Commie care is upon us.

[GreenScoutII]

Ok... I'll admit that sometimes I see things a little differently than a lot of people do. Sometimes differently than my fellow gun nuts see them even.

First off, I do appreciate that someone in Washington has noticed that the cost of healthcare is out of control. I also appreciate the sentiment behind what Obama and his Donkey co-horts attempted to do. I really do understand. Hell, my wife and I just got done paying off nearly 25K worth of medical expenses from the birth of our twin girls. Please understand, the 25K was the portion NOT covered by insurance.

The insurance company refused to pay for two medically necessary procedures. One was for my wife, and the other was on one of the girls. Without the benefit of insurance, the total bill was more than 300K. That would have bankrupted us.....

So, I get it. I really do.

My objection to this healthcare reform bill however is based on three key points:

1. This legislation is almost certainly unconstitutional. I'm not constitutional scholar, but I don't remember reading anything in the constitution which would allow this type of action on the part of the government.

2. People will be forced to buy health insurance from a private company. What kind of racket is that? The government forcing consumers to purchase something they may or may not need or want. This leads me to my last point..

3. This legislation will only benefit the insurance companies. It will not benefit anyone else. Why do you think the shares of these companies skyrocketed with the passage of this bill? Obama and company just made these fuckers rich at our expense.

I'm thoroughly disgusted with our whole government. Fuck them... No, wait, I'm the one who's fucked....

[jerrymrc]

Bennet is up for his first election in 2010. Udall is not. I pray someone that is good runs against him. I will say that the only Dem I have ever voted for here in Colorado turned right around and bit me in the ass.

[Pancho Villa]

Fellow gun lovers,

Before one asks why healthcare costs have skyrocketed, you have to distinguish between two kinds of healthcare; government-regulated healthcare and free-market healthcare.

Hospitals, primary care, ICU, etc., are some of the most heavily regulated industries in the United States. Healthcare in general is probably regulated second only to uranium mining and private nuclear power generation. Laws, reglations, etc., up the wazoo. This is the healthcare we speak of when we talk of healthcare prices skyrocketing, and it is no coincidence that it is also the most regulated part of healthcare.

Less "important" healthcare is not so regulated. Lasik eye surgery is a good example. In the handful of years since it was introduced, this completely electrive surgery has had prices fall by almost 50% and new, safer and more efficient procedures introduced regularly. This is the normal process for technological advancement when the government takes a "laissez faire" (literally - "let be!") attitude towards an industry.

The heavy hand of the government will be found behind every problem in our healthcare industry. Incompetent insurance companies? It is by government regulation and "encouragement" that HMOs came to dominate the healthcare scene, and that connected health insurance to employers rather than employees, effectively cutting off a large measure of the competitive pressures that allow other industries to become very much more 'customer friendly.'

Skyrocketing insurance costs? Look no further than our own Colorado state legislature, who just last year passed a bill prohibiting insurance companies from jacking up rates "discriminatorily" - ie, charging more for people who have more claims. The result is that we all pay more in order to compensate for that. Lets not even get into the ridiculous "mandatory coverage" that insurance companies are forced to provide to everyone - for example, even women who have no intention of getting pregnant and never will must take pregnancy coverage.

It is typical of statists that they instate controls, then blame the failures of these controls on the free market and use it as an excuse to institute further controls. Repeat this until there is no more free market to disparage.

Rather than more controls, what the American people and their elected representatives need to understand is that controls have been tried - here and in almost every other country on earth - and demonstrated to be total failures at their stated objectives. It is controls that have been given the chance, and controls that must be discarded, if we want to have affordable health care.

[Bailey Guns]

Unfortunately, the term "free market" when referring to almost any business in this country is a myth.

Government has their hands in everything and it's killing our country.

[roberth]

Unfortunately, the term "free market" when referring to almost any business in this country is a myth.

Government has their hands in everything and it's killing our country.

Yep, exactly right. Get the gov't out and things will improve...dramatically.

[Mtn.man]

Revolt.

[GreenScoutII]

Rather than more controls, what the American people and their elected representatives need to understand is that controls have been tried - here and in almost every other country on earth - and demonstrated to be total failures at their stated objectives. It is controls that have been given the chance, and controls that must be discarded, if we want to have affordable health care.

Pancho, your posts are always well thought out and informative. I think the solution to the problem is to get the government and the lawyers out of healthcare. Less regulation in general would be a good thing to drive prices down.

One way we could do this is to move to a system of using insurance coverage only for more serious health issues. For example, bypass surgery, chemotherapy, and organ transplants are the types of procedures that insurance should cover. My kid needing antibiotics for an ear infection is something which could be paid out of pocket.

Certain classes of drugs and medicines should be completely re-classified so they can be purchased over the counter without prescription. I'll give you a personal example. I have psoriasis, a skin condition. It is easily treated with topical steriods and Dovonex, a synthetic form of vitamin D. My deratologist always prescribes the same meds as they work well for me. I am well informed as to how exactly they are to be used. Clobex, the steroid comes in a 4oz pump spray bottle. Dovonex comes in a tube about the size of a tube of toothpaste. Want to guess what the retail price is? $450 and $750 respectively. No shit....

If these were available without prescription, I guarantee you they would be considerably cheaper. The only reason these things are as costly as they are is due to insurance being billed for them rather than the consumer directly. If the drug company can get that kind of coin from the insurance company, what incentive do they have do bring costs down?

[sniper7]

2. People will be forced to buy health insurance from a private company. What kind of racket is that? The government forcing consumers to purchase something they may or may not need or want. This leads me to my last point..

3. This legislation will only benefit the insurance companies. It will not benefit anyone else. Why do you think the shares of these companies skyrocketed with the passage of this bill? Obama and company just made these fuckers rich at our expense.

I'm thoroughly disgusted with our whole government. Fuck them... No, wait, I'm the one who's fucked....

2: Same as car insurance. If you don't have it and get caught or get in an accident you get fucked. best thing to be is illegal because you will get taken care of and not have to pay the bills.

I am sick of the entire deal. I don't even like the part about forcing insurance companies to cover people with pre-exisiting conditions. They are being forced to automatically lose out with that patient and makes MY rates higher.

Before long if you want anything done you are going to just have to pay some extra on your own, or on the side.

I also don't see how the demofucks can even possibly say they will save money by spending more money....except for the fact they are raising taxes on lots of things. 10% on tanning was one i remember.

[theGinsue]

Pancho / All,

My comment about determining the cause of why health care costs are skyrocking was rhetorical. Your explanation for the cause is quite obvious to folks like you and me, but somehow becomes unknowable to the politicians who have caused all of this.

[Pancho Villa]

Ginsue,

This is a bit out of my field of expertise, but I think that the reason they can't see it is because they psychologically can't accept them as doing nothing but harm.

I believe that most people in congress and politics in general are power-lusters. There are two things a power luster will never do, related to each other:

1) Let his victims know that he's a power lusting parasite who craves control over people
2) Let himself know it

People can't live with the idea of "I am an evil son of a bitch." The rhetoric you hear out of them is genuine, in that I am fairly sure that 99% of the people who say it believe it with all their hearts. The reason they are blind to the facts is because, if they looked at the facts objectively, their own moral status would become clear to them and they would not be able to operate on a day to day basis. The genuine sociopath is a rarity and the rest of humanity's scum make excuses that paint them as the "good guy" constantly, in the face of all reality.

Psychological self-preservation, in other words. I don't expect to enlighten them or change their minds because I know that they aren't innocently in error. I don't think one can be a statist, innocently, anymore. Maybe back in the 20s, but not with almost a century of modern statism of all stripes to show the clear results.