HEALTH CARE ‘REFORM’: ARROGANCE AND FOLLY

By D. E. Lovett

In a fit of arrogance and folly not seen in America since mad King George ruled the 13 Colonies, the government has foisted on us a truly monstrous take-over of our health care system- monstrous in size, monstrous in cost, and monstrous in effect; and of very dubious constitutionality.

The methods by which this was done include all of the most unsavory features of politics- partisanship, log-rolling, vote buying, “gaming” the Congressional Budget Office, distortion of reality, demonizing opponents, making glowing but empty promises, arm-twisting, and downright lying. This is usually overlooked when only a billion dollars are at issue, but a trillion? (And that figure doesn’t count the fact that the cost will surely at least double, when the main benefits kick in in 2014, when a lot of the perpetrators will be enjoying their huge pension benefits.)

Now let’s get one very important point to the front: this is not “health care reform.” It is “increased health care access.” The system, with all it warts and blemishes, remains basically unchanged, simply more expensive. Call it Lovett’s 1st Law of Economics: the more money you make available for something, the more it will cost. And the bill does absolutely nothing to restrain the current cost growth.

No one, not even the designers of this Frankenstein’s monster, and certainly not those who brought it to life, knows what is in it, and we, the people who will pay for it, certainly don’t. The only thing we do know is the publicly stated aim of its sponsors. What we don’t know is what all the consequences, especially the unintended consequences, will be. Among the intended consequences: people who don’t need or want insurance will be compelled, with large penalties, to buy it anyway; businesses will be burdened with huge new taxes; the cost of private insurance for everyone who buys it will escalate; the annual deficit, and the public debt will soar; and a host of other serious consequences. The unintended consequences are likely to include: shortage of health care professionals; decline in the quality of service; rationing of care; doctors leaving the profession; an inevitable growth in the total cost of the program; and a host of others we won’t begin to see for years to come.

Polls and analysis show 85% of us are insured, and 89% of those insured are happy with their program. This monster was given birth for the benefit of 7% of the population, at the expense of the rest of us, and that expense will be huge. Taxed Enough Already? You ain’t seen nothing yet! As usual with government programs, the productive are being punished for their success for the benefit of the indigent.

So who are the main beneficiaries of the monster? Aside from the few who may get help paying their bills, one of the biggest winners is the hospital industry, which will not have to write off their huge losses from treating the uninsured (but they will still have to treat, at their own cost, all illegal immigrants, who, paradoxically, are prohibited from buying insurance, even if they want it and can afford it.) Another major beneficiary will be private insurance companies, who will see a major increase in business, and will simply raise all of our rates to compensate for additional taxes. A third major beneficiary will be the federal bureaucracy, which will balloon to administer this program, and, of course, the unions which represent them.

This whole monster was a creature of the Democrat Party alone, and to the extent it thrives, they deserve all the credit. To the extent it stumbles, bumbles, fumbles, and eventually collapses under its own weight, as it surely will, they deserve the entire blame.