Randy Alcorn: Factual Flatulence on Health Care

» lou segal on 03.15.10 @ 02:33 AM

Randy, are you aware of Congressman Paul Ryan"s health care proposal. He would create an universal health care system through the use of the private market. He would unhinge health care insurance from employers by eliminating the unfair and anachronistic tax-free benefits received by employees, which everyone else in the individual market does not receive. In lieu of this tax freebie, everyone would receive a refundable tax credit which can be used as a voucher to purchase health insurance. Insurance would be portable, ending the practice of losing your insurance when you change jobs. People would be allowed to purchase insurance in any state in the country, thereby introducing competition in the system which does not exist currently. Government mandates would be for the most part eliminated, allowing consumers to purchase plans designed for their unique circumstances. Most importantly, there would be incentives for people to purchase health savings accounts. Let’s be real, unless people have some skin in the game, they will have no incentive to be careful consumers of health care. He does have a role for government and that would be to create a data base which would allow consumers to compare costs and health care outcomes for insurance companies and health care providers. Without transparency, there will be no way to intelligently shop for health care, just like for other consumer products. He would prevent insurance companies from not enrolling people due to pre-existing conditions, through the use of reinsurance. No one insurance pool would be confronted with having a disproportionate share of sick people. I believe this plan has the greatest chance to insure the maximum number of people at the lowest available cost. Most importantly, this plan will restrain the unsustainable growth of health care costs which will eventually bankrupt our country and force the government to ration health care. If you think government can control costs, spend sometime researching the Massachusetts model, the same plan that the Democrats are trying to ram through Congress. That state by mandating and heavily subsidizing very expensive plans for everyone is experiencing a cost explosion, which there only answer is to either have the federal govt pay for it or begin the process of rationing care
  I wish more people were aware of Congressman Ryan’s plan. He is a creative problem solver who has designed a free market solution for this massive problem. There are many conservatives (including me) in the country who hope he considers higher office. Obama is aware of this plan and has even complemented some aspects of it, but is against it because he doesn’t think it will pass the Congress and he has, as we all know, unlimited faith in the government to impose solutions to all our problems. Randy, I do have one problem with your column: there is a profound difference between conservatives and liberals. To say that we are all the problem is a good sound bite, but to believe that there can be some homogenization of these two very different perspectives is naive. It would lead to an incoherent plan premised on political payoffs and special interest influence. The citizens of Massachusetts, in their recent election, have figured this out.

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» AN50 on 03.15.10 @ 09:15 AM

Randy, it’s about costs and how you intend to pay for them. I have at length asked those in favor of expanding a large service economy like healthcare where the wealth to pay for it comes from. The typical answer from the left is “steal it from others or other programs.” On the right the answer is just keep doing what we have been, like that clearly has worked well for 95% of us (right!) All service sectors in an economy depend on wealth generation in order to expand in a manner that is not destructive to other service sectors. As long as wealth increases then we all benefit. The left seems to not understand this concept so they hitch on to the “redistribution” bandwagon in order to enrich those who cannot do it themselves. The right is clearly out to lunch on this as well seeing how they view speculation and investment wealth as the same as real or material wealth. It ain’t and we learned that quite well last year as we all watched our speculative wealth evaporate in a matter of months. China did not do so badly, why, because they make all our stuff. OPEC did not fair so badly either, why, they extract our energy resources. Get the picture? I know this all sounds so simple and 19th century like but people, that is reality. If you have material wealth you have wealth period. Without material wealth you can pass yourself off as a service economy like some European countries do (small population of bankers serving a huge global population can work well) but you are still dependant on other country’s having wealth to service. When Americans realize we have to swap our trade deficit for a trade surplus, we have to do more than we consume, make more than we spend then Randy and only then can we talk about expanding another wealth consuming service. We simply have to stop this nonsense and start paying our bills.

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» Reality Check on 03.15.10 @ 03:14 PM

No one disagrees that the current health system needs reworking but a 2000+ page bill that no one really understands is not a step in the right direction and surely will hurt more than help.  Start with some simple steps like capping damages for medical awards, allowing health insurance to be sold across state lines and promote medical savings accounts.

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» AN50 on 03.15.10 @ 05:13 PM

EmptySuit,
We are not tone deaf as you put it, we are broke. Get your hand out of my friggin pocket thief! Tell us how you are going to pay for it. Tell us how you reconcile adding 30 million users to a system that has less resources than it needs now to cover those already insured. How will you keep costs down when you artificially inflate demand with no commensurate increase in the supply? Assuming you get everyone insured by force like Obama wants, and that somehow you are able to increase the number of government insurance staffers to handle the 30 million and assume that by a miracle the AMA allows more doctors to get through med school to service these 30 million more (along with secretaries, technicians, nurses, admin staff office space emergency vehicles etc…), how much money will you have to rob from other parts of the economy to pay for all this stuff? $1 trillion, 2, 6, 10, 50?  And if you are stealing if from another part of the economy then what happens to the economy as a whole? Answer that my friend and can the phony compassion crap. No one owes anyone else their life. And it’s ok for you to feel for the less fortunate, just do it with your own money not someone else’s, that’s not compassion its theft. Forcing someone to do something against their will because you think they ought to is tyranny, it is fascism, it is not compassion. Believe me I see wonderful works of compassion everyday and it does not come at the point of a gun (which, by the way, every federal regulation does, including paying taxes).

