals are paying health care for indigents who show up in emergency rooms with ailments, but with no money. So hospitals raise room rates and insurance companies raise premiums. Another is because taxpayers are subsidizing drug companies since Bush’s medicare drug plan and doctors hand out pills at the first sneeze.
But if healthy people have to pay nominal premiums – just like careful drivers have to pay for liability insurance – the money going to insurance companies will go up and if the system is truly competitive, rates for everybody else will drop.
And if emergency rooms simply say “no insurance, no healthcare” their costs will go down and their rates will go down. This should also decrease premiums.
Why don’t people wise up to Beck, Limbaugh, et al. These guys are getting filthy rich and living like kings (while acting like good old boys) blaming Obama, Democrats, liberals, socialists, fascists, communists, Marxists, Reid, Pelosi, Adolph Hitler and all combinations of the above without presenting any facts to support their hot-air arguments.
Most bloggers here are afraid that Republicans will buy into the Democrat’s attempts at compromise. But the reason Republicans are willing to give the Democrats a little help now is because if they end up running the House next year, with Obama’s veto power over their heads, they need the Democrats to help them, otherwise they will look as stupid as Gingrich’s House did under Clinton and probably be kicked out after two years.
Republicans are interested in protecting profits of their biggest campaign contributors, not in protecting the rights of citizens. And right now, the big corporations (and wealthy investors) want the right to give money to China rather than employ Americans.
Of course, the banks want to keep lending money (which they get for zero percent) to people to need (artificially) high-priced real estate – but with no protection against foreclosure if they happen to lose their jobs to the Chinese – which is going to keep happening as US capital moves from us to them.
You notice Limbaugh and company never complain that the richest Americans are increasingly investing money (they made from Americans) to (socialist, repressive) China. No they just support the idea of continuing tax relief for those rich investors (who just happen to be paying their big incomes).
There is no way the Republicans will help the middle class economically and if you think otherwise, you are dreaming. Wake up and smell the bul..sh..t.
Don Pablito de Hsieh y McCaughey here may not be very gifted, Dr. Bones, but the scribble is of some interest despite its quality.
For consider, sir: after more than a year of factious revilement of heaslth care insurance reform, the point of view of wingnutettes and wingnuts clad in white labóratory frocks has hardly surfaced at all.
Though useless for any other purpose that I can think of off-hand, the medical señorito does manage to draw our attention to this black hole and inspire us to wonder what is goin’ on in that quarter of the Wingnut City firmament.
Very obviously this little laddie has exactly zero intention of fillin’ in the blanks itself, not when it is havin’ much more fun recitin’ chunks of the _Chicagonomical Catechism_ at us: “The only proper function of the Wicked State is to protect individual rights, including the rights of insurers and customers to trade in a free market under any mutually agreeable terms to their mutual benefit.”
Oh well, “it takes all kinds.”
Plus I betcha, Dr. Bones, that fewer patients have died at the hands of Pol. Sci. quacks like Don Pablito[*] than of the Med. Sci. ditto.
But Father Zeus knows best.
Healthy days.
___
[*] The qualification is not to be dispensed with. And I am far from perfectly sure that the Planet Dilbert quackery emanatin’ from Miss Rand of Petersburg and Mr. Nozick of H*rv*rd CANNOT eventually slay its tens of thousands. That’s as may be, we shall have to wait and see.
But it would only be silly and self-indulgent to pretend that Galt’s Disease is *already* a major killer.
Mr. Hsieh,
Great piece.
The dog-n-pony ‘summit’ on t.v. at the moment is so ridiculous..
The most crooked, UNHEALTHY mind and bodied individuals in our country are going to ‘work’ or ‘solve’ a ‘crisis’, whereas 85% of the country presently possess insurance?
These boobs are so out-of-touch, disingenous in this ‘challenge’ it’s gross.
JMO, but another 496,000 applied for unemployment this week. perhaps JOBS is what should be addressed yesteryear!
Great article! Let’s steer people away from speaking about “reforming” health care to instead speak about “freeing” it up (i..e respecting individual rights). And while the Republicans *may* be a better audience, there’s no reason not to send this same message to the Democrats.
