NObama care, thank you
By
Stephanie Kane |
IDS
POSTED AT
09:07 PM ON Aug. 30, 2009
| PRINT |
Email
| SHARE
| COMMENTS (37)
It’s been awhile since Sean Hannity has gotten this heated over any issue.
And it has certainly been a while since American masses have gotten this heated over a domestic issue.
But with Barack Obama’s socialist tactics surfacing, it is about time.
With Obama in office for a little more than seven months, he’s full-speed ahead with “ObamaCare,” reforming our health care system as quickly as he can.
Sure, you must commend his ambitious plans, but the fast and the furious is no game to play when you are dealing with American health, not to mention one-sixth of the hurting American economy.
Few wouldn’t argue that health care needs to be reformed in some way.
In fact, a recent CBS News/New York Times poll revealed that “85 percent of respondents said the health care system needed to be fundamentally changed or completely rebuilt.”
Many, however, are arguing about the way Obama intends to reform our system – with a public option.
With a government-run health plan, insurance companies will have to compete with government rates, which Obama feels will lower costs all around.
But with lowered costs come lesser benefits, and they stand to threaten the private insurance industry that we have built our health system on today.
If you’ve watched the debate on this issue unravel, you’ve seen opponents to this plan bring to light such issues as the waiting periods that citizens in other developed nations face with nationalized health care.
I’m sure you’ve heard at least one Canadian horror story involving crossing the border to receive a much-needed operation that the government deemed unworthy of national funds.
While one could argue that lesser benefits would be a fine exchange for the coverage of all 46 million Americans who are currently uninsured, the facts regarding that number are widely unknown. For instance, while this figure is cited quite often for the cause of reforming health care, very rarely is it discussed who actually makes up this population of uninsured Americans.
Various sources can help explain why 46 million Americans are without insurance – and it isn’t what you think.
Though the statistics vary slightly, a quarter of the total uninsured are people who are eligible for governmental assistance programs such as Medicare and Medicaid but simply aren’t enrolled.
National Public Radio estimates that “almost one in five of the uninsured are not citizens of the United States,” which is a factor that needs to be considered when the 46 million figure is used.
Furthermore, many people opt out of the insurance given to them by their employer, instead preferring the extra money in their pocket.
Many uninsured are young and healthy and think medical insurance is unnecessary.
Even with this information notwithstanding, the money factor has to play a role somewhere. Regardless of whether or not you feel it is crucial to help the uninsured, what people should agree on is that this program is too costly for us right now.
We currently stand $11.4 trillion in debt – a staggering number – and to add a $60 billion price tag per year, the estimated cost of supplying all Americans with the same level of insurance available to Congress members simply isn’t reasonable.
Before any rash decisions are made, the American people need to be heard, and the facts, not to mention our finances, need to be straightened out. As we try “to keep insurance companies honest,” Mr. President, can we try to make our government smarter?
For someone who took almost six months to find the perfect puppy for his children, I would suggest he also takes some time to find the perfect solution for something as important as our health care system.