Health Care Reform

No issue has been more divisive than this topic. It has become the proverbial line in the sand in this nation. The sad thing to me is that it is a serious topic that has been lost due to its abuse by the political machine in Washington.

Fundamentally, everyone agrees that health care reform is something that needs to be addressed. But it’s the complexity of the issue that causes the most issues. It’s simply not as clear cut as D.C. would lead you to believe.

HCR was a topic that President Obama campaigned on. It was in fact one of the cornerstones of his campaign platform. If you go back to last summer, the majority of Americans wanted HCR. A Rasmussen poll from June 2009 indicated that 50% of American’s favored HCR. This is significant. The argument was sound that American’s wanted this.

So what happened to cause such a stunning reversal that by March 2010 the pendulum had swung around to a 54% opposition? In fact, at several points from December to February the disapproval rating was as high as 58% while the approval rating sunk to 38%.

The foundation for this issue can be seen in the sweeping mandate that the Democrats were given in 2008. The American people embraced the slogans of “Hope & Change” and “Yes We Can” and elected a Democratic President and gave majority control of both the Senate and the House to the Democrats. The current majority totals in the Senate are 59 to 41, and in the House it is 253 to 178. In fact, it is interesting to note the fact that the Democratic Party has actually held control in both houses since January 2007. But in 2008 they were given the keys to the country. Majority control of both the executive and legislative branches of government. No one could have predicated that they would struggle as mightily as they have to pass such a critical piece of the President’s platform.

The German statesman Otto Von Bismarck once remarked “Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.”

Despite having control, the Congress hit a number of road blocks in their attempt to pass HCR. Finally in December 2009 the senate, led by Harry Reid, managed to barter, bribe and bully enough votes to pass it. OK, so you are sitting there going “barter, bribe and bully” is some strong words. Yep, correct. One only has to look at the deals that were made push this through. The sad thing is that when this bill was pushed through, many admitted they didn’t even read the 2k plus page bill.

By December most American’s realized that entrusting a piece of legislation that is equivalent to 1/6 of our economy to a political machine that has been the Doctor to such well known patient’s as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security was not a good idea. More on this ugly little trifecta topic in a later blog.

The outcry was loud. Shelve it, and start over. This is where it went wrong. The American people, who issued the mandate, revoked it. While Barrack Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and the rest were trumpeting “Simple Majority” to pass their bill, they were ignoring the “Simple Majority” who was calling for them to start over. For the first time it became crystal clear to the American people that once they elected their representatives, their representatives could care less what they thought. So what happened, politics as usual baby.

Obama, Reid & Pelosi did what politicians always do. They pointed fingers at the other party. When their own party couldn’t pass the health care bill in the House, because their members didn’t like it, they called the republicans out as “obstructionists.” They accused the minority of playing partisan politics while their own majority held out on them. At that point it was clear that they would do anything, and they did. They ratcheted up the barter, bribe and bully tactics until they managed to eek out a win. But the key to all this is to remember that in addition to the dissenting Republican votes, 32 Democrats also held out. The same bill had passed the Senate earlier in the day 56-43, with all voting Republicans and three Democrats voting "no." The key to understanding this is that even members of their own party knew this was bad.

What will the outcome be of Health Care Reform? Good Question. I guess it comes down to your political outlook. Do you think that the government will manage to keep its word and institute a major health care overhaul that will extend coverage to 32 million uninsured Americans, crack down on unpopular insurance industry practices, and to reduce federal deficits by an estimated $143 billion over a decade? I’m sorry, I don’t. The CBO reported was used as evidence to support the Democratic position that this plan will reduce the deficit, but what was lost was the fact that the CBO was only able to use the data supplied to them. Basically what you have is “garbage in, garbage out.”

Personally, I believe the cost and revenue projections are unrealistic assumptions and accounting tricks. Taking money away from one fund, to offset another and assuming that there will be no cause and effect is a recipe for disaster. OK, so how did Congress get to the magical number of $143 Billion in deficit reduction? According to the CBO between now and 2019 the net cost of insuring new enrollees in Medicaid and private insurance plans will be $788 billion. But, other provisions in the legislation will generate revenues and cost savings of over $933 billion. Subtract the first figure from the second and you get $143 billion.

To me, the first big question I have with these figures is that the bulk of the cost savings, more than $450 Billion, comes from cuts in Medicare payments to doctors and other health-care providers. Ever hear of a little organization called AARP? Yeah, let me know how those Medicare cuts work out. Let’s be realistic, have you ever heard of a Washington program coming in under budget? What happens when that $143 Billion in savings turns out to be $400 Billion in deficit?

And that really leads to the most important question. Why are we doing this now? Folks, we are in a major recession. We have bailed out housing (Fannie & Freddie), Auto (GM), Insurance (AIG), Banking (Goldman Sachs, Citi, B of A), and the nearly $800 million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. We have no money left to spend. Yet our representatives in D.C. are acting like out of control kids with their parent’s credit cards. They used up all their paper money, and now they are hitting the plastic. Much of the problem lies with President Bush & the Republican Party, but remember the Democrats do not have clean hands either. There is enough blame to go around.

But it’s not 2008 anymore, it’s 2010. It’s time for the blame game and campaigning to end, and the accountability and responsibility to kick in. All I hear now is you have to spend to get things rolling. In 2007, the federal budget deficit was $162 billion. For 2009, the budget deficit is projected to be about $1.8 Trillion and for 2010 it is projected to be $1.4 Trillion. Someone once said “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money” (This quote is often misattributed to Senator Everett Dirksen,(R) Illinois). Well, if that is the case, what do we say now?

If we do not do something at the grass roots level, that means you and me, we are not going to have a country left to give our kids. It is time to hold our representatives accountable. If they will not vote according to our desire, then it is time to make a change in November.

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