“We don’t want somebody sitting back saying you’re not holding the mop the right way. Why don’t you grab a mop? Why don’t you help clean up?” — President Barack Obama, October 16, 2009
Partisan, rhetorical, and deceptive taunts. What an enticing invitation to the discussion table! I’ll take it.
So far the elephants have been kicked out of the decision-making room. Sen. Olympia Snowe may have bought a spot at the table a couple weeks ago with her committee vote in support of the Baucus bill, but the Democratic leadership hasn’t even come close to letting any other Republicans contribute ideas.
Yes, Republicans do have ideas — “mops,” if you will — but the President apparently doesn’t care or doesn’t want our help. He’d rather deride us.
Last week, I spoke to Rep. John Shimkus (IL-19) who is the Republican congressman from Principia College’s district. During the President’s address to the joint session of congress, Rep. Shimkus held up three GOP bills, which included tort reform, interstate insurance purchasing, and health savings accounts.
The fact is that Obama, Pelosi, and Reid have ignored Republican alternatives, and then labeled us as the party of “no.” During the campaign President Obama promised to move us past the “smallness of our politics.” I guess that’s another “change” that isn’t happening.
The democratic leadership aren’t the only politicans ignoring solutions. Most of DC has missed the elephant in the room, and no, this time I’m not talking about a Republican.
We must reform Medicare and Medicaid; these programs are the single largest reason why health-care costs are so high.
Medicare and Medicaid pay doctors and pharmaceutical companies at a rate set by the federal government. Recently, the Senate voted, but failed to pass, a bill lowering this rate. This would have made the problem even worse.
Medicare and Medicaid already only pay about 85 cents on the dollar of what private costumers pay, and in order to break even, doctors and pharmaceutical companies overcharge private insurers to make up their lost revenue.
Basic economics tells us than when a price is mandated below market value, a shortage develops. However, with only 48% of the industry under these price controls, doctors and pharmaceutical companies can afford to stay in business by just charging the insurance companies more to make up for it. The insurance companies then pass these costs on to consumers through significantly higher premiums.
Oh, and by the way, the seemingly dead public option would multiply these practices.
Medicare and Medicaid have also aided in setting a terrible precedent for insurance companies.
Private insurance plans, following the lead of Medicare and Medicaid, have also begun to include routine procedures and tests. Insurance is designed for when the abnormal happens. Your car insurance doesn’t cover tune-ups; it covers accidents.
When health insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid cover routine procedures and tests, the individual consumer doesn’t care how high the procedure is priced, because someone else is fronting the bill. This raises costs for everyone.
Ok, so there’s no doubt that the semi-socialized programs already fused in our health-care system are bringing up costs. Why haven’t we heard about this from anyone in Washington?
Medicaid and especially Medicare are very popular among people getting the free health-care. The elderly in this nation are a huge voting block. The AARP would freak out if any politician were to mention that these programs need to be reformed. This political pressure has forced even Michael Steele to endorse Medicare.
This is asinine coming from the supposed head of the supposedly fiscally responsible GOP. Medicare and Medicaid are not only hurting our current health-care system, they are on a crash course leading us to unsustainable debt. Without reform, my generation will drown in debt.
We cannot just get rid of Medicare and Medicaid tomorrow. It’s not easy to unwind government reliance. Retirees and near retirees have planned on having this. We have to give everyone involved a better option, not a public option.
For current Medicare and Medicaid recipients, the government should grant them a voucher to choose any plan they prefer. Whatever voucher money they don’t spend they get to keep, incentivizing them to chose wisely and economically. Empowering personal freedom and cutting out the government middleman would bring down prices for all.
This reform, mixed with other policies like tort reform, mandate reduction, interstate insurance purchasing, and health savings accounts, could positively revolutionize our health-care system.
Both sides have mops; mops can do two things: remove dirt or spread it around. The above solutions — clean liberty-based mops — remove the dirt of government intervention. By greatly expanding the government’s control, Obama’s, Reid’s, and Pelosi’s mops just spread more dirt around. Let’s grab the clean mops.
