I shall now discuss how this is a completely idiotic plan to tout about as the answer to America's medical crisis. First, the tax credit plan wont work. It's just that simple. This is what was proposed in Massachusetts, and it doesn't work. It costs too much to subsidize private insurance with public money. It does not cover everyone. And it fails to keep down costs. Subsidizing the private insurance companies does not give them any incentive to lower health care costs, and so health care costs continue to rise faster than the tax credits do. This means more people lose health insurance, or if the government gives more money in order to help with the rising cost of health care the government then goes broke. This plan is stupid, and if it comes into law it will fail.
Second, their attacks on the "public option" and single payer are just plain wrong. They say it means a government take over of health care. Wrong, health care delivery would still be private in both systems. They say it will cause rationing of care. This is just stupidity because anyone with a brain would realize that care is rationed in EVERY system. In the current private for-profit system care is rationed according to ability to pay. In a public not-for-profit system care is rationed according to need. They say it means not being able to see your doctor of choice. This is actually a more adequate description of the current for-profit health care system, where an insurance company will refuse to pay for a surgery performed in a hospital not affiliated with the HMO or a doctor they just don't want to pay. A public option would not stop someone from seeing the doctor they want. Ask any one Medicare or Medicaid if the government tells them who they have to see. Also, in single payer systems around the world (like in Canada, England, France, Spain, etc.) patients have a free choice of doctors and since there is only one insurance you have no trouble with finding a doctor who accepts it. Lastly, they say that wait times in a single payer system are horrible. Fact is, Americans are waiting around the same time for non-emergency care as the rest of the industrialized world is if not longer. As far as emergency care goes, in single payer systems there is no wait time. The points they use to criticize single payer are actually criticisms of our private for-profit system.
Now onto the Democrats. They are proposing some lame public option. The fact is, it wont cover everyone. And they will have difficulty paying for it (rather than simply taxing everyone, and giving everyone public insurance). If no restrictions are placed on the private health insurers you will see a number of the sickest patients being moved from the HMOs into the public option. This will then raise the costs for the public option with little hope of keeping down medical costs.
The simple truth is, the only way to insure everyone and keep down costs is single payer. We can not settle for less. HEALTH CARE NOW!
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