Now that the health care debate is getting down to arguing over how congress is going to vote on the measure, I'm just happy that we're getting a little closer to when we don't have to hear about this damn piece of legislation for a while. That said, I have some concerns about this bill and they're concerns that nobody else seems to be talking about. The Republicans are screaming about how this is the start of socialism and how we need to take a stand while the Democrats claim that they are trying to help those less fortunate and that everybody should be entitled to health care. Though I agree that socialized medicine feels a lot like socialism, which as capitalist I am obviously opposed, my greatest fear is what happens when the Republicans are controlling the show again?
We are hearing all of these stories of how much government intervenes in the healing process in Canada and England where the government allows certain prescriptions for certain conditions and how surgeries have to be approved and wait listed. No matter if you want to call our transition a single-payer system or not, in evaluating whether this measure is best for the United States we really need to be looking at the worst case scenarios and socialism isn't anywhere near the worst case scenario. It is my belief that the more power that we give to government, the worse our lives are going to be when rogue or misguided influences come into power. The Russian Revolution was based on the best of intentions. The people were going to overthrow Czar Nicholas and the citizens were finally going to have a voice at the decision making table. The problem arose when Stalin and Lenin, who were supposed to be friends of the people, took power and made life for the people more restrictive than the Romanoff family ever did. Stalin murdered more Soviet citizens than Hitler killed Jews!
So say we start down the road to socialized medicine. 98% of economists agree that moving to this system is going to put incredible strain on our economy which is already in trouble. So what happens in 6 years when the economy is in the toilet and the Republicans campaign for congress and the presidency with a plan that will fix the economy and keep socialized medicine. They propose a package of tax cuts to boost the economy, which works every time it's tried, and they get a huge financial backing from the far, far religious right. Lets say that the Republicans take all branches of government in a landslide and now President Huckabee, a former Methodist minister, appoints someone to head up the Department of Health and Human Services that amends the single payer health care system so that the government won't be paying for abortions anymore. Furthermore, the government will not be paying for anybody's psychiatric medications (i.e. antidepressants and anti-psychotics) until the patient participates in 20 hours of Christian education. What if the federal health care system mandated that life support could never be terminated, for any reason, or else the family would be responsible for the entire cost of their loved one's hospital visit?
You don't think that's possible? What Christian charity do you know that provides, without any sort of Christian education, either to qualify for an initial donation or else qualify for extended assistance? Habitat for Humanity's global mission statement says that they will help anybody regardless of sex, creed, education or religion, but our local chapter requires six hours of "Christian education" before they can even be considered. It seems that to a lot of Democrats, social justice is almost like a religion which we as a country are experiencing now since the Democrat party controls both houses of congress as well as the executive branch. So what is going to happen when this brand new power of government has to be handed over to the other side of the aisle and their brand of religion?
It may seem a little extreme but when a new law is up for debate in Congress that gives the federal government more power, I try to think of the craziest person I know and wonder what that person would do with that power if they were in control of this country. Sounds far-fetched, but there is a member of the senate from West Virginia that used to be a member of the Klan. Indianapolis used to be represented by a woman that participated in less than a third of all congressional votes and continued to get re-elected. Mayor Marion Barry was caught buying crack cocaine from an undercover cop on video tape, was sentenced to jail, and was re-elected when he got out. For all of you that think that President George W. Bush was a bumbling idiot, well, he was elected to the presidency twice! Think that crazed lunatics won't get elected? It happens all the time.
What is the solution? How about allowing for national health insurance companies instead of limiting insurance providers to the authority of the state where the insured resides. If these state providers were able to consolidate and pool their money on a national level, they would be better able to control prices and would actually be able to engage each other in a price busting competition. Do you remember before the cell phone industry had national service providers? The providers were local and all owned their own equipment. Back then, your cell phone bill was the most expensive bill you had and you were limited to a certain calling area. If you used your phone outside your calling area then there were huge roaming fees. I remember when I would drive from Terre Haute, Indiana to Vincennes, Indiana I would travel along the Indiana and Illinois border. The whole trip my phone would bounce back and forth between an Indiana tower and an Illinois tower. Every time my phone just pinged an Illinois tower, it would cost me $5.48. Every month I would have to spend four hours on the phone trying to get $35 to $55 taken off my bill and it usually took me hours. When the local cell phone providers consolidated the prices dropped, the service was better, and they actually started competing against each other. Now they are practically giving cell phone service away.
Next, if you want to insure everyone why not encourage the founding of cooperative insurance companies by providing them with the start up money they would need to get going. In exchange for the $20 billion to $30 billion it would no doubt require, they would have to agree to provide health insurance, based on a sliding income scale, to every individual or family that applies. Furthermore, the US government would financially guarantee these cooperative insurers as they do with the postal service and Amtrak. Both of which are financially struggling to compete, but they're also guaranteed not to go out of business. For those worried about the security of their medical records with the government funding these cooperative insurers, look at the postal service. The post office is federally guaranteed and law enforcement agencies still need a warrant to access a citizen's mail. If these cooperative companies were properly funded, they could actually compete against the private insurers and drive the prices down without forcing the private companies out of the industry. This would keep the 33% of doctors, according to the New England Journal of Medicine, that claim they would quit if socialized medicine becomes law, practicing medicine, which is really what is most important.
So ask yourself, how much control over your life are you will to give to Donald Trump, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, George Sorros, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glen Beck, Rep. Dennis Kusenich, Speaker Pelosi, or Pat Robertson? Pat Robertson recently said on national television that the earthquake in Haiti happened because the people there made a deal with Satan. Do you really want him, or a politician that he bought, deciding what to do with your malignant tumor or clogged artery? Even worse, is insuring everyone worth losing 33% of the doctors in this country? I have to say I sure don't.
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