We are About to Witness One of the Biggest Potential Power & Money Grabs in American History
America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 has our "wealth redistribution" administration and progressive Democratic Congress salivating and licking their chops
7.26.2009
Commentary & Opinion
By Chris P. Janelli
Americans are once again about to prove they are nothing more than sheep to progressive Democratic political wolves’ intent on ramming through an extraordinary power and money grab. Under the guise of a health insurance crisis and healthcare reform, this grab - entitled America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 - exemplifies the worst degree of intrusiveness into our personal lives ever perpetrated by our government. God knows health care costs and health insurance need fixing, but this act is not the right solution to fixing what ails the American healthcare system; it is a doomed political solution of the worst sort.
If this act that allows the federal government to control and regulate health insurance and define what is and is not “acceptable coverage” is passed, by the time America wakes up to what happened government will have taken a giant leap forward to becoming the ultimate Big Brother. Not only will this act socialize one of the best medical systems in the world dragging us down to the level of care delivered in Canada and Britain, Big Brother’s minions will make life and death medical decisions for its citizens. And if you think this isn’t about money and power, think again.
First, government is inherently wasteful and inefficient and will never deliver services as efficiently or cost effectively as the private sector. If political addiction to pork isn’t proof enough, the Social Security system should be. This is not to say the American healthcare system doesn’t need to be reformed; it desperately does, especially Medical Malpractice Tort Reform that is glaringly and shamefully absent from this act, particularly since medical malpractice, a significant portion of which is nothing but medical blackmail, represents approximately 1.5% of American healthcare costs. Separate from health insurance, the American healthcare system costs approximately $2 trillion a year. About 70% of that $2 trillion is spent on chronic illness, a significant portion of which is preventable. Chew on “preventable” while we get back to health insurance.
Don’t believe for one minute that The American Medical Association’s recent turnaround and endorsement of the House Democrats' version of the health insurance bill means everything is OK as physicians are leaving the organization in protest, which will likely grow as further details of what is actually being dished up emerge. Dr. George Watson, a Kansas physician and president-elect of the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons said, “This is war. This is a bureaucratic boondoggle to grab control of health care. Everything that has been proposed in the 1,018 page bill will contribute to the ruination of medicine."
As for the money involved in this boondoggle, let’s just make some down and dirty financial calculations to see what has our “wealth redistribution” administration and progressive Democratic Congress salivating and licking their chops.
Let’s go with a U.S. population figure of 300 million people of which there are reportedly 47 million that are not insured, which includes illegal aliens. We’ll get back to this 47 million.
Assuming 253 million Americans are insured, using Kaiser Family Foundation statistics in 2005 “the average individual's job-based premiums were $3,991, while families spent an average of $10,728.” This works out to a premium payment of approximately $332 per month in 2005, which is within the range of other available stats. For our calculation and illustration, let’s be conservative and call it $300 per month.
Of that monthly amount collected by a private health insurance provider, about $0.35 is paid out in health care costs. Let’s again be conservative and bump it up to $0.40, which leaves $0.60 for “catastrophic reserves” and “investment.” Put another way, 60% of every premium dollar is retained by the insurance provider so each month $180 of the $300 premium payment is retained. Annualized that’s $2,160 per each insured. Multiply that by 100 million people and you have $216 billion put into the cash register every year.
If all 253 million Americans where covered by The Uncle Sam End of Life Health Insurance Company, that increases to over $546 billion; more than enough to cover the current annual interest payments on the national debt and leave something over for political pork sandwiches.
Now if you think the Capital Hill gang isn’t going to treat those investment funds like they do the Social security system, which is essentially an empty bank account holding federal government IOU’s, then you really deserve to be devoured by a wolf. And the Capital Hill wolf pack knows how to get more bang for the buck; actually that’s not true. What they will do is make more of the funds available for their own agenda, pork and power. How you ask?
If you believe government is intrusive now, starting in 2014 every physician in America must electronically provide to the government health Czar, or whatever they’re called in 2014, all the medical history and information on all of their patients. This data collection by Big Brother via electronic healthcare records has already been federally mandated and will be done with or without the patient’s agreement. Being enamored with the U.S. Constitution as a founder of Distressed Patriots for America, I refer to Amendment IV of the Constitution that states, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizure.....etc.” I think you could make a pretty good case that this seizure of personal health data without individual consent is unconstitutional. If I need to extrapolate on this point with regard to your personal health information, even if it resides on your physician’s computer, you probably voted for Obama and I would be wasting my breath arguing the point.
