Politics Trumps Health Care

With a straight face Obama says he is going to reduce healthcare costs by extending the Medicare/Medicaid formula to an additional 40+ million people.

Where to begin? First, let’s look at these people. About ten million are illegals who are unlikely to be covered by whatever comes out of Congress. Another ten million or so make at least $75,000 per year and simply choose not to buy health insurance. At least another ten million qualify for Medicaid but are too stupid to apply for it. Also, millions of these people are between jobs and many will get coverage when they get a new job.

Like “the poor” the “uninsured” are not a fixed group of people. It is estimated that if you tabulated the names today and again six months from now, one-third of the names on the list would be different. In a dynamic, opportunity-driven economy people’s circumstances are subject to change.

Read David Brooks’ (NY Times) current column to understand how the healthcare train is being driven by politics instead of concerns for health or financial viability. A majority of experts attending a Senate Finance Committee hearing agreed that any reform should include ending the tax exemption for employer-provided healthcare plans.

These all-inclusive plans result in a high demand for all kinds of tests and procedures which, in many cases, are unnecessary or of dubious benefit. This drives up healthcare costs. A plan was presented at that meeting that had broad bipartisan support and which the Congressional Budget Office said would be revenue neutral.

But Chairman Max Baucus(D) used his power to kill this baby in it’s crib. You see, ending that tax exemption is anathema to the labor unions to which funnel tens of millions of dollars into Democrat coffers every election cycle.

So, government-run healthcare, the biggest threat to our national solvency, is being tailored to accommodate the same special interest, organized labor, that drove the huge misappropriation of TARP funds for the auto bailout.

Oh, and forget about Obama’s campaign pledge that “you’ll be able to get the same kind of coverage that members of Congress give themselves.” Section 3116 of the Kennedy Bill, which Obama supports, specifically exempts all federal employees, including members of Congress, from the strait-jacket being designed for the rest of us.