Obama Care Will Lead to Socialized Medicine
Will Malven
6/11/2009
With all of the tall tales being told by Democrats these days about the proposed "new" healthcare system, I guess it's time to again explain why Obama-care is actually a single-payer system, also known as, socialized medicine.
President Obama likes to paint this rosy picture in which he declares that "If you like the coverage you already have, you can keep it." What he doesn't say is the conclusion of that statement, "If you can afford it."
The problem with Obama-care is that it will inevitably cause the demise of the private health insurance system that a vast majority of Americans have and which allows them, within the constraints of their insurance policy, access to whatever doctor, procedure, and facility they choose.
This comes about for two reasons. First, the folks who run businesses and corporations are not stupid. They pay a great deal of money for those insurance packages they offer their employees; usually the cost to the company is two to three times what the employee pays each month. Faced with the choice of cutting overhead and shifting that considerable burden to the taxpayer and off of the company's books, some of those companies will begin to terminate their employees healthcare benefits because they know the federal government will take up the slack.
The price we who are covered by private insurance policies pay is based on the size of the risk-pool of those being covered by such policies. The idea is that with a large enough group of people, the risk and expense of a covered member getting ill is balanced by the premiums being paid by those who remain healthy. The larger the pool of people, the lower the risk to the profitability of the insurance company and therefore the lower the individual's premium.
With government offering an alternative for business, every time a private business drops coverage for its employees, the number of people in the risk-pool shrinks. As that risk-pool shrinks, the insurance company is forced to raise their premiums on those they still cover to maintain their viability as a company.
Now I know you Liberals out there hate private enterprise and the whole profit loss model that our economic system offers, but for the sane folks out there what this means is that eventually, you will lose your private insurance coverage and be forced into the government (taxpayer funded) system.
As companies see their competitors gain an advantage by shifting the cost of providing their employees healthcare benefits to the government and thereby decreasing their overhead, they will have no choice but to follow suit and force their own employees into the governmental system just to remain competitive.
Every time this happens, the risk-pool for those with private healthcare insurance shrinks and the cost goes up to the company and the individual. Eventually only those who can afford to pay the full cost of their coverage will be able to access the superior medical care offered by private insurance and the private healthcare industry.
The end result, and here's the kicker folks, is a two-tiered system of medical care. We will have one huge impersonal government run system for the "masses" and another much smaller system for the wealthy elite.
That's right. We will still have private healthcare for a few of the "elite" of our society, but most of us will be forced to deal with an inferior, uncaring, bureaucratic nightmare system like that of the Canadians and Europeans, in which medical procedures are rationed and the elderly get short shrift.
You may need that transplant or very expensive procedure and with our current private healthcare system, you would probably get it. Under Obama-care you will be told that you are too old to qualify, or that the heart surgery you need is an "elective" procedure and that you will have to wait 8 months to have it done because there are several thousand people ahead of you in the queue.
You may not consider a life-saving procedure "elective," but under the government run single-payer system it very probably is unless it is an emergency. This is not a paranoid Conservative fantasy, this very thing goes on everyday in Canada, Britain and the rest of Europe to thousands of patients.
Oh yeah, and while you are waiting that 6, 8, or 12 months for your elective procedure you may rest peacefully secure in the knowledge that President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid will get that procedure because, after all, they are more important that you. You will also rest assured that Lance Armstrong (who recently argued before congress that all Americans should be treated equally in battling cancer), Elizabeth Edwards (who made an impassioned appeal for universal healthcare coverage before congress), and all of the rest of the wealthy elite celebrities who are so outspoken in favor of "universal healthcare" will get that same procedure on demand...because they can afford it and the very expensive private healthcare insurance they will continue to be able to afford.
In the end, it will be the little guy, you and I who will be made to suffer. If you don't believe me, just look at what they are contemplating today. They want to add your company paid health insurance premium to your taxable income. For most of us that will mean an increase in taxable income of $8,000-$15,000. It will almost certainly force a majority of Americans into a higher tax bracket and it will add 20%or more to the taxes you already pay.
You want socialized medicine? Well if Obama, Ted Kennedy, and the rest of the Democrats get their way, you'll get it...while they enjoy the best healthcare money can buy...on your dime.
Long Live Our American Republic!!!!
