How Government Healthcare will Effect Your Family

Healthcare Utopia

The True Cost of Free Health Care

Most are under the impression that Universal health care is free and won’t cost the individual. Universal Health Care is defined as covering all residents of a political region with costs normally being absorbed by a combination of the patient, compulsory insurance and tax revenues. The current proposal is approximately 1,900 pages and supporters of the bill take the notion lightly that they must read it before passing. The costs are estimated to exceed 1.5 trillion over 10 years according to Republican Senator Orrin Hatch. The proposed funding of the reform is outlined to cost an additional 600 billion in new taxes and 400 billion in cuts to current Medicare and Medicaid programs.

Congressional sponsors of the bill have blocked ways of determining whether or not participants in the program are illegal immigrants; providing a clear loophole in the system for them to obtain coverage, paid for by the American Tax Payer. The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) estimated that in 2007 the illegal immigrant population was above 13 million, although some studies suggest the numbers in the U.S. could range from 20 to 38 million. CNN recently pointed to 5 freedoms that American’s would lose with the proposed health care package; the freedom to 1. Choose your doctor 2. Choose what’s in your plan 3. Keep your existing plan 4. Be rewarded for healthy living 5. Choose high deductible coverage.

Fees and Tax Ramifications: One provision in the bill would impose a surtax on high-income earners. The other would force individuals or employers who do not have approved health insurance plans to pay a tax penalty. According to bill provisions, this tax would be enforced through the IRS and collected through tax returns. The current plan proposes fining individuals 2.5% of their adjusted gross income, up to the cost of the average national premium for basic coverage, according Stephen Ohlemacher-Associated Press. Dr. Gregory A. Hood an Internist in Lexington, KY states “I don’t believe that a government takeover, or changes that create a climate permissive of this eventual outcome, are the answer. Our government is clearly encroaching into the private sector, and our lives. The bigger the government gets, the more ravenous it becomes and the more our freedom is lost.”

2003 Maine Health Care Reform: In 2003, Maine became the first state to enact a law in an attempt to provide universal health care to the states 129,000 uninsured residents by 2009. Initially funded with a one-time federal grant of $53 million, the program was intended to become a national model that would inspire other states to enact similar government programs.The plan was to have 31,000 insured by the end of 2005. As of 2007, only 18,800 people had signed up, many of which already had coverage. By 2007, premiums had skyrocketed 74% and Maine taxpayers have spent $155 million on a program that covers only 3,400 of Maine’s uninsured.

Universal Medicine and Potential for Rationed Care
A provision tucked deep within the House bill, would provide Medicare coverage for an end-of-life consultation every five years, and more frequent sessions if a person is suffering a life-threatening disease. A study released earlier this year by Harvard directly linked end-of-life counseling with lower health care costs. In 2008, the government spent $455 billion on Medicare to cover 46 million Americans, and spending is projected to increase to 20% of the budget by 2019. The fund’s reserves will be exhausted by 2017, making it insolvent two years earlier than the trustees predicted last year.

Summary
Universal Healthcare isn’t a new idea; it’s currently being implemented in over 29 countries. Many of these countries experience unbalanced ratios between doctors and patients, which create over worked physicians, which give way to sub par care. In addition to this, are long waiting lines for vital procedures and the possibility for rationed care due to limited resources. Bonnie Erbe with US News and World Report reports of a Canadian women who went to the U.S. for a brain C-T scan, because the waiting list in Canada was six months long. The United States has long been recognized as a leader in health care and many have flocked here to enjoy those benefits. Considering the current reform proposals, it looks as if our system may be migrating in the direction many countries have resolved to in the past, thus the potential for producing identical outcomes.