President Barack Obama's healthcare rhetoric is uncomfortably reminiscent of his stimulus plan rhetoric. First, scare people, then spend their money with nothing to show for it except more deficits. “If we do not control health care cost, we won't be able to control the deficit,” he recently said. That is an incredible statement from the president who gave us the largest deficit in human history.
It looks like Mr. Obama is attempting to fix what is not broken. A recent poll by Opinion Dynamics–confirmed by a Rasmussen poll– provides evidence that the Obama administration is pushing a healthcare reform few Americans want. The poll revealed that 83% of Americans rate the quality of their health care is good or excellent and 84% of those who have health insurance rate it as excellent or good. Most troubling for the administration and Congress, only 19% of Americans want a government-run healh care system; 64% prefer a private system.
Fully aware of the unpopularity of its healthcare plan but determined to push government-run medicine anyway, the Obama administration intentionally misleads Americans with repeated claims that 46 million Americans are the uninsured victims of a heartless privately-run health care system.
In June, the White House released a report, The Economic Case for Health Care Reform, which wasprepared by the president's Council of Economic Advisers (CEA). This report stated ad nauseam that there are 46 million uninsured Americans. The CEA is chaired by economist Christina Romer, creator of the imaginary 3.5 million jobs the Obama stimulus has not created. After misinforming Americans on the stimulus plan, Ms. Romer is now busy misinforming Americans on health care.
Indeed, everyone, including those who oppose Obamacare, believes there are 46 million victimized uninsured Americans. This is simply not true. But in order to have an intelligent debate on healthcare, Congress must first acknowledge that the allegation of 46 million uninsured victims is bogus; that it is a White House fabrication.
The Census Bureau did report that there are 46 million uninsured people in America, but 10 million of them are not Americans and 17 million of those who are American have enough income to buy health insurance but choose not to. That is called exercising one's free will.
Simple arithmetic shows that there are only 19 million uninsured Americans and those uninsured have access to Medicaid and other such programs. Consequently, stating that there are 46 million uninsured victims constitutes a deception.
Mr. Obama is also deceiving Americans when he assures them that he does not want to eliminate the current system; that he simply wants to provide a government option. Mr. Obama has a profound dislike and distrust of free markets and of capitalism. His words are clear, “What we’re trying to make sure of is that there is an option out there for people… where the free market fails… And we’ve got to admit that the free market has not worked perfectly when it comes to health care, because you've got a lot of people who are really getting hurt: 46 million uninsured.”
As we have explained above, the 46 million victims Mr. Obama talks about do not exist. And if 83% of Americans are pleased with the quality of their health care, it is ludicrous to state, as Mr. Obama does, that “the free market fails.” An 83% success rate in something as subjective as medical care constitutes statistical perfection.
This debate is not about access to health insurance or cost. Indeed, the administration dismissed Congressional Budget Office reports that showed Obamacare will cost more than the current system and will still leave millions uninsured. This is about introducing a government option the sole purpose of which is to crowd out private insurers over time in order to create a single-payer system.
Private companies deliver better quality and more cost-effective performance than governments. Fundamentally, that is why we won the Cold War. But governments can kill competition because they have unlimited access to tax-based financing. Governments can also undercut private companies because they do not have to be profitable and they do not pay taxes. The net result of the government option will be a government-run healthcare system within a decade.
Then real healthcare problems will begin for all Americans, not just the 19 million currently uninsured. The same government pricing that will have driven private insurers out of business will prove unsustainable in the long run. Economic realities will force rationing in order to cut costs. Eventually, medical coverage for certain conditions and procedures will be cancelled and fees will become commonplace. Finally, waiting lists for treatments will become so long as to make treatments nearly unavailable. That is what happened in Canada following an exodus of Canadian doctors to the United States.
Waiting time is such an acute problem in Canada that its Supreme Court struck down a ban on private health insurance because such ban "impinges on the right to life, liberty and security of the person in an arbitrary fashion that fails to conform to the principles of fundamental justice." Private medicine is slowly making a comeback in Canada.
The government option President Obama wants will make sure all Americans have access to equally mediocre medical care. Then, only the very rich will be able to go to Mexico for top-notch treatment delivered by American doctors forced out of their country by the government option Mr. Obama wants.
-Joseph Beaudoin holds degrees in economics and finance, and has worked in the banking and investment industries for 20 years. He is a regular contributor to Reflections.
