Posted on 06/18/2015 4:39:47 AM PDT by Kaslin
Congress passed Obamacare, and the president signed it. But in spite of then Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s promise, we still don’t know exactly what’s in it. We’re finding out, slowly, but it’s rarely good news.
Obamacare was sold as the “fix” for our “broken health care system.” We were told the impact on those happy with their then current situation would barely notice a change, and those without insurance would get it. A win-win for everyone, right?
Those promises went out the window right behind the $2,500 average savings on premiums per family President Barack Obama said would be coming our way.
Prices are up, doctors are refusing new patients or retiring, and the Obama administration touts roughly the same number of “voluntary” sign-ups as people who the law caused to lose their insurance in the first place. With tens of millions of Americans still without insurance, you have to ask yourself, “What was the point?”
The point, of course, was more government control over more people. The federal government now sets the standards which health insurance plans must meet in order to be legally sold in this country. Aside from some payoffs to Democratic Party special interest groups and political donors, there weren’t many “winners” in the new law.
And while we await the Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of subsidies paid in states that refused to expand Medicaid to non-poor citizens, the prospects for the future of our health system don’t look any better.
You’d think this would be a golden opportunity for Republicans to step up and offer a bold vision, a free-market vision for total repeal and replacement. But they haven’t. In fact, they haven’t done much of anything. In between internal squabbling over what to do, what to offer, and how to do it, they’ve only offered tiny chips away at the Great Pyramid of Giza sized stone that is the problem.
Rather than talking big-picture issues and offering a new direction while selling it to the public, Republicans are, well, being Republicans on the issue of health care.
What I was working on health policy at the Heritage Foundation, my boss told me that on the issue, “Democrats are evil, and Republicans are stupid.” Democrats always want more government, no matter how bad the outcome was. Republicans simply hoped to avoid the issue altogether, leaving vision to a select few who worked on it extensively.
The problem with that is you end up with a few people coming up with plans that are varying degrees of good, or at least better, and then the rest weigh in on those with their own pet ideas or thoughts. Those uninformed ideas are generally awful, so they don’t get included, and the whole idea gets shelved because egos get bruised in the process. Like I said, “stupid.”
One stupid idea is cutting back a program called 340B.
Aside from a name only government could assign, it assists rural and poor hospitals and pharmacies in providing expensive drugs to patients who otherwise couldn’t afford them. It’s supposedly revenue neutral, but even if it weren’t, the government is spending trillions over the next few years on health care, so a couple billion over that time is a drop in the bucket that catches the drops falling out of other buckets.
Does it need to be changed? Yes. It, like every other government program, has expanded beyond what it was supposed to be. But for Republicans to think this program, this area, is where to take a stand shows they’re still the stupid party.
Why on God’s green earth would Republicans think targeting a program that helps a large percentage of their voter base (rural) and the people they are routinely accused of hating (the poor) is a good idea? What victory comes from hurting patients and hospitals in areas where hospitals are closing down under strain from the larger Obamacare law?
On the chart of things to address in the health care field, the obscure 340B program falls just under the transmission of toenail fungus in importance to reform and money saving. Why not start big and work to small, rather than the other way around? It wasn’t an ice cube that took down the Titanic, it was the iceberg. Obamacare is a giant iceberg, Medicare is another, as is Medicaid and Social Security.
While we steam toward bankruptcy, Republicans are focusing on loose change under couch cushions. Voters aren’t interested in leaders who offer insignificant changes to a program most of them have never heard of while their costs are skyrocketing. It would be nice if Republicans, for once, stopped being the stupid party on health care.
the GOP (Give Obama Power party): What is it good for?
Answer: Screwing Americans and supporting Tyranny,
and covering up crimes and Treason of the White Mosque.
Well, why not? Until the whole thing collapses under its own weight and contradictions and dies like the way the old Soviet Union and East Bloc did, the establishment Republicans are going to keep on being themselves.
The author is too harsh on the Republicans in this article. I've said for years that there is really no way to "fix" an industry that is built entirely on a third-party payment system. And it really doesn't matter if the third party making the payments is an insurance company or a government agency. The whole process simply distorts the traditional mechanisms of pricing related to supply and demand by severing the link between the customer and the service provider.
The Republicans can't propose a "bold, free-market vision" for health care because even most people who call themselves conservatives would never accept it ... because the only system that would really work would have very little insurance coverage and would require people to pay most of their medical expenses out of their own pockets.
The Untraceable ObamaCare billions---truly govt fraud at its finest
<><> ObamaCare Can't Account for Almost $3 Billion In Subsidy Payments to insurers;
<><> $9 billion missing---conned by Michele's pal for the dumb Obamacare web site;
<><> $4 billion Harry Reid attached to a Medicare bill to buy Mary Landrieu's Obamacare vote----still missing.
<><> $6 billion tax dollars for PR---still missing:
REFERENCE---- ACA SEC. 4002. PREVENTION AND PUBLIC HEALTH FUND.
(a) PURPOSE. It is the purpose of this section of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) to establish a Prevention and Public Health Fund (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Fund’’), to be administered through the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Secretary, to provide for expanded and sustained national investment in prevention and public health programs to improve health and help restrain the rate of growth in private and public sector health care costs.
(b) FUNDING.—There are hereby authorized to be appropriated, and appropriated, to the Fund, out of any monies in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated—
(1) for fiscal year 2010, $500,000,000;
(2) for fiscal year 2011, $750,000,000;
(3) for fiscal year 2012, $1,000,000,000;
(4) for fiscal year 2013, $1,250,000,000;
(5) for fiscal year 2014, $1,500,000,000; and
(6) for fiscal year 2015, and each fiscal year thereafter, $2,000,000,000.
(c) USE OF FUND.—The Secretary shall transfer amounts in the Fund to accounts within the Department of Health and Human Services to increase funding, over the fiscal year 2008 level, for programs authorized by the Public Health Service Act, for prevention, wellness, and public health activities including prevention research and health screenings, such as the Community Transformation grant program, the Education and Outreach Campaign for Preventive Benefits, and immunization programs.
(d) TRANSFER AUTHORITY.—The Committee on Appropriations of the Senate and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of may provide for the transfer of funds in the Fund to eligible activities under this section, subject to subsection (c).
=============================================
WHERE IS THE MISSING OBAMACARE BILLIONS?
FBI TIPS PAGE https://tips.fbi.gov
The FBI should:
(1) check-out Obama's two "foundations" (two that we know of).
(2) Check-out Valerie's wire transfers, cell phone records, and hard drives.
(3) Check- out Obama's offshore accounts, and for good measure,
(4) check-out the cunning Clintons' get-rich-quick foundation formula.
Our de jure republic is a de facto tyranny.
You are correct. Years ago, people paid out of pocket for minor and routine doctor visits and simple procedures. The costs were reasonable because the market controlled it. If a doctor charged too much, he would lose patients. Not only has ‘insurance’ removed those market controls, it has also created a complex billing system that has increased doctor’s costs dramatically. I remember my Dad having ‘hospitalization’ insurance back in the 60’s. This did not cover simple visits, but protected against potentially devastating hospitalization costs.
Health insurance should be like car insurance. It covers crashes but maintenance is paid by the owner. That way routine health care is like a timing belt replacement. Emergency surgery would be like a crash, covered by insurance.
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