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.
The author is absolutely right about this. This is why so many well-run companies have been moving their operations overseas for years, dropping medical coverage for their own employees here in the U.S., and investing heavily in bribing -- uh, lobbying government officials to improve their business prospects.
nice to see US News still has enough staff left for someone to be able to cut-and-paste handouts from the DNC
“The devil’s greatest trick is to convince people that he doesn’t exist.”
Excellent!
One concept to remember -
your “labor” is a portion of your life.
When someone takes the fruits of your labor, they are taking a part of your life.
Who the hell is this marxist propagandist POS?
It's also worth noting that a car accident isn't necessarily the best example of a "sudden catastrophe" in this case. In the example you mentioned, the auto insurance company would potentially be on the hook for all of the costs -- and possibly even more in civil damages.
This article is nonsense if for no other reason that no one has really had time to study the 2,000+ pages and think through all the implications the bill’s provisions would have in our complex economy. People will be finding new provisions and assessing the impact for quite a while to come.
...” It’s true that many companies will have to absorb additional costs, which they do every year anyway when health insurance premiums go up. “
No they don’t absorb costs, they pass it along to the consumers — we will just pay more for everything.
What a bunch of crap. The CBOs analysis is based on the data provided by the whitehouse, which is reason enough to distrust the figures. Doctors that I have talked to, including my wife, are gravely concerned about the adverse impact this will have on their practices.
FU us news.
And another thing... consider the shortage of doctors when many doctors decide to retire early or work less, and all the up and coming bright minds that WERE looking at careers as doctors decide it is not worth the effort.
The government subsidizes them. Then, as the number of reduced rate government subsized enrolees grow as a result of a declining job market, the insurance companies go under and VOILA!!!! single payor.
Would you pay $2,500 every year for a homeowners' policy to protect you in the event your $250,000 home burns to the ground? Probably. But you'd be a damn fool to spend $50,000 every year for the same coverage.
At some point the cost of the insurance exceeds the cost of the risk you are protecting against.
Hosea 4:6 My people are DESTROYED FOR LACK OF KNOWLEDGE: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
Rick Newman - Chief Correspondent, USNews
http://twitter.com/rickjnewman
How Obama can earn some tea-party cred: treat govt as a troubled business and close underperforming divisions: http://bit.ly/dbTDVU
8:36 AM Feb 11th via web
Hate to say it, but class warfare is going to dominate Obama’s first term: http://bit.ly/7c2szH
4:11 PM Jan 25th via web
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