Barack Obama’s Healthcare Policy

Today I’ll address Barack Obama’s Healthcare policy, and what he wants to do as President in the realm of healthcare.  Let me make an important distinction first.  In true Liberal/Progressive/Democrat fashion, wording is key to their cause.  They are all about how you package something.  Let’s not call it a tax hike… let’s call it a tax increase on the wealthiest 1% of Americans.  We shouldn’t say we are Liberals, we should say we are “progressives”.  And finally, in this situation, let’s just flat out mislead people.  Instead of saying that we have a health insurance plan, we should say we have a “healthcare” plan.  See the difference?  They change the wording in order to bring more people to the table and scare more people.  How’s that, you ask?  There is a big difference in healthcare and health insurance.  Healthcare, of course, is the care you receive for injury, illness, surgery, or simply prevention.  Health insurance is the way people finance that care, which for a multitude of reasons is rather expensive.  More on this later…  All the same, though,  It doesn’t take more than a cursory glance at his website to find out exactly what he proposes.

” My plan begins by covering every American. If you already have health insurance, the only thing that will change for you under this plan is the amount of money you will spend on premiums. That will be less. If you are one of the 45 million Americans who don’t have health insurance, you will have it after this plan becomes law. No one will be turned away because of a preexisting condition or illness.” – Barack Obama, speech in Iowa City, IA, May 29, 2007

Okay, there it is.  His plan guarantees health insurance for every American.  I could stop there, but some might not see the problem there, so I’ll continue.  First of all, I will give one million dollars to not only the first but ALL of you who view this post and respond to me with a comment on this blog that shows where the United States Constitution guarantees health insurance (or for that matter, even healthcare) for its citizens.  Seriously one million dollars to every single person that can show me where it says that every American should be guaranteed health insurance coverage.  (By the way, I don’t even have one million dollars, so you should probably guess that I’m pretty sure it doesn’t say it, but hey, be my guest…) Now, Congress is given the legal authority to legislate how money is spent, so if Congress votes to insure every American, though not Constitutional, it would be legal and the way things are supposed to be done (despite it being totally stupid).

Obama’s plan goes something like this, he says that if we currently have health insurance, nothing will happen except premiums will go down. He will make available a new national health insurance plan to all Americans, and no one will be denied coverage for health reasons or preexisting conditions. Coverage will be similar to the plan available to all Federal employees (really stinkin’ good coverage, by the way), and premiums, deductibles, and copays will be affordable.  Sound good so far?  Read on… low-income families will receive a federal subsidy to buy into this system and help them afford the plan. The plans will be portable (I UNBELIEVABLY SUPPORT THIS PART OF HIS PLAN, but not in the way you might think… read on), and providers will be required to document their efficiency and quality to the federal government in order to maintain good standing with this new plan. He also supports creating an organization to act as mediator and “warehouse” of sorts to “watch over” private health insurance plans. He supports forcing employers to contribute money toward their employee’s health insurance costs or face increased payroll taxes.  Lastly, he will involve the federal government in the pricing of pharmaceuticals and other medical services and devices.  Those are the highlights of his plan.  I hope you all are excited about these initiatives.  I would be too, except I know that we don’t have the money to do that.  Here’s why this plan won’t work.

“Nothing will happen except premiums will go down.”  Sounds good, but remember my last post… income goes down, so must spending.  Cause and Effect… Yin and Yang (is that even spelled right?  Who cares…) If premiums go down, what happens?  Insurers don’t have as much to spend for their members.  What happens then?  Benefits and coverage is reduced OR providers get paid less for their services/products.  Well, as you just read, he wants to institute a plan with coverage similar to federal employees, which covers everything except being paid to get sick so the plan can take care of you.  So since coverage isn’t going to be limited, there is only one other thing that can happen… providers will be paid less for their services/products.

Some might welcome this change. “Those doctors charge way too much anyway.  That drug is too expensive.  That hospital charged me thirty dollars for a lunch that my first grader could have made.”  A couple of questions…  Why do doctors charge as much as they do?  That drug is too expensive?  Compared to what? (I have no idea why hospital lunches are so expensive… ya’ll will have to take that up with your own hospital).  To answer the first, doctors charge a lot for a few different reasons.  First and foremost, medicine is a business just like anything else.  I hope you know how hard physicians (and other providers like physcial therapists, speech pathologists, and nurses) work to become that kind of provider.  They deserve to be paid well for their service.  Second, doctors (and some other providers) must protect themselves from lawsuits.  To do this, they have insurance too, called medical malpractice insurance.  I read one study that said found over 80% of the doctors who were members of a local medical organization had been sued at least once… IN ONE YEAR!!!!!  If you are a doctor, you will be sued.  Lawyers aren’t cheap, and the time away from their work is costing them money as well.  Finally, doctors and other providers have to “charge” much more in order to receive a fair reimbursement for services rendered.  If you have read an EOB (Explanation of Benefits) from your last doctor visit or lab test, you know what I’m talking about.  Let me give you an example.  My company charges a certain amount for one month’s use of our product.  We get 26.7 cents on the dollar for a Medicare claim, 56.9 cents on the dollar for an Aetna claim, 63.2 cents on the dollar for a BlueCross Blue Shield claim, and so on.  So we have to charge more for our product knowing that we will only get said amount in return.  That amount has to go to pay me, my manager,  my sales support rep, her boss, her boss, our management team, and our founder/president.

