Sunday, March 24, 2013

ObamaCare Flatlined....

 
 


"Oops! While we were not looking, I think the patient died..."
 
 
 
Long after we are no longer around, business schools and universities will be teaching about the events which shaped the 21st century. I am convinced one of the main topics will be "What in the world killed health care in the United States?"  And with that introduction, will come the sad and tragic tale of ObamaCare.
 
I have believed since day one, ObamaCare would not only fail, but also be riddled with unintended consequences. Oh yes - throw in a large measure of lying to the public to boot. Many times when someone buys a large item, they do not read the fine print on the agreement. "Buyer's remorse" often follows. In the case of this gargantuan bill, which is over 2,500 pages long, very few (if anyone) read it before passage. In fact, the now famous quote from the Speaker of the House (back then) was "We need to pass it so we can understand what is in it". Well, Miss Nancy - we did pass it, and now understand what is in it - and it stinks.

What some don't understand about this bill is basic economics. Putting it bluntly, there ain't no such thing as a free lunch. When you insure hundreds of thousands of uninsured people, put "kids" on their parents insurance policies until age 26, mandate coverage for pre-existing conditions, those costs need to go somewhere. One of the cornerstones of health "reform" was suppose to be cost containment. That seems to have been lost in the rush to pass the bill. So with costs going up, number of people needing coverage going up, the cost of care  allocated for each person will go down. The unintended consequences? Fewer primary doctors will be around in the next few years. They will not be able to make enough money to pay back the enormous loans required to get through medical school. Translation? Rationing.

One of the things which is almost amusing on how ObamaCare is turning out is the insurance companies. I heard Democrat after Democrat on the floor of both the House and Senate, talk about how this bill was going to "stick it" to "big insurance". Even the President chimed in on this one. Right now the insurance companies are crying all the way to the bank. Their profits are in the 15% to 20% range, and the extra costs are being passed on to - you guessed it - us. Some people have been advised by their insurance providers their rates will double next year. Even though we were "promised" our rates would go down if we passed the bill.

This past week, it was reported another 180 pages of regulations were added to the over 20,000 pages already in existence. These were all prepared by unelected representatives, and will be ancillary to the statutory bill itself. Therefore, even regulatory, they will have the power and effect of law. Nobody has had the time nor patience to read tens of thousands of regulations. Plus, the law (and regulations) is to be enforced by the ever expanding IRS.

Many think all this has been done by design to make the system fail (Cloward–Piven strategy?). Once it fails, the benevolent government will step in and impose single payer health - just like in Europe. We don't care that single payer has turned health care in Europe into something slightly better than third world. The most important thing is the United Nations will look as us as "world citizens" because we chose the denominator rather than the numerator.    
 
 
 

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