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 DNC media is out today in full force, trying to quell the revolt against national socialism.
They can just refuse to take anyone on medicare, medicaid, or insurance. And operate on a cash only basis.
According to apologists for this terrible bill, this terrible bill is not really much of a change. Thus, we should not be concerned about its negative impacts.
We should not be concerned about a 2,300 (or is it 2,700) page bill that no one understands. We should not be concerned that rats have promised a free lunch on health care, coverage for all with low income individuals having no health care costs. We should not be concerned with classic moral hazards of purchasing insurance just before it is needed. We should not be concerned with a new army of IRS agents to police our health insurance. We should not be concerned about the impact of price controls on health care availability. We should not be concerned about the impact of dramatic increases in Medicaid on state budgets.
The author tells a whopper of a lie at the beginning. He asserts that the federal government has modest involvement with health care. Even before this bill, the federal government is a payer on 50% of health care expenditures. The government will be directly or indirectly involved in almost all health care expenditures as a result of this bill.
Stolen for tag line (with credit)
thanks.
” Charles Krauthammer was talking about this very thing, and in his view this will drive making a National Value Added Tax (VAT) one of the major issues for the 2012 Presidential race...”
Lived in Belgium for 5 years VAT there was 20%.......
How can anyone say this with a straight face when the whole point of the bill was to change our health-care "system?" The bill is 2600 pages. Is he telling me that most of them were blank?
This article infuriates me on many levels and for many reasons. But for starters, it is nothing but a list of excuses and unsupported opinions pretending to be a well-researched set of facts. This is classic no-talent hack work.
What was that about well-run businesses being creative? I love it when the left does this. Don't try to understand or even take the trouble to offer a solution. Just make it someone elses problem, like when they raise fuel economy standards with no idea of how they will be achieved but are certain that the geeks they despised in school will pull some new technological rabbit out of a hat.
Yes, I’m in a fowl mood.All Americans are.
We’ll see how long THAT lasts. I expect the Obama gestapo would be quick to sign in a law that says it’s illegal for them to NOT take gubbermint funded patients.
The second the government does that they will really quit, and no new doctors will even bother with training.
No one is going to pay for medical school only to be forced to work for peanuts working with welfare people all day.
“When someone takes the fruits of your labor, they are taking a part of your life.”
That’s not all. When fully implemented, “healthcare” will shorten all of our lives. Right now 90% of Americans are insured and have timely access to the best medical technology in the world. In the future we will have rationed healthcare service, longer wait times and perhaps less-qualified doctors. People will die prematurely, waiting for healthcare that never comes in time. Got cancer? We can see you in six months.
I understand that, however, it’s easier for most people to come up with $500 per month a opposed to $15,000 all at once. I know, I went through it when I had a kidney stone at a time I was uninsured
First of all, fewer and fewer patients will have private insurance (not medicare and medicaid) Second, although money is a motivator, the rules and regulations and more layers of administration is the main reason most of us want out. Dealing with medicare and medicaid is onerous enough now. I will not practice in a system where everything is regulated even more than it is now, and I have to say “mother may I” every time I want to order something.
As for the money, yes doctors are well paid as a profession and no one is crying for me. However, unless you are in one of the high paying specialties ( I am not ), you would be surprised what I actually make. Far less that lawyers, etc. I even make less per hour that the guy I paid to sand and refinish my deck last spring. 150,000/yr is considered good for primary care, and as a hospitalist I don’t make much more than that. Now add in that I frequently work 14+ hour shifts, nights, holidays, weekends, etc and see how many people want to do my job for what I make. The trend in recent years is to work longer hours and make less. I love medicine, but it is getting to the point that the aggravation is not worth the rewards, and most docs being fairly intelligent people we can retrain for something else, get paid better, and see our families once in a while.
Now do you see the problem?
Great! “If you stay, you pay!”
They are controlling the terms of the debate when it is called “reform”.
Reform would be making changes such as tort reform or not letting insurance companies drop people who get sick.
This is a “government takeover” of an industry. Or nationalization, or whatever term.
We should not let them get away with defining the terms of the debate.
Ain’t words great? I used to be a proofreader of legal code, and stuff like this kept us from going insane.
Funniest one was the word “nuttered” instead of “neutered”. Got the meaning across...lol.
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.
Wow!! Yahoo has become quite the good little propaganda site, hasn’t it?
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