The other thing I want to address is expense.  Lot’s of people say, “That’s too expensive.” Too expensive compared to what? Being sick?  Being injured?  Not being able to walk normally or throw the football with your child or go to work and make money so you that can throw the football with your child?  Society has decided that some things are more important than being healthy, so we spend money on stuff and when we get sick or injured, we claim that we “can’t afford to go to the doctor or have surgery.”  Honey, simply put, you can’t afford NOT to go to the doctor.  You’ve got to take some personal responsibility and get things done for yourself. You’ve got to look at financial decisions as “if this, not that.”  If I do this with money, I can’t do that because I did this.

How will Barack Obama ensure affordability of his new plan?  Remember… income vs. spending.  If we reduce premiums (artificially, I might add), then less money will be available to pay for services when needed.  That means that the government will have to take in more, and since they aren’t doing that by way pf increased premiums, it’ll be done by increased taxes… you guessed it, on those evil rich people.

“Low-income families will receive a subsidy to buy into the new plan.” Subsidy… read handout/payout/giveaway here.  That means that the federal government will finance premium health insurance by taxing those not using that health insurance.  Yeah, that makes sense.

He also says plans will be portable.  I believe that portability and accessability is key to reducing premiums without sacrificing quality, but here’s how I differ with Obama.  One of the biggest hindrances to this is government, mainly state governments, but also the federal government.  Government mandates, to be exact.  Mandates are laws passed that require health insurers to provide coverage to all of its plan members, regardless of their needs.  In other words, many states require that health insurance plans cover chiropractic care, acupuncture, massage therapy, and other similar services.  This space is not going to address the efficacy of these services (at least not today).  The issue is this… If I don’t go to the chiropractor or the acupuncturist (sp?), why do I need to have a health insurance plan to cover that visit?  Can’t I just get a plan that coves what I need?  Nope, not in most states.  Thus the increased premiums.  We are wasting money, and that money goes into the coffers of the health insurers.  On the other hand, if there was true portability and accessability, and citizens could buy health insurance like a pair of shoes (with exactly what we need without what we don’t, and for the cheapest amount possible), then all of a sudden COMPETITION would be created among insurers.  New plans and types of insurance would spring up almost overnight, because insurers would be racing to sign up individuals and corporations with new plans that allow consumers to dictate what they need.  You know what you need and what you don’t.  Why do you need your state legislator to tell you that?

Obama would also require providers to document their care and its efficacy.  This is just one more way that, immediately and over time, the government will stick it’s nose in your own private business.  If a doctor provides inferior care, do you think people will be flocking to him/her for care? By no means?  Why do we need to government to tell patients that a doctor botched a surgery or doesn’t spend much time with them when he does a physical?  His idea to create a commission to be an exchange or warehouse for private plans and to be a watchdog over the industry is simply more bureaucracy that will cost you more money one way or the other.  Either it’ll cost you more in taxes to fund the commission or it’ll raise your newly lowered insurance premiums because the insurers will be footing the bill for the new commission.

Lastly, he will force employers to contribute to their employees health insurance premiums.  Most employers already do this, but for those who don’t… are those employers evil?  Should they be forced to do this?  If so, what happens then?  I’m glad you asked.  If employers are required to contribute to health insurance coverage or face increased payroll taxes, then they will have less money in their accounts.  In other words, more of their profits will be used to pay for health insurance.  Because of that, the profitability of the business will decrease.  This means that they will either make less money or take that from another area.  Where would that be from?  From the starting salary of a new worker.  From the raise that you earned because of your productivity the previous year.  From the savings that the company had accrued to build a new facility to produce more products to sell.

Every cause has an effect.  Every action has a reaction.  For every dollar that is taken away, one must replace it.  Barack Obama plans to tackle what he sees as a healthcare “crisis.”  He wants to raise taxes on the wealthy to fund initiatives for the poor.  This is not a winning game plan folks.  I have already laid out a couple of things that I believe would change the current system and make healthcare more affordable.  I’ll spend some time later going into more detail.  Think about this for yourself.  Tell me if you think I’m wrong, or tell me if you agree with me.  Most importantly, do something.

~ by michaelldouglas on June 9, 2008.