By Douglas V. Gibbs
Most Americans are against the Health Care legislation that recently was signed into law. With a November election on the horizon that is looking more and more like it will be a Republican landslide, the expectation is that the Republicans will run on the promise to work towards repealing the socialist entitlement program of Health Care Reform.
Those that oppose the Health Care Reform law are aware that even with a majority the GOP won't have enough votes to repeal the law immediately. As long as Barack Obama is president, it will take a three-quarters majority to override his vetoes. The fight to turn it all around is thought to possibly be one that will last a decade, or longer. Socialism is instituted quickly, but it often takes generations to reverse the damage. But such monstrosities can be turned around, repealed, and put behind us. Kentucky has already proven the fight can be won.
After the failure of the Democrats to get President Bill Clinton's 1993 Health Care Security Act passed, Kentucky enacted a similar program the following year. The measure completely redefined Kentucky's insurance market, creating new bureaucracies, and implementing regulations that were designed to directly affect the functioning of the health insurance market.
Once the Kentucky plan was let loose, it sharply increased health insurance rates, and eventually drove all of the insurance companies out of the state except two, of which were on the cusp of going out of business. The government intrusion into the system threatened patient privacy, and revealed government mistake after government mistake. One of the state plans lost $30 million in a 20 month period, and continued to lose money afterward, threatening to bankrupt the state.
The mandates on the private health insurance market killed the private system, and the state was unable to maintain the government system under the constant rise of costs that resulted from the demise of the private industry in the state.
To try to keep up with the rapidly increasing costs, new taxes were imposed, including a "provider tax" on doctors, hospitals, and other health care "providers" ranging from 2 percent to 2.5 percent of the gross revenues of physicians and hospitals. Those taxes drove costs up even further, and ultimately the higher costs were passed on to individuals and families in the form of higher health care costs. The taxes also began to drive physicians out of the state.
The expectation was that the government plan would provide much needed competition for the private system, calling for an eventual mandatory conversion to a state approved insurance plan established by July 15, 1996. Instead, the state suffered from unintended consequences that only the conservatives had warned would happen when the law was enacted: Higher Insurance Rates, Lower Coverage.
The Kentucky plan had hoped to make health care insurance more available and more affordable in Kentucky, and instead it wound up not meeting its goals. In fact, even the most modest objectives of increased availability and affordability for individuals and families were not reached. Instead, the problems in the state's health care system worsened.
While it was true that folks that had not had health insurance before were covered by the state system, the cost of health insurance for individuals and families skyrocketed, forcing many small businesses and healthy individuals out of the market altogether. The result: By January 1996, at the opening of the General Assembly, fewer Kentuckians were covered than before the ambitious reforms were passed.
As time passed, Kentucky even began to have a problem with attracting and retaining physicians, much less insurance providers. The personal choice of plans wound up at an all-time low, and the whole debacle turned out to be a dismal failure, warning any states, and the federal government, to not resort to a government health care reform system should they also be tempted to micromanage the health care system.
According to the Heritage Foundation, the lessons learned includes that "government intervention drives insurance carriers out of the 'managed competition' market, aggravating problems of health care cost and access to medical services through the private insurance system. The individual patient's right to privacy is not easily balanced with government policy planners' need for accurate health care data-critical for public policy 'experts' and corporate managed-care decision makers-in such a highly regulated system. Reforms of the underlying tax treatment of health insurance, the key source of market distortions in the current health care system, are necessary to prevent a state's health care reform efforts from getting bogged down in administrative and managerial conundrums."
It is hard to believe that the legislators did not see how such a government-run system could have such an adverse effect on the market for medical services.
The system was later repealed, and Kentucky has been slowly attracting insurance companies back into the state.
History, evidence, and blatant examples of failure is not enough to convince the Left that their plan is doomed to destroy America's health care system, however, so those that oppose Obamacare will have to remain on offense continually until this bad law is repealed. And in truth, the fight is only beginning. Leftist groups are sinking millions of dollars into selling the plan to the American People, and silencing any dissent through altering the facts, and demonizing their opposition.
Obama and the Congressional Democrats have shown, however, that despite the fact that most of the nation believes that the Health Care Reform law will damage the overall health care system in this country, they are going to continue forward anyway. The Democrats do not care if the American People are against their plans, that the new law will drastically increase an already out of control federal budget deficit, that the overall costs of health care will increase, or that this law will diminish the choices of Americans when it comes to their health. Companies like Caterpillar have already said that Obamacare will raise their insurance costs by more than $100 million just during the first year, and that the result will be a need to reduce the number of employees, and to increase the employee's share of the cost.
What is worse, is in response to the numerous Fortune 500 companies proclaiming the damage Obamacare is going to do to their companies, the Democrats are trying to bully and harass those companies for letting the cat out of the bag. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) sent letters to the CEOs of Deere, Caterpillar, Verizon, and AT&T demanding all documents "from January 1, 2009, through the present" regarding "any analyses related to the projected impact of health care reform" and "any documents, including e-mail messages, sent to or prepared or reviewed by senior company officials related to the projected impact of health care reform." The Democrats wish to try to scare these companies into silence, a tactic often used by tyrannies of the past, as well.
In short, the Democrats had to bribe their own party members to vote for the Health Care legislation, lie to the public about what the government system means to choice and the private industry, and now they are trying to browbeat America's business community for not supporting their policies.
If this health care debacle is a wonderful gift to the American People as the Democrats keep claiming, then why all of the sleazy tactics?
All the more reason to continue to fight for repeal.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
Our Long National Obamacare Nightmare is Just Beginning - Heritage Foundation
The Kentucky Healthcare Experiment: How "Managed Competition" Clamps Down on Choice and Competition - Heritage Foundation
Could Obamacare Be Repealed? - National Review Online
Most Americans are against the Health Care legislation that recently was signed into law. With a November election on the horizon that is looking more and more like it will be a Republican landslide, the expectation is that the Republicans will run on the promise to work towards repealing the socialist entitlement program of Health Care Reform.
