One version of the health care reform bill has passed in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee with a vote of 13-10. And this one only costs $600 billion.
Committee Chair Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) wrote, about the bill:
We have done the hard work that the American people sent us here to do. We know, however, that our work is not over — far from it.
He’s not kidding. Notwithstanding that the bill just barely made it out of committee (the vote was along party lines), it is not likely to garner wide support in the Senate. Why? This version of the bill includes a federal health insurance program that would compete with private insurers, something that Republicans oppose, and requires companies with more than 25 employees to provide medical coverage for their workers, a provision which many say will disproportionately affect small to mid-size businesses.
What might appeal to the Senate, however, is the cost: just over $600 billion. That’s nearly a third less expensive than other versions of the bill. However, this figure doesn’t include an expanded version of Medicaid, which is likely to drive the cost up considerably.
Even if the Senate does agree on the components of the bill, a bigger question will be how to pay for it. The Senate Finance Committee is working to figuring that out and will likely introduce their own version of the bill. As reported earlier in the week, that is likely to include a boost in taxes. How much and who pays is still being debated.
First ask yourself if anything the government does costs as little as they promise it will.
Then ask yourself if government programs ever live up to their billing when passed.
The answer has to be “no” on both accounts. Government health care will cost ten times what is expected and will severely lower the quality of care that people receive currently. Politicians argue that the current system is in crisis (not if you compare it to countries with socialized medicine), but passing government health care will guarantee political fear mongering and a health care crisis for politicians to exploit every election year. It will continually be criticized as inadequate and promises to “fix” it and calls for its abolition will happen every election cycle as those that depend on it will vote for people who scare them into thinking they will lose their precious entitlement. This will be no different than the scare mongering that happens with social security and the elderly. We will be stuck with a disaster that cannot be corrected.
This bill is an outrage. They are not doing what the people want. I hope they all get voted out next election. We need to clean house in Washington.