Coming Health-Care Change IS a “Big Deal”

It appears as though our nation is going to have national health care when all is said and done. We know our existing system is in need of overhaul, but our pending solution has every appearance of flinging us from the frying pan into the fire.
Our nation has thrived because we all own it. Under the minimalistic government, which has characterized us historically, and our legal system to promote fairness, each of us is free to pursue opportunities, which interest us.
The proposed solution to our health care issues works in contravention to who the America people are fundamentally, by imposing a government solution to this major portion of our economy. When government takes hold of something, innovation wanes because government works totally opposite to the way private industry functions.
Private industry is driven by profits, and thrives in the marketplace by offering ever more for a relatively ever-cheaper price. Government, on the other hand, lacks the profit motive and nowadays tends to receive its rewards by growing the size of the entity it oversees, within the limits of taxpayer tolerance.
Take the example of the Indian heart surgeon currently in the news. According to the Wall Street Journal article of Nov. 21, 2009, Dr. Devi Shetty offers cutting-edge medical care at rock-bottom prices by employing economies of scale. Open heart surgery, which would cost between $20,000 and $100,000 here costs $2,000 under Dr. Shetty. He is now exporting it to other countries.
They state that his model offers insights for countries that are struggling with soaring medical costs. Is that going to happen with medicine under government control? Allow me to answer with an analogy: Is New Jersey going to do away with the road tolls even though it would save many millions of dollars just by increasing the gasoline tax three cents?
A Journal column of Nov. 10 encapsulated this very well in quoting John Cassidy, whom they describe as being “part of the left-wing stable at the New Yorker.” Cassidy wrote that “it’s important to be clear about what the (ObamaCare) reform amounts to…Let’s not pretend that it isn’t a big deal, or that it will be self-financing….The Obama Administration…is creating a new entitlement program, which, once established, will be virtually impossible to rescind.” Cassidy goes on to say: “some subterfuge is historically necessary to get great reforms enacted.”
He adds ObamaCare will make “the United States a more equitable country” and will further the Democrats’ “political calculus.” The Journal interprets this to mean, “the purpose is to further redistribute income by putting health care further under government control and in the process making the middle class more dependent on government. As the party of government, Democrats will benefit over the long run.”
In summary, I agree with Cassidy, the coming change is a big deal. Having the right political system makes an enormous difference. I grew up on the Mexican border and saw Mexicans in rags on their side of the Rio Grande and thriving on our side. We cannot be too diligent to preserve what has brought us freedom and prosperity.
ART HALL, publisher