This week, President Obama made a promise during a speech to American Medical Association: “If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period. If you like your healthcare plan, you will be able to keep your healthcare plan. Period. No one will take it away. No matter what”.
This is a noble promise, but it’s one he can’t keep.
There is only one focal health reform bill that has actually been released by the leading Democrats in Congress. Sen. Ted Kennedy’s bill mandates coverage, requires employers to provide health insurance, then taxes your health benefits. It expands Medicaid to cover people who make up to $110,000 per year, and creates a new government-run insurance program.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office stated on June 15th that this bill would eliminate health insurance for 23 million Americans. So 23 million people can’t keep their healthcare plan, and may not be able to keep their doctor. Period.
The changes laid out by the Kennedy bill would cost between one and two trillion dollars. The President himself stated that too much is spent on healthcare. He’s right. Healthcare spending is 18% of our Gross Domestic Product. If we make no changes, Medicare and Medicaid alone will consume three-fourths of the entire federal budget by 2040. But the solution to this problem isn’t to spend trillions more, expand federal programs, and add new bureaucracies. It defies logic.
We must act now to change course on health insurance in this country. It’s unacceptable that a family of four pays thousands in monthly premium costs when they buy on the individual market. It’s unacceptable that medical bills routinely bankrupt Americans who thought their insurance would cover them.
However, there’s no excuse for saddling our grandchildren with insurmountable debt. There’s no excuse for creating a government healthcare monolith that will keep some from getting the life-saving care they need. There’s no excuse for pushing these massive changes—littered with unintended consequences—through Congress just because the President says “the moment is right”.
Most Americans agree that our current system needs to be reformed— I do, too.
Let’s assist small businesses with insurance coverage, promote transparency in insurance marketing, provide premium assistance for the needy, and create a meaningful health insurance portal that fosters true price competition between the 1,300 health insurance companies in the U.S.
Patients should have the cost, quality, and coverage information they need to make insurance decisions.
Let’s extend tax benefits to those who purchase their own insurance, quickly implement health IT software standards, and give Medicare and Medicaid more resources and authority to truly combat the waste and fraud that everyone knows exists.
We should, once and for all, address the looming budget catastrophe facing Medicare and Medicaid instead of hurrying this fiscal hurricane. There are innovative policy changes that could make a real impact without creating a new government plan and expanding entitlements.
Let’s make the shrewd and levelheaded changes that make sense not just for Democrats or Republicans, but for Americans. Let’s act now, as the President says. But let’s act responsibly.
