President Obama’s health care reform bill (HR 3200) is the most radical health care reform bill in U.S. history.  There are three major serious problems with this bill:  a) The cost, 1.6 trillion dollars for the first 10 years, b) it will kill private insurance and c) it will transfer control of your health care to the government.  I will present facts to back up these claims by pointing you to the specific sections of the bill that call for these drastic measures and finally I will present common sense solutions. 

No one argues that we need health care reform, but is President Obama’s solution the right one?  No, it is not.  First of all the high cost.  The President and the Democrats have yet to tell us how they’re going to fund this bill.  They’ve given us partial answers.  One partial answer is that approximately ½ of the funding for the bill is to be taken from Medicare and Medicaid in which 10.5 million seniors are now enrolled. Second, the CBO estimates that the 1.6 Trillion cost will still leave 36 million uninsured.  We know from experience that health care costs always have a tendency to rise rapidly. As an example, the House Ways & Means Committee in 1967 estimated that Medicare would cost $12 Billion in 1990.  The actual cost was $110 Billion. 

In a private study done by two Harvard Medical School professors, Steffie Woolhandler and David Himmeistein, published in the July/August 2002 issue of “Health Affairs” titled “Paying for National Health Insurance – and Not Getting It,” tax-financed government expenditures as a percentage of total health care expenditures rose from 11.4% in 1965 to 31.8% in 1999. 

In a “Barron’s” article of 7/29/09 titled “The Massachusetts Mess” three years after enacting universal health care the Massachusetts Governor ordered a stop to auto enrollment of low-income people to the public option because the State cannot afford it.  Boston Medical Center this year will operate at a $38 million loss and expects a $100 million loss next year.  The reason for the loss:  State price fixing. 

President Obama keeps making the claim that the reason he is in such a hurry to pass health care is that there are 48 million uninsured in the U.S.  However, this figure is misleading.  Of the 48 million:

            - 15 million earn $60,000 per year and can afford it but choose not to buy.

            - 11 million are in between jobs

            - 12 million are illegal aliens

            - 10 million are eligible for existing programs but not enrolled. 

The following is a detailed summary analysis of the scary parts of HR 3200 analyzed by Matt Staver, Dean Liberty University Law School: 

HR 3200 will kill private insurance by not letting any new policies be written after the Public Option becomes law (p. 16), 

Government commission will decide what treatments you get (p.30), 

Illegal aliens will get free health care (p.50), 

Government will have access to bank accounts (p.59), 

Government will pay ACORN and AmericaCorps to sing-up individuals for government health care (p.95), 

No private company can challenge government for price fixing (p.124), 

Any employer with a payroll of $400K or over will pay8% penalty on payroll for not providing he Public Option (p. 149, Lines 16-24), 

Doctors will be paid the same no matter the specialty (p. 241), 

Doctors cannot own or invest in health care companies (p. 317), 

Government to provide end of life counseling; among required counseling it states:  “such consultation SHALL include an explanation of end of life services (p.425), 

Government mandates end of life program treatment (p. 427 and 430, lines 11-15), 

Government provides for taxpayer-funded abortion on demand (p. 771-72), 

Employers must automatically enroll employees into Public Option (p. 145, lines 15-17), 

Government has authority to disqualify Medicare Advantage Plan (Part B) HMOs, etc., forcing people into the Public Option (p. 341, lines 3-9), 

Government will restrict enrollment of special needs people (p. 354, Sec 1117), 

Attorney General will have access to all HHS data for law enforcement purposes (p. 735, Lines 6-25), 

Government will decide which health care conditions will be paid (p.801, Sec 1751), 

Government will penalize hospitals for what they deem preventable re-admissions (p. 280, Sec 1151), 

Government will design a home visitation program for families with young kids and those expecting kids (p. 838-40), 

You cannot enroll in private health insurance after the start of the Public Option (p. 15-16), 

Proposed Solutions that make sense

• Stan Katten, former RAND Corp. Analyst 

 Standardize minimum insurance coverage among all states and make it fully transferable,

 Tort reform,

 Expand HMO-managed Medicare Advantage programs,

 Expand health saving accounts and make available Catastrophic Care Insurance,

 Computerize records,

 Make all health care costs fully tax-deductible,

•   Charles Krauthammer MD, Syndicated Columnist, Washington Post 

 Strip current inefficiencies,

 Tort reform.  A study found that 5 of 6 doctors admitted ordering test solely as protection.  Such tests have been found to cost 25% of all costs.  This would save about 200 Billion per year,

 Abolish malpractice system and create a new pool from which people injured in medical errors can draw from.  A board of medical experts would adjudicate this,

 Tax employer provided health care benefits and return money to employee with a government check to buy his or her own medical insurance like car and home insurance,

 Eliminate law prohibiting buying medical insurance across state liens,

•     John Mackey, Whole Foods Alternative 

 Remove legal obstacles that slow the creation of high deductible health plan and health savings accounts,

 Equalize tax laws so that employer provided health insurance and individually owned health insurance have the same tax benefits,

 Repeal all state laws which prevent insurance companies from competing across state lines,

 Repeal government mandates regarding what insurance companies must cover,

 Tort reform.

•    GOP Health Solutions “Patients Choice Act” 

 Leave in place tax deductions companies receive for providing health insurance and create a Medi-Choice tax rebate that will give individuals $2,200 and families $5,700 to spend on health insurance,

 Give families who purchase their own insurance a tax benefit similar to one companies get for providing health benefits,

 Pass medical liability reform that will reduce costly junk suits,

 Step-up efforts to detect and punish Medicare and Medicaid fraud which costs an estimated $60 Billion per year,

 Allow Americans to buy insurance across state lines,