Healthcare bill reality—more covered, more costs as predicted

By Kay B. Day

Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) talks about solutions for healthcare in a video at the GOP congressional website.The government has finally admitted what I said about the government takeover of healthcare after an initial reading of HR 3200, one rung of many in the ladder of legislation that became Obamacare.

Under Obamacare, we will pay more for healthcare. It’s a no-brainer that more people will be covered—that was one of the promises President Barack Obama made from the start. But the ‘pay more’ part wasn’t in the sales pitch delivered repeatedly in months preceding the Democrats’ frenzied passage of a bill most congressmen had not even read.

Even the ‘cover more’ promise is tainted. The Heritage Foundation said, “The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is reporting that the new health care law will decrease the number of uninsured in 2019 by 32 million.[1] However, this does not mean that universal coverage will be achieved—23 million Americans will remain without coverage, including illegal immigrants.”

Comments from the left at one website suggested these are perfect reasons to enact socialized medicine.

Silly people. We already have a form of socialized medicine. That’s what got us into this mess in the first place.

And as usual, high profile media glossed over the real problems, just as Democrats did, and here we are.

I recently told my mother there is no way my generation or our children’s will receive the medical care her generation has received. For one thing, there will be a shortage of American doctors, resulting in the need to import doctors who probably will work for less. Hopefully there won’t be language barriers, but who knows?

The most practical solution to our healthcare costs and accessibility involves getting government out of the market.

As government has moved more and more into socialized care, those of us with private policies have seen costs rise, rise and rise some more.

It is just for a government to provide medical care for the truly helpless, for those incapable of earning an income.

The practical solution would be for government to develop a plan for the truly needy.

Unleash the remainder for the private market and regulate it in a practical manner.

I know that isn’t going to happen. Politics trump reason at this point in time and there isn’t a congressman in the land who will touch entitlement programs in a meaningful way.

Republicans did come to the table with ideas for healthcare reform—the chairs were duly jerked and Obamacare is entirely a Democrat product.

Here’s one of many ridiculous aspects of Obamacare. For those of us with an HSA, we will see the amount we can deposit decreased, although I haven’t seen an exact figure on the amount. With our HSAs, we  have high deductible policies and we diligently watch our expenses—we are good stewards of our healthcare dollars. We are  not wealthy. But we will likely pay more for whatever we end up getting.

Congress passed a patchwork bill dominated by union interests and proponents of European-style medicine. And it must be pointed out that although we call the healthcare takeover 'Obamacare,' it is really a plan advanced by Democrats in Congress. The president doesn't originate a bill, Congress does. So send thank you notes to Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Harry Reid (D-Nev.)

Thank them for insuring we will pay more.

So much for making healthcare more affordable—it did sound good on the campaign trail, didn’t it?