Do you not see the deception? Simple, common sense supply/demand analysis will tell you medical costs will go up, dramatically. Tossing 35 million new customers into a static pool of providers will make the system more awash in corruption and waste and it will overburden an already limited supply of physicians.
Example 1, I live in Massachusetts and I have to wait 2-4 months to see a specialist. Example 2, When I lived in Florida I was billed $11,000 for a procedure they quoted $1,800 in writing, there were no complications. Insurance paid most of the bill. They threatened me with a lawsuit over the balance, but when I produced their written quote, the hospital ate the remainder but this also took my offer to mediate with them via the local paper. In the end they would not refund the excess paid by my insurance company and the insurance company did nothing to obtain reimbursement.
Costs are just as high in Massachusetts as everywhere else, if not higher, so there goes the premise of the cost-reduction theory in the healthcare current bill. And rate hikes in Massachusetts have been on par with the rest of the country, if not higher. The culprits of high costs are: monopolistic structures within states that stifle the pursuit of competitive efficiencies (companies simply manage their margin over usage and states usually let them get away with most any increase because the regulators depend on political contributions by the ones they regulate, plus, the states depend on the taxes on the policies and incremental increases.); indiscriminate overuse by the insured (buffets do not promote svelte physiques nor a conservative approach to usage.); overpriced and overused technologies adopted by physicians and healthcare systems are used as marketing strategies to attract large corporate provider pools, which, if I may be even more elucidating to this pyramid of symbiosis, said programs are "stimulated" by the marketing arms of manufacturers of said technologies; overpriced, unchecked and abusive billing practices; lifestyle choices by the uninsured (someone that smokes, chews, smokes crack or whatever, drinks and drives, rides a Harley or buys a new outfit rather than buying healthcare insurance are serious choices that come with lethal and costly consequences that should affect them, their friends and their family and responsible parties should be protected with minimal exposure to this avoidable expense. Something that requiring those that are able would do if required by law. This is a note to those that "can" buy insurance if they would adjust their priorities and shift the responsibility back to themselves, not those in need. I am all about helping the needy.); and finally, unemployment, this will insure many. These problems and I add the legal reform measures Republicans suddenly toss in as a political tactic, all these problems, especially the legal reforms, are presently addressable at the state level and do not and should not require the Federal Government's involvement.
This bill does nothing to address any of these matters that create the vast majority of our problems, Obama's bill simply swamps the healthcare system and drives up costs and taxes. Why? Why would a man so smart and with so many smart people do such a thing? The real purpose is self-serving of the authors, this bill's purpose appears to be control and not healthcare or its costs. You will pay more in taxes. You will have a reduction in the quality of services. And we all will have more government to fund and our real problems will remain unfettered, which gives us a net addition to our growing list of losses and costs and an even greater increase of the assault on our treasury. Where does the madness of this administration end?
Turner Echols
(former President of the Division of Insurance in one of America's largest real estate brokers)
Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA
