Hillarycare 2

Well first I want to start off with a link to this article because the irony is well Hillaryous!

Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Back Mitt Romney's Health Plan

To summarize: "In what could be a blow to Massachusetts Republican Gov. Mitt Romney's presidential aspirations, two Democratic White House hopefuls have offered preliminary endorsements for his health care plan, which would force small businesses to offer health insurance to all uninsured employees.".

Wait... wait for it, wait for it, IT GETS BETTER!

Romney rips Hillary’s new health care proposals

"GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney panned Hillary Clinton’s health care plan sight unseen Saturday, eager to remind voters she failed at “socialized medicine” before."

Clinton unveils insurance plan: Claims it isn't government run

"In unveiling her plan, she called for a requirement for businesses to obtain insurance for employees and said the wealthy should pay higher taxes to help defray the cost for those less able to pay for it. She put the government's cost at $110 billion a year."

Now, Romney's plan is going to cost Massachusetts more money than it can afford. We even have a Democrat governor who is so desperate for revenue that he is trying to bring gambling into Massachusetts. Gambling is traditionally a GOP/ capitalist's cause and is prevalent in the "red states" of the Mountain West (Nevada). Left leaning states have shunned gambling until recently.

Massachusetts, which has a powerful economy for a little state is running with increasing deficits due in part to Romneycare. The plan is over budget and will continue to cost more than expected as more baby-boomer's age, and as more people grow to expect the government to care for them. (Personal Accountability? What's that?)

Massachusetts Health Insurance Plan Will Cost $151M More Than Expected

Hillary's new plan is modeled after the Romney plan albeit on a national scale. (The GOP's answer to John Kerry will deny it however).

To read more details on Romney's stench and make apparent his hypocrisy:
Beacon Hill lawmakers reach health care deal
From the article:

"However, individuals would be mandated to have health insurance unless they had a waiver from the state saying an affordable insurance plan was not available. People would have to report on their state income tax returns if they had health insurance. If they did not buy insurance, their personal tax exemption, about $150 per person, would be withheld."

Hillarycare would penalize people who chose to refuse health care in much the same way. It is essentially a fine for refusing health care. The irony: Lets say you are lower middle class and will really suffer having to pay the premiums. Additionally lets say you make just enough that you don't qualify for Massachusetts subsidized health care. Prior to the advent of Romneycare you could choose to take the risk. If you got sick you might have had some bills to pay. Under the new system if you are at that income bracket, and you choose not to have health insurance you'll have to pay your bills... plus extra taxes. Cruel world eh? Well that's what happens when the government attempts to get into the health care business.

More from the Romneycare article: "The plan would cost about $1.3 billion next fiscal year, with $125 million coming from the state, $786 million from the federal government, and $415 million from current assessments on hospitals and insurers and new assessments on businesses that do not provide insurance."
So Romney is criticizing Hillary Clinton for proposing Socialized Medicine. Hmmmm... Lets see, tax people who don't do what you want, collect $125 million in state revenue (taxes....which will be new taxes unless other programs are cut), and $786 million from the federal government (taxes again).

Socialism: Economic system which is based on cooperation rather than competition and which utilizes centralized planning and distribution.
(Seriously, that's a weak definition... it makes it sound like you'll get to live like a Smurf!)
or

Socialism: 1. Any of various theories or systems of social organization in which the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively or by a centralized government that often plans and controls the economy.
2. The stage in Marxist-Leninist theory intermediate between capitalism and communism, in which collective ownership of the economy under the dictatorship of the proletariat has not yet been successfully achieved.

According to the Marxist-Leninist theory Hillary and Mitt are simply bringing us one step closer to communism. I would tend to agree..... although by Marxist theory, the proletariat controls the economy. Technically all Communist Regimes have been dictatorships where the government, and not the proletariat controls just about everything.

