Healthcare reform is failing, not because reform is not needed, but because the “reform” was crafted by only one party. It hewed to their ideologically philosophy, and pandered to their base. No significant piece of legislation has ever been passed in this country by one party.
Their political philosophy is ever bigger government, taking over every aspect of the American life, along with ever-higher taxes required to fund their utopian dreams. The government takeover of 17% of the private economy has been their goal since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The more of our life they can control, the larger their political base becomes, and the faster they can complete their work, that is, destruction of our capitalistic system and a population that is completely dependant upon the government.
Elements of their base that they sought to satisfy in the healthcare reform bill included Health Insurance Companies, Pharmaceutical Companies, Trial Lawyers, Unions, and the Pro-Choice faction. Frankly, the biggest un-reported story in the past year pertained to the big winners of the proposed bill: Healthcare Insurance and Pharmaceutical Companies! All of this while the Dems went through the populist Kabuki dance of vilifying them! The fix had been in from the earliest days of the healthcare reform work.
The public realized early on that the resulting legislation would lead to healthcare rationing, the acceleration of costs, and a general deterioration of care. This is not conjecture. In every country (or state) where similar plans have been enacted, it has produced dismal result, although you might not realize this if your only source of news is the mainstream media and Michael Moore propaganda movies. Alarmed by the direction of a unilateral healthcare reform plan, the American people took to the streets and town hall meetings. These hero’s, who wanted a fair and honest debate, were derided by the party in power as astro-turf people, bigots, racists, right wing-nuts, rednecks, tea-baggers (used in an urban dictionary context), and a whole host of hate filled names. Does anyone remember the Republican Party debasing people who disagreed with them in such vulgar terms?
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True and lasting reform can only be done on a bipartisan basis. Healthcare reform cannot be owned by one party, and it certainly cannot be done to satisfy an ideology or appease special interest.
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Then came the special election in Massachusetts, and when the bluest of all blue states rejected Obama Care, there seemed to be no denying that something was amiss. How could there be so many bigots, racists, wing nuts, rednecks, and tea-baggers in the bluest of blue states. Moreover, this was Teddy Kennedy’s Senate seat, no less!
Therefore, after a year of elapsed time and the waste of billions of dollars, we seem to be back at square one. Given the disaster that came close to occurring, being back square one is a good thing. (Thank you, people of the Bay State! Now, would you mind doing something with Barney Frank, one of the chief architects of the financial meltdown?)
At the beginning of this debate Peacock but forth a simple plan, the elements of which many experts agree would go a long way in rectifying the existing problems with our present day healthcare. They are:
1.) Free insurance companies to compete across state lines. In the human history of the planet, competition has been the only mechanism that has been shown to consistently lower costs. Government control of anything can only increase fraud, waste, and corruption.
2.) Enact Tort Reform. The Plaintiff’s Bar has been making this country non-competitive is no many areas of our economy. In healthcare, it adds costs by necessitating the practice of defensive medicine, outrageous jury awards, and equally outrageous mal-practice insurance premiums.
3.) Permit individuals to purchase healthcare insurance with pre-tax dollars. Companies have had this tax break for years. Why not extend the same tax treatment to individuals who must provide for their own insurance?
4.) Enact legislation that would prohibit insurers from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions, or dropping them when they get sick. This will have the effect of pushing up premiums, but such regulation just seems to be in the spirit of fair play.
Critics of the above plan would say that it does nothing to solve the problem of the estimated 47 million un-insured Americans. Peacock’s answer is that the proposed legislation still left over 20 million Americans un-insured and only reduced the top number by putting criminal sanctions in place for the estimated 14 million Americans (mostly young people) who chose not to purchase healthcare insurance.
Three of the four points above are repugnant to the ideology of the party in power, and therefore will not be even discussed by this party.
True and lasting reform can only be done on a bipartisan basis. Healthcare reform cannot be owned by one party, and it certainly cannot be done to satisfy an ideology or appease special interest.
True healthcare reform, reform that works, is just one more reason why in 2010 we must begin to restore a balance in Congress.
