This past Saturday night, while most Americans were watching the late college football games or getting ready for bed, the House of Representatives passed legislation calling for a massive overhaul of the American healthcare system. Despite the huge Democratic majority in the House, the bill narrowly passed (by the slim margin of 220-215) and still faces a tough challenge in the Senate. Thirty-nine Democrats voted against the measure and all but one Republican, Joseph Cao of New Orleans, opposed the legislation.
The measure spends $1.05 trillion over a decade to provide health insurance to an additional 36 million Americans and creates a new public insurance plan by 2013. It requires most Americans to carry insurance, creates a new exchange where they can shop for it and gives the lowest earners tax credits to help them pay for it.
How does the House expect to pay for this gigantic new expense? By levying a 5.4% tax on individuals earning more than $500, 000 and couples earning more than $1 million. Small businesses will also be forced to provide insurance for their employees or pay a fine of 8% of their payroll.
Giving our liberal friends every benefit of the doubt, they believed that passing this bill will give the less fortunate of society quality health care – a noble, if misguided, goal.
Rep. John Dingell (D- MI) stated, “
It provides coverage for 96 percent of Americans. It offers everyone, regardless of health or income, the peace of mind that comes from knowing they will have access to affordable health care when they need it.”
Unfortunately, the bill will not accomplish any of these goals. For the first time since the draft, the U.S. government is overriding personal choice and forcing us to purchase a product (or face stiff fines and time in prison). Pretty sad! Ultimately, this piece of legislation will lead to what all misguided entitlement programs lead to: bigger deficits, higher taxes, worse healthcare, boost of the nanny-state mentality, and greater centralized power. Hooray for liberalism!
Here are the top five reasons why this healthcare reform legislation should not have been passed and will prove to be bad medicine for America:
1) It is anti-freedom. This bill will force all families and individuals to either be covered by an adequate health care plan or enroll under the government’s public option. Of course, in this scenario "adequate" is defined by - who else? - the Federal government. In other words, if your plan doesn't meet the arbitrary standards set by some unelected bureaucrat then you're out of luck.
Prosecution is authorized under the Code for a variety of offenses. Depending on the level of the noncompliance, the following penalties could apply to an individual:
• Section 7203 – misdemeanor willful failure to pay is punishable by a fine of up to $25,000 and/or imprisonment of up to one year.
• Section 7201 – felony willful evasion is punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment of up to five years.” [page 3]
“This is the ultimate example of the Democrats’ command-and-control style of governing,” said Rep. Dave Camp, “buy what we tell you or go to jail.”
2) Healthcare quality will decrease for all Americans. America already has one sector of healthcare run by the government – VA hospitals and clinics – and it has been universally decried as being in shambles. A couple of years ago, the Washington Post covered the shoddy condition of our veterans’ hospitals:
Across the country, some military quarters for wounded outpatients are in bad shape, according to interviews, Government Accountability Office reports and transcripts of congressional testimony. The mold, mice and rot of Walter Reed's Building 18 compose a familiar scenario for many soldiers back from Iraq or Afghanistan who were shipped to their home posts for treatment. Nearly 4,000 outpatients are currently in the military's Medical Holding or Medical Holdover companies, which oversee the wounded. Soldiers and veterans report bureaucratic disarray similar to Walter Reed's: indifferent, untrained staff; lost paperwork; medical appointments that drop from the computers; and long waits for consultations.
Detailing some of the deplorable conditions in other military hospitals, the
article continues:
From Fort Campbell in Kentucky: "There were yellow signs on the door stating our barracks had asbestos."
From Fort Bragg in North Carolina: "They are on my [expletive] like a diaper. . . . there are people getting chewed up everyday."
From Fort Dix in New Jersey: "Scare tactics are used against soldiers who will write sworn statement to assist fellow soldiers for their medical needs."
From Fort Irwin in California: "Most of us have had to sign waivers where we understand that the housing we were in failed to meet minimal government standards."
It is foolhardy to note the government's shoddy and inadequate care for our nation’s veterans but then expect it to provide quality care to the rest of us.
3) Government entitlement programs always lead to more debt. A sampling of recent news stories will make this case simply enough:
These bureaucratic, efficiency-challenged government supported entities and agencies prove government’s wasteful spending is the rule, not the exception.
4) The national debt and perennial budget deficits are already unsustainable. The costs of this healthcare reform is huge – over one trillion dollars over the next ten years alone. This, at a time when Federal spending is already out-of-control and unsustainable. Before the healthcare legislation was passed, the
Obama administration already ran the country’s first budget deficit of over a trillion dollars this year. Obama’s own budget also calls for borrowing $9 trillion additional dollars before 2019, more than doubling our national debt. Under President Bush, deficit spending rose from 18% of the gross domestic product (GDP) to 21%. In Obama’s first year, it rose to peacetime record of 26% of the GDP.
America cannot afford additional spending without corresponding cuts.
Future budget forecasts, without taking into account this healthcare legislation, already show dangerously high percentages of the federal budget paying off the
interest of the national debt alone. Reckless spending will financially enslave our progeny for generations to come.
5) Obamacare will destroy jobs. Earlier this year, Obama promised the passage of the
$787 billion stimulus bill would keep unemployment below nine percent. The bill was passed but the
latest figures show unemployment rates
above ten percent. This health care legislation will only compound the problem. By applying an 8% payroll tax to all but the smallest of businesses and a 5.4% additional surtax on wealthy individuals and couples, Obamacare will only discourage companies from hiring and, inevitably, lead to layoffs.
Healthcare reform will now face passage in the Senate, a much stiffer test for the legislation than the overwhelmingly liberal House. Hopefully, the Senate has the good sense to prescribe a better cure for America than another debt-ridden, job-killing entitlement program. Because that’s just bad medicine.