6/11/2009
With all of the tall tales being told by Democrats these days about the proposed "new" healthcare system, I guess it's time to again explain why Obama-care is actually a single-payer system, also known as, socialized medicine.
President Obama likes to paint this rosy picture in which he declares that "If you like the coverage you already have, you can keep it." What he doesn't say is the conclusion of that statement, "If you can afford it."
The problem with Obama-care is that it will inevitably cause the demise of the private health insurance system that a vast majority of Americans have and which allows them, within the constraints of their insurance policy, access to whatever doctor, procedure, and facility they choose.
This comes about for two reasons. First, the folks who run businesses and corporations are not stupid. They pay a great deal of money for those insurance packages they offer their employees; usually the cost to the company is two to three times what the employee pays each month. Faced with the choice of cutting overhead and shifting that considerable burden to the taxpayer and off of the company's books, some of those companies will begin to terminate their employees healthcare benefits because they know the federal government will take up the slack.
The price we who are covered by private insurance policies pay is based on the size of the risk-pool of those being covered by such policies. The idea is that with a large enough group of people, the risk and expense of a covered member getting ill is balanced by the premiums being paid by those who remain healthy. The larger the pool of people, the lower the risk to the profitability of the insurance company and therefore the lower the individual's premium.
With government offering an alternative for business, every time a private business drops coverage for its employees, the number of people in the risk-pool shrinks. As that risk-pool shrinks, the insurance company is forced to raise their premiums on those they still cover to maintain their viability as a company.
Now I know you Liberals out there hate private enterprise and the whole profit loss model that our economic system offers, but for the sane folks out there what this means is that eventually, you will lose your private insurance coverage and be forced into the government (taxpayer funded) system.
As companies see their competitors gain an advantage by shifting the cost of providing their employees healthcare benefits to the government and thereby decreasing their overhead, they will have no choice but to follow suit and force their own employees into the governmental system just to remain competitive.
Every time this happens, the risk-pool for those with private healthcare insurance shrinks and the cost goes up to the company and the individual. Eventually only those who can afford to pay the full cost of their coverage will be able to access the superior medical care offered by private insurance and the private healthcare industry.
The end result, and here's the kicker folks, is a two-tiered system of medical care. We will have one huge impersonal government run system for the "masses" and another much smaller system for the wealthy elite.
That's right. We will still have private healthcare for a few of the "elite" of our society, but most of us will be forced to deal with an inferior, uncaring, bureaucratic nightmare system like that of the Canadians and Europeans, in which medical procedures are rationed and the elderly get short shrift.
You may need that transplant or very expensive procedure and with our current private healthcare system, you would probably get it. Under Obama-care you will be told that you are too old to qualify, or that the heart surgery you need is an "elective" procedure and that you will have to wait 8 months to have it done because there are several thousand people ahead of you in the queue.
You may not consider a life-saving procedure "elective," but under the government run single-payer system it very probably is unless it is an emergency. This is not a paranoid Conservative fantasy, this very thing goes on everyday in Canada, Britain and the rest of Europe to thousands of patients.
Oh yeah, and while you are waiting that 6, 8, or 12 months for your elective procedure you may rest peacefully secure in the knowledge that President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid will get that procedure because, after all, they are more important that you. You will also rest assured that Lance Armstrong (who recently argued before congress that all Americans should be treated equally in battling cancer), Elizabeth Edwards (who made an impassioned appeal for universal healthcare coverage before congress), and all of the rest of the wealthy elite celebrities who are so outspoken in favor of "universal healthcare" will get that same procedure on demand...because they can afford it and the very expensive private healthcare insurance they will continue to be able to afford.
In the end, it will be the little guy, you and I who will be made to suffer. If you don't believe me, just look at what they are contemplating today. They want to add your company paid health insurance premium to your taxable income. For most of us that will mean an increase in taxable income of $8,000-$15,000. It will almost certainly force a majority of Americans into a higher tax bracket and it will add 20%or more to the taxes you already pay.
You want socialized medicine? Well if Obama, Ted Kennedy, and the rest of the Democrats get their way, you'll get it...while they enjoy the best healthcare money can buy...on your dime.
Long Live Our American Republic!!!!
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posted by Will Malven at 6:34 AM
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