Disingenuous insurance scheme

Waterbury Republican-American ^ | June 29, 2009 | Editorial

[Graybeard58]

Catching up on the health-care debate: In discussing KennedyDoddCare at a news conference last week, President Obama beat the tar out of a straw man. "Why would it drive private insurance out of business? If private insurers say that the marketplace provides the best quality health care; if they tell us that they're offering a good deal, then why is it that the government, which they say can't run anything, suddenly is going to drive them out of business? That's not logical." He repeated those talking points in his infomercial on ABC.

He knows KennedyDoddCare is being crafted to give the government important competitive advantages over private insurers that will expand over time until the private insurance sector withers to the point where the government is compelled to put a bullet in its head. Just don't expect his fawning news media to call him out on it.

During his informercial, President Obama said he would reduce medical costs by blocking patients, doctors and insurers from unthinkingly approving additional tests, procedures or therapies "that the evidence shows is not necessarily going to improve care. Maybe you're better off not having the surgery, but taking the painkiller."

Maybe. But under KennedyDoddCare, that decision won't be left to you, your doctor and your insurer, but your friendly government bean-counter working for the "Federal Health Board" who will be predisposed to say no to anything that's not actuarially beneficial because his main function will be to "reduce costs," aka ration care.

The president is trying to woo doctors and hospitals with vague promises of tort-law reforms that would get the trial bar off their backs. Indeed, reforms done correctly would lower health-care costs and improve access to care by, for example, curbing "defensive medicine," under which physicians order all manner of needless tests in the event they must prove to jurors they pulled out all stops in caring for patients who had bad outcomes. And by reining in frivolous lawsuits and limiting jury awards to amounts that reflect the injury, malpractice-insurance rates would tumble, and the savings would show up in reduced costs across the health-care spectrum.

But this subterfuge has all the earmarks of drawing doctors, hospitals and congressional Republicans into supporting KennedyDoddCare only to have left-wing Democrats, beholden to the trial lawyers, pull the rug out at the end. All the president will have to say is "This may not be a perfect bill, but it is one we can all live with."

Dr. Orrin Devinsky, a neurologist at the New York University Medical Center, reminded the president during the infomercial that elites "propose health-care solutions that limit options for the general public, secure in the knowledge that if they or their loves ones get sick, they will be able to afford the best care available, even if it's not provided by insurance." Tellingly, the president never attempted to rebut Dr. Devinsky's assertion, let alone refute it.

[Graybeard58]

Ping to a Republican-American Editorial.

If you want on or off this list, let me know.

[LeonardFMason]

Barack Obama is now officially an IMBECILE.

[gov_bean_ counter]

if they tell us that they're offering a good deal, then why is it that the government, which they say can't run anything, suddenly is going to drive them out of business? That's not logical.

Shallow reasoning like this proves that Obie is NOT...

smarter that a 5th grader.

[rawhide]

Another thing about this is the government does not have to produce a profit, whereas the insurance companies need to. The government can tweak the parameters to benefit themselves and not care at all about the insurance companies.

The government can even operate at a loss for many years, until it drives the insurance companies out of business or it forces them to cut back on their benefits they offer to compete with the government plan, to where the policies they offer are but a small resemblance of what they offer today.

obama will destroy health-care as we know and make it much worse. It will take a few years for it to deteriorate. At first the ramifications will be barely noticeable. But it will get worse, and worse quickly, believe it.

[sickoflibs]

Here’s a public plan to call him out on competition:

1) no taxpayer subsities in government plan
2) no regulations of what services private plans must provide or who they must take, or what they must charge

Let a government plan with all the regulations Obama wants but no tax dollars compete with a system allowed to lure in healthy customers with a low price.

[downtownconservative]

“Shallow reasoning like this proves that Obie is NOT...

smarter that a 5th grader.”

You may be right about that, but his handlers are. They are the ones counting on the public “not being smarter trhan a 5th grader”. Sadly, they may be right.

[dcwusmc]

No, he’s not, and if you think that you are letting him get away with his masquerade. He is EVIL. The personification of all that is evil about mankind. But if he can parade as dumb and unthinking, some people will give him a pass until it’s too late. Don’t YOU be one of them.

[rockinqsranch]

Thanks for the ping Graybeard. Appreciate it.