Healthcare Reform: Is It Worthwhile? Can We Afford It?

First, let us clear something up; healthcare reform is totally different from the monstrosity that is currently in front of the Senate at this moment. Healthcare reform would mean that the government would be telling insurers that they could no longer decide not to insure people with preexisting conditions, annual and lifetime caps would be removed and insurers would lose their federal exemption from anti-trust laws. Healthcare reform has nothing to do with a public option, period. The current mess in Congress does reform some of those issues I mentioned, but not all of them are addressed, and this legislation creates far more damage to the system than it will solve.

Now, this is an issue near and dear to my heart as someone with cancer and who desperately needs the health coverage that I currently have. I am not the only one in this position, as I am sure you can imagine, and there are millions like me out there who are waiting to see how Congress will screw this issue up for us. Here is what I foresee happening in the near-term and how a death sentence will be issued to many people like me.

Congress will pass this budget-busting, horrible healthcare package that will help the most destitute of Americans who already qualify for Medicaid or similar programs, I might add, and will immediately drive up the cost of existing plans for people like me who already pay through the nose for healthcare coverage. Once this thing passes, my monthly premiums will jump from $1,200 a month to $2,000 or more a month because insurance companies will be out of business starting in 2014 when the public option, i.e. socialized healthcare, begins. This will make health insurance unreachable for most Americans and small businesses, and will put people like me at risk of dying because I will not be able to afford health insurance. That is the irony.

Let’s not forget that I will have a “Cadillac” plan, because that is what NY makes you have, so add another 40% tax to my premium, and if I make $250K a year, add another tax to my income tax, on top of my already high taxes, and how am I supposed to pay my other bills? It will make very little sense for me to put any effort into anything or to make any money at all if this thing passes. In fact the crossover point is somewhere close to about a third of what I make now, so I will literally not have to work in a couple of years, and I will end up netting the exact same amount of money and pay less in taxes. I am not the only one figuring this out either, so guess what will happen? All the bad people, i.e. “rich” people, will decide to make less because it is easier and less of a headache, which means all those estimates the Senate is coming up with are going to be shot to hell.

The real fun will begin after 2014 when the supposed 31 million Americans, mostly illegals from what I can tell, will then flood the doctors’ offices. This is when the fun really begins. We will then have to get used to extremely long waits at doctors’ offices because we have more people with insurance and we will have fewer doctors because they will be reimbursed less, since it will probably be a Medicare-like reimbursement system. Doctors will not stay in this business for the $25-$40 they get reimbursed for government health plans, would you? That means the polls showing that doctors will quit if this nationalized health care plan is approved are probably accurate or at the very least, doctors will flock to become specialists, so you can forget about preventive care or GP doctors.

At this point in time, innovation will have stopped because there are going to be taxes on biotech companies and other pharmaceutical companies, read the bill. We will have a healthcare system exactly like Canada or the UK, which by all accounts, is great if you are not sick. If you are sick in those countries, you get out and come to, guess where, America, but that will be long gone by 2015. We, Americans, will be flocking to China, India or somewhere else in South East Asia for healthcare because there will be no waiting, it will be cheaper, the service and survival rates will be better. For the life of me, I have no idea why we, the country where other citizens flock to for medical treatment, would revert to a socialized system that is failing other countries not only in terms of their health, but also in terms of their national financial health.

If you think about it, who goes to the UK or France to get cured of cancer? I didn’t. I went to Boston along with many people from the UK and France. Who goes to Canada for surgery? They come here. The only people who venture to those countries are those who do not have insurance and refuse to pay for anything on their own, which I get that this is an issue, but it does not warrant the U.S.going to socialized health care for 10% of the population. Also, the UK, France, Germany, Switzerland and any other country that offers socialized healthcare has a debt to GDP ratio that is horrible, worse than ours, but our actual number is that largest of all, so why would we do this at all? We can’t afford this and to think we can is absurd.

We currently owe $12.03T (TreasuryDirect.gov) which is 81% of out GDP and some $7T comes due of the $12T next year. That means we have to fund about $9T in US debt in 2010, depending on how much this wonderful government decides to spend next year, which will be a record, think about that for a minute. We have never done that before, and even Moody’s is beginning to doubt the solvency of the U.S. government, and now the government wants to add socialized healthcare to this mess? How in the world can we pay for this? We cannot. Even the Chinese are saying, um, how are you going to pay for this? They, the Chinese, will not show up at some point in time to buy our government paper because they know we will not be able to pay off our debt.

We have yet to even raise our debt ceiling yet from the $12.1T to the $14T we need to raise it for next year’s deficit spending. Yet our Senators will pass this monstrosity of a bill for the “greater good” of 10% of the population who already qualify for Medicaid, but are too good to apply for it! Then they will wonder why people like me end up losing their insurance next year and rates go through the roof, surely it will because of the big bad insurance company who, by the way, paid for more $10,000 procedures for me than I would care to admit to. This bill not only impacts the insurance industry, but it impacts every American in ways that you cannot imagine from your insurance coverage next year to the very solvency of the country in the next 10 years. This government needs to be stopped before it destroys this country and kills people like me.