WOW – since when did the GOP represent the Insurance Companies over regular Americans?
Since when did regular conservatives think their interests were aligned with big Insurance, big Pharma, and international corporations??? — the same corporations who want cheap Latino labor to take our jobs… the same corporations who want jobs shipped over seas and then the products forced on those who no longer can afford them????
THIS is the GOP vision for America?
I am a recovering Republican. I am astonished at the sheep lying with wolves at this website.
The Tea Party does NOT endorse runaway Insurance costs… or multi national power over the average American.
YOU WILL NEVER garner the support of that segment of the old GOP with articles like this.
The only way that pre-existing conditions can be covered and maintain free market principals is to allow those people with the conditions to buy the same policies that healthy people can buy and then the gov. would have to be the underwriter for the pre-existing group. If the insurance companies are required to take these people it will lead to gov. take over of the industry because it is the opposite of insurance. Imagine towing your wrecked auto to an insurance office and asking them to give you a $50 deductible policy! If they had to give you the coverage it would put them out of business. Life isn’t fair but it can’t be blamed on insurance companies.
Excellent article! Dr. Hsieh gets to the heart of the matter and has positive ideas as well. This is desperately needed in the legislature.
Republicans need to remember that in any compromise between good and evil, it is evil that profits. This was Ayn Rand’s observation; she has much to say on compromise in matters of principle that should be heeded in today’s perilous times.
Thanks again, Dr. Hsieh!
Another excellent article by Dr. Paul Hsieh! The threat of compromise by Republicans is very real. It’s bad enough we have a President pretending he is for free markets. If the Republicans compromise then all their anti-Obama rhetoric will have been wasted. Republican should stand for the principle of individual rights and resist accepting any version of Obamacare.
Dr. Hsieh is right as usual. I have absolutely no faith in Republicans to stop leftist health care “reform”. Scott Brown didn’t take long to reveal his true colors. At best he might slow down Obamacare, but he is more of the same Democrat-light from the Republicans. For his first big test, Brown voted in favor of a second stimulus bill. He obviously paid no attention to the wave of momentum and support he received from the tea parties. And after they got him elected, Brown summarily stabbed them in the back. Not only does it look like we will be saddled with another umpteen billion dollar “stimulus”, but what are the odds that a progressive health care bill will be defeated now? Brown already proved that he favors one (Romneycare).
The Exemplars of Obamacare
When plotting radical changes, government should always have a model, a fallback positioning to which it can point and say, “See! That’s what we’re doing or trying to do.”
As the president sits down with friend and foe for his scheduled six hour tête-à-tête, his nationally-televised pitch for his version of Obamacare, some related news on those exemplars has been gurgling to the surface.
First came Canadian Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams who effectively said to Health Canada, that country’s socialized health care system, fuggedaboudit. I want some real health care, down south in that barbaric nation, the United States.
Williams’ heart condition health issue doesn’t even seem to be life-threatening. However, he flew to Miami for treatment because, as he confessed, “This was my heart, my choice and my health. I did not sign away my right to get the best possible health care for myself when I entered politics:” http://bit.ly/bZkqTK
Put less diplomatically, Danny was saying that Canada’s health care system was fine for the peons but as for him, he preferred good health care.
If Premier Williams had any class . . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=1524)
Great article, Paul.
Now tell us again why you “hoped” Obama would win the presidency.
3. Stand Strong GOP!
Yes! Even though many of the millions without health insurance can hardly stand at all.
Good article! There is no fundamental difference between the bank / insurance / car manufacturer bailouts and guaranteed issue and mandated coverage of pre-existing conditions. Both create moral hazard by privatizing gain and socializing risks.
Let’s also remember the Constitution which limits governmental power and neither health care nor health insurance is an enumerated power of Congress.
Fantastic article!
@Tom Stark: Do you really think that McCain was substantially different? The only difference I see is that his expansion of government into health care would be billed as ‘free-market’. The fact that Obama doesn’t conceal his dislike for the free market means that Americans are waking up. If McCain reminds me of Scott Brown – they both pretend to be for smaller government and free markets, but in the end they’ll support Romneycare, “Jobs” bills and their own pet bailouts. We don’t need Capitalism taking the fall for that kind of nonsense.
