Hillary’s Healthcare Plan Is For Lemmings

September 28, 2007

By Sally C. Pipes

Hillary Clinton unveiled her health care plan under the banner of American Health Choices Plan. It should be called the "Everything But the Kitchen Sink" plan.

Clinton's plan would increase taxes, create new government-provided insurance, bolster federal regulation, mandate that individuals purchase approved insurance policies, and mandate that large employers pay for such policies. The only thing it doesn't promise is a single-payer health care system. That will, however, be the result.

Clinton talks of choices, but her plan is about limiting them, not expanding them.

Our current system actually offers many choices, with more coming on line each day. People can purchase individual insurance; work for an employer who provides insurance; elect and pay more for generous first-dollar coverage; save taxes; and accumulate funds for the future with a health savings account.

The insurance industry, where allowed by regulators, is targeting young adults with specially tailored plans. Health clinics are popping up in local malls. Some doctors are again making house calls. Others are setting up concierge practices.

And yes, some Americans choose not to be insured. They may pay cash for services rendered. They may be taken care of by a safety net that includes taxpayer-funded neighborhood clinics, charity care at physicians' offices, or free care at hospitals.

With Clinton, the only choice will be to whom to pay the taxes — to the private, but government-blessed plan, or to the government-run plan. Health plan design will be nationalized, as a national mandate requires a national standard plan to meet the mandates' requirement.

When the new bureaucracy in Massachusetts set standards for its mandate, it excluded the current plans of thousands of state residents. They will have to get new plans or face fines.

The individual mandate will lead to new bureaucracy to enforce it, even as it fails to achieve universal care. Car insurance is mandatory, after all, even if driving isn't. Yet, nearly 15 percent of drivers go bare.

New government plans will become the norm, as private insurers are forced to charge full prices while the government will hide costs in subsidies. Seniors, after all, think Medicare is a bargain largely because it is funded by current employee payroll taxes and general revenues, that is, income taxes.

Children and young adults will get pushed into SCHIP, a program originally designed for the near poor. Near retirees will be allowed to buy into Medicare, with generous subsidies to make it affordable. Everyone else will be enrolled in either a highly regulated plan or the new federal option, or face fines.

The one area of great importance in which even Clinton plan boosters note it falls short is cost control. Other than wishful thinking and subsidies — which merely shift costs, but don't control them — it offers little in the way of keeping spending in check. It can't do otherwise.

A system cannot insulate people from the cost of a good or service, make that good or service easily available, and not have expenditures on it explode. Yet that is Clinton's prescription for health care.

In fact, serious health thinkers and commentators on the left all understand the rationing imperative, once insurance is made universal. The New York Times chided Clinton and the other candidates for not discussing the need for higher taxes on everyone and "more drastic remedies, like limiting the use of expensive new technologies, cutting reimbursements to doctors and hospitals, or forcing people into health maintenance organizations."

That is the health care future our learned leaders envision for us. Paying higher taxes, packed in a government designed health care plan, and limited in our ability to access new technology. No thanks!

Source: South Coast Today

Posted by Hillary · Filed Under 2008, Commentary, Editorials/Opinion, Hillary Clinton

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2 Responses to “Hillary’s Healthcare Plan Is For Lemmings”

Health » Hillaryâ€™s Healthcare Plan Is For Lemmings on September 28th, 2007 12:58 pm

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Health Tips Blog » Hillaryâ€™s Healthcare Plan Is For Lemmings on September 28th, 2007 1:29 pm

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