Washington insiders moved quickly to push Congressional proposals that threaten to bring health insurance under the federal government’s control. That didn’t sit well with Americans who want to keep the freedom to make decisions for themselves and their families. We all believe reforms are needed in our health care system. However, a government takeover of the industry, 17% of the U.S. economy, will exacerbate the systems problems ultimately saddling us with rationed care like Canada and the United Kingdom.
Why is a Washington Takeover of Health Care Wrong for America??
- You and your family will wait longer for the care you need. Americans in Massachusetts have to wait up to 100 days to see a primary care physician as a result of Massachusetts’ health reform, which is serving as a model for a national plan. Canadian patients on their government-run system sometimes wait a year or longer to get radiation therapy for cancer. More than 800,000 Canadians are on wait lists for care, and many end up coming to the U.S. for life-saving treatment. In Great Britain, nearly 1.8 million people are waiting to get into a hospital or to have an outpatient procedure.
- You will likely lose your private insurance. Americans would lose their private health insurance and be forced onto a government plan. The non-partisan Lewin Group estimates that 119 million individuals will lose their private insurance – even if they are happy with their current coverage – if a government plan, open to all individuals and reimbursing health care providers at current Medicare rates, is instated. Two-thirds of Americans get health insurance through their employers, and the Lewin study looked at people whose employers would switch their coverage.
- You could be denied life-saving care. Earlier this year, Congress approved funding for a national board to oversee the “effectiveness” of health care services. It is modeled on The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) in Great Britain, which rations care on a cost-benefit basis through the British National Health Service. NICE calculates the value of extending human life, won’t pay for the care it deems too expensive, and often forbids patients to get the care on their own.
- Survival rates will likely decrease. Survival rates for deadly diseases could go down if Washington takes over health care. Countries where government runs health care have much lower survival rates than here in the United States. In Germany, a breast cancer patient is actually 52% more likely to die from the disease than American patients while in the United Kingdom that figure rises to 88% more likely to die from breast cancer.
- The proposed changes will weaken our already feeble economy. Proposals calling for an employer mandate will reduce jobs by making it more costly to hire workers. At a time when we have double-digit unemployment, government shouldn’t be cutting incentives to hire workers. An employer mandate would cost businesses more than $50 billion per year and put over 15 million Americans at risk of unemployment or slower wage growth according to a study by Applied Economic Analysis.
- Health insurance premiums would likely increase. A new government agency would define “acceptable coverage” for all Americans, driving up the cost of premiums and out-of-pocket expenses with numerous mandates and regulations. The Council for Affordable Health Insurance calculates that premiums could be 75% to 95% higher with the new proposed regulations in place.
- Additional taxes would be added as penalties. Many proposals, including the House bill H.R. 3200, include mandates that force individuals to buy insurance that meets expensive regulatory requirements from regulated insurance companies. Millions of low-income Americans would be forced to buy expensive health insurance or pay a fine. In H.R. 3200, individuals who did not purchase qualified insurance would have to pay a fine equal to 2.5 percent of their income, leaving these individuals uninsured and poorer.
- America can’t afford government-run health care. In 1966, Medicare cost $3 billion, and at the time, the House estimated it would cost $12 billion by 1990. The actual cost in 1990 was $107 billion. Right now, the Congressional Budget Office is estimating the cost of these health care plans at more than $1 trillion for the next ten years. But we can only imagine what it will really cost! Medicare is expected to go bankrupt in less than ten years and Medicaid threatens the financial stability of many states as they struggle to keep up with the rising health care costs. A government takeover of health care will lead us down the same path toward insolvency with much more devastating consequences.
We are all patients, and Patients First advocates reforms that will do just that – put patients first. Join us if you are concerned about the impact more government control could have on your health care. Join us if you want MORE health insurance options – not just the kind of coverage that Washington wants us to have. Join us if you believe decisions about health insurance and health care belong to individuals, not politicians. Tell Congress to keep its hands off our health care!
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