Posted on 03/23/2010 7:00:58 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
In Washington, everybody knows about unintended consequences: the outcomes you fail to anticipate when you change the way something works. But there's another phenomenon that works somewhat in reverse: Preregulatory paranoia, or the fear that new rules meant to make the system better will instead produce mayhem and disaster.
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Still, the overheated claims and counterclaims about healthcare reform have produced widespread confusion about what the new legislation will actually do. Here are a few of the most overblown concerns:
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1) The government will take over one sixth of the economy.
That would be alarming if it were true. But government involvement in healthcare will increase gradually over time and remain modest, especially since there's no "public option" in the current plan that would set up a government-run insurer. If you have doubts, consider the attitude of professional investors, who would stand to lose a lot if the government took over healthcare. They don't exactly seem worried. Shares of health insurers like Aetna, UnitedHealth, Wellpoint, and Cigna—subject to the strongest new rules under reform—have outperformed the stock market over the past year.
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2) The federal debt will explode.
It might, but not because of healthcare reform. The Congressional Budget Office—which is probably the most reliable, nonpartisan number-crunching outfit in Washington—says the reforms will reduce government deficits by $143 billion through 2019, thanks to new taxes and fees and cost savings in government healthcare programs like Medicare. But opponents of the bill and powerful lobbying groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce say otherwise, and they seem to have had a stronger influence on public opinion than CBO's methodical analysis.
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3) Doctors will revolt.
Doctors don't like the current system, in which insurance companies call the shots. But instead of sweeping reform and more government involvement, they prefer gradual reform that puts more control in the hands of … doctors. In one recent survey, nearly one third of physicians said they'd consider leaving medicine if reform passes, which it now has. Doctors worry that the new rules will cut into their incomes—which may happen, eventually. But it's implausible that thousand of doctors who have dedicated years to a complex profession will simply quit. What will they do? Become accountants?
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4) Businesses will suffer.
The new rules will impose fees on businesses with more than 50 employees if their workers receive government subsidies to buy insurance in lieu of employer-provided coverage. Business groups complain that this could stunt economic growth and slow hiring. But businesses are more resourceful than that. It's true that many companies will have to absorb additional costs, which they do every year anyway when health insurance premiums go up. But well-run companies excel at solving problems.
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5) Socalized medicine is on the way.
In the Kaiser poll, 41 percent of respondents said they believe the new law would require people who already get insurance through their employer to change their coverage. But most people who already have health coverage won't have to change anything, unless they want to. The new rules will have the most direct impact on people who don't have coverage, or who don't get it through an employer. Those who fear the advent of "socialized medicine" mainly seem to worry that the current set of reforms is just Phase 1, to be followed by bigger changes that will replace doctors with bureaucrats and render individual patients even more powerless than they are now. This is supposed to happen despite the likelihood that the Democrats who supported reform will lose seats in the November elections, while Republicans who opposed reform will gain seats. It seems much more likely that after surviving the battles of the last year, the current for-profit healthcare industry will be with us for the foreseeable future.
Lying sacks of excrement like this need a beatdown.
Yes, I’m in a fowl mood.
The writer of this article refers to this study bu the Kaiser Family Foundation :
http://www.kff.org/kaiserpolls/upload/8058-F.pdf
Well if U.S. News says it’s true it must be...right?
Where is the barf alert?
This is my favorite:
“3) Doctors will revolt... What will they do? Become accountants?”
HAHA! We got you MDs! You can’t quit because you HAVE NO CHOICE!
I keep reading that “there’s no “public option” in the current plan” but...what happens when someone who can not afford insurance is required by law to buy a plan?
I could solve homelessness by requiring everyone buy a house.
I could solve hunger by requiring everyone to buy food.
The MSM is on a full court press to shill for this. Of course they are not paying the bills.
Mr. Newman is obviously an Obamist.
I saw this quote on an anti-obamacare facebook page:
A wise man said this “So we just passed a health care plan written by a committee whose chairman says he didn’t understand it, passed by a Congress that exempts themselves from it, signed by a President who smokes, with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn’t pay his taxes, all to be overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and financed by a country that’s broke?”
When others can claim the fruits of your labor, you are nothing but a slave or a share cropper.
Wrong on so many levels. I’ll tackle just one. Most of
my colleagues I have spoken with are planning their exit strategies. I have heard everything from MBA school to other (a quilt shop for me) to out and out retirement. You will see docs leaving practice in droves over the next 4 years
They wouldn't be able to pay their own bills if we would all stop watching and boycott ALL of their sponsors. It's worth the sacrifice.
“will reduce government deficits by $143 billion through 2019, thanks to new taxes and fees”
Yeah, thanks. Sounds like a great cost saving plan.
MSM drinking the kool-aid. This writer is lapping it up by the gallon...
What happens to that money today? Does it go into a lock-box with sign that says "Do not open until 2014"?
That is a rhetorical question.
This must be a released democrat talking point because I've seen it brought up a number of times on liberal sites and news. Well, those investors could be stupid, for one. But more likely they are remembering that Obama cut backroom deals to give huge coin to the insurance industry as I recall.
That’s a gem.
The author is not thinking about the long term or even the medium term.
Doctors today are not going to quit immediately, but a lot of them are going to retire early AND THEN, the crunch will come within a generation.
Smart Young people will begin to ask themselves whether it will be worth all the hours and sacrifice and money going to medical school only to be essentially a ward of the Federal government. AND THEN ... SUPPLY will be a problem.
It has already happened in the UK and Canada, you can bet your bottom dollar it wil happen here.
The good news will be for FOREIGN DOCTORS from such places as India and the Philippines ( both English speaking countries ), who will be willing to pick up the slack. We already are importing nurses (both male and female ) from overseas at a fast rate.
What has happened to the IT industry will essentially happen here within a generation IF Obamacare is the norm.
“Yes, I’m in a fowl mood.”
It’s no time to go chicken on us man!
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