The old adage "a leopard can't change it's spots" was no more evident when the "new and improved" Hillary Clinton re-introduction of what she calls "Universal Health Care". Do we really have to go back and rehash 1993's Health Care disaster, where even George Mitchell couldn't get any version of a Hillary-Care bill through a Democrat-controlled Senate?
Do we need to be reminded of the outrage of the American public and the Gingrich Revolution which toppled Democrats from Congressional control for the first time in recent history? Do we really need to see rebroadcasts of the "Harry and Louise" ads where a couple lamented their limited choices under Hillary's nationwide HMO plan? Detractors will say those ads say they were just propaganda, but they bespoke many valuable truths:
- People are different and so are their health care needs.
- Cookie-Cutter solutions don't work on 300,000,000+ people.
- The US Government has NEVER done anything better AND cheaper than the private sector.
- The US Government was NEVER DESIGNED to do anything better and cheaper than the private sector.
- The US Government is not a for-profit entity. Budget deficits don't mean we're not taxed enough, it means the Government has SPENT too much.
There are definitely problems with our health-care delivery today. But the MAJOR problem; Insurance Company red-tape and bureaucracy, will only be exasperated by a Government-run Health Care Program! If you've ever had a run-in with an insurance company and the aggravation that caused, compare it with a dust-up with the IRS, or the EPA, or any other Federal entity. The Government Bureaucracy has forgotten more than the insurance companies know about "red tape".
And then of course, there are the shining examples of Canada, Sweden, and Great Britain where citizens wait in pain for months to have a simple procedure performed. We take speed of health care for granted here. You need an MRI, within a few days you get an MRI. Conversely, in the before mentioned countries, you could wait 9 MONTHS! Even the humble X-ray which most doctors perform in their offices during your visit can take months abroad. Why? Socialized Government-run health care
Why is that foreign dignitaries and non-Americans of wealth come to the United States when faced with a major personal medical problem? Quality, plain and simple.
So what's wrong with health care in America today compared to the rest of the world? Nothing. So why the outcry? Why the high insurance premiums? Why the "rush and wait" at the doctor's office? Why the outcry?
Bureaucracy; both on the part of the insurance companies trying to deliver a service and still make a profit, by the Government, which constantly oversteps its role of watchdog to become policy dictator, by the Courts which have decided that doctors are not allowed to have human frailties and have driven the cost of malpractice insurance so high that doctors are abandoning specialties like OBY/GN because their risk is so high and by lawyers, who see medicine as a lottery waiting to be won. And of course, let's not forget the pharmaceutical industry which seems to make all it's profit on Americans and then sell the same drugs at a fraction of the price abroad. And lastly, by the American public themselves, which expect the best care available not understanding that an MRI machine costs millions of dollars that someone has to pay for.
That's what's wrong but not who to blame. Unlike the Government, which can spend more than it takes in through taxes and call it a deficit, the rest of America has to be able to cover it's costs and make profit in order to survive and invest in new research.
The PROBLEM is what Hillary is proposing as the SOLUTION: Bureaucracy!
The insurance companies and the doctors need to sit down as partners, not combatants, and eliminate the bureaucracy in a way fair to both sides while still providing world-class health care. Did you know the average doctor makes less than $125,000 a year; many a lot less.
If all the insurance companies simply agreed to use the same forms and diagnostic codes, tens of millions if not hundreds of millions could be saved. Standardization is not the same thing as Socialism, but that's something Hillary (and Karl Marx) never understood. You don't solve the problem of red-tape by creating a new and costly bureaucracy to manage it. You let the free market manage it like a business and sometimes (like the new mega-phone companies) it's OK to let competitors work together on a streamlined way of "universally" doing business. One thing I know for certain: the free market will always do it better and smarter because their corporate survival depends on it. "One-Size-Fits-All" Government-imposed solutions always fail because they are non-sustainable over time (i.e. Social Security). If the Government wants to kick in money (our money) let THEM fully pay for the health care all the illegal aliens receive in this country. After all, the Government mandated that hospitals treat them.
After the outcry in 1993, am I surprised Hillary is bringing back socialized (I'm sorry, UNIVERSAL) health care? Not at all. It's simply the first of a number of 1960's inspired "solutions" and social engineering programs she's championed her entire life.
Don't let her time and positions in the Senate fool you. The American people have a short memory and Hillary knows it. Everything she has done and said has been calculated towards winning a 2008 Presidential run. It means nothing. After all, even a socialist knows a leopard simply can't change it's spots.
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