Note the clowns from central casting in white doctor's coats being used as props, but Obama and Liberals never use political props, right Representative Cantor!?
Obama decrees that it's time for an “up and down” vote on health care reform. One of the main arguments for the use of the simple majority legislative process, i.e., budget reconciliation, is that it has been used before. For example, Bush’s tax cuts and welfare reform were passed via the reconciliation process. The problem with Obama’s argument is that welfare reform passed with 80% bipartisan support and the tax cuts passed with 60% bipartisan support with even Democrat Senator Diane Feinstein voting for the Bush tax cuts.
Reform has already passed the House with a majority. It has already passed the Senate with a super majority of 60 votes. And now it deserves the same kind of up or down vote that was cast on welfare reform, that was cast on the Children's Health Insurance Program, that was used for COBRA health coverage for the unemployed, and, by the way, for both Bush tax cuts -- all of which had to pass Congress with nothing more than a simple majority.
The usual suspects have rounded up by Obumbler and flogged politically for their evil ways. It is funny how greedy medical corporations never get called out on their billing practices. A friend of mine went to one of these mega-medical corporations to get treatment for severe bronchitis. She was given four treatments, but the medical corporation billed the insurance company for seven treatments! When she attempted to point this out to the insurance company she was told by the representative, “We don’t question the bills ma’am--we just pay them.” Obama further argued (read distorted the truth) that:
My Mother, who’s on that great medical scam also known as Medicare, had a gastric problem. Her bill from the hospital was over $14,000! But they ran multiple tests just “to be sure” that there was no serious illness. After all she is a senior citizen and the government is paying for it. I call this “big yellow truck” syndrome. I drive a yellow ’74 Dodge pick-up, which I hate taking it to mechanics because they see an old truck and figure that the college fund can be started up. Fortunately, I have found an honest mechanic, which is as rare as finding an honest lawyer or a competent doctor.We're going to eliminate wasteful taxpayer subsidies that currently go to insurance and pharmaceutical companies; set a new fee on insurance companies that stand to gain a lot of money and a lot of profits as millions of Americans are able to buy insurance; and we're going to make sure that the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share on Medicare.
Recently, my medical insurance company sent several letters indicating that they had not paid my medical bills in full for the services rendered because the lab and the doctor apparently had charged more than the agreed contractual rate. Perhaps this was just a mistake or maybe it’s just that the medical corporations are grabbing as much money as they can. But it is heartening to see that insurance companies are being proactive in holding down costs and not just passing the on the costs to the consumer.
Where’s the outrage over inflated legal fees? There’s never any criticism by Obama of tort lawyers that take the lion’s share of any settlement or law suit against a medical entity. As a former state bar attorney, I ran into countless cases of over billing for simple legal matters. The financial abuse in contingency cases can be almost analogous to highway robbery. The traditional amount for contingency cases has been one third of the final award, but some attorneys now use a sliding scale depending how the case goes. There a tremendous incentive for the lawyer to seek not what is just but what is lucrative. Is it any wonder that the practice of defensive medicine has become standard operating procedure?
Here’s a funny thing about medical costs. I went to an eye doctor with the idea of not going to the ophthalmologist that my insurer would pay for. I wanted choice and was willing to pay for it out of my own pocket. What I found was that I got a complete eye exam for $110 dollars if I paid cash. If I used insurance, the bill would have been $230! What does this tell you? Many people pay that amount every month each for cable and cell phone service. Where are our priorities? An eye exam is something that should be done every one to three years for most people.
When people used to speak about having medical insurance, they usually meant catastrophic medical insurance for high cost illnesses costing thousands of dollars. Richard Nixon proposed such coverage back in 1974, but as you may recall, he was mired in Watergate and the proposal withered on the vine. In Nixon’s words:
Every American participating in the program would be insured for catastrophic illnesses that can eat away savings and plunge individuals and families into hopeless debt for years. No family would ever have annual out-of-pocket expenses for covered health services in excess of $1,500, and low-income families would face substantially smaller expenses.
Surprisingly, Nixon’s plan sounds eerily like many aspects of Obama’s plan. The government ends up footing much of the bill. But that was a different time and place. America was relatively prosperous and the population was much smaller. With the arrival of illegal aliens to this country, we run risk of bankrupting the nation taking on other nations’ responsibilities.
There are other far better ways to handle health care costs such as health savings accounts or high deductible insurance policies. But the best way to lower costs is to maintain your health by taking charge of your life and making better health choices. This may be the hardest aspect of health care reform. But we have to start somewhere.
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