Comments on: White House Pushes Health Reform http://www.preceptgroup.com/blog/2009/white-house-pushes-health-reform/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=white-house-pushes-health-reform An insider's perspective on employee benefit programs and the issues that affect employers most. Sun, 01 Aug 2010 12:03:04 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Jackie http://www.preceptgroup.com/blog/2009/white-house-pushes-health-reform/#comment-2880 Jackie Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:20:07 +0000 http://webdev.preceptgroup.com/blog/?p=2664#comment-2880 More concerning than anything for me in considering the push for healthcare reform is the inaccurate data the current administration continues to use in sensationalizing this issue. Despite evidence to the contrary by private sector non partisan groups and our own Census Bureau statistics, the Democratic Congress continue to promote this myth of 47 millions uninsured Americans. The true number of the uninsured is 10-15 million, in my humble opinion this is not a reason to destroy the best healthcare system in the world. Mark Levin, in his essential book Liberty And Tyranny, explains: "It is said by the proponents of government-run health care that 47 million people go without health care in the United States. For example, during the so-called Cover the Uninsured Week event in 2008, Democrat Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi issued a statement declaring that this is the “time to reaffirm our commitment to access to quality, affordable health care for every American, including the 47 million who live in fear of even a minor illness because they lack health insurance…In the wealthiest nation on earth, it is scandalous that a single working American or a young child must face life without the economic security of health coverage.” This is more deceit. In 2006, the Census Bureau reported that there were 46.6 million people without health insurance. About 9.5 million were not United States citizens. Another 17 million lived in households with incomes exceeding $50,000 a year and could, presumably, purchase their own health care coverage. Eighteen million of the 46.6 million uninsured were between the ages of eighteen and thirty-four, most of whom were in good health and not necessarily in need of health-care coverage or chose not to purchase it. Moreover, only 30 percent of the nonelderly population who became uninsured in a given year remained uninsured for more than twelve months. Almost 50 percent regained their health coverage within four months. The 47 million “uninsured” figure used by Pelosi and others is widely inaccurate." Another major area of concern for me is the reality of health care rationing, which is inevitable with a single payer system. The only way to reduce cost in a single payer system is to ration healthcare. Rationing health care means getting value for the money we are spending by setting limits on which treatments should be paid. I do not want a government bureaucrat deciding on the value of extending my fathers life by paying for his treatment vs. paying for the treatment of a younger person who has not paid into the system his / her whole life. I believe in personal responsibility. I am afforded the choice of which health plan is best for my family by my employer sponsored group insurance. If I were to lose my job, I would have the option of electing COBRA or paying for an individual policy. I do not believe it is not compassionate to make people dependent on the government. I hear people say it’s a complicated issue, but for me its really not. I expect my elected officials to actually take the time to read this legislation over the next month and to listen to the people who elected them to office. For what its worth, those are my thoughts. More concerning than anything for me in considering the push for healthcare reform is the inaccurate data the current administration continues to use in sensationalizing this issue. Despite evidence to the contrary by private sector non partisan groups and our own Census Bureau statistics, the Democratic Congress continue to promote this myth of 47 millions uninsured Americans. The true number of the uninsured is 10-15 million, in my humble opinion this is not a reason to destroy the best healthcare system in the world.
Mark Levin, in his essential book Liberty And Tyranny, explains:
“It is said by the proponents of government-run health care that 47 million people go without health care in the United States. For example, during the so-called Cover the Uninsured Week event in 2008, Democrat Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi issued a statement declaring that this is the “time to reaffirm our commitment to access to quality, affordable health care for every American, including the 47 million who live in fear of even a minor illness because they lack health insurance…In the wealthiest nation on earth, it is scandalous that a single working American or a young child must face life without the economic security of health coverage.” This is more deceit.
In 2006, the Census Bureau reported that there were 46.6 million people without health insurance. About 9.5 million were not United States citizens. Another 17 million lived in households with incomes exceeding $50,000 a year and could, presumably, purchase their own health care coverage. Eighteen million of the 46.6 million uninsured were between the ages of eighteen and thirty-four, most of whom were in good health and not necessarily in need of health-care coverage or chose not to purchase it. Moreover, only 30 percent of the nonelderly population who became uninsured in a given year remained uninsured for more than twelve months. Almost 50 percent regained their health coverage within four months. The 47 million “uninsured” figure used by Pelosi and others is widely inaccurate.”

Another major area of concern for me is the reality of health care rationing, which is inevitable with a single payer system. The only way to reduce cost in a single payer system is to ration healthcare. Rationing health care means getting value for the money we are spending by setting limits on which treatments should be paid. I do not want a government bureaucrat deciding on the value of extending my fathers life by paying for his treatment vs. paying for the treatment of a younger person who has not paid into the system his / her whole life.

I believe in personal responsibility. I am afforded the choice of which health plan is best for my family by my employer sponsored group insurance. If I were to lose my job, I would have the option of electing COBRA or paying for an individual policy. I do not believe it is not compassionate to make people dependent on the government.

I hear people say it’s a complicated issue, but for me its really not. I expect my elected officials to actually take the time to read this legislation over the next month and to listen to the people who elected them to office. For what its worth, those are my thoughts.

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