July 19, 2009

HEALTH CARE CHANGES IFFY

President Barack Obama urged Congress on Friday not to “lose heart” in quickly crafting legislation to extend health care benefits to millions of uninsured Americans -- without adding to the skyrocketing national deficit.

We are reminded of medieval King Canute ordering the tide to stand still.

Three of the five congressional committees working on health-care legislation passed their versions last week without one Republican vote.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee, and the Senate Finance Committee, are said to have the matter “under discussion.”

Douglas Elmendorf, director of the Congressional Budget Office, said on Thursday that the plans released by the House and Senate would keep costs rising at an “unsustainable pace.”

Republicans -- and some conservative “Blue Dog” Democrats -- assert the overhaul will bankrupt the country.

BUDGET WAKE UP

“Today’s CBO testimony should be a wake up call,” says Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R –Ky..)  “Instead of rushing through one, expensive proposal after another, we should take the time we need to get things right -- especially at a time when hundreds of thousands of Americans are losing jobs every month.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.-Cal.)  criticized the CBO analysis for not calculating the savings from the prevention and wellness measure that proponents say would promote a healthier population.

She said Congress would look for more ways to keep down costs which White House officials predict will alleviate the budget director’s gloomy assessment.

Other Democrat leaders also are struggling to placate the “Blue Dogs” that have 50 members on the Energy and Commerce Committee – enough to kill the measure.

The House bill would create a “public health option” to compete with private insurance plans – and a “health insurance exchange” that would prevent insurers from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions.

BLUE DOGS

The Blue Dog clique stated: “We cannot fix these problems simply by pouring more money into a broken system.”

Mr. Obama has said many times that any reform measure must “bend the cost curve.  He warned that healthcare costs would continue to skyrocket unless industry is reshaped.”

Elmendorf told a Senate budget committee:

“The curve is being raised by the Health bills.”

“We do not see the sort of fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal health-spending.  On the contrary, the legislation significantly expands the federal responsibility for health care costs.”

UP, UP, AND AWAY

Elemdorf testified that federal spending on Medicare and Medicaid would increase from the current 5 percent of gross domestic product (GPD) to nearly 10 percent in 2035 -- and more than 17 percent by 2080.

He stated that without changes in policy, the federal government by 2080 would be spending almost as much – as a share of the economy – on just its two major health care programs -- as it has spent on all its programs and services in recent years.

“Slowing the growth-rate of outlays for Medicare and Medicaid is the central long-term challenge for federal fiscal policy,” stated Elemdorf.

FREE HEALTH CARE

By 2013, however, the House health reform bill would require the federal government to pay 100 percent of the cost to provide Medicaid coverage to all non-elderly people with incomes below 133 percent of the federal poverty level.

This would raise federal outlays for Medicaid by $438 billion according to CBO.

Medicaid has already increased from $12 billion in fiscal 1979 to an estimated $265 billion in fiscal 2009.

Subsidies to provide insurance for the uninsured would cost the federal government $33 billion in 2013 -- $160 billion in 2019.

Elemdorf told the Budget Committee that cost-cutting reforms in Medicare and Medicaid were not nearly enough to offset rising federal costs mandated by the new bills -- especially over the long term.

REALITY

Say what you will, the Obama-Democrat health bill would bring universal health coverage long-sought by liberals – as started by President Jimmy Carter -- and strenuously promoted by President Bill Clinton and his First Lady (Now Secretary of State) Hillary Clinton.

Canada and many European countries have established state-run health coverage.  Very little individual out-of-pocket expense is required.

However, if operations are urgent, or require advanced medical skills, many foreigners come to the United States for treatment.

It is no coincidence not most nations with universal healthcare are small -- or struggle with budget-breaking foreign-born workers.  France and Germany are in dire straits.

In America, several states with large populations of immigrants are severely impacted by free medical expenses of foreign workers.  California is literally bankrupt and pleading with Congress to save it.

Arizona, New Mexico and several other states are lining up for Congressional relief.

There are universal attitudes about financial support for immigrants:

For Free, Take.

Kick The Can Down The Road.

By Lindsey Wilger Williams, retired newspaper publisher and syndicated columnist