The reason for Healthcare

We are increasingly being told about the need for the Government to grab control of healthcare.  In some way or another the Federal Government is going to take control of the private healthcare industry which comprises roughly one-sixth of the US economy.  That being said, we must take some real time to ask ourselves why and what are the real reasons?  We are told that healthcare is too expensive for millions of Americans (who are now not covered).  We are told that millions of Americans do not have access to healthcare.  We are told that millions of Americans could not financially withstand the costs of a catastrophic illness.  We are further told that big insurance companies and big pharmaceutical firms are driving up costs.  We must also look at who supports a government run healthcare industry.  In this article I'll break down these issues to determine the true reason(s) for government run healthcare.

• One of the most recurring statements given is that millions of American's do not have access to healthcare.  This is easily addressed.  First, we know that any person, American or otherwise, can go to any emergency room in this country and receive emergency medical care irrespective of economic stature - with or without health insurance.  Secondly, the majority of medical and dental practitioners absolutely will take monthly payments for services that would otherwise be labeled as preventative or non-emergency medical aid.  Having personally taken advantage of this, I know that the payment structure can be as low as $40 per month; of course this is variable as well as negotiable.  To put this in perspective, a monthly cell phone bill starts in the range of $40 per month.  Therefore, stating that millions of American's do not have access to healthcare is simply not true.  
• The only one argument that even holds a little water are the statements about American's inability to financially withstand a catastrophic illness.  However, this would then apply to ALL Americans equally because nearly every health insurance provider has spending caps on policies.  Beyond that, the two proposed plans currently being mitigated by the congress also contain spending caps as well as limit procedures that can be performed by physicians.  What is astonishing here is that one of the only real reasons for the Government to take any action is not simply ignored, the problem is actually perpetuated.
• It's certainly not a myth that the cost of health care is radically increasing and there are innumerable arguments that cite the reasons for this.  This discussion could cary on for pages and pages because of the many micro-issues that could be cited.  I prefer to take the most "macro" approach because we are discussing changes that affect the entire country and therefore need to be dealt with at a very "macro" level.  It is my firm belief that any time you interject a third party payer into any provider-consumer system, the processes of the free-market are greatly crippled.  When Americans flatly pay cash for products or services, the definition of "need" comes into play.  The healthcare system is further complicated because it is not simply a third party payer.  There are many layers between the consumer and the service provider.  Those layers are employers, unions, and healthcare providers to only name the major players.  Each of these layers insulate the provider from the power of the consumer.  Each of these layers removes control from the consumer.  The crime now being perpetrated upon the American taxpayer and healthcare consumer is yet another layer of insurance.  The newest layer is one that you can do virtually nothing about.  The newest layer is the hardest to control as well as to settle disputes.  That layer is the Federal Government.  As an American citizen how will you settle a dispute with the Federal Government for any healthcare grievance?  Again, instituting government run healthcare does not solve or address the problem, it merely complicates it.

One can clearly see that it's not access, it's not affordability, and it's not even to address the rising costs.  This may still seem to simplistic so let's dig a little deeper and look into who supports government run healthcare.  We know that the American Medical Association (AMA) supports the program.  We further know that most of the big health insurance providers and pharmaceuticals also support this.  Lastly, we know that nearly all left leaning political groups and unions also support government run healthcare.  The prudent thing to do now is to ask why?

• The AMA presents itself (as does the media) as if it represents all doctors.  The truth of the matter is that only 29% of all doctors in the U.S. are members of the AMA.  That might lead to you to ask what their stake in the matter is?  A little known fact outside of the medical community is that the AMA owns the system used by the medical industry to code medical procedures.  This system is called CPT (Current Procedural Terminology) and is copyrighted by the AMA.  To quote the AMA's web site, "...the most widely accepted medical nomenclature used to report medical procedures and services under public and private health insurance programs."  The AMA has a vested financial interest in the game because they don't make money off of membership dues.  They make their money off of every single insurance provider who is public or private.  If the Federal Government created a single payer plan or created "competition" that put the private insurance providers out of business, they need to ensure that their system remains in place.  The AMA's motivations are, as usual, based upon money rather than the good care of people.

• Insurance providers and big pharmaceuticals have an obvious stake in this game.  They either need to stop Government Health Care or become the provider.  Although we have heard President Obama, Senator Reid, and Congressman Pelosi all bashing the evil insurance providers; what the press hasn't shown us is that the representatives (salesmen) of the big insurance providers have been present at all of the behind closed doors meetings.  This has been nothing more than the biggest sales opportunity of all time.  The insurance providers are actually seeing increases in revenues as the government will now mandate that every American purchase some form of approved Health Care.  The insurance companies just signed up to the biggest monopoly of all time.  Once again, we see the age old "greed" motivator rear its ugly head.  Take notice of the massive jump in stock value for insurance companies the day after the Senate voted for cloture on the their Health Care Bill.
• Believe it or not I actually give most of the major liberal groups a pass on this one.  I do honestly believe that many of the folks in these groups are completely unaware of the back-door motivations and do simply want what they believe to be good.  That being said, the more marxist of the groups are motivated to see more redistribution of wealth and government control.  Narcissism is key to the thoughts and ideas within these groups and our very own President is one of them.  These people actually believe that you and I are too stupid understand what we must do to care for ourselves.  Our stupidity only reinforces their ideological drive to force our well being upon us.
• The very idea of the union is socialist in nature.  A bunch of people band together to force an entity to pay them "equally" rather than based upon what the free market will bear.  Some fifty years ago, there was a sound argument for unions however that time has passed and unions now serve only to better the union leadership and drive toward a total marxist style government system. The union is one of the single biggest causes for the auto industry's failure as well as reason for the federal government to continue to bail out the auto industry.  The auto industry isn't too big to fail but they do have one of the largest unions in the country and in the world.  There are no two ways about it, the union inhibits a companies ability to be profitable.  The union reduces the companies ability to hire more employees thereby increasing unemployment, driving up consumer costs, and ultimately slowing growth of the entire economy.  The current employment laws at the federal, state, and local level negate any need for unions.  The unions have successfully negotiated their members out of work and now need a larger government with more government programs to survive.  It is also interesting to note that the President of the SEIU (Service Employees International Union) has been to the White House more than any other single visitor since President Obama took office.

Socialism/Marxism....  No matter the flavor, this is the clear motivation for moving forward with a Government Health Care program that Americans have clearly articulated that they do not want.  This is not to provide health care.  Health care is already there and accessible to all persons in the United States, legal or otherwise.  This is only about the money to be made in a few instances.  The real motivation here is more government control.  As stated above, you pick your flavor... Marxism or Socialism.
Please remember one thing, Socialism will not happen by revolution.  There will be no war, no government will topple.  You will simply wake up one day and realize that you must go to the Federal Government for all of your needs.  Take one minute after reading this and ask yourself what freedom you actually do have now?  They are there... you just have to look hard.