Senator Johnson has no clue on health care

I attended a panel discussion on health care in Mitchell on July 2 where Senator Johnson did not have a clue on the fundamental cause of today’s health care crisis. And this proves my point:

South Dakota's three congressional lawmakers agree on this much: The nation's health care system needs reforming, any legislative fix should recognize rural needs, and small businesses struggling in this economy must not suffer unduly.

But Republican Sen. John Thune, Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson and Democratic Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin disagree on the path to reform and how to pay for a plan estimated to cost more than $1 trillion during the next decade.

Their differences typify divisions playing out in Congress over what many call one of the most complicated and sweeping domestic efforts lawmakers have undertaken in decades.

None of the three lawmakers sits on a committee involved in writing health care reform legislation. But each will play a key role: Herseth as a leader of the fiscally conservative Blue Dogs in the House, Thune as a Republican leader in the Senate, and Johnson as a member of a pivotal voting bloc of moderate Democrats.

All agree the present system is inefficient and favors quantity over quality at the expense of low-cost states such as South Dakota, where statistics suggest residents lead healthier lives than the average American and hospital costs are among the nation's least expensive. But Herseth Sandlin and Johnson want greater federal control, while Thune favors more market-oriented solutions.

Lack of control has left too many gaps, Johnson says

Johnson scoffs at that.

"The marketplace has led to (nearly) 50 million uninsured Americans," he said. "Doing nothing is not an option. The current situation is unsustainable and will continue to drown our economy."

The push for health care reform has been driven by rapid growth in health care costs and growing numbers of Americans without insurance.

First off the 50 million number is not at all accurate. And second, it is the government shifting costs from their Medicare and Medicaid patients to those of us who are on private plans that is causing the crisis. And the same is true of the illegal immigrants who make up much of that 50 million uninsured. And the same is true of the government’s Indian Health Service. Testimony given by South Dakota Secretary of Social Services last week pointed out that services not provided by the IHS is shifted to Medicaid, who then reimburses at a lower rate than what private plans pay. It is those governemtn cost shifts that have put upward pressure on private insurance rates and is partly, if not mostly, responsible for the "rapid growth in health care costs".

The problem is too much government intervention into what should be provided by free markets. The Progressives want to use a crisis created by the government to justify more government. That is total insanity.  

Comments

[caheidelberger]

So the solution is to get rid of Medicare and make retirees buy their own health coverage at the rates the private insurance market will set, right?

[Steve Sibson]

Cory,

If you let free markets establish the rates without government intervention, those rates would be much lower. At least that was the way it worked before Medicaid and Medicare came into existence. It was before your time, but there was a time when premiums were affordable.