The Public Option and Health Care Reform

If there is one topic that has whipped the citizens of this country into a frenzy since Obama's historic election, it has been the topic of Health Care Reform. Citizens have taken a unique opportunity to inform themselves on the topic, many going as far as to read the proposed House version H.R. 3200, which is over 1,000 pages long. People on both sides of the political aisle are passionate about this issue. I believe that most people would agree that some changes are needed in the health care arena. The area of debate, of course, is what changes will best suit the needs of our citizens. Then again, the "needs of the citizens" varies so widely that the possibility that a compromise can be reached is virtually impossible.

The so-called "Public Option" is the single most important piece of the health care reform pie to liberals on the left. I prefer to call the public option what it truly is: Socialized Health Care. I believe that we only need to look to England and Canada to realize that their public option government-run health care systems are not what our country should be emulating.

Obama and others in favor of the Public Option say that they believe that part of the problem with our current health care system is that our nation's health insurance companies suffer from a lack of competition. The public option would be offered simply as a means to provide competition to existing insurance companies, effectively forcing them to lower their costs. Obama and company say that they are not in favor of a complete government run health care system; that the government-run public option would account for only a small part of the entire health insurance system. Golly, on the face of this argument, it just sounds great, doesn't it? This would certainly be very non-threatening to the 80% of citizens who are currently happy with their health care, right?

If you are buying into this argument thus far, please put on your thinking cap and realize this one important point. It is impossible to compete with a government run program! Remember here that our government does not run programs so that they are profitable, or for that matter, to break even. When any government run program operates in the red (can you think of ANY government program that does not run at a loss?), they simply throw more of our taxpayer money at the program to keep it going! Health insurance companies, on the other hand, are not non-profit entities and must turn a profit or they go out of business. (Unless, of course, they are too big to fail and the government bails them out! But, that is another story!) Therefore, the fundamental point of this argument is fatally flawed.

In Obama's health care address, he states that "Under this plan, it will be against the law for insurance companies to deny you coverage because of a pre-existing condition." Hmmmm, okay. Then he continues that insurance companies "will no longer be able to place some arbitrary cap on the amount of coverage you can receive in a given year or a lifetime. We will place a limit on how much you can be charged for out-of-pocket expenses...And insurance companies will be required to cover, with no extra charge, routine checkups and preventive care." Amazing! Let me get this straight. Our government is going to force insurance companies to insure all of us, regardless of our health status, cover all of us for as long as we live, limit how much we have to pay them for all these fabulous benefits and we get all of our routine checkups and preventative care for free! Wow, that is the greatest thing I have ever heard! Aren't we so lucky to live in the United States? At this point, if you are still buying what Obama and his liberal friends are selling you, then I've got some great swamp land to sell you!

Come on, people! Even if you don't have a degree in business you can surely see that insurance companies will be forced to compete with a government entity that can undercut their competition (the insurance companies) at will. In addition, the insurance companies will have no ability to limit their risk or increase the cost of their services to compensate for the increased risk and newly imposed costs of free routine and preventative care. I ask you, what will then happen to these insurance companies? Of course, they will be forced out of business. What happens next, you ask? Just want Obama wanted all along, a completely government-run, socialized system of medicine: the public option!

Might I remind you at this point that 80% of the citizens in this country are currently happy with their healthcare? They won't be happy for long.

What is wrong with the "public option" anyway? If that is what it takes to insure all of our citizens in this country of wealth, isn't that worth it? I state emphatically, NO! There are other ways to solve our healthc care dilemna without resorting to the public option. But, I will save those ideas for another article.

Consider this thought: Health Care Rationing. Think about the last time you scheduled an appointment with your physician for anything other than a sick visit? How long did it take to be seen? Two weeks, three weeks, a month or more? Now add the 46.3 million uninsured, as stated by Forbes.com on September 16, 2009, realizing that this influx will need to be seen for all of the free preventative and routine care that will be mandated. Where will the doctors come from to see these 46.3 million new patients? How long it will take everyone to schedule these important doctor appointments and tests that are needed once the public option is in effect? Also consider that the baby boomer generation is nearing retirement age, which provides a double whammy. Hundreds of thousands of our nation's physicians will be retiring, thereby limiting even more the number of experienced physicians in our health care system. This is particularly important in the primary care field where statistics show that fewer residents and medical students are choosing to enter primary care and family medicine. This spells primary care shortage at a time when millions of new patients will need preventative and routine care. It's fabulous that everyone will get preventative care but unfortunately, by the time you receive it, it will no longer be preventative!

In addition, this aging baby boomer population will be requiring more and more health care. Here is where the highly charged notion of "death panels" arises. With new public option programs in existence and shortages of physicians as well as uncontained costs of care under the new program, someone is going to have to make some pretty ugly decisions regarding who is going to get that heart surgery and who isn't. Obama clearly stated his position on this in case you weren't listening. Dr. Obama tells us that sometimes a pill might be just the ticket in place of that really expensive surgery! Even though Obama insisted in his Health Care Address that he "will make sure that no government bureaucrat or insurance company bureaucrat gets between you and the care that you need," HR 3200 clearly spells out its mandatory end of life counseling for all seniors. Sounds like some government bureaucrats are already planning to get between seniors and the health care they need!

I have heard the argument that everyone loves their Medicare. After all, that is nothing more than a public option for seniors, right? Medicare is bankrupt, plain and simple. Just like the public option (soon to be converted into the socialized, government-run health care system) will be from the very start. This makes the best case against the public option all by itself. If the public option operates in the red, who pays to keep it going? You do, through your confiscated tax dollars. So if you believe you are getting free healthcare, you would be wrong. Nothing is free. Nothing.

The pretty picture Obama and the supporters of the public option want you to believe is simply not believable or even desirable. It is a fallacy to believe that you will be able to keep your current health insurance if you like it. After the public option comes into play, your plan won't be around for long. Anyone who takes the time to realistically review the promises being made can clearly see the public option is nothing more than socialized health care. Quite simply, socialized health care does not fix the health care system that currently exists; it simply changes the problems and costs a lot more money to do it while providing substandard care.

Sources:

Tuzik, Ruzik, (13 May 2009). Physician Shortages Don't Exist in Entire Primary Care. (online). 16 Sep. 2009. http://www.emaxhealth.com/2/38/31133/physician-shortages-don%E2%80%99t-exist-entire-primary-care.html