Those that oppose the Health Care Reform law are aware that even with a majority the GOP won't have enough votes to repeal the law immediately. As long as Barack Obama is president, it will take a three-quarters majority to override his vetoes. The fight to turn it all around is thought to possibly be one that will last a decade, or longer. Socialism is instituted quickly, but it often takes generations to reverse the damage. But such monstrosities can be turned around, repealed, and put behind us. Kentucky has already proven the fight can be won.
After the failure of the Democrats to get President Bill Clinton's 1993 Health Care Security Act passed, Kentucky enacted a similar program the following year. The measure completely redefined Kentucky's insurance market, creating new bureaucracies, and implementing regulations that were designed to directly affect the functioning of the health insurance market.
Once the Kentucky plan was let loose, it sharply increased health insurance rates, and eventually drove all of the insurance companies out of the state except two, of which were on the cusp of going out of business. The government intrusion into the system threatened patient privacy, and revealed government mistake after government mistake. One of the state plans lost $30 million in a 20 month period, and continued to lose money afterward, threatening to bankrupt the state.
The mandates on the private health insurance market killed the private system, and the state was unable to maintain the government system under the constant rise of costs that resulted from the demise of the private industry in the state.
To try to keep up with the rapidly increasing costs, new taxes were imposed, including a "provider tax" on doctors, hospitals, and other health care "providers" ranging from 2 percent to 2.5 percent of the gross revenues of physicians and hospitals. Those taxes drove costs up even further, and ultimately the higher costs were passed on to individuals and families in the form of higher health care costs. The taxes also began to drive physicians out of the state.
The expectation was that the government plan would provide much needed competition for the private system, calling for an eventual mandatory conversion to a state approved insurance plan established by July 15, 1996. Instead, the state suffered from unintended consequences that only the conservatives had warned would happen when the law was enacted: Higher Insurance Rates, Lower Coverage.
The Kentucky plan had hoped to make health care insurance more available and more affordable in Kentucky, and instead it wound up not meeting its goals. In fact, even the most modest objectives of increased availability and affordability for individuals and families were not reached. Instead, the problems in the state's health care system worsened.
While it was true that folks that had not had health insurance before were covered by the state system, the cost of health insurance for individuals and families skyrocketed, forcing many small businesses and healthy individuals out of the market altogether. The result: By January 1996, at the opening of the General Assembly, fewer Kentuckians were covered than before the ambitious reforms were passed.
As time passed, Kentucky even began to have a problem with attracting and retaining physicians, much less insurance providers. The personal choice of plans wound up at an all-time low, and the whole debacle turned out to be a dismal failure, warning any states, and the federal government, to not resort to a government health care reform system should they also be tempted to micromanage the health care system.
According to the Heritage Foundation, the lessons learned includes that "government intervention drives insurance carriers out of the 'managed competition' market, aggravating problems of health care cost and access to medical services through the private insurance system. The individual patient's right to privacy is not easily balanced with government policy planners' need for accurate health care data-critical for public policy 'experts' and corporate managed-care decision makers-in such a highly regulated system. Reforms of the underlying tax treatment of health insurance, the key source of market distortions in the current health care system, are necessary to prevent a state's health care reform efforts from getting bogged down in administrative and managerial conundrums."
It is hard to believe that the legislators did not see how such a government-run system could have such an adverse effect on the market for medical services.
The system was later repealed, and Kentucky has been slowly attracting insurance companies back into the state.
History, evidence, and blatant examples of failure is not enough to convince the Left that their plan is doomed to destroy America's health care system, however, so those that oppose Obamacare will have to remain on offense continually until this bad law is repealed. And in truth, the fight is only beginning. Leftist groups are sinking millions of dollars into selling the plan to the American People, and silencing any dissent through altering the facts, and demonizing their opposition.
Obama and the Congressional Democrats have shown, however, that despite the fact that most of the nation believes that the Health Care Reform law will damage the overall health care system in this country, they are going to continue forward anyway. The Democrats do not care if the American People are against their plans, that the new law will drastically increase an already out of control federal budget deficit, that the overall costs of health care will increase, or that this law will diminish the choices of Americans when it comes to their health. Companies like Caterpillar have already said that Obamacare will raise their insurance costs by more than $100 million just during the first year, and that the result will be a need to reduce the number of employees, and to increase the employee's share of the cost.
What is worse, is in response to the numerous Fortune 500 companies proclaiming the damage Obamacare is going to do to their companies, the Democrats are trying to bully and harass those companies for letting the cat out of the bag. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) sent letters to the CEOs of Deere, Caterpillar, Verizon, and AT&T demanding all documents "from January 1, 2009, through the present" regarding "any analyses related to the projected impact of health care reform" and "any documents, including e-mail messages, sent to or prepared or reviewed by senior company officials related to the projected impact of health care reform." The Democrats wish to try to scare these companies into silence, a tactic often used by tyrannies of the past, as well.
In short, the Democrats had to bribe their own party members to vote for the Health Care legislation, lie to the public about what the government system means to choice and the private industry, and now they are trying to browbeat America's business community for not supporting their policies.
If this health care debacle is a wonderful gift to the American People as the Democrats keep claiming, then why all of the sleazy tactics?
All the more reason to continue to fight for repeal.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
Our Long National Obamacare Nightmare is Just Beginning - Heritage Foundation
The Kentucky Healthcare Experiment: How "Managed Competition" Clamps Down on Choice and Competition - Heritage Foundation
Could Obamacare Be Repealed? - National Review Online
Red Tape Rising - Heritage Foundation
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