Proposed Health Care Cure Worse Than the Disease?

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The United States Senate is on its way to approving its version of health care reform, just in time for the holidays.  How they got to this point has been a textbook example of why people consider politicians to be among the lowest forms of life on Earth.

The bill is the result of listening to too many yahoos at town hall meetings who shout "Get your government hands off my Medicare!", and too much influence from health insurance lobbyists, instead of benefitting the "American People" they claim to represent.  Even liberals have lashed out at President Barack Obama for selling out to the bad guys for the sake of accomplishing his foremost campaign promise.

In order to get to the 60 votes Democrats believe they need to pass the bill--without any Republican help whatsoever--they had to sweet-talk certain Senators (namely Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, and independent Joe Lieberman of Conneticut) into going their way in exchange for giving them what they want.  That's par for the course in politics, but it sounds kind of underhanded outside the Beltway.

After the holidays, the House and Senate leaders will get together to work on a final bill.  Among the highlights:

• It would require everyone to get health insurance, whether they can afford it or not.
• The House has the government-run public option, while the Senate version does not.
• People 55 and over won't be added to the Medicare rolls.
• Women who have abortions would purchase a separate policy that isn't paid for by the government.
• Nobody would be turned down due to pre-existing conditions.

Neither bill will do anything to stem the tide of rising health care costs, at a time when people would rather do without insurance than pay high premiums.  The only real winner in all of this is the health care industry themselves, who will continue to make money no matter what happens.  ABC News reported on Tuesday that health care stocks were soaring on Wall Street.

But then, this should come as no surprise, having watched congressional Democrats shrink like violets for most of this decade.  When they were swept into office along with Obama in 2008 on the promise of change, we figured they would somehow find a way to blow their mandate.  Meanwhile, the Republicans' new symbol became a slashed circle, rejecting every idea the Democrats put up while offering the same tired rhetoric that put them in the minority position to begin with.

Most of the reforms, if passed, would not become law until 2013 or '14, so there will be plenty of opportunities for the health care industry to figure out ways around the new legislation and how to profit from them.  Also, who knows what the economy will be like by then?

Oh, and have a happy holiday season.