So tell us Empty, where’s the money? You don’t like that we are against the Obama plan, but hey where are the cost savings in his plan? There are none! His plan is full of cost escalations, lots of them and mostly aimed at the middle class tax payer AGAIN! His plan is to get 30 million new users at our expense with no increase in supply, which means way less service than we have now and way more costs. If you want these people to have insurance why are you not looking at how to reduce the cost of insurance? I’ll tell you why, because even if you drop insurance rates to the floor you still don’t have the damned infrastructure to support the new medical service it will generate. And if you people think for one minute insurance for 30 million is expensive do the math on increasing one of the most expensive wealth gobbling industries in the world, health care.

The answer is really simple, do more work, earn more money and then you can afford more services. Sitting around crying about this crap and then charging it to your maxed out credit card ain’t gonna work. Besides your creditor, the bank of China, say no more buster, pay as you go. Now with that in mind are you still willing to go for this debacle? If so better put a crowbar in that wallet buster.

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» emptynewsroom on 03.15.10 @ 08:17 PM

AN50: You’re right. Bill Kristol was also right when he said “Americans don’t deserve health care”. We can’t achieve what most other democracies already have enjoyed for decades. How could we? Our system is dominated by greed, special interests and inefficiency. We should just give up on fixing our broken health care system as it goes broke and takes everyone down with it. Thank you for participating!

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» Mark King on 03.15.10 @ 09:28 PM

I read all 32 sentences of Mr. Alcorn’s article.  There is a lot of good material in it but I will focus in on only the first 9 sentences, because it is in the 9th sentence that Mr. Alcorn goes astray.  I have detailed the first 8 sentences below but you are welcome to scroll down to sentence #9 if you wish.

Sentence #1: “There were some sharp responses from readers of my previous column in which I opined that the foundering of health-care reform was a result of the harsh realities of America’s Darwinian economic system.”

Translation of Sentence #1:  I CAUGHT SOME HEAT FROM MY PREVIOUS ARTICLE

Sentence #2: “Clearly, the health-care issue, along with so many other critical issues confronting this country, is now flammable fodder for the contentious two-dimensional ideological thinking that passes for wisdom these days.”

Translation of Sentence #2:  Health Care…as well as other issues are popular contests and only get a two dimensional hearing (assuming that Mr. Alcorn means 1) “Liberal” and 2) “Conservative)

Sentence #3: “I am always impressed by readers who, whether in agreeing or disagreeing with me, have cogent comments.”

Translation of Sentence #3: MR. ALCORN IS INTERESTED IN HEARING INTELLIGENT RESPONSES.

Sentence #4:  “These days, however, I am not impressed very often.”

Translation of Sentence #4:  MR ALCORN IS NOT HEARING INTELLIGENT RESPONSES.

Sentence #5: “Too many comments are rote recitations taken directly from the conservative or liberal manifestos, and made by various opposing gas bags producing the same stench as has the factional flatulence that has been stinking up the halls of Congress.”

Translation of Sentence #5:  MOSTLY I HEAR REGURITATIONS OF THE 2 DIMENSIONAL TALKING POINTS.

Sentence #6:  “Until we can elect thinkers instead of stinkers, not much will improve in America.”

Translation of Sentence #6:  IS MR. ALCORN SUGGESTING A THIRD PARTY?

Sentence #7:  “Today, it’s all about which side you are on and not about rational examination of issues and possibilities

Translation of Sentence #7:  NOT SO MUCH OF A TRANSLATION AS A QUESTION…WHEN HAS IT BEEN ANY DIFFERENT?

Sentence #8: “Such examinations are typically clouded by catechismic considerations of one or the other political-economic ideologies.

Translation of Sentence #8:  SAME AS SENTENCE #7 ONLY EXAGGERATED.

Sentence #9: “Health-care reform is a critical issue that…”

Translation of the first part of Sentence #9:  HERE…MR. ALCORN DEMONSTRATES THAT HE HAS BOUGHT INTO THE MEDIA AND POLITICAL “HYPE” OF HEALTH CARE AS A “CRITICAL ISSUE”

WHAT IS IT THAT MAKES AN ISSUE A “CRITICAL ISSUE”?

EVERYONE OF US IS GOING TO DIE.

THERE WILL BE A CAUSE OF THE DEATH.

OVER EATING.

OVER DRINKING.

HEART FAILURE.

LUNG FAILURE.

BRAIN FAILURE.

FALLING DOWN.

MURDER.

SUICIDE.

THE LIST GOES ON.

SO…ON A PERSONAL LEVEL WE CAN ALL AGREE THAT PREVENTING/CURING WHATEVER EACH OF US ARE GOING TO DIE FROM IS A “CRITICAL ISSUE”.

THAT HAS BEEN TRUE SINCE THE DAWN OF HUMAN EXISTENCE.

BUT HEALTH CARE HASN’T BEEN A “CRITICAL ISSUE FOR THE LAST 10,000+ YEARS.

WHY IS IT A PUBLIC “CRITICAL ISSUE” NOW?

ONLY BECAUSE WE LIVE IN A MEDIA AGE WITH MEDIA SAVY AGENTS/POLITICIANS TO EXPLOIT IT AND THEY ARE TRYING THEIR BEST TO EXPOIT US.

Our lifetimes now are longer than at any point in history.

Our quality of life now is higher than at any point in history.

Is there room for improvement?

Of course.

As Americans…and as humans…we have never stopped making efforts to improve things.

And I encourage that to continue.

However, ALL of the health care hub-bub is an effort to influence ordinary Americans to flock to one banner or the other.  President Obama and the Democrats are the leaders of that effort.

Do yourself, and all Americans, a favor and don’t panic.

Stop and think.

You will do the right thing.

Mark King

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