Yesterday afternoon, Reason.com’s blog Hit & Run had an interesting tidbit. Apparently, Nancy Pelosi is saying that we can’t really know what’s in the healthcare bill until they actually pass it. After that, we’re going to love it! After all, she says, it’s about “diet, not diabetes.”
Sure, I believe you Nancy. Just because that argument is right up there with “your shoe laces are untied” and “what’s that behind you?” is no reason to not believe you, right?
The fact of the matter, as Reason has mentioned in another article, is that Americans actually do understand. And, according to Pollster.com, they ain’ t buying it as over 51% of the people don’t seem to be in favor of it (that’s an average of several polls).
This new tactic, of saying “trust us, you’ll like it” is akin to my Mom telling me that I’d love chicken livers time and time again despite me knowing I couldn’t stand the things. The difference that with food, you can take a taste and not touch it again. With health care, you’re talking about 1/6th of the nation’s economy. You can’t just spit it out in a napkin and give the rest to the dog.
Frankly, while I agree that there are some serious problems with our healthcare system, I can’t help but think it’s time to step back and rethink the direction we’re headed. I’ve said before that there are other factors which artificially increase healthcare costs, and we need to look at those first before we jump in with governmental invervention. Things like certificates of need, and the caps on medical school students all contribute to creating an artificial scarcity of medical resources that just plain shouldn’t exist. Getting rid of that scarcity would increase competition and drive the prices down to some extent.
But I guess that response isn’t statist enough for some in Congress. They don’t get to insert control into our lives nearly enough. After all, they’re talking about “diet, not diabetes”, which makes me wonder where they’re going to stop interfering with my damn life. Are they going to kill my ability to order a pizza? Are they going to minimize how much good Irish whiskey I can consume in a year? Where will the government stop and my own free will start?
They make comments about how the bill is about “diet, not diabetes”, and don’t understand why so many Americans are nervous as hell about this? Now that is newsworthy if anything is.
Health care in America
1) Set up new requirements for insurance companies, they must be non-profit. This will lower premiums, because of increased savings and eliminate the insurance lobby, because no extra money can be recieved
2) Have the AMA evaluate itself, determine fair rates for services, knowing the legal reform will save them money and that Insurance reform will get them paid quicker due to keeping more funds on hand.
3) Tort reform, set liability limits and find a way to quickly move cases along without extraordinary legal fees.
I know non-profit insurance sounds crazy, but insurance should have never been about profit, it is about protection, a health expense savings plan. I am all for Capitolism, but insurance has ruined every industry it has touched because of $$.
Government run insurance; why didn’t someone think of this before now! If only we could get the governmnet more involved everything will be just peachy.