Health Care Redux

Health Care Redux
By J. Patrick Bertroche, D.O.
Pres. Obama has now decided that HE will write the new health care “reform” bill. In a bid to save a bill that “isn’t about me, it’s about America”, Pres. Obama now has “written” his own health care reform bill, in order to save one of his platform pieces. We all know by now he is a Socialist Elite. But to stepping in and writing this bill is saying, “Ok, it is about me after all”.
With the Looney Left at a fever pitch over the last year, I can see why they won’t give up the “reform” of the best health care system in the world. They want socialism, and they want it now. No matter what the citizens say. They know better than we do what is good for us. They want a nanny state, because they are the nannies.
Since the people have decried the health care “push”, (more like a shove down and kick) the next obvious tactic is to simply eliminate those people from the debate. And they are attempting to do so by introducing a bill that looks pretty much like the Senate and House bills, but with no public option. By doing it this way, they just need a simple majority. What the Looney Left is not getting is , whether or not you are for or against the public option, people are NOT for more taxes, or more bureaucrats, or having our “option” be government health care. The Dems are “lukewarm” to the bill, according to Fox News, and the CBO has said that it is too vague to really estimate how much it will cost. The WSJ said it would cost $950 billion. As I have said many times, health care reform should not cost a trillion dollars.
We need to reform the health care system in our country. No one disputes that. But what the Looney Left doesn’t understand, and most people don’t realize, is that our health care system is in such a mess because of government interference. At a recent campaign stop, a person asked me why the insurance companies are starting to cut back on reimbursements to doctors and hospitals. The answer is simple: They follow what Medicare does. Medicare reduced payments, insurance companies reduce payments. Medicare this year eliminated consultations. So if you are in the hospital, and something happens beyond the scope of your doctor’s expertise, Medicare won’t pay for another doctor to help you. And here the Looney Left is telling us there will not be any rationing.
The next good example of government interference raising the cost of health care is immunizations. It costs somewhere around $78 to immunize a child during its first year of life. That comes to around $320million for immunizations for the first year of life. The taxes (yes, the government taxes immunizations) is about $6 per child per year, or about $25million. The indirect taxes, such as getting FDA approval, for example, drive the government’s share of the immunization close to $40 per child, and maybe even as high as $60 per child. If you eliminated the government’s taxes from just immunizations for just the first year of life, you would save a minimum of $25million, and potentially $280 million PER YEAR!
But the Looney Left doesn’t see anything wrong with taxes. Or government interference. They just see something wrong with free enterprise and limited government.