President Obama’s national health care pitch does not add up
Formerly on John Stewart’s Daily Show, I watched the Department of Health and Human Service’s Kathleen Sebelius say, “America spends more on health care than any other industrialized nation, yet we live sicker and die sooner . . . we aren’t getting our money’s worth.” Now during his press conference on 7/22, I hear Obama say the same thing. They follow it up by saying that with their health plan, they are just trying to encourage competition between the public and private options to strengthen the whole system.
Yet, for years I have heard these Democrats openly oppose using this idea when it comes to public education-a system which is already controlled almost completely by the government. The United Statess of America spends more on public education than many other industrialized nations combined, yet our test scores and completion rate rank lower . . . we aren’t getting our money’s worth. So why would any of these Democrats oppose allowing citizens choice through vouchers, tax-credits, charter schools, etc.?
They claim in the health system, that they want to remove the middle-man and allow patients to get quality care from their physician. So why do they fight tooth and nail against any option which allows the student, parent, and educator to decide what arrangement is best for themselves? Do they not want the same quality care?
I believe that we have read the stories and sometimes seen firsthand the ability of the federal government to properly manage health care. They seem to be beyond their abilities currently with the Veterans Administration (Walter Reed Hospital) and Medicare (abuse galore). Why would we want to entrust them with making decisions for millions of more individuals at taxpayer expense?
Only a few years ago, the federal government seemed unable to hand out water to individuals after Hurricane Katrina. And now we want them to handle the health of our children, parents, and selves?
This is an unconstitutional, political ploy to tickle ears and gain voting blocks. It is going to severely hurt the United States in the long run. If the federal government really wanted to reform health care, they should start by extracting themselves from the situation, and remove the requirements that mandate health insurance be tied to employment. This system only separates the one receiving the care from the one who is paying the bills. Such a system can only encourage misuse, unnecessary demand, and cost increases.
Montani Semper Liberi,
Todd Metzgar
Harpers Ferry