PUBLIC OPTION A POLITICAL PLOY

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PUBLIC OPTION A POLITICAL PLOY

Everyone is talking about the public option plan, presumed dead, but now proposed in Congress. The main question is: What will the premium be for you and what will you get for that?

Both Senate and House proposed bills are paid by a combination of cuts in Medicare spending and also higher taxes.

THE PUBLIC PLAN OPTION

The arguments for public plan option are that it would reduce skyrocketing health care costs by a holding insurance companies accountable and forcing them to compete. Yet the public plan is all things to everybody. In reality the plan is a way of avoiding political problems. It pretends to control healthcare costs and improve access to quality care, when it does nothing like that.

LIBERAL ARGUMENTS

Liberals argue that the public option is an essential part of the overhaul of the health system. It would increase competition and choice, and private insurers would have to hold their premiums down. The government subsidies would allow everyone to get medical coverage and it would be cheaper.

CONSERVATIVE ARGUMENTS

Congress would mandate that hospitals and doctors be reimbursed at the rates of Medicare. Yet these rates are 30% lower than rates that are paid by private insurance companies.

Health costs cannot subsidize hospitals and doctors. The public plan artificially lowers reimbursements by raising fees to private insurance companies (as it is doing noq with Medicare). Premiums would increase because private insurance companies have to cover the costs to survive.

Since Medicare recipients have higher health expenses than the people under 65, its administrative costs are a smaller percentage share of total spending. With a public plan, the younger members would not enjoy this advantage.

Words like choice and competition are used freely, to argue for the public plan and expand government power,

How could a plan tied to Medicare, control health spending, if Medicare hasn't worked in controlling spending? There is a limit to how much one can squeeze reimbursement rates and contain the costs. Doctors and hospitals are complaining about cuts in payments, and would limit service to Medicare patients and even eliminate service to Medicare patients.

The current proposed bill would pay providers and hospitals at rates that were negotiated by the Health and Human Services secretary, and not Medicare. If payment rates were tied to Medicare, these lower rates would hurt hospitals in rural areas from surviving.

COSTS AND COVERAGE

Financing means adding federal spending to the deficit. We look to the Chinese and Middle Eastern to lend us the $1 trillion dollars that we will need to run this expanded medical program.

COMMENTARY

Insurance companies are not the reason for high health costs---they are simply the middlemen. Strictly regulating doctors, hospitals, and patients, under a single-payer system would provide some control. However genuine competition among health plans would work much better.

Doctors, hospitals, and you, the patient, certainly don't want to be limited in your healthcare. Millions of us will be compelled to spend lots of money on something we simply do not want.

A family of four will have to spend up to $14,000 a year over the next decade for this health plan. If you don't get a subsidy, how long will it be before you demand further assistance?

Not everyone can receive equal subsidies. As your family earns more, yours chance of subsidies will decrease, eventually, falling to zero. You will be discouraged from earning more money and a better life for your children.

The cost of health insurance will keep rising as the cost of healthcare services keeps climbing. Without mention of tort reform, skyrocketing medical testing by doctors will continue, to avoid malpractice claims.

We are ignoring the most important needs: to first get health costs under control.

It's certain some form of health care reform bill will pass, probably with Holiday lights and music in the background, when President Obama will ceremonially sign it. MERRY HOLIDAY TO ALL!

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