The Congress That Stole Christmas
On a cold and snowy night, a group of people met in a backroom somewhere in our nation’s capital to make a deal. The outcome of the meeting was known by them and their associates long before their formal agreement was announced to an eager media corps. After all, the folks back home needed to feel the tension and be part of the drama in order for this tableau to have the appearance of legitimacy rather than be another political performance. It was a dark night, indeed, this weekend before Christmas.
Image by via Flickr
Early Saturday morning news reached the West Coast that the sixtieth senator had been coaxed and bribed into voting for the august chamber’s latest version of the health care reform bill, even though no citizens have been exposed to it and few if any in Congress had read it. In spite of heavy opposition to the concepts behind the legislation (latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll indicates that less than one-third of Americans surveyed favor the plan), the Senate has rammed this through for a vote, which is expected to take place on or before Christmas Eve.
Shame on the Senate leaders for buying off supposedly reluctant members so that debate could be shut down. And, shame on them for promising the final vote holder free Medicaid for new enrollees for life. That’s right, the tax payers in the other 49 states get to pay for this bribe forever. Of course, the final shame is on us the voting public for not insisting that our representatives go about the business of debating and structuring this massive and very complicated reform project in an orderly and bi-partisan manner. Hopefully, we’ll let our displeasure be known in the 2010 mid-term elections.
As the government becomes increasingly involved in health care, who stands to benefit from this? The government is the big winner, because it now has access to the system, so it can tax and regulate this portion of the economy that accounts for about a sixth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Therefore, the power of choice is taken away from individuals and could interrupt the doctor/patient relationship. And, as one Senator indicated, this is the first step toward a single-pay, government-run health care program.
Big insurance companies will see 30 million people added to the insurance roles; even though there are regulations on profits, they’ll make it up in volume. With a larger base of participants, more prescriptions will be written and help big pharma. A deal has been made with the doctors amounting to $250 billion, so they won’t be hurt by the legislation.
Losers? Hospitals will have to deal with more Medicare and Medicaid patients. States will have more residents participating in the Medicaid program and need to match these payments. This suggests more taxes at the state level. Taxes and fees will be levied on medical supplies and equipment and passed along to consumers. Pre-boomers stand to be hurt most with a $500 billon proposed Medicare cut and the possibility of a change in the way our health care is dispensed. The only good news for seniors is we won’t experience a lifetime of new taxes and restrictions as will our children and grandchildren. They are the ones who will find coal in their stockings for Christmas’s to come.
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