Facts You Need to Know about the Health Care Bill

Posted By Bobby Eberle On July 17, 2009 at 7:25 am

As you can see from today's array of columns from writers across the country, the big concern is what is happening with the health care bill moving its way through Congress.

The bill is wrong on so many levels, and conservative writers and pundits are doing an excellent job in letting Americans know the endless array of big-government, freedom-grabbing, soak-the-rich provisions that Obama and company want to impose on the American people. Here are some of the facts you should know:

Fact: The Obama plan will lead to higher costs.

As noted by the Associated Press, "Democrats' health care bills won't meet President Barack Obama's goal of slowing the ruinous rise of medical costs, Congress' budget umpire warned on Thursday, giving weight to critics who say the legislation could break the bank."

Explained Elmendorf: "In the legislation that has been reported, we do not see the sort of fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal health spending by a significant amount. And on the contrary, the legislation significantly expands the federal responsibility for health care costs."

Even if the legislation doesn't add to the federal deficit over the next years, Elmendorf said costs over the long run would keep rising at an unsustainable pace.

Fact: The Health Care bill sets up a host of new bureaucracies in typical big-government fashion.

This is what Barack Obama and the Democrats want to impose on America. New agencies, new divisions, new "czars," new administrators, new rules, new regulations, new costs. Does anyone out there really think this will be more efficient?

Fact: The "Public Option" for health insurance is the first step in a complete government take-over of health care.

For those who haven't been following this issue, the "public option" is the term being used for government-run health insurance. The Democrats want to get the government involved in the insurance business by setting up an agency to compete with private insurance companies. Their claim is that the government-run insurance agency will promote competition and lower costs.

In the short term, could it promote competition and lower costs? Absolutely. It is run by the federal government. They can determine whatever prices they want for a policy. Since it is driven by taxpayer funding, it is not subject to market rules of supply and demand. Thus, the government could come in with lower prices and force private insurers to compete. The results could mean short term lower rates, but what happens next?

As CNSNews.com reports, "Obama’s federal plan would essentially operate like a massive version of Medicare, the government-run plan for seniors which cost 3.2 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2008 and which will become insolvent for the first time this year."

Essentially, the government will say how much insurance will cost for a particular type of person dependent upon whom that person is, how old they are, and how healthy they are. Further, the public plan would not have to be solvent. This means that unlike every other private plan, the federal plan could operate at a loss and still remain in business.

Please read the above paragraph again carefully. What it means is that Obama and company could set insurance prices so low that private insurers couldn't compete at all... thus being driven out of business. The government-run insurance doesn't have to turn a profit. They can run in the red and still keep going. Once the private insurers have folded, the only thing left is government-run insurance. With premiums that are unsustainably low (unfunded), this means the burden will fall on taxpayers to make up the deficit. So, less freedom AND more taxes.... that is the result.

There are so many "facts" about this bill that are bad for the American people. I encourage you to leave a comment with more of the facts that you find. All Americans need to be made aware of what is possibly coming and doing everything we can to stop it.

Action Alert: Hands Off My Health Care Decisions!

Please click the link above to contact Congress and tell them to vote NO on the health care bill. In addition, please post comments on more of the items you find, so that readers can get the full picture. This legislation must be stopped!