Comments

[OldSusanna]

Ahhh; those pesky unintended consequences--or are they (unintended)? The Progressives, not ones to see past their own social justice paradigm, view the "conditions" you describe above as, in all likelihood, necessary to achieve their ultimate goals. They say utopia, I say oligarchy... Our constitution, together with massive public outcry (& action) can block this--but will that happen? Only time will tell. Ultimately; I fear you're right in your predictions... Then what?

2009 Nov 23 09:58 AM

[maz]

I agree with one major point

National healthcare will cost all taxpayiong Americans about 10% more of their annual income - doesn't matter whether that comes from direct taxes, value added taxes on goods & services, taxes on "rich", taxes or penalties on employers or rising insurance premiums (which must happen even to a federal option if you widening insurance to those who currently can't afford it).

Take a look at income tax bands in Canada & compare that to the US -

The highest federal rate is 29% above C$126,264. It's 26% above $81,452.

Each Province has different tax bands & rates. For example British Columbia charges 14.7% above C$99,588 & is in the middle of the pack. In addition we have a value added tax (both a federal & provincial one) that currently is set at a combined 12% although some items are exempted from one or both taxes.

2009 Nov 23 10:57 AM

[Toronto Daytrader]

good article. The US needs to study the two tier system that is offered in Australia. Aussie's enjoy the free public system like we do here in Canada, and private system like the US -- the best of both worlds.

You have some very good right wing arguments in your post. While Boston is a hot bed for biotech -- similar areas do exist in socialistic Canada like the McGill University area in Montreal or Toronto. I think innovation has more to do with tax and government incentives when it comes to research.

I would argue that the US just spent billions bailing out corporations that *should* have failed and went bankrupt in pure capitalism; so spending a little to take care of it's citizens with basic health care should not be a problem.

2009 Nov 23 03:34 PM

[Paco6945]

In the words of Rahm Emanuel, never let a good crisis go to waste. If health care "reform" passes in anything like its current form, there will be a great opportunity to build health care complexes in places like the Bahamas and possibly even along the Mexican border, if security can be dealth with.

I'm waiting for an entrepreneur to come up with a plan.

2009 Nov 23 05:09 PM

[apppro]

Everyone keeps talking about public options or whatever they feel is the topic of the hour. I'm in favor of anything that will work, but so far NO ONE has stated any plan.
WHAT IS THIS PUBLIC OPTION?
What is the premium?
What does it cover?
What is the deductible?
Are drugs included?
Are there pre-authorizations required?
Etc., etc.

Not one person or politician has given anyone any facts, just a whole lot of superlatives and exaggerations. JUST GIVE US THE DAMN PLAN and Premiums, and then we all will be able to figure out what is good or what is bad.

Right now it seems to me that 90% of the people in favor of redoing the system think they are going to get EVERY medical procedure, EVERY drug, EVERY doctor, and so on... for $150.00 premium per month. Good luck with that one!

2009 Nov 23 05:18 PM

[User 272434]

A nearly perfect assessment, utterly inarguable, and I wish every single voting American spent 4 minutes reading it. Your only shaky point is “'rich' people, will decide to make less."

Kudos for recognizing that care is ALREADY available for the underprivileged. Even on top of Medi/Medi there are many, many state and local facilities including public health clinics and church programs (ask your own church head if anyone doubts that). And AFAIK everyone everywhere has access to an E.R. that provides care *regardless* of ability to pay. And does 9-1-1 refuse to service those without insurance? No! Duh!

You could have taken it much further but I appreciate that you have to draw the line somewhere for an online article. I might have strongly added at least this one most crucial point (out of many more available):

J O B S.

If you're already worried about outsourcing, what on earth could possibly prevent more employers from taking that option?? If mandated U.S. care costs employers more, they'll send more jobs abroad. Why isn't this terrifying the voting populace? Now - of all times, good God - can we afford THAT??

2009 Nov 23 11:55 PM

[Paco6945]

I can tell you that in my company we are seriously looking at outsourcing a large portion of our software development. This would result in us eliminating four full time programmers and possibly a QA person. Something like this bill passing would likely be the tipping point.

2009 Nov 24 12:02 PM

[Northstar10000]

It's simple. Put all idiot free loaders on Medicaid. Let them find their own Dr. like the rest of us and leave 90 percent of us alone, thank you. My wife had cancer and never had anything delayed or refused from our insurance company. I don't believe 99 percent of the denial of coverage stories. They are fake phony or out right fabracations.
For the 1 percent that really really bad things happened to. Sorry,
life isn't always fair and no I'm not changing the entire country because you had a problem. I have them too..

2009 Nov 27 08:38 AM

[cyndikus]

Another related problem is the CASH economy. There are so many people who make cash, hair dressers, contractors, landscapers, even restaurants they can all under report cash payments. The incentive to under report will be greater with these health care plans because if you get in the right bracket you will be subsidized instead of taxed!
I don't make millions but when you are right at the line of higher taxes it makes sense to ask for a lower salary because of all of the programs you can qualify for.

2009 Nov 28 12:12 AM