Three reforms to insurance that wouldn't cost taxpayers
By: Health Insurance
Submitted: 2009-12-27 14:57:07 | Word Count: 500
When Sen. McCaskill spoke at the Springfield town hall meeting this fall, she said she would not vote for the socialized medicine bill if it raises taxes one dollar. It is estimated to cost Americans $1-3 trillion. Let me remind everyone that a billion is a thousand million; a trillion is a thousand billion -- one followed by 12 zeros! Think about paying it back.
President Obama and the Democrat-controlled Congress have already spent a record $3.5 trillion on bailouts and stimulus packages that have not worked. We still have 17 percent real unemployment.
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The Senate bill is 2,079 pages and 400,000 words, with 800 pages of "regulations." It creates 111 new bureaucracies and currently forces taxpayer funding of abortions.
A big threat to senior citizens, it would cut $500 billion from Medicare. Missouri taxpayers thus would pay an additional $400 million yearly for Medicare. There would also be a 50 percent increase in regular insurance premiums because of mandates.
Should health care be government-controlled (public option) or free market? There are already 1,700 health insurance companies in the U.S. We don't need more -- especially not government-run ones.
Look at the government's track record running the following bankrupt agencies: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Postal Service, Amtrak, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Why put the government in charge of the most massive overhaul of health care in U.S. history?
Because the U.S. has the best hospitals, doctors, equipment and medicine, people worldwide come here for timely treatment. Visualize yourself with cancer or a heart attack and turned down because treatment is too expensive -- it will happen if this bill passes. Health care will be rationed to cover costs. Nobody should have the right to get between you and your doctor with treatment available and your life at stake. Britain, with socialized medicine like Congress is proposing, has the worst cancer and heart attack survival rates of any industrialized nation. Guess who has the highest survival rates -- the U.S.!And Congress wants us to accept this bill?The 83 percent of Americans who have health insurance are happy with it. Why massively overhaul the entire system, when tweaking it would suffice?
The government could do three things to make health care more available to everyone without spending a penny:
l. Allow all 1,700 health insurance companies to compete equally in all 50 states, driving down costs. Currently, they are not allowed to do so.
2. Initiate tort reform. Malpractice suits increase health care costs by 30 percent.
3. Allow tax credits for businesses to help fund employee insurance. (The Democrat-controlled Congress has blocked these Republican measures.)
