Heath Care - Can You Handle the Truth?

Most people rate health services in this country fairly high. Many people from other countries rate our system even higher than we do because the system in their own countries does not offer the access or flexibility of services that we do. Ok, if it’s not broken then what are we fixing? Some would say fair access for American’s below the poverty level. Well, we already have that in Medicaid. Some would say the expansion of services into underserved areas. Hmmm? Texas recently passed legal reforms that would protect doctors from frivolous law suits and doctors are now flocking to Texas in record numbers to practice medicine and that includes traditionally underserved areas. Well, then what does this bill do that these things do not?

Truthfully, there are very few absolutes in the health care bill currently under discussion. It is not about you or me or the purported 47 million uninsured in this country (That number is hotly debated because it includes not only those who choose not to insure, but a number of illegal immigrants as well). So if there is no actual “coverage crisis” then why is Congress and the president so adamant that something must be done immediately? There are several reasons.

The impending crisis they are most worried about is not what the costs are for the average American for health care. Of course we have all seen rising costs for insurance but this bill will not lower those costs, it will simply shift them to your personal income taxes and add new tax burdens for corporate America to deal with.

Since nobody likes new taxes, the language in the bill has taken that backlash into consideration and cleverly states that the funds collected under this plan will not be considered a tax (HR3200, page 203, lines 14 and 15). Well a rose by any other name still costs money. It doesn't matter what you call it, it is still money taken directly from the hands of the consumers and business owners that keep our economic engine running.

Think about something for a moment. When business taxes go up, who pays them? We do in the form of lost jobs and higher costs for their services and products. Business never pays taxes...they pass them on to you. I don’t know why that simple fact eludes so many people. Social reformers salivate at the thought of making those evil business owners fund more and more social programs because their income statement shows millions. The truth is most businesses in this country are lucky to be able to put three cents in the bank for each dollar they earn in gross income. The rest is eaten by the costs for labor, materials and doing business in America; but enough about taxes. If it is not the cost of private insurance then what is driving this frenzy for reform? Let’s take a brief trip through history.

Social Security was created as part of the "New Deal" under FDR in the 1930's. It did really well since it was only the largest Ponzi scheme ever perpetrated on the American public. It was constructed so that the required age for retirement was one year less than the average life span of Americans at that moment in time...a no-brainer for a politician seeking to secure his place in history. After all, if it only looks like I am giving you something then what are the consequences? Who knew that by 2009, we would be active through our 80’s and live to 100?

As a note, there are still people that claim the halcyon days of economic expansion after World War Two was a direct benefit of FDR’s social programs and civil projects. Nothing is further from the truth. The economic expansion we saw in those days only happened in America because nearly every industrial manufacturing center in the world had been destroyed during the war except for those safely located within the United States. If you wanted to buy anything, you had to buy it here.

Thirty years later, President Johnson decided to unleash his "Great Society" concept; which is not a surprise since socialism and society are words with the same root and Johnson was a socialist of the first order of magnitude. Johnson oversaw the creation of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965 much in the same way that Obama is pursuing Health Care Reform today. Johnson’s opponents claimed that this plan would bankrupt America and by 1968 it was already in crisis; but once you give something away, it is nearly impossible to take it back so the government did the next best thing.

Remember Social Security? By 1968 The Social Security Trust Fund had accumulated over 30 years of "contributions" to guarantee a modest retirement fund for the participants. The Federal Government raped the funds, placed Social Security as a new line on the Federal Budget and stuffed it full of IOU's.

Now that the "baby boomers" have reached retirement age, those IOU's are due and the Federal Government is in debt up to their, well lets say an unsustainable amount. The government announced this past Friday that for the first time since COLA was enacted, there will be no cost of living adjustments for Social Security recipients. Medicare and Medicaid are still the budget busters they were since their day of inception so the logic now is let's get the rest of the country sewn up in this so we can generate the new revenues needed to “pay for” (hide) this mess; but how long will that last?

If it was Medicare/Medicaid that bankrupted not only itself but Social Security too, how long after this "fix" for the health care system do you think it will be before there is another health care "crisis"? It only took three years for Medicare and Medicaid to implode all by itself. Since Social Security is already an empty shell will they raid private retirement accounts to fund that “correction”?

Don’t kid yourself; back in the 1990’s, Jessie Jackson suggested ithat the Federal Government “borrow” private retirement funds to pay for a whole host of new social programs. It didn’t happen then but now the government is in financial trouble so that hare-brained scheme may eventually resurface and do for your IRA and 401K what it did for Social Security.

There are some states that have already “road-tested” a basic form of universal health care for us, Massachusetts and Tennessee. Both are already suffering from financial arterial bleeding and the plans have been severely criticized.

The Massachusetts plan has been called a dismal failure. First of all, it is hardly universal. It is employer based and even though you are required by state law to carry insurance, you must be employed by someone to have access to it which is the real trick in a recession. It is also not-transferrable if you lose or leave your job.

The Tennessee plan has been plagued with financial troubles and officials are currently under fire for slashing benefits. They have recently dropped over 200,000 people from the system to help contain costs. The Federal government has been criminally silent on the status of these two models of government administrated health care.

The Federal Government has thoroughly bungled every attempt at becoming a healthcare provider and has left us, our children, our grandchildren and probably their children holding the bill. Are we seriously supposed to trust them with the entire health care industry; one sixth of the U.S. Economy? No, they made enough of a mess just dabbling around the edges and now they are looking to trick us into believing that this plan will cure all of our problems. The health care system is not sick; the massive social programs already under government control are what is terminally ill.

Why does the AARP, the MDA, the Hospital Association, etc, etc, believe that something must be done? Because a scaled back Medicare plan is better than nothing at all and without a huge infusion of money it cannot be sustained; even at reduced levels. The AARP especially, has become an insurer itself and is the largest provider of supplemental coverage for Medicare patients. The passage of a bill that would expand the number of people on a public plan, would expand the number of supplemental policies they can sell as well. If they were in public service, they would have to withhold their support or face accusations of a conflict of interest.

The president says this plan will not cut Medicare benefits. He's right; the plan does not contain language that will cut approved benefits. But to contain costs it will cut the reimbursement rate to the hospitals and providers. When certain tests and treatments are no longer profitable, they simply will not be prescribed. The result? Look at other nations with socialized medicine.

Senator Chris Dodd was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer. In America the 5 year survival rate for this type of cancer is 100%. In Canada it is 85% and in England it is a paltry 77%. But don't worry...the proposed plan has money set aside for hospice care so that you will have plenty of pain killers and a comfortable bed to lie in while you wait your turn for treatment....if you live that long.

If you think that could never happen, it is already happening in Oregon where they have a State healthcare plan and have passed legislation that allows doctor assisted suicide. Barbara Wagner, a cancer patient, was recently prescribed Tarceva as part of her chemotherapy regimen. She received a letter from the Oregon health care plan that stated they could not approve payments for this medication but they would provide funds for “comfort care” and “Doctor aid-in-dying”. Dr. Som Saha, the plan administrator said they unfortunately have to make choices that best utilize their limited resources. This is a fine example of the “death boards” and “rationed care” that the opposition to this bill claim must become the norm when private insurance disappears and the public option becomes the only option.

By now you all know I am a cynic but it seems to me that the push for a nationalized social healthcare system is simply designed to restore balance to the original Ponzi scheme of Social Security by lowering the average lifespan in America to something the government can take financial advantage of and the savings from that can then be dumped into Medicare and Medicaid.

Don't take my word for it. Look up the facts for yourself and demand that your representatives in Congress finally tell you the truth….if you can handle it.