The Health Care Debaucle

The health care plan has passed.  Sadly, it was passed by Representatives who were not voting as representatives of the American people - the majority of the U.S. citizens did not want this bill.

Is healthcare reform needed?  Definitely.  Our "system" as it is now will be bankrupt and crippled in a couple decades.

Is universal access to care a bad thing?  Absolutely NOT.  Contrary to what many of my conservative friends believe, I do believe that health care is a right by all American citizens.

Do all citizens need to have insurance?  Yes.  Also contrary to what many people believe or know, from I've seen in my practice as a nurse and soon-to-be NP, many of those without health insurance are those that actually do have jobs but still do not make enough to qualify for Medicaid - they are just above the poverty level.  Sadly, these are our farmers...our mechanics... good working-class folks.  OR, it's people that have pre-existing conditions who cannot get insurance.  Those that don't work and are lazy do have insurance (Medicaid) usually.  I am not saying that all who have Medicaid are lazy or don't work - I'm just saying that those who don't work and are lazy usually have Medicaid - make sense?

Does health care spending need to be curbed?  Absolutely.  We have the highest GDP (Gross Domestic Product) percentage going to healthcare in the world, and it's ridiculous.

But a hurried, thrown-together complicated plan that was made behind closed doors, in secret, and without input from all sides of the issue.... that is not the plan we need.  Was the medical community (physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, etc.) consulted on the development of this bill?  No.

So now 30 million + people have access to care (well in 2014).  Please tell me - who will take care of them?  Our already over-loaded practices and hospitals, with major shortages of both nurses and physicians, cannot handle an influx of more than 30 million people.  Wait times will be extended drastically.  Premiums will go up to pay for this - yes, the bill will not tax us, but will tax the insurance companies instead...... so how will the insurance companies decide to pay that extra tax?  By raising our premiums!!

I'd like to leave us on this note from CNN's senior political contributor (note that CNN is notably a liberal news carrier) but his take sounds more like my own.  Thankfully, I know a God that is still in control and still on the throne!

Ed Rollins, CNN senior political contributor, senior presidential fellow at the Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency at Hofstra University and White House political director for President Reagan:

The Democrats did it. President Obama and Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi battered and cajoled a majority of Democrat House members to pass one of the most far-reaching and expensive entitlement programs in our history. The speaker said Sunday, "We're doing this for the American people."

It would be far more correct if she said we're doing what we think is best for the American people. According to polls, most Americans don't want this plan. But what we want certainly doesn't matter to Pelosi and those "smart Congress people" in Washington who think they know more than we do.

And telling the whole truth would be a new exercise in selling this program. Never has so much misinformation been spun to the public. We don't have to read the 2,000-page bill to find out the truth.

These are the facts, and they are not debatable. For those who have health insurance, you are in all probability going to pay more and get less. The American public is getting a tax increase -- and not just the rich ($200,000 is defined as rich). The so-called "Cadillac" health insurance plans will be taxed, and there are a variety of other taxes on businesses that will undoubtedly be passed on to consumers.

Doctors and hospitals are going to be paid less for services. Forty-six cents out of every dollar spent on medicine is paid for by you the taxpayers. Just know you're going to pay more.

Small and large businesses are going to have to pay more for their employees' health insurance plans. And every American is mandated to have health insurance whether we want it or not.

The elderly on Medicare will see their benefits changed dramatically. The biggest item being used to pay for the new program is more than $500 billion in cuts to the Medicare program at a time when 72 million baby boomers become eligible for it in the next decade. The second biggest move to pay for this is by raising and expanding the Medicare tax.

It is true some Americans will benefit. By 2014, according to the Congressional Budget Office, this bill will give 19 million uninsured Americans subsidies averaging $6,000 to help pay premiums and other medical charges. This is in addition to the federal government already picking up the tab for nearly 100 million Americans through Medicare (the elderly) and Medicaid (the poor, disabled and many children).

The smart people in D.C., including the president and the speaker will be long gone (as well as a bunch of Democrats who will lose in November) when the debts come due. But our children and grandchildren will be left with the tab.