The summary of the health care bill is as follows:
Cost: $940bn over 10 years; would reduce deficit by $143bn
Coverage: Expanded to 32m currently uninsured Americans
Medicare: Prescription drug coverage gap closed; affected over-65s receive rebate and discount on brand name drugs
Medicaid: Expanded to include families under 65 with gross income of up to 133% of federal poverty level and childless adults
Insurance reforms: Insurers can no longer deny coverage to those with pre-existing conditions
Insurance exchanges: Uninsured and self-employed able to purchase insurance through state-based exchanges
Subsidies: Low-income individuals and families wanting to purchase own health insurance eligible for subsidies
Individual Mandate: Those not covered by Medicaid or Medicare must be insured or face fine
High-cost insurance: Employers offering workers pricier plans subject to tax on excess premium
The Medicare expansion is good, as is the Medicaid one. Insurance reform is a good idea, as are the insurance exchanges to some extent. Subsidies can be good too. Expanding coverage to another 32 million Americans is an equally noble idea.
Now, the problems, in my opinion, begin with the first point – the enormous costs of the program. $940 billion dollars of money the U.S. government does not have. We are already spending a pretty 1.4 trillion dollars per year on average more than we have. $940 billion will only add to that.
Moreover, government cost estimates almost always prove to be far short of the actual number. Medicare, for instance,:
… in 1966 cost $3 billion. The House Ways and Means Committee estimated that Medicare would cost only about $ 12 billion by 1990 (a figure that included an allowance for inflation). This was a supposedly “conservative” estimate. But in 1990 Medicare actually cost $107 billion.
Medicare, in the most recent budget, costs 489 billion dollars. Medicaid costs another 264 billion dollars.
The Democrats told us in 1966 that Medicare would cost only 10 percent of what it actually did in 1990. They lied. Big time. And, they also had no idea how much it would really cost.
Pants on Fire
Fast forward to today. The Democrats are telling us Obamacare would cost only 940 billion dollars. The real estimate? 9.4 trillion dollars. That’s how much it would probably cost us in reality.
9.4 TRILLION DOLLARS. Who’s going to pay for that? Obama’s daddy?
Problem no. 2 is the mandate. Of course, Obamacare, and any liberal/socialist policy, wouldn’t be effective if people aren’t forced to adhere to it. So, we have fines and canings to force those disobedient little uninsured punks to buy Obamacare.
If I don’t want health care, I will not buy it. I will pay the fine, but I will not buy Obamacare.
The third problem, of course, is the end of comprehensive insurance coverage. Cadillac plans are nothing more than comprehensive health insurance plans provided by large corporations, such as Microsoft, that cover almost everything.
Covering everything from brand-name prescription drugs to physical therapy to preventative care to fitness programs to semi-elective surgeries to major operations, these Cadillac plans save tens of thousands of Americans tens of thousands of dollars each year.
What will happen if the tax goes through is that Microsoft will drastically reduce coverage, bringing everyone down to the Obamacare level. Henceforth, you want that physical therapy? Pay out of your own pocket. That’s what Democrats want – equally crappy coverage for all.
The last problem the summary left out is the increase in taxes. The rich will be taxed even further. Medicare taxes are being increased. Medicare taxes will be imposed on investment income.
Taxes, taxes and more taxes. That’s how Canada’s total tax rate is well over 40%.
