The next two blogs will review the published position on healthcare of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
Obamacare has not been a big issue in the presidential campaign yet. It will become a big issue in mid October when the new premium schedules will leak to the press and by the November 1 publication of premium date healthcare will be a full-blown campaign issue.
Obamacare is on the verge of failure. Democrats are starting to talk up a Public Option as the Obamacare salvation. The Public Option is not going to save Obamacare.
The healthcare Co-Ops were supposed to provide a competitive force for the healthcare insurance companies to keep down the premium costs. However, 17 out of 22 have failed. The other five will fail before the end of the year.
The Public Option is a federally controlled competitive force. However, because of healthcare insurance companies distrust for the Democrats and Obamacare few insurance companies will show up to compete.
The presidential campaign has been such a circus that our attention has been diverted from healthcare.
The failure will be noticed when the new premiums are published on November 1, 2016, five days before we go the polls.
This late date has been set deliberately by the Obama administration in order not to give Americans enough time to respond with anger toward Democrats and the potentially new Hillary Clinton administration and vote her down.
Hillary Clinton’s website’s first sentence in her preamble on healthcare says it all.
“As your president, I want to build on the progress we’ve made with Obamacare.
She will build on Obamacare. Obamacare is a failure by all measures once we see through President Obama, Paul Krugman, and Ezekeil Emanuel’s lies. Why would anyone want to build on that failure?
Hillary supports President Obama’s call for a near tripling of the size of the National Health Service Corps. It will also triple the cost with not evidence that it will be successful.
It sounds like President Obama’s empty promise.
- If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor.
- If you like your insurance company you can keep your insurance company.
- If you make less than $250,000 dollars a year you will not pay one red cent more in taxes.
This statement is important but is minor compared to what needs to be done.
The main body of Hillary Clinton’s position paper says the same thing. It does not give any details on how she will accomplish any of her promises.
Her campaign and the traditional media led by the New York Times have attacked every one of Donald Trump’s proposals because they claim he does not spell out how he would accomplish them.
Below are her website healthcare policies.
Defend and expand the Affordable Care Act, which covers 20 million people.
In 2016, Obamacare’s Health Insurance Exchanges insure only ten million people.
Most of those 10 million have a pre-existing illness. These people could not buy healthcare insurance on the private market. Eighty-five percent of those people receive government supplements. There has been no increase in Obamacare enrollment since 2014. There has been a lot of lying about enrollment yearly.
It would be less expensive if a system of care were developed to provide these people with medical care without the bloated bureaucracy and falsely promised insurance benefits.
The expansion of Medicaid eligibility decreased the uninsured an additional 10 million. With Hillary Clinton’s plan to increase Syrian immigration to 500,000 a year and provide them with Medicaid the failure of Medicaid will be accelerated.
Medicaid is another failed government program. Medicaid patients have difficulty finding a physician and have decreased access for medical care.
Bring down out-of-pocket costs like copays and deductibles.
Hillary Clinton offers no plan on how she is going to accomplish this.
Reduce the cost of prescription drugs.
Again, there is no explanation for how she is going to reduce these high costs.
Protect consumers from unjustified prescription drug price increases from companies that market long-standing, life-saving treatments and face little or no competition.
Promises, promises, promises with no explanation of a plan. It sounds great but there is no plan explaining fulfillment.
Fight for health insurance for the lowest-income Americans in every state by incentivizing states to expand Medicaid—and make enrollment through Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act easier.
President Obama and his administration have told us over and over again that it is easy to enroll in Medicaid and Obamacare. The Obama administration even pays enrollment navigators $48 an hour.
Expand access to affordable health care to families regardless of immigration status.
Hillary Clinton clearly has no regard for cost. She also wants to expand the immigration of Syrians to 500,000 per year. When this happens the cost of Medicaid will explode.
The federal government will eventually try to dump those costs on the states. Most states have budget deficits that have to be cured now.
Taxpayers will be forced to endure both federal and state tax increases for a failed federal program.
President Obama’s original promise is that the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) will be budget neutral.
Expand access to rural Americans, who often have difficulty finding quality, affordable health care.
Hillary Clinton pledges to explore cost-effective ways to make more health care providers eligible for telemedicine reimbursement under Medicare and other programs.
Please notice she is only exploring the possibility of telemedicine reimbursement. Americans have heard empty promises before.
Defend access to reproductive health care.
Hillary will work to ensure that all women have access to preventive care, affordable contraception, and safe and legal abortion. This is not a promise. How she will accomplish this goal is not outlined.
Double funding for community health centers, and supports the healthcare workforce:
This is an initiative that is part of Hillary Clinton’s comprehensive healthcare agenda.
She is going to double present funding for primary-care services at community health centers over the next decade.
This is another ideological plan whose effectiveness has not been proven.
The goal of community healthcare centers is to provide low-level care for illness. It does not promote a patient/physician relationship or patient responsibility. It does not provide patient choice.
It is another step to commoditize medical care.
There you have it. Hillary Clinton’s healthcare policy as described on her website.
It is an extension of President Obama’s failed healthcare policy of the last 7 years. There is no mention of patients or their responsibility for their health or healthcare.
None of these proposals will lower the price of healthcare or increase the quality of care.
Hillary Clinton’s proposals will increase spending on a failed program (Obamacare) that has increased America’s deficit.
Hillary Clinton believes: “Together these steps will get us closer to the day when everyone in America has access to quality, affordable health care.”
I believe Hillary Clinton does not know what she is talking about. I know the American people are seeing what is happening to our healthcare system.
If you want more of Obamacare with its tremendous costs to individuals and the American people along with the lack of improvement in medical care vote for Hillary Clinton.
Hillary Clinton is a tax and spend progressive democrat who does not think about what consumers need. Her attitude is that consumers are not smart enough to choose.
She believes that the federal government knows best.
There is nothing in her healthcare plan to Repair the Healthcare System.
The opinions expressed in the blog “Repairing The Healthcare System” are, mine and mine alone.
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