Health Care Bill HR 3962 passes House - overall, a bad bill

I am not one of those Republicans who opposes all health care reform. However, I strongly oppose bad reform, and on balance, this bill is very, very bad.

The Good: The bill removes Insurer's exemptions from antitrust laws, and creates a national marketplace for shopping for insurance. This is good for consumers, good for competition, and will improve insurance access. The bill also eliminates restrictions on pre-existing conditions, an important aspect of any insurance reform. While it is true that insurers need to make a profit to survive and pay claims, it is also true that the purpose of an insurance pool is to spread the risk - both good risks and bad risks - across the entire pool of insurees. For far too long Insurance companies have gotten away with creating pools that are guaranteed 'winners,' further enhanced by their near monopoly status in some states and ability to limit competition across state lines. These are positive aspects of the bill, and aspects that the GOP ought to get behind in the public marketplace of ideas.

The Bad & The Ugly: The bill requires large companies to offer insurance, and requires citizens to secure insurance, period. The element of freedom of choice will been eliminated, as the government forces us to purchase a product. The cost to individuals and employers in terms of premiums could be disastrous in a recession. Worse, the Government Budget Office readily admits it is planning on offsetting the cost of the new program through 167 BILLION in fines on individuals and employers over the next 10 years. In other words, they are actually counting and planning on consumers and businesses being unable to comply in order to pay for the program!

The bill charges the IRS with compliance with the mandatory insurance provision. This is modeled after Massachusetts, which requires proof of health insurance coverage before one is able to file their State Tax Return. In practice, this has proven to be a nightmare for accountants, who with increasing frequency are preparing returns due to the complexity of the tax code. Now accountants and tax preparers will need to prove insurance coverage on a national scale, and will vastly complicate their practices and increase the costs of filing income taxes for both preparers and taxpayers.

And worst of all is the creation of a Government-run Health Care Insurance Company. There are three ways this can go:

1) It can be so successful, that private insurers, now facing stiffer competition and requirements to cover expensive pre-existing conditions, go out of business, and the government becomes a sole insurance provider.
2) It can be financially unsound, and taxpayers will be called upon to bail it out.
3) Both of the Above (the most likely scenario)

In the course of the debate, those against government health-care have pointed to a shortage of coverage in countries with socialized medicine, the rationing of care based on cost-benefit analysis, and the prospect of government-insiders having better access to medical care than the citizens in times of shortage. Could that really happen?

Well, a real-life, real-time personal case in point: The "free" government-run Swine Flu (H1N1) vaccines. The supply of vaccines is woefully short and late. Then, last week we got a call from the local hospital telling us that they ran all of their patients through a database and one of my sons 'qualified' for a shot. Meanwhile, the news reported that Goldman Sachs (you know, the company which supplied us with the Fed Reserve Governors, the Sec. of Treasury, and Bailout Gurus?) received 200 doses of Vaccines.

Oh? Why is that? Are they all children with pre-existing conditions? Health Care Workers? Or just "connected" to the right people?

Lastly, the fact that this is a 1,990 page bill that was passed in the middle of the night. I sincerely doubt how many members of Congress actually read the bill. Upon completion, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi remarked that this was landmark legislation, and compared it to the advent of Social Security.

Great comparison, Nancy. Social Security is a ponzi scheme headed for bankruptcy within our lifetime. And that's what you compare this legislation to?! Let's hope calmer heads prevail in the Senate...