More Government is not the Solution for Healthcare

By Dr. Steven F. Hotze, M.D.
September 10, 2009

No amount of speech making can hide the fact that Obama believes that federal government is the solution to America’s healthcare problems. Common sense tells you that adding trillions of dollars to the deficit will not reduce federal health spending, but since when has common sense been used by those who want to dramatically expand the role of government.

In his 1981 Inaugural Address, President Reagan presented the opposite view, proclaiming, “Government is not the solution to our problem, it is the problem.” Reagan was as right as rain. Obama is dead wrong and the public tide is turning against him and his healthcare proposal.

Look at the government’s track record: Social Security has no money to meet its long term obligations. If an insurance company were operated like Social Security, its executives would be charged with fraud. Medicare and Medicaid are financial sinkholes. Amtrak is broken and broke. So were Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Post Office loses money every year and can’t compete with FedEx or UPS. What makes you think that socialized healthcare would end up any different?

Despite these facts, Obama continues to proclaim that big government can save us from our health problems. He and his socialist comrades must believe that there are enough gullible Americans who will believe their hype.

Government insurance programs, government regulations, entitlement programs and HMOs are leading us down the road to socialized medicine which dead ends at poor quality of care and rationing of services. Some government bureaucrat will determine what type of care your doctor may provide you and whether you qualify to be cared for by him. You may be too old or not well enough connected to get medical procedure you need.

Obama has tried to frame the argument that his view of health care reform must be passed quickly or Americans will suffer. He forgets or ignores that we are a super power that was built by hard working entrepreneurs and the best ideas have always come from free enterprise, not government.

In 1960, only 21 % of personal medical care expenditures were paid by the government, 24% by insurance companies and 55% were paid by consumers out of their own pockets. Today, the government pays for over 50% of all medical expenses while consumers pay for only 15% of care out of pocket. HMOs and other insurance schemes pay the rest.

As a physician, I have witnessed private medical practice being choked by corporate socialism, which is the cooperative effort of insurance companies and government to destroy competition and replace it with central planning called “managed care.”
Private enterprise encourages businesses to compete for consumer dollars. This system of independent economic actions, freely taken by millions of consumers and businesses, has produced the highest standards of living in every country where it has been adopted. Free enterprise capitalism is the soil in which liberty flourishes.

Everywhere socialism has been tried it has discouraged innovation and led to shortages and rationing of goods and services. Socialism is the drought in which liberty wilts and dies.

Socialism undermines the doctor-patient relationship. If you are covered by an HMO or by Medicare, then your doctor no longer works for you but for whoever pays his bills. The doctor must follow their rules and accept their fees. This is why you may feel that your doctor is not listening to you or doesn’t seem to care. Your physician can only serve one master and it’s not you. Do want a doctor who works for the government?

The only thing that will save health care is a good dose of free enterprise, with doctors charging a fee for service, just like any other business. Treatment is consumer-based and permits the patient to choose how to spend his money. This can be easily achieved through the use of a Health Saving Account (HSA) coupled with a high deductible catastrophic insurance policy. HSAs are tax free and what you don’t spend you can save.

Medical insurance can be made more affordable by allowing it to be purchased across state lines, providing more competition and lowering premiums.

Here is an idea that can be implemented to help those who need medical care but cannot afford it. Before the government became involved in healthcare in the 1960s, there was an abundance of hospitals operated by various Christian denominations and charitable organizations. These organizations should be encouraged to once again provide medical care for the poor and indigent as was done in the past. Those who donate to these organizations should be given a tax credit. This would stimulate the private funding of these organizations keeping them independent of government control. You can be sure that that they would operate much more efficiently and effectively than the government.

The real intent of the socialists in attempting to take over the healthcare industry, which represents 17% of our gross national product, is to consolidate and centralize their control over the economy. They desire the power that comes with the control.

Our founding fathers fought the American Revolution to break the power of centralized government and establish a Republic which decentralized the powers of government.

We must follow in their tread by exerting whatever political force is necessary to defeat Obama’s radical socialized healthcare plan.