Great article, Paul!
Liberty: it’s a right, not a privilege.
Republicans do not want health care reform..that’s just the facts..They can and their supporters can claim that the GOP wants to protect the “free market” system all they want, but the fact is the Republican party is in the pocket of the big insuranced companies…THIS IS NOT A NEWS FLASH PEOPLE…Why is it that ONLY the democrats even try to get health care reform passed…The republicans had 8 years to do something and all they did was create two wars and ruin the economy..By the weay , Obama’s the president so get over it…
February 26, 2010
Dear President Obama:
I want to thank you for holding “the health care summit.” It gave the citizens of The United States of America an opportunity to see, in clear bright relief, the philosophical division between the socialistic path and that of the capitalistic path with regard to health care; in such a moment of great division the midterm election of 2010 will determine which path the United States will choose to follow.
During the summit you brought up an example of how your insurance company did not meet your expectations when your vehicle was rear ended and “totaled” against your wish to have it repaired. While this circumstance was unfortunate your reaction to it is very revealing as to how you view a citizens responsibility to administer their own affairs, and your view of the capitalistic system. At that moment, in dealing with your mishap, you perceived that because you paid your premiums you were due something more than the agreement allowed for. As your story goes, “all you wanted was to get your old beater repaired.”
Let’s invent something call the “Obama Insurance Company,” I’m sure Joey Buttafuoco could be used as your pitchman – “Dented bodies lovingly restored.” Your premiums reflect that your company will fix any vehicle in a collision regardless of underlying value. After a few months of doing this what do you think would happen? The Obama Insurance Company would either have to raise it’s premiums or go bankrupt, and your “good” customers would no longer have coverage. Why? With each passing claim paid instead of encouraging a customer to invest in a new used car the Obama Insurance Company is over paying to maintain a diminishing asset. If the Obama Insurance Company wants to offer this option they would have to charge more to cover the potential cost.
Mr. Obama if it is true for vehicles it is true for human beings. Just like your “beater” one day I am going to die. To be sure I want to spend as many days with my family and doing the things I love to do as God, and a little luck, will grant me – but one day this carcass is going to give out. No amount of insurance is going to change this. That said, I need an insurance company to weigh the costs and risks and permit me to voluntarily engage in a policy that will cover my family to avoid medical induced bankruptcy. For sure the government has a role as police officer to make root-en toot-en certain they are solvent, and are living up to their end of the bargain, just as they do with auto insurance companies. In the case of the Obama Insurance Company the regulator would have shut it down before it even opened it’s doors.
Mr. Obama the capitalistic system provides the food you will eat for dinner, the fuel your airplane will consume to conduct government business, and all the stuff that the outstanding Secret Service uses to do it’s heroic and untold vital job. The capitalistic system also provides something even more precious than stuff; self-reliance and creativity. As a young boy I watched a friend of mine create a toy and market it to a major toy company, that toy is still being sold to this day. Short on brains then, but long on perseverance, I got to work doing jobs for people that they did not want to do. Everything from diapers, cleaning houses, lawns, and cleaning vehicles. All this activity led to savings, or capital formation. This capital was invested in a camera, because of a love of photography, I wanted to give it a go. Went to work at a local newspaper and did so well I considered it as a career. Through all of these experiences I learned the qualities I would have to exhibit to succeed in life. Show up on time, tell the truth, look the part, and above all else, always do the right thing. Mr. Obama why do you seek to crush the very system that allows my small story to be replicated millions of times a day, and as a byproduct of this activity, provides our citizens the highest standard of living of any nation on Earth? If you are waiting for the citizens of the United States of America to forget this lesson your frustration is only about to begin.
Respectfully,
@22. thomas: – Republicans do not want health care reform..that’s just the facts..
What the Democrats have offered is not “health care reform”, it is socialized medicine. That is nothing more than the process of nationalizing the health care insurance industry and creating a system identical to the one that is currently FAILING in Japan. Read the Constitution – that’s not in their job description.
