The Humpty Dumpty Program

Humpty Dumpty said on the wall,

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall;

And all the Kings horses and all the King's men,

Couldn't put Humpty together again... 

Mother Goose

Nursery Rhyme

Really Bird? Has this week come to this? A nursery rhyme by Mother Goose for crying out loud? Actually, it has. I could not think of a better way to describe what is going on with our nation's health care. And not give a spoiler for the rest of the article, I believe our health care system is broken, just like Humpty, and beyond repair. And what will eventually come out of this mess, will look more like a scrambled egg than poor old Humpty.

I am going to try and put this together without too much bashing of our former President and former Democratic Speaker of the House. But it was they who pushed Humpty off the wall. Yes, our perfectly good health care system, which did need a tune up and tweaking, was instead thrown out with the bath water. What replaced it? A ticking time bomb. A system so flawed, it was bound to fail within a decade. And what would happen after that? Who cares? The architects of this mess would all be long gone.

Let us first look at some immutable facts. Our country is aging. Our country is getting more immigrants in from poorer nations. Why is that important? The 600 lb gorilla in the corner continues to be who is going to pay for Medicaid. Under ObamaCare, 90% of Medicaid is issued back to the states via block grants. And this $240B (and growing) program is a belly buster to our national debt. So the House and Senate bills both want to reduce down the block granting from 90% to something less. And many states (including Minnesota) are screaming bloody murder.

Another huge problem with ObamaCare (yes Dr. Gruber you really did pull as fast one on us) is the exodus of insurance companies. Living in a free market economy coupled with a socialized form of healthcare is an oil and water issue. ObamaCare does not fit in well with the business model of many of the insurance companies . Translation: they are tired of getting hosed and pulling out. Aetna is the latest to do so. With that, 1/3 of all counties within the country are left with only one insurer.

Where does all this leave us (as a country) right now? In "no man's land". ObamaCare is in hospice and the House and Senate bills have about as much chance of becoming law as the Twins winning the World Series this year. Wait a minute? Something will need to happen. We can't keep going on this way, with this much uncertainty, can we? Well, can we?

The barbarian which lives inside me would like to do something which would at least be cathartic. I would like to put Jonathan Gruber, Zeke Emmanuel, Nancy Pelosi and yes, even our former President in pillories in the town square. They deserve some kind of public scorn (or worse) for leaving us this mess.

When ObamaCare was passed in 2009, many said it would change (or destroy) the country. Many who said those words were looked upon as panic merchants. Today, they are looked upon as wise soothsayers. Especially you, Twila Brase.