The following was published in the Town and Country on April 1 - and not this is not an April fools joke. :-)
Why the Health Care Reform Legislation really is bad.
The health reform law is a road to disaster paved with good intentions. Start with the nice ideas to protect consumers which, coupled with higher taxes, raise the cost of health insurance. To offset higher costs, the law provides subsidies that are nice if you enjoy a lower paying job. Along with costs, taxes and the deficit will go up too. What goes down is health insurance competition. When President Obama started this process he promised a thoroughbred horse instead we got a three legged camel.
For example, didn’t President Obama say he wanted the cost of health insurance to go down? Instead costs will go up because the Democrats wanted to be so good to us. Added to the taxes and regulatory red tape they heaped on insurance companies, there are a bunch of new health benefits that you have to pay for regardless of whether you need them or can afford them. The result, health insurance premiums go up, not down.
On the other hand, why lower prices when you can make people dependent on the Government instead. Thus, the Democrats created a subsidy program to help people making less than $88,000 pay for health insurance. Now $88,000 sounds like a lot of money. For one person, that’s a good paying job. But if both spouses work and earn $44,000 each, are those good paying jobs? Thanks to the Democrats, the couple earning $44,000 each faces a Federal penalty – loss of insurance subsidies – if either accepts a promotion. Seems the Democrats not only tax the rich they want to prevent anyone else from getting rich too.
Unfortunately, subsidies require money and money is something the Federal Government is short of right now. That means both raising taxes and creating new taxes. So tax the Democrats did – they added taxes to insurers, to employers, and to individuals. In addition to raising the cost of insurance, the Democrats violated President Obama’s promise not to raise taxes on people earning under $250,000.
Despite all the taxes, the health insurance reform law adds $562 billion to the Federal Deficit. Disregard the Democrats’ claim that the new law lowers deficits by $138 billion. The New York Times provided a detailed listing of how the Democrats fudged the numbers. For example, the Democrats created a long-term care program and the $70 billion in premiums was used as revenue to lower the deficit. Amazingly, not a single penny of those premiums was shown as being used to pay for benefits.
Of course, we were promised that there will be competition among health insurers and that will hold down prices right? Sorry. Once again, the Democrats “protected us” by playing games with the way insurance companies develop premiums. The result will be less competition because only large insurance companies will be able to stay in business. This is irony – Democrats complained about insurance companies dominating markets and they pass a law that skews the market so only insurance companies that dominate the markets can survive.
If the Editor would allow me five pages, I could go into greater detail. I felt compelled to write this because in the middle of a bad economy, the Democrats passed a law with new taxes and regulatory burdens and now the Democrats have embarked on a media campaign to tell us they did us a favor. The fact is the harm caused by higher premiums, higher taxes, higher deficits, and less competition is going to undo whatever benefits this law provides.
Why the Health Care Reform Legislation really is bad.
The health reform law is a road to disaster paved with good intentions. Start with the nice ideas to protect consumers which, coupled with higher taxes, raise the cost of health insurance. To offset higher costs, the law provides subsidies that are nice if you enjoy a lower paying job. Along with costs, taxes and the deficit will go up too. What goes down is health insurance competition. When President Obama started this process he promised a thoroughbred horse instead we got a three legged camel.
For example, didn’t President Obama say he wanted the cost of health insurance to go down? Instead costs will go up because the Democrats wanted to be so good to us. Added to the taxes and regulatory red tape they heaped on insurance companies, there are a bunch of new health benefits that you have to pay for regardless of whether you need them or can afford them. The result, health insurance premiums go up, not down.
On the other hand, why lower prices when you can make people dependent on the Government instead. Thus, the Democrats created a subsidy program to help people making less than $88,000 pay for health insurance. Now $88,000 sounds like a lot of money. For one person, that’s a good paying job. But if both spouses work and earn $44,000 each, are those good paying jobs? Thanks to the Democrats, the couple earning $44,000 each faces a Federal penalty – loss of insurance subsidies – if either accepts a promotion. Seems the Democrats not only tax the rich they want to prevent anyone else from getting rich too.
Unfortunately, subsidies require money and money is something the Federal Government is short of right now. That means both raising taxes and creating new taxes. So tax the Democrats did – they added taxes to insurers, to employers, and to individuals. In addition to raising the cost of insurance, the Democrats violated President Obama’s promise not to raise taxes on people earning under $250,000.
Despite all the taxes, the health insurance reform law adds $562 billion to the Federal Deficit. Disregard the Democrats’ claim that the new law lowers deficits by $138 billion. The New York Times provided a detailed listing of how the Democrats fudged the numbers. For example, the Democrats created a long-term care program and the $70 billion in premiums was used as revenue to lower the deficit. Amazingly, not a single penny of those premiums was shown as being used to pay for benefits.
Of course, we were promised that there will be competition among health insurers and that will hold down prices right? Sorry. Once again, the Democrats “protected us” by playing games with the way insurance companies develop premiums. The result will be less competition because only large insurance companies will be able to stay in business. This is irony – Democrats complained about insurance companies dominating markets and they pass a law that skews the market so only insurance companies that dominate the markets can survive.
If the Editor would allow me five pages, I could go into greater detail. I felt compelled to write this because in the middle of a bad economy, the Democrats passed a law with new taxes and regulatory burdens and now the Democrats have embarked on a media campaign to tell us they did us a favor. The fact is the harm caused by higher premiums, higher taxes, higher deficits, and less competition is going to undo whatever benefits this law provides.
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