The only way to reform health care is to stop the insane way we pay for it. Insurance is a tool for mitigating financial risk. It should NOT be used to pay for every dollar of routine health care – the vast majority of health care – that we consume. Doing so has resulted a broken health care market where the health care provider and consumer no longer have any economic relationship. With no substantial downward pressure on prices, costs have skyrocketed at rates far in excess of inflation due to government meddling for decades. It started with Medicare, continued with the HMOs, and was made worse through subsidies for comprehensive, group health care insurance, which differs from socialized medicine only by virtue of the fact that it’s run by private corporations instead of by the government.
- They can and their supporters can claim that the GOP wants to protect the “free market” system all they want, …
You can’t protect something that doesn’t exist. Right now, there is NO free market for health care. All prices for health care are in the hands of government, via Medicare, and the insurance company cartel. As such, prices are totally unaffected by what the actual consumer would pay if they had a say in determining the cost.
- …but the fact is the Republican party is in the pocket of the big insuranced companies…THIS IS NOT A NEWS FLASH PEOPLE…
Pesky little facts notwithstanding, eh?
- Why is it that ONLY the democrats even try to get health care reform passed…
Again, they have not proposed any reform. They have proposed socializing medicine altogether. They don’t have the authority to do so. The failing, bankrupt Medicare system provides an example of why.
- The republicans had 8 years to do something and all they did was create two wars and ruin the economy..
While the Republicans had majority control of Congress they held the 2000-2001 recession to a short, shallow minimum, unemployment remained below 6.5% (averaged about 5.2%), the economy grew at 3% per year, for a total of 20% real growth by 2008, inflation-adjusted, federal revenue peaked at historic levels, personal disposable income grew by 9% and the federal deficit shrunk each year from 2004 to 2007, at which point the government was on track for a balanced budget by late 2008.
All that CHANGED when the Democrats took the majority in Congress in 2007, leading off with one of their first attacks on the businesses that drive the economy: hiking up the minimum wage and tripling the federal deficit with GWB’s help. After three years of Democrat majority, the unemployment rate has doubled, the federal deficit has been exploded BY A FACTOR OF TEN – from $160B to $1.6T, in only three years – and every day we hear about more “unexpected” bad news regarding the economy. Meanwhile, every effort by the Republicans back in 2004, to force some accountability on the GSE’s and avert the credit meltdown that ultimately hit in 2008 was resisted by the Democrats. So who are the “obstructionists” again?
Clearly, like most apologists for our marxist President, you don’t have the slightest clue what you’re talking about.
This is an excellent article.
To avoid getting caught in such “traps”, GOP needs to clearly and unambiguously redefine itself as a party that upholds individual rights. If GOP leaders let Physician Slavery pass (even in a mild form), they would be compromising on principles. Once that happens, they would have no justification to oppose future takeover of healthcare, and it wouldn’t take long until hospitals would be run by the post office.
Conservative Boehner vs. Liberal Schumer
There are many characteristics and qualities that distinguish a liberal from a conservative. The most obvious, of course, is the fact that conservatives are almost always correct and liberals are invariably wrong.
That difference pales in significance when contrasted with conservative willingness to confront issues and people when they know they are right as opposed to the liberal’s pusillanimous inclination to avoid issues and run away when they know they are wrong.
We see that liberal tendency all the time in international relations and conflicts.
America witnessed a perfect example of that gutless defeatism in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s actions re: the Iraq War when he opposed it from the outset, then opposed George Bush’s surge, then denied that the surge turned the tide in that conflict.
After Thursday’s useless Health Care Summit at Blair House, a variation on that cowardly behavior involved Senator Charles “Call-Me-Upchuck” Schumer and Senator Tom Coburn.
It was bad enough when Schumer’s leader, . . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=1527)
“Requiring insurers to cover all pre-existing conditions would gradually lead to a full government takeover of health care.”
‘Ya think?
Fact is, I’m always wary of ANYBODY on the Left who advises to “go slowly, and do this plan little by little, piece by piece.”
Right! No sense spookin’ the sheep until they’re all lined up in the slaughterhouse.
