
 |
|
May 24, 2013
May 22, 2013
John Thorne:
They launched the 'Arab Spring' but now yearn for the good old days of a strongman
May 20, 2013
Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?
Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star
The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
May 13, 2013
Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation
David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church
May 10, 2013
Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be
May 8, 2013
Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas
Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate
Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility
May 6, 2013
May 3, 2013
Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine
April 29, 2013
Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust
Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?
Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA
April 26, 2013
Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty
April 24, 2013
|
| |
Jewish World Review
Dec. 17, 2009
/ 30 Kislev 5770
ObamaCare: Does It Cover Stupidity?
By
Larry Elder
|

|
|
|
| |
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Americans overwhelmingly like their health care and their health
insurance. While Americans reject ObamaCare, the President and Congress
insist on driving it through.
Most Americans, up to 85 percent, already have health insurance and are
satisfied with it. Lacking health insurance is different from lacking
health care which, by law, emergency rooms must
supply. Millions go without health insurance by choice and not due to
lack of resources. Deduct from the number without insurance those who
have access to it via entitlement programs, those temporarily without it
while between jobs, those here illegally and those who could go on their
parents' insurance plans by paying affordable amounts and you're down
to 10 million to 15 million people without health insurance for longer
than a year. This represents 5 percent of Americans.
To address this, the President and the Democrats are this close to a
complete government takeover of health care. And a takeover it is.
Assuming some kind of plan reaches the President's desk, it will at
minimum force all Americans to purchase health insurance or pay fines
or worse. It will force nearly all employers to provide health insurance
or pay fines. It will tell health insurers that they must
accept applicants with pre-existing illnesses and restrict
their ability to "discriminate" based on factors like sex and age.
Incredibly, the President and Congress tell us that our economic
recovery hinges on "health care reform" and that they can achieve it
providing millions of people with health insurance estimated to cost a
trillion dollars in the first decade while simultaneously
reducing the deficit. The plan anticipates cutting hundreds
of billions from the popular Medicare programs, whose beneficiaries vote
in numbers greater than any other age group. Doctors and hospitals
already complain that Medicare reimbursements fall short of costs, let
alone profits. Good luck with that.
| FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO INFLUENTIAL NEWSLETTER |
| Every weekday NewsAndOpinion.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". HUNDREDS of columnists and cartoonists regularly appear. Sign up for the daily update. It's free. Just click here. |
|
"Health care reform" achieves its deficit-reducing magic by collecting
taxes in the early years building up money while paying out very
little. Only after the first four years does money go out. It also
forces states to pick up part of the tab. So, voila , it actually reduces the deficit at least in the first decade.
Then what? The Congressional Budget Office in cost estimates full of
caveats, conditions and on-the-one-hands says that it could/might/may
reduce the deficit in the second and third decades, too. Again, this
assumes continued cuts in doctor and hospital reimbursements.
Despite the White House photo op of docs in their white frocks, most
physicians oppose ObamaCare. They resent further government supervision
and control over their practice. A poll commissioned by Investor's
Business Daily found that 65 percent "oppose" ObamaCare and that 45
percent would consider taking early retirement or leaving their practice
if the bill went through.
Given the broad opposition most Americans, most doctors and seniors
in fear of cuts in Medicare why do it?
First, the Democrats now in control of all three branches of
government have convinced themselves that they face a political price
if they fail. ObamaCare supporters, based on bogus assumptions and
inflated numbers, argue that many, if not most, bankruptcy filings are
due to health care bills. If, as President Obama asserts, "reforming"
health care and economic prosperity go hand in hand, how can they
abandon it?
Second, while a large majority of Republicans and most independents
oppose these "reforms," Democrats overwhelming support them. They
consider health care and health insurance a right
never mind the Constitution or the price tag and think "the rich"
should bear the costs. Congresspersons fear an electorate upset at a
failure "to deliver" a victory over the evil, money-grubbing insurance
companies.
Third, many believe in good faith that this is the "right thing to do."
This breathtakingly ignores the mountain of evidence that government
command-and-control health care reduces quality, reduces innovation and
inevitably leads to rationing. The president of the Canadian Medical
Association says Canada's system a single-payer kind, favored by
President Obama is "imploding." She calls for more competition.
Critics of America's health care system say that citizens in other
countries enjoy longer life expectancies. But after adjusting for
homicides, increased infant mortality due to teen pregnancies and low
birth weights, obesity and other behavioral factors, the discrepancy
disappears. Compare American medical outcomes against those of other
countries. Our system produces the world's best results for cancer
patients who go into medical care at the same time similarly situated
patients enter their countries' care. Our pharmaceutical companies lead
the world in coming up with new life-extending and -enhancing drugs, a
record at risk given new controls and taxes under the guise of "reform."
When the ObamaCare bill comes due when the deficit explodes and the
costs are "controlled" through government-directed rationing
supporters, including President Obama, will long have departed
Washington, leaving others to deal with the mess. In the meantime, bend
over and cough. Or else.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Larry Elder is the author of, most recently, "Stupid Black Men: How to Play the Race Card--and Lose."
(Proceeds from sales help fund JWR) Let him know what you think of his column by clicking here.
Larry Elder Archives
© 2006, Creators Syndicate
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Jay Ambrose
Michael Barone
Barrywood
Lori Borgman
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Richard Z. Chesnoff
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
Christine Flowers
Frank J. Gaffney
Bernie Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Argus Hamilton
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Ron Hart
Nat Hentoff
A. Barton Hinkle
Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ch. Krauthammer
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Ann McFeatters
Dale McFeatters
Dana Milbank
Jeanne Moos
Dick Morris
Jim Mullen
Deroy Murdock
Judge A. Napolitano
Bill O'Reilly
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Star Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Sharon Randall
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Heather Robinson
Debra J. Saunders
Martin Schram
Greg Schwem
Culture Shlock
David Shribman
Roger Simon
Lenore Skenazy
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Ben Stein
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Dan Thomasson
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
ZeitGeist
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Lisa Benson
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
John Branch
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
Matt Davies
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Glenn Foden
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Walt Handelsman
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holbert
David Horsey
Lee Judge
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Jimmy Margulies
Jack Ohman
Michael Ramirez
Rob Rogers
Drew Sheneman
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Scott Stantis
Danna Summers
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters
Dan Wasserman

Tech Q&A
Mr. Know-It-All
Ask Doctor K
Richard Lederer
Frugal Living
On Nutrition
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
|