Health Care Fiasco

I am amazed and distressed that the health care reform bill is now law. All the talk of it cutting the deficit is nonsense as anyone with any sense of history must know. Social Security and Medicare have both far exceeded their 'projected' costs but this time we should trust that the government has accurately estimated the future costs of this new entitlement. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. This must be like the 45th fooling.

Let us ponder some of the 'great' things about this law. Insurance companies can't deny for pre-existing conditions. So, Bob shows up at Blue Shield and says he needs a heart transplant which will cost more than Bob will ever pay in premiums, even if he lives to 100, but Blue Shield can't deny him coverage. Well, that's not so bad. Surely, they have a cost limit? Nope, Blue Shield can't cut off coverage when a certain dollar figure it reached. Okay, well, that's only fair now that everyone is MANDATED to have coverage. The insurance companies will be rolling in cash thanks to that provision. Well, maybe not. Failure to buy insurance only incurs a $750 penalty, payable to the government, not the insurance company. So, unless the insurance companies are offering coverage for less than $750, many people - particularly the young and healthy - will opt to pay the fine. That means the sick will be draining the insurance coffers while the healthy are enriching the government through fines. Gee, where does that lead? Insurance is all about actuaries and the Feds have just made it illegal to make decisions based on the actuaries. This will not end well for insurance companies, which is the plan. When they start failing in a few years, government will have to save the day with a Public Option.

That aside, now was not the time to add another expensive entitlement to the federal budget. This year, Social Security is paying out more than it brings in. That is 6 to 8 years earlier than predicted. The debt stands at $12.7 trillion and is projected to add a trillion more a year for the next decade. Unfunded liabilities (Social Security, Medicare, and Prescription Drugs) stand at $108 trillion. Upon this already ruinous debt, Congress and the President have added a new entitlement. The numbers are dire:

http://www.usdebtclock.org/index.html

It doesn't take a genius to see economic catastrophe in these numbers. The spending will eventually stop. How it stops is the question: Bankruptcy or a return to fiscal responsibility?