Healthcare reform is failing, not because reform is not needed, but because the “reform” was crafted by only one party. It hewed to their ideologically philosophy, and pandered to their base. No significant piece of legislation has ever been passed in this country by one party.
Their political philosophy is ever bigger government, taking over every aspect of the American life, along with ever-higher taxes required to fund their utopian dreams. The government takeover of 17% of the private economy has been their goal since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The more of our life they can control, the larger their political base becomes, and the faster they can complete their work, that is, destruction of our capitalistic system and a population that is completely dependant upon the government.
Elements of their base that they sought to satisfy in the healthcare reform bill included Health Insurance Companies, Pharmaceutical Companies, Trial Lawyers, Unions, and the Pro-Choice faction. Frankly, the biggest un-reported story in the past year pertained to the big winners of the proposed bill: Healthcare Insurance and Pharmaceutical Companies. All of this while the Dems went through the populist Kabuki dance of vilifying them. The fix had been in from the earliest days of the healthcare reform work.
The public realized early on that the resulting legislation would lead to healthcare rationing, the acceleration of costs, and a general deterioration of care. This is not conjecture. In every country (or state) where similar plans have been enacted, it has produced dismal result, although you might not realize this if your only source of news is the mainstream media and Michael Moore propaganda movies. Alarmed by the direction of a unilateral healthcare reform plan, the American people took to the streets and town hall meetings. These hero’s, who wanted a fair and honest debate, were derided by the party in power as astro-turf people, bigots, racists, right wing-nuts, rednecks, tea-baggers (used in an urban dictionary context), and a whole host of hate filled names. Does anyone remember the Republican Party debasing people who disagreed with them in such vulgar terms?
True and lasting reform can only be done on a bipartisan basis. Healthcare reform cannot be owned by one party, and it certainly cannot be done to satisfy an ideology or appease special interest.
Then came the special election in Massachusetts, and when the bluest of all blue states rejected Obama Care, there seemed to be no denying that something was amiss. How could there be so many bigots, racists, wing nuts, rednecks, and tea-baggers in the bluest of blue states. Moreover, this was Teddy Kennedy’s Senate seat, no less.
Therefore, after a year of elapsed time and the waste of billions of dollars, we seem to be back at square one. Given the disaster that came close to occurring, being back square one is a good thing. (Thank you, people of the Bay State! Now, would you mind doing something with Barney Frank, one of the chief architects of the financial meltdown?)
At the beginning of this debate Peacock but forth a simple plan, the elements of which many experts agree would go a long way in rectifying the existing problems with our present day healthcare. They are:
1.) Free insurance companies to compete across state lines. In the human history of the planet, competition has been the only mechanism that has been shown to consistently lower costs. Government control of anything can only increase fraud, waste, and corruption.
2.) Enact Tort Reform. The Plaintiff’s Bar has been making this country non-competitive is no many areas of our economy. In healthcare, it adds costs by necessitating the practice of defensive medicine, outrageous jury awards, and equally outrageous mal-practice insurance premiums.
3.) Permit individuals to purchase healthcare insurance with pre-tax dollars. Companies have had this tax break for years. Why not extend the same tax treatment to individuals who must provide for their own insurance?
4.) Enact legislation that would prohibit insurers from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions, or dropping them when they get sick. This will have the effect of pushing up premiums, but such regulation just seems to be in the spirit of fair play.
Critics of the above plan would say that it does nothing to solve the problem of the estimated 47 million un-insured Americans. Peacock’s answer is that the proposed legislation still left over 20 million Americans un-insured and only reduced the top number by putting criminal sanctions in place for the estimated 14 million Americans (mostly young people) who chose not to purchase healthcare insurance.
Three of the four points above are repugnant to the ideology of the party in power, and therefore will not be even discussed by this party.
True and lasting reform can only be done on a bipartisan basis. Healthcare reform cannot be owned by one party, and it certainly cannot be done to satisfy an ideology or appease special interest.
True healthcare reform, reform that works, is just one more reason why in 2010 we must begin to restore a balance in Congress.