From one who’s been around a lot longer than Buffy St. Bimbo reading the 5:00 o’clock news – moving this scam along one step at a time is kind of like having your wallet lifted one Benjamin at a time. By the time you get to the checkout counter, all you have left is a half-off for a Happy Meal with fries.
Beware!
Thanks for this excellent article with good points about the issue of pre-existing conditions and the effects of forcing insurers to take as “customer” any individual with any condition–no matter how long ago it developed. And I appreciate the practical suggestions offered near the end–Dr. Hsieh is absolutely right that eliminating controls is the only way to bring about reform in the health care market. That will not only let health care professionals and private insurers survive, but it will give us all a shot at having decent medical care in the future.
Obama, Pelosi and Reid can’t talk straight to the American people when they’re crooked as inebriated Irishmen heading
home from a St. Patrick’s Day party.
medicine in America is controlled by a coterie of greedy billionaires for their own benefit. Millions of ordinary Americans die because of treatable medical conditions doe to lack of insurance. Obama is trying to introduce a little compassion into the system in the form of the public option, but the element of greed will still be dominant. Corporate overlords fear the light of compassion will spur the people to finally overthrow them and establish world class health care as a matter of right. Then, we could control costs due to the many Americans who die of exposure and starvation by establishing food and housing as rights too. A compassionate society can work of given the chance.
Ethics? Schmethics! Part One
Ethics: the rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class of human actions or a particular group, culture, etc. (Dictionary.com)
There’s something about celebrity whether achieved in the entertainment arena or in that other entertainment arena, politics, that imbues stars with a sense of entitlement to greater power, to greater greed, to a greater number of the opposite sex.
They tend to forget those “rules of conduct.”
It must be the adulation from enthralled audiences that convinces many entertainment and political celebs that they’re exceptional, above it all, the cat’s meow as was said in olden times, and not subject to the same moral and ethical constraints applicable to the hoi polloi.
In politics, ethical lapses are certainly not confined to Democrats. Remember Florida Congressman Mark Foley and South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford. (Maybe it’s the name, Mark?)
However, Democrats are just so damned good at perverting power that they can’t be denied the title of Consummate Ethical Thrashers.
If Ya Can’t Beat ‘Em, Buy ‘Em! President Obama learned that trick of the political trade from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid: Stifle recalcitrance with remunerations. Or maybe he learned it in Chicago, but there they usually just smash kneecaps.
Harry bought the Obamacare vote of Senator Mary Landrieu . . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=1538)
Lots of Leftists weighing in on this article. Evil rich. Evil Insurance companies. People dying through lack of insurance.
Lessee.
Insurance companiess are not owned by rich guys. They are publicly traded. Mostly, they are owned by average Americans, who invest their nest eggs into the stock market. Over 100,000,000 Americans own some stock. Taking over the Insurance company would be stealing their retirement money.
People aren’t dying due to lack of insurance. They aren’t getting treatment because they can’t afford it. It’s the cost, stupid!
A catastrophic policy is not very expensive. High-deductible policies are likewise not very expensive. A little preparation goes a long way.
Lawsuits are very expensive. They did tort reform in TX, and premiums dropped 27%!
Comprehensive policies drive UP the cost, not down. It leads to someone-else-is-paying thinking. (Order everything on the menu.)
The government has no right to tell insurance companies they cannot have pre-existing conditions exclusions. The insurance company doesn’t belong to them! It is PRIVATE PROPERTY! They reserve the right to refuse service to anyone. They offer the products they think they can sell and make a profit. The market decides if they’re right. The government cannot tell them what products they must offer. It is PRIVATE PROPERTY!
Charity is not the damned government’s job! All they offer is a false sense of security. They then punish the responsible by rewarding the irresponsible. They steal from the ants to feed the grasshoppers. We thus get more grasshoppers… and less ants. You get more of what you subsidize.
Go back and read your children’s books:
Animal farm = Big Government;
Ant and the Grasshopper/Little Red Hen = Entitlements;
Chicken Little = Global Warming;
Three Little Pigs = Economics (Don’t play. Build it strong.)