President Obama Fakes Out Congress and The Public
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Stanley Feld M.D.,FACP,MACE Several curious coincidences occurred in the last two weeks as President Obama plans to ram his healthcare bill into law through reconciliation. The substance of the bill has not been discussed. The chief benefactor of the bill has not been named. President Obama keeps saying we need this bill to protect the American people from the evil healthcare insurance industry.  I agree that the healthcare insurance industry has been increasing premiums, limiting access to care and not reimbursing providers adequately and appropriately. President Obama’s healthcare reform plan is not going to protect the American people from the evil insurance industry. The healthcare reform plan is going to enhance the healthcare insurance industry’s profit by increasing the healthcare insurance industry’s customer pool. President Obama’s healthcare bill should fail because the provisions in the bill will increase taxes, increase the federal deficit, decrease access to care, ration care and not provide universal care. It is a terrible bill for all the reasons I outlined previously. How are Americans being set up? The initial step was Wellpoint saying it is going to raise rates in California. Other States followed. The states and the federal government protested. Congressional hearings and meetings at the White House accomplished nothing. The President and the healthcare insurance industry wants the public to be more angry at the healthcare insurance industry. It will make it easier for President Obama to pass this terrible healthcare reform bill.
Why? In order to control the healthcare industry all the government would have to do is change the industry’s accounting rules. This would eliminate all the non value added expenses included in the industry’s calculation to justify its increase in premiums. This will not happen because many elected officials are funded by the healthcare insurance industry. Additionally, without the healthcare insurance industry providing administrative services the government could not run Medicare or Medicaid. Ann Braly CEO of Wellpoint said it clearly in her Wall Street Journal article. "We’ve been a heavily regulated industry for as long as I’ve been part of health care," she continues. Frankly, health care and politics are "inextricably intertwined." Mrs. Braly notes, too, that the government on its own is largely incapable of "navigating through the health-care system, coordinating the very uncoordinated parts of the health-care system." “In fact, Medicare hired WellPoint to run some $97 billion in traditional fee-for-service benefits in 2008, or more than a fifth of the program’s total budget that year.” President Obama is running around the country to garner support for reconciliation. He is telling everyone his healthcare reform bill is the only way to control the premiums of the healthcare insurance industry. Sure. President Obama’s plan will create healthcare insurance exchanges. The government will subsidize the healthcare insurance industry’s premium. Who pays? The taxpayer pays and the healthcare insurance industry keep the profit. It reminds me of a comment sent to me by a reader about the cash for clunkers program. President Obama said we had to do it because it would decrease greenhouse gases. Three billion dollars is not a large amount of money in the greater scheme of things. Neither party nor the traditional press were agitated. The cash for clunkers bill passed easily. President Obama declared a spectacular victory. It took a blogger to do the math and calculate how tax payers were ripped off.
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This cash for clunkers arithmetic is similar to the arithmetic used by President Obama for healthcare reform. The difference is healthcare reform will cost much more and add more significantly to the deficit.
The American taxpayer is being set up to pay more taxes. The deficit will not be reduced. Access to medical care will be decreased. Out of pocket expenses will be increased. Rationing of care will be increased. State deficits and state taxes will be increased. America will not have achieved affordable universal coverage.
I believe the healthcare reform bill will create an additional $2 trillion dollars deficit by 2020 rather than reduce the deficit by $135 billion dollars. It all depends on the assumptions made in doing the math.
Americans are being faked out by President Obama and the healthcare insurance industry.
Consumers, you must be in charge of your healthcare dollars. Not the government.
The opinions expressed in the blog “Repairing The Healthcare System” are, mine and mine alone.