Universal health care needs a resounding “no” from American citizens.
One problem with universal health care is it is extremely expensive, and we have no way to pay for it. Health care expenses are estimated to cost at least $2.5 trillion. To pay for this massive overhaul, we will either have to borrow, print or collect more money.
Printing more money would cause a massive amount of inflation. A perfect example of this what happened to Germany after World War I, where at one time printed money was one trillionth of its original value.
If we borrow more money, eventually our lenders (other countries) will come to collect.
If the government were to tax the country to pay for this massive amount of money, taxes would increase mainly for the rich and small businesses (who, based on their gross income, are considered rich by Obama’s $250,000 a year definition). This stifles creativity, economic growth and entrepreneurship in the market.
Another major problem with the government plan is that it enables bureaucrats to make tough choices for the American people with regards to their medical decisions. Although Obama promised us this would not be the case, history shows that whenever an emergency comes up, the government will take unprecedented amounts of power and will not return it. Why is health care any different?
We were promised health care would not be rationed, but when the federal government realizes that we, as a nation, truly cannot afford this plan, there will be no choices other than deciding who gets health care and who doesn’t or cutting the benefits.
Another (possibly more important) reason why health care for all is not the answer is the ever-expanding role of the government. Is the problem with health care that the standards are too relaxed? Absolutely not. The problem with health care is that medical institutions spend so much money defending themselves from the judicial system and malpractice. The problem with health care is the government!
Don’t misunderstand me. We have problems with our health care system. If you lose your job, you lose your coverage. But why should it be the government’s responsibility to fix our problem? America has a rich tradition of taking terrible circumstances and making them better.
We fix this by getting the regulation out of the examining room and the greedy tort lawyers out of the courtrooms. Anyone can sue a doctor for next to nothing. There is no wonder there is a national shortage of doctors. If the patient loses, the one who truly loses is the doctor. The hospital has to pay for the massive cost of the lawyer to defend him.
The system should be a loser-pay-all system. This will decrease the number of frivolous lawsuits against doctors because of the massive cost in losing the case. This means hospitals and clinics would spend less on malpractice suits, thus reducing rates. With reduced rates, insurance companies would not to have to pay as much to hospitals for their customers, thus keeping more money and either reducing their rates, expanding their coverage to riskier patients or possibly a compromise of both.
What is the solution that Congress is proposing? Essentially, it is expanding Medicare. That’s great! Especially when current government health insurance spends roughly $68 billion of its current $2 trillion dollar budget on fraud alone.
How much does the average health care company spend? About $1.9 million! It is interesting to see that an organization that is worried about making profits spends less of its budget on fraud than an organization that is not worried about making a profit. It is almost as if pursuit of profit makes an organization more efficient.
This is why universal health care will not work. There is no drive for efficiency. There is no drive for quality. There is only drive for power. This power slowly chips away at our ability to take care of ourselves and to innovate. In other words, it chips away at our freedom.
The answer to the health care problem is less government, not more!
Ryan Green is a junior majoring in electrical engineering. He can be contacted at [email protected].