So much
going on, I couldn't decide what to write about this week, until I
heard violinist David Garrett playing "Who Wants to Live Forever?"
on WGBH and thought of national health care.
So I
renewed my membership to get the Garrett CD. If it includes that
music from "The Highlander," I'll play it on my iPod as I expire.
Rather than "rage," as Dylan Thomas would say, against the dying of
the light, I'll just be resigned to the fact that since the American
people thought it would be a good idea to put the government in
charge of our health, many of us were bound to die prematurely.
Who
wants to live forever anyhow, or even get old?
But I
will go to my grave not understanding how a recent CBS News/New York
Times poll found that 72 percent of respondents favored a
government-sponsored health care plan to compete with private
insurers.
People,
people! How can anyone or anything compete with the government?! The
government can always offer a better deal than its competitors by
making its competitors pay taxes to fund the government's better
deal!
Eventually nothing is left but the government with a monopoly on
health insurance. And there goes the competition that controls costs
and encourages good service.
Most
Americans, in other polls, don't want a "single payer" health care
system. But after everyone else loses the competition, that's what
they'll have.
The poll
also had 57 percent willing to pay higher taxes so that all
Americans could be covered.
Stop!
Think. We complain now that health insurance is too expensive, that
many of us can't afford the premiums. When we are paying via the
government for everyone, how is that going to be cheaper for us than
what we pay for our own health insurance today?
There's
only one way a health insurance system that covers everyone can be
cheaper than one that covers only some and that's if what you get is
not as good as what you are presently getting.
Yes,
proponents say that having the government run things will result in
less waste, paperwork and bureaucracy. What?
So that
brings us to the final part of the poll, which indicated that 64
percent want government to guarantee health insurance for all
Americans.
Most
Americans, in other polls, don't want "socialized medicine." (We are
told by indignant proponents not to use that phrase, which means
that society as a whole, through its government, runs the health
care system.) But if there is only one health insurance company
after the competition is crushed, that monopoly company will run
anything it wants, anyway it likes, and there will be nothing anyone
can do about it.
The
government will own us because it will own our access to staying
alive. How much in higher taxes is that 57 percent willing to pay?
How do they ever say no to Big Government Medicine when it demands
more every year — or you die?
Proponents attempt to answer objections by pointing to the success
of the popular Medicare system.
But how
do we define success? Medicare is almost bankrupt! Of course, it's
popular with those who, after a major surgery or two, will be
relying on "society" for the rest of their lives for those benefits
covered by Medicare; yet they, too, will be paying ever-increasing
premiums for supplemental insurance if they don't end up on the
"old, don't waste money treating" pile when it finally all becomes
unaffordable.
In the
meantime, the drug companies (in an effort to kiss up to
politicians) are going to help subsidize senior prescriptions. Sweet
of them.
And
where will they get the money? By charging younger sick people more?
By spending less on research into new drugs to treat sick children?
Some
national health care advocates point to the "success" of the
Massachusetts prototype. Well, unfortunately, the State House News
Service reports: "Providers of services to the disabled ... now say
they may be forced to shut down after a decision by the state
Medicaid office this week to temporarily suspend reimbursements for
the care they provide. The decision ... cites 'cash flow' problems
at MassHealth." Meanwhile, state Treasurer Tim Cahill is proposing
deep cuts in Commonwealth Care, calling it a luxury taxpayers can no
longer afford.
Where
did Americans' common-sense opposition to national health care go?
OK, the
country elected Barack Obama to make itself feel good. Couldn't we
just bask in our present good feeling having given him control of
the financial and automobile sectors of the economy before moving to
put government in charge of the 17 percent of the economy that is
our health care system? Shouldn't we get to know him a little better
before we get carried away?
Since we
good people want to make sure everyone is insured, why not just
subsidize basic private insurance premiums for the poor? Unlike
MassHealth, the country can charge it to the national debt, which is
where a government insurance option will be charged anyhow.
If you
still think a government insurance option is a good idea, ask your
U.S. senators and congressman if they will be giving up their
present, privileged insurance plan. I guarantee the U.S. Congress
knows better than to be dependent on a health insurance system run
by the U.S. Congress.
People,
people! Wake up! Or forever rest in peace.