Monday, March 22, 2010

What's Bad With Gov't Run Healthcare?


The 3 Worst Obamacare Ingredients
Now that the deed is done, we know which of the politicians' brilliant ideas will become law. Here are four of the most harmful:
1) The ban on “discriminating” against anyone with a pre-existing condition. This is popular, and yet one of the most damaging part of the bill. It forbids insurance companies to charge sick people more for insurance. The result: I will wait until I get sick to get insurance. The bill supposedly has a $750 fine for not buying insurance [Page 323.] But that won’t even be enforced [page 336.] Even if I did have to pay a $750 fine, so what? That’s much less than the $20,000 plus that it would cost me to buy insurance for my family. I’d be a fool to buy insurance now.
Soon only sick people will buy insurance, so premiums will skyrocket. One study found that it would increase premiums by 50%. Will our politicians see their mistake and fix it? No, they'll bash "evil" insurance companies. The insurance market is competitive today. Obamacare will reduce competition.
2) The cost. Supposedly $568 billion just for the years 2015 to 2019 (it doesn't really kick in until 2015.) This comes at a time when the debt is already so high that the federal government is in danger of losing its AAA credit rating. And get this -- Warren Buffet's company can now borrow money at a lower rate than the US government--apparently investors believe his company is more likely to pay them back.
What got the bill through were the dubious promises given to the CBO, ie: the promise to cut Medicare. But we all know Congress won't actually cut Medicare -- it has voted to ignore automatic, scheduled Medicare cuts every year since 2002 (once they even overrode a veto to do it).


Now, Congress adds a nearly $1 Trillion health care bill. And of course, government programs always cost more than promised.
3) Mandates will raise costs. The bill forces all insurance plans to cover "at least... maternity and newborn care... Mental health and substance disorder services... behavioral health treatment... preventative and wellness services and chronic disease management... pediatric services, including oral and vision care." In the real world, some people want these and some don’t. By requiring insurance companies to pay for all, we guarantee vast increases in wasteful spending. Also, the future offers endless new mandates — the bill gives the Secretary of Health and Human Services the power to create them. [Page 105.]
With problems like those, the disgusting earmarks in the bill -- like the $100 million "Cornhusker Kickback"and the $300 million "Louisiana Purchase" -- seem barely worth a footnote.
The New York Times editorial board says that the bill "has some imperfections but is worthy of support."
Give me a break.

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