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The Senate’s Health Care Reform Is Abysmal

healthcare-reform [1]We are going to try and keep it simple on this one.

The bill stinks.

Put aside the fact that it expands Medicare.

Put aside the fact that it establishes coverage mandates (you will be forced to buy health insurance somehow).

Put aside the fact that it is a colossal power grab for an industry that has been well managed by the states for a long time.

Put aside the fact that it will increase taxes.

Put aside the fact that it will dramatically increase the cost of insurance for everyone (and they sold this to us originally as being needed to stop the soaring cost of insurance!).

Put aside the fact that it will wreak havoc on the tax code, balloon the size of the IRS and increase the size of corporate tax management teams (which will increase consumer costs in all industries).

Put aside the fact that this bill is overloaded with earmarks… in a bill that was intended to bring equality in health care.

Put aside all of those issues and focus on the one true deception that will be broadcast throughout the weekend and coming weeks: that the Congressional Budget Office has determined that the bill will have a reducing impact the deficit.

The lie here is that although the Federal deficit will certainly, according to the new CBO report [2] (which only reviews the original November 19 Senate bill plus the “Manager’s Amendment” but NOT include any of the other amendments approved since November 19) , have about a $132 Billion negative impact over 10 years, it will dramatically increase overall spending and taxation or reductions in other services.

This is not free.  The bill plans on the Federal government spending of about $871 Billion over 10 years.  And in order to spend $871 Billion on supposed reform, the Government is going to take almost ONE TRILLION DOLLARS out of our pockets.

That averages out to about $300 per person (every man, woman and child) per year.

But wait, there’s more.

The total estimated 10 year (2014 – 2023) cost is about $2.5 Trillion [3].  That’s total government and industry costs.  Wait, why am I looking at 2014 – 2023?  Because the real spending starts in 2014!  The first four years is spent taking our money, with little in the way of benefits.  The real (99%) benefits kick in starting in 2014.

I am anxious for Health Care Reform.  Health Care Reform should be about reducing the cost of health care in order to make it more affordable for more people (preferably by fixing the broken tort system and providing greater transparency to competitive costs), ensuring that people with pre-existing conditions are not kept from affordable health care, and fixing the flagrant fraud that is corrupting the already bloated Federal segment of health care.

This bill does NOTHING to reduce health care costs and does NOTHING to fix fraud.  It actually does the EXACT OPPOSITE. While many of us have come to expect nothing else from the Washington elite, how can we possibly come to accept this morose   of legislation?

The bad news is that a lot of the costs will be exacted from us starting on January 1, 2010.  The good news is that the system does not become fully engaged until 2014.  That means if we can get the right people into Congress in 2010, we have a good chance of rolling this unmitigated piece of garbage back and work toward REAL reform that actually makes the lives of ALL Americans better and more secure.

HOWEVER, now is the time to act, even if you have been acting consistently up until now.  Contact your congressman, senators and the White House.  Continue to call into radio shows and write to your newspapers and leave comments on web sites like this.  Keep the pressure up!