A Slow Bleed For Insurance Companies?

The national health care debate is boiling over with many Americans in an uproar over the prospect that their health care choices will be soon be limited by their federal government. Even some of the language being used by government proponents such as health care v. health insurance is misleading as all Americans have access to the former, though not everyone has access to the latter. Interchanging words is misleading and fuels the distrust that many of our fellow Americans have over what Congress and the president are attempting to force on the populace.

The House Takes A Break

ObamaCare is designed to crowd out private insurers which means that the entire American populace will eventually be under the federal plan. In a bid to contain costs, the federal government will ration care, which means that if you're sick or old, you'll be choosing a casket instead of getting a much needed medical referral.

Because various versions of the bill are being debated and congressional committees are routinely adding, subtracting or amending what is in the bill, I doubt that there are many people who understand exactly what is being proposed. Fortunately, members of the House of Representatives are now on summer break and won’t be back in action until September 8th (with the Senate joining them this Friday). This will make for a very good opportunity for Americans to show up at townhall meetings in August to voice their opinions though I’m sure that many House members will find a way to avoid facing their angry constituents if they can.

This past weekend, members of Obama’s team fanned out to speak on the Sunday talk shows with Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner, leading the charge where he stated that new taxes on the middle class were a possibility.

“I think that what the country needs to do is understand we’re going to have to do what it takes,” said Secretary Geithner when asked if he could rule out raising taxes on Americans earning less that $250 thousand a year, while simultaneously trying to cut the deficit. “We’re going to do what’s necessary.”

The Obama administration backed off from Geithner’s comments on Monday stating, “The president has made a very clear commitment to not raise taxes on middle-class families,” clarified White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. With Congress trying to shove health care “reform” through and with even a hint of their taxes being increased, Americans remain doubtful that the White House is being honest with them.

Fed Care Squeezes Out Private Care

But it was House Minority Leader John Boehner’s comments from last week which didn’t reported by the mainstream media that has a lot of people talking. CNSNews reported that Boehner sees that private health care will be allowed to die over time:

“I think it’s pretty clear that the government-run program that they want is going to eventually crowd out the private sector, and secondly, in their bill it says that after five years, you can’t go out and buy a health insurance policy on your own,” Boehner said.

“You have to go to one of their government exchanges to buy a plan that was designed by the government,” he added. “So it’s pretty clear that we’re going to have a big government-run system that will eventually drive out the private sector plans we have today.”

Even though I’ve heard “2013″ as the year when the new plan kicks in, if it passes Congress and is signed into law by the president this fall, then by next Spring I think we’ll already see a much different health insurance landscape in play. Specifically, knowing that they’ll eventually be forced out of business, insurance companies will probably not take new customers and begin to wind down their businesses, necessitating that the federal government step in with their own insurance.

No Choice Five Years Out

Government insurance will be cheaper than what the private carriers can offer, but as Boehner noted, you won’t have a choice after five years anyway.  You’ll have to sign on with a federally crafted plan which I believe by that time will completely replace private insurance altogether.

And with a plan costing one trillion dollars up front and trillions of dollars more down the line, the federal government will impose strict guidelines on the “care” that you will receive in a bid to control costs. That means cancer patients, the elderly, and anyone else who doesn’t fit into the government’s ‘wellness’ criteria will soon learn that ObamaCare is a plan that has truly been hatched in hell.

See Also — Read The Bill: Ya Think?!

Read The Bill: Ya Think?!

I’ve been fairly quiet on the political front of late, preferring to read what others are saying and commenting on their blogs. There are plenty of people who are much more actively involved in following what is going on in Washington, DC, so I don’t mind that they’re the ones doing the heavy lifting.

ObamaCare And Your Life

However, I’m finding that the debate on the proposed national health care plan is something that I cannot let pass by as the ramifications for my family personally and for our nation corporately will likely be felt for many years.

For the record, I certainly believe that health care reform is critically important, but if you’ve followed some of my postings on SayEducate.com this week, then you know that I think reform begins with fixing what we have first before expanding the system.

I’m not looking to debate the health care plan as I am finding it difficult to gather accurate information about what exactly is being proposed. I know that some people, including Peter Fleckenstein, have gotten a hold of the bill and are digging through it for the rest of us, but I’m also learning that the bill itself is constantly changing.

Congress Takes A Break

Maybe it is a good thing that Congress is about to start their August recess — we’ll have plenty of time to examine the 1017 page health bill which our elected officials seem unwilling to do. But that is the point of this article — Congress isn’t reading this bill nor are they reading many of the other bills being rushed through and put on the president’s desk for his signature. This is appalling — many of our congressmen and senators are lawyers; who ever heard of an attorney not reading everything with a fine tooth comb first?!

It seems that I’m not the only one who is perplexed by this practice with one organization, the Sunlight Foundation, doing something about it. Specifically, the Sunlight Foundation created a website called, ReadThe Bill.org, which is championing a bill — H.Res.504 — from Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA) which will require legislation being voted on in the House to be available online for 72 hours prior to debate.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it?

This Congress is considering trillions of dollars in new spending and isn’t even taking the time to read most of what they’re getting. For some reason, and I’m sure we can all offer our own ideas, Congress thinks that they have to rush through whatever is put before them without taking the time to find out what they’re voting on.

I say, let’s make our Congress slow down and consider each bill first while giving the citizenry a chance to review the proposed legislation too. A 72 hour posting period to the internet is extremely fair and is actually 48 hours shorter than what President Obama promised on June 22, 2007:

Fair enough! But we’ll settle for three days, Mr. President, if you encourage Congress to support Rep. Brian Baird’s bill and sign it into law.