Ultimately our species will move in this direction at the expense of individuality and personal freedom. We are moving in this direction. Leaders promise "good things" only to further degrade our ability to function independently. Just for giggles they usually don't deliver on the good things that they once promised. If you want to become a colony of ants, insects, marching in line at the service of your Queen... then embrace Utilitarianism, embrace the pipe dream of Marxism.

Both Hillarycare and Romneycare involve new bureaucracies which are created specifically for the channelling of funding and the regulation of how privately held organizations conduct their business. It is in a sense, a hostile take over of various institutions, Hospitals, insurers, and a ripple effect will be felt into the pharmaceutical industry as well.

Additionally too many intrusive regulations are not the answer. Holding hospitals to certain budgets to make Universal care a reality WILL decrease the quality. Hospitals will not all have their own CAT scans MRI's etc. These facilities will have to be consolidated to restrict the costs for insurers and the government. A privatized competitive industry with few restrictions has incentive to provide the best care available to bring in more customers. Remove this and you will have organizations doing the bare minimum of what is acceptable. We will feel the results. Long waits for appointments will get even longer. The Medical field will have an increased shortage of help (pay-cuts and over regulation will make medicine a really unattractive field to get involved in).

Patient Power: Solving America's Health Care Crisis. - book reviews

Patient Power sounds like it could be an educational read. There is such a wealth of information out there on health care and potential reforms, it is difficult to figure out where to begin. Several points in this review struck a cord with me.

A few of many myths that the book examines:
1. Countries with national health insurance have succeeded in controlling health costs.
2. National health insurance would lead to better health care.
3. A national health insurance plan would hold down costs by operating more efficient health care systems.
4. National health insurance would lead to equal access to health care.

An additional blurb from the review: The only effective way to control health costs while preserving the quality and availability that Americans expect is to get patients more involved in the economics of their own health care decisions. "More government and more bureaucracy won't work in health care any better than in any other field," Goodman and Musgrave write. "The only thing that works is people pursuing their own self-interest in competitive markets." In contrast to the current fads of managed care, managed competition and global budgets, Goodman and Musgrave argue that "the only way to control costs and maintain quality is to let patients control the money and restore the doctor-patient relationship."

Here is yet another opinion piece on Hillarycare:
Hillarycare II: New and Improved

I'm selecting a particular portion of this to discuss because people tend not to get what it means.

"Cost: $110 billion, but Clinton claims that this can be paid for by reining in unnecessary Medicare and Medicaid spending, allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, removing barriers to the introduction of generic drugs, instituting electronic record keeping (wouldn't that raise costs, at least initially?), ending the Bush tax cuts for households earning more than $250,000, and ending the tax exclusion for employer-paid health insurance for households above $250,000. Is that really $110 billion? Beats me."

Hillary's plan would allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices and remove barriers to introduce generics. Problem: Drugs cost millions upon millions of dollars to develop. Specialized equipment to test the safety and efficacy of drug candidates is extremely expensive. Drug companies tend to start out with NIH grants and private investment and tend to go years before turning a profit. The private investments come well... from investors that hope one day they'll see a return on their money. If you enforce price fixing upon (negotiations) the pharmaceutical industry profitability will be tough to come by. Additionally the barriers against the introduction of generics are patent laws that allow the company that risked millions of dollars to actually make money off of the life saving/improving product they created. If people are allowed to make generics immediately after release it will eliminate the practical incentive for companies to make gambles that could ultimately save lives. Profits from one drug that could fund new drug development will become slimmer or dry up entirely. Medical advances will slow due to a lack of funding. We will ship another profitable industry overseas at the expense of Americans. Not to mention... you would essentially be allowing others to steal a new invention.

And Hillary, I think everyone is on the same page with the electronic record keeping.. even W.

I will say her new plan is a major retreat from her original National Healthcare plan, but I believe that it is primarily a tool to make her original vision a reality in the long term.

Interesting tidbit:

The U.S. government spends more on health care funding per-capita than any other Nation.
Surprise, health care is already government subsidized... and since they are doing such a bang up job... why not give them more control and more money?