Now ask yourself: Why does Big Brother need this information?
Big Brother wants to push people on Medicare into end-of-life counseling. The language can be found on page 425 of the health care bill. If you are interested, you can download the America’s Affordable Health Choices Act at: http://edlabor.house.gov/documents/111/pdf/publications/AAHCA-BillText-071409.pdf.
Sec. 1233 of the bill labeled "Advance Care Planning Consultation" details how the bill would, for the first time, require Medicare to cover the cost of end-of-life counseling sessions. Undoubtedly, government insured Americans will be encouraged not to choose to pursue costly aggressive care. Essentially, since Big Brother will be responsible for rationing healthcare benefits that could decide who lives and dies they will take on the added burden of convincing many people to take a less costly earlier flight. No doubt all those cost savings will be made available for loans to the federal government. Lives for pork, or as Wind in His Hair said to John Dunbar in the movie Dances with Wolves, “Good trade."
As for those 47 million uninsured Americans, let’s get the facts straight. One third of those 47 million are illegal aliens. You can make your own decision about whether or not you would want to pay the freight for their coverage. However, if the progressive Democrats pass this bill, you – if you are a tax payer - will pay for them. Period.
One third of the 47 million are working Americans, many of whom are young and healthy, and could afford to buy health insurance but choose not to. I think in America that’s called “freedom of choice” although when these uninsured have serious health problems, it can potentially become a societal cost. In fact, the income statistics on this group indicate family incomes of $50 thousand plus, with 7 million earning $75 thousand plus.
The remaining third cannot afford insurance or can’t get insurance because of prior or existing conditions and other reasons. This group needs help and support, but represents a mere five percent of the U.S. population of 300 million. Five percent, or 15 million people, is not a catastrophic number for our government to deal with if they would surgically address the problem and stop their rush to socializing healthcare with yet another inevitable government boondoggle program scaring Americans with “crisis” when the real crisis is what is about to be perpetrated on America.
Despite political promises, which we all know you can take to the bank, Obamacare is going to be nothing less than another Social Security cash register to be raided. And if you believe it won’t, I know of a bridge across the East River for sale. And it actually goes somewhere. These are just two issues that should concern Americans in another 1000 plus page progressive Democrat social engineering act that won’t get read by Congress and certainly not by most Americans. If this administration, abetted by an out-of-control Congress rams this bill through next month, then America is truly on the path to socialism and a know all – and for many - end all Big Brother government.
If Big Brother is successful with health insurance, I cannot help but wonder what kind of scheme the Obama wolf pack is planning with regard to the healthcare industry. In 2006, this was America’s largest industry providing 14 million jobs and predicted to generate an additional 3 million jobs between 2006 and 2016. As an industry, it is comprised of approximately 580,000 establishments of which 77 percent are offices of physicians, dentists and other health practitioners. While hospitals represent only 1 percent of all health care establishments, they employ 35 percent of all healthcare workers.
Just imagine the funds sloshing around in that industry and the power that would come from converting those private sector workers to government employees. Nationalization of this industry would make General Motors look like small potatoes. Under the guise of it being another American healthcare crisis, let’s remember Rohm Emanuel’s famous quote regarding the financial crisis, “Never let a serious crisis go to waste…it’s an opportunity to do things you couldn’t do before.” And get away with it!
Perhaps American is simply prepared to stay asleep and count sheep while yet again the wool is pulled over them by the Chicago gang that sold them “Change We Can Believe In,” which is starting to stink like a snake oil cure all. Well if this bill is passed, when you wake up America you won’t believe the change you abetted, unless of course you believe in snake oil.
Postscript: One American, Mr. Peter Fleckenstein writing under the title Common Sense from a Common Man is going through the Act line by line and posting his analysis on his website http://blog.flecksoflife.com. He writes, “Since Congress doesn’t want to read the Health Care Bill and Obama, ACORN, Unions, Lawyers, & Special Interest Groups don’t want you to know what’s in this monstrosity, I decided to do it myself.” While Mr. Fleckstein’s analysis may or may not be entirely accurate, this is worth a visit to see some of the travesties being perpetrated on Americans, physicians and the healthcare system.
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