Thread: Government health care will wrap patients in red tape

Government health care will wrap patients in red tape

August 11

COMMENTARY Pat Toomey


OVER THE past decade, Americans have struggled as the price of health care has soared at a much faster pace than workers’ earnings and the general rate of inflation.

In Pennsylvania alone, premiums have skyrocketed 86 percent from 2000 to 2007, rising 6.4 times faster than earnings.

And yet, the mammoth bill being pushed through Congress does nothing to address this serious core problem.

Instead, the plan will deny millions of people choice, cost American jobs and give government bureaucrats the power to dictate what should be private medical decisions between a doctor and patient.

At the heart of the bill that presently has gone the farthest through Congress is an employer mandate that forces all but the tiniest businesses to provide workers with a government-approved insurance plan. If they fail to meet this mandate, they are hit with a new tax ranging from 2 percent to 8 percent of the company’s payroll.

As a result, millions of workers will either lose their employer-provided health insurance or lose their jobs altogether. For many large businesses, the new tax will be preferable to the $12,000 average they now pay for employee insurance, pushing millions of people out of their current coverage and into the clutches of the government’s new health care bureaucracy. For many small businesses, the mandate and accompanying tax impose a burden they simply can’t afford. They will be forced to lay off workers, adding further to our current jobs crisis.

The nonpartisan Lewin Group’s analysis shows the health care proposal will shift almost 90 million people from their employer-based insurance to the new government-run plan.

[u][b]These individuals and families suddenly will have to contend with government agents who have the power to deny treatment, determine how much a life is worth and counsel patients on “dying with dignityâ€

I'd like to see health insurance sold the same way auto insurance is sold. Pick your price, the benefits you want, from any company. I don't want to pay for coverage I cannot use. A younger person might want catastrophic coverage with a high deductible while a family with children might want something more comprehensive. Remove government mandates to save money - I don't want to pay for all the special needs coverage that is mandated by the state of Illinois.

Great point Reggie May.