After flying this past weekend, and being 'treated' to airline security courtesy of TSA, it was a reminder of how government never does a better job at anything (except for the military) than the private sector. Then I thought about the same kind of government 'service' that may come to hospitals and medical clinics in Colorado, courtesy of the Democrats and 'Rittercare.' The Dems say it's “only” a 4% increase in payroll taxes and about a percent higher in state income tax to make sure everyone gets health care (even though it might not be what you want). That's too much of a bite, you say? How about we 'only' raise it 1-2% on payroll taxes, and half a point on income taxes? See what good guys and gals we are for doing this? Yeah, right.
The Democrats' playbook is pretty small and predictable. They'll try to keep the debate centered on the amount of the tax increase – not if universal health care (socialized medicine) is a good idea. Even though government intervention through Medicare and Medicaid have caused a large portion of increasing health care costs. For those folks who still believe in the universal care pipe dream, check out this IBD editorial from a Canadian doctor who was a true believer... until he saw the care provided (or lack thereof) for patients.
It's simple: Medicare is a smaller version of full-blown universal care. There's only so much money in the budget to pay for procedures and medicines, so the agency has to ration out payments one way or another. It's usually through their overly-picky billing requirements, which allow them to deny payment if all the i's aren't dotted or the t's crossed on reimbursement forms.
Don't get fooled by the Democrats' socialist shell game. I'm not saying insurance companies or the free-market system are perfect, but as Winston Churchill said: “Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those others that have been tried.” Our semi-free-market system in health care isn't perfect, but it's darn sure better than the big-government experiments in Canada and Britain. Less government involvement – not more – is the solution to America's health-care challenges.