To comprehend how useless Obamacare is you have to dissect the reasons given for foisting it on an unwilling populace. Such analysis reveals most of the reasons to be completely baseless, not to mention flat out untrue. The legislation is patently unconstitutional as well.
Claim — You’re already paying outrageously high costs for the uninsured due to their propensity to utilize emergency rooms for care.
Fact — While ER care is expensive, that expense is due to federal EMTALA regulations (regulations that require ER’s to treat all patients regardless of ability to pay) and state regulations dictating how EMTALA is enforced. Even if the country were 100 percent insured, we would not be able to close any ER, dismiss any ER doctors or shrink ER staffs except in the most rare of cases. The actual cost of the uninsured to an ER is a modest amount of supplies. Treating the uninsured appears to be a big expense due to hospitals using accrual as opposed to cash accounting methods. Statistically, 77 percent of people using an ER now are insured.
Claim — The U.S. health care system ranks 37th worldwide.
Fact — That ranking is a year 2000 statistic from the World Health Organization. WHO notes that the statistic is no longer computed due to the very subjective, disparate ways that health care is delivered and rated. A careful reading of the 2000 WHO rankings show the 36 nations supposedly ahead of the U.S. are mono-ethnic, indicating the rankings show genetic outcomes as opposed to health care results.
Claim — The U.S. infant mortality rate is substantially higher than many underdeveloped countries.
Fact — Most nations do not count stillborn as infant mortality and many do not count a child as being born unless they survive past six months of age. The U.S. rate is a true indicator while most nations’ are not.
Claim — You can be forced to buy insurance as proven by the fact that you are already forced to buy car insurance and social security insurance.
Fact — No individual is ever forced to buy car insurance. Licensed drivers need not carry any insurance at all. Self-propelled vehicles, except farm vehicles, used on public roadways must be insured and there is a way around that. In Louisiana, as in most states, vehicles used on public roads need not be insured provided cash or a negotiable security is deposited with the state at statutorily defined levels (currently $55,000 in Louisiana — R.S. 32:861 C. (1.) (a.). Any person that stays at home or on the farm fending for themselves and never working at a defined job is not required to participate in social security, which is an employment tax, not insurance. No individual in any state is currently required to buy insurance of any kind.
Claim — Obamacare is good for seniors and doctors as indicated by glowing endorsements from AARP and the American Medical Association.
Fact — Obamacare does away with Medicare Advantage accounts, opening up a huge market for medi-gap policies, which AARP markets. Only 17 percent of practicing physicians belong to the AMA. The AMA has a lucrative government contract for coding medical procedures. Following the money is an easy way to discern a group’s true motives.
Claim — Health care costs are out of control.
Fact — State legislatures, which determine the true starting points for health care premiums, are out of control. Legislatures have larded up the minimum coverages for health care policies with hare-brained provisions including acupuncture and aromatherapy in some states. A simple premium comparison state by sate reveals the problem. Massachusetts ranks highest with premiums for single coverage at $8,600 per year. Louisiana is in the middle at about $3,300. The cheapest states are Wisconsin and Utah, coming in at $1,100 annually for single coverage. The huge disparity between states is why proposals to allow individuals and companies to buy insurance across state lines was and is a popular, and workable solution.
The bottom line is Obamacare is just like any other progressive liberal program. Its purpose is not to reform or improve anything. The sole purpose is to expand and solidify government power, while using taxpayer’s money to do so.
Allan Von Werder is the publisher of the Morgan City Daily Review.
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