A plan for a government takeover of private health care institutions is making its way through congress at a rapid pace. President Obama is demanding a bill to sign before the August recess. Debating, crafting and analyzing a quality bill that Americans are aware of and comfortable with takes a back seat to getting it done before anyone has a chance to raise objections and threaten the proposal’s already fast-sinking popularity.
The House health care ‘reform’ bill (
HR 3200) is over 1,000 pages long and makes profound changes to a myriad of existing laws and practices. Is one month enough time to analyze and understand the far-reaching impacts this proposal will bring to the entire health care infrastructure of the United States?
President Obama won’t commit to relying on the government-run health care he envisions, but contrary to his promise, “if you’ve got health insurance, you like your doctors, you like your plan, you can keep your doctor, you can keep your plan – nobody is talking about taking that away from you,” everyone will eventually be forced into the government plan – it’s set up as a gradual encroachment, so you won’t notice the full impact right away. This is an all too common legislative trick and President Obama will never have to rely on the proposed health plan for himself or his family. Nor will the senators and representatives who will vote it up or down. Our leaders have set aside special taxpayer-funded health care plans for themselves that are available to them for the rest of their lives.
The government takeover of health care in America is supposed to make insurance and treatment more affordable and provide coverage to the poor, but the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the House version of health care ‘reform’ will cost over $1.5 trillion over the next ten years and add $750 billion to the already record-high federal deficit. Long-range projections by congressional staff additionally show annual deficits of $50 billion to $250 billion into the 2020s.
Historically, government has greatly underestimated the actual expense of its programs. For example, when Medicaid was enacted in 1966, it cost $3 billion and was projected to cost $12 billion in 1990. The actual Medicaid expenditure in 1990 was $107 billion, nearly tenfold the estimated cost (and it’s quadrupled since then).
Contrary to the popular belief that the government health plan equates to free health care for all, a government administered plan will cost individuals and families plenty. Everyone will still be billed for insurance just the same as now. The difference is that people who currently choose not to carry health insurance will be forced to. Failure to enroll in a government-approved health care plan will result in a fine and involuntary enrollment into a randomly selected plan. On top of the insurance premiums, a tax increase will necessarily follow, because the federal government literally has no money to cover the tremendous additional cost of government administration. Ultimately, government-mandated health insurance will cost Americans more money without a commensurate increase in quality or access. Currently proposed tax hikes may have a disproportionate effect on small businesses.
Representative Polis (D – Colorado) said “some successful family-owned businesses would be taxed at higher rates than multinational corporations.”
Take Action: Contact your representative today. Tell him or her that it's foolish to rush headlong into sweeping, untested and expensive changes to the entire nation's health care system just to meet an arbitrary deadline. The American people deserve better.
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