HHS is about to issue over 1,000 pages of new regulations stemming from last year’s health care bill. That’s not a huge surprise, considering the bill is about 2,000 pages long.
But these regulations all come from a six-page section covering accountable care organizations, or ACOs.
According to Politico, John Gorman, who runs a health care consulting firm, “expects a 1,000-page rule to come out on Thursday, March 31 — because he doesn’t think HHS will want to deal with releasing the regulations on April Fool’s Day.”
As the House gets ready to pass the health care bill today, I’m reminded of one of the first lessons in economics I ever learned. Milton Friedman put it best:
There are four ways in which you can spend money. You can spend your own money on yourself. When you do that, why then you really watch out what you’re doing, and you try to get the most for your money. Then you can spend your own money on somebody else. For example, I buy a birthday present for someone. Well, then I’m not so careful about the content of the present, but I’m very careful about the cost. Then, I can spend somebody else’s money on myself. And if I spend somebody else’s money on myself, then I’m sure going to have a good lunch! Finally, I can spend somebody else’s money on somebody else. And if I spend somebody else’s money on somebody else, I’m not concerned about how much it is, and I’m not concerned about what I get. And that’s government. And that’s close to 40% of our national income.
The biggest problem with health care today is that patients only pay 12 percent of costs out of pocket. As far as each individual is concerned, it’s basically on sale for 88 percent off! No wonder we spend so much on health care.
Today’s bill consists almost entirely of spending other peoples’ money on other people. If it becomes law, that 12 percent figure will fall even further. This is no way to keep costs under control. However noble Congress’ intentions may be, its bill will not work as advertised. Human nature won’t allow it.
Supporters of the health care bill spend a lot of time attacking health insurance companies.
The health care bill, by the way, would legally require people to give a lot of money to those same insurance companies. A lot of money. It would be the largest corporate gift Washington has ever given out — as much as $1.5 trillion over ten years by one estimate.
Health insurers’ loudest detractors are actually their best friends, and they don’t even seem to realize it. Apparently, regulatory capture is not always a conscious process.
Congressional Democrats are thinking of revoking the health insurance industry’s antitrust exemption; some insurers have spent as much as $20,000,000 opposing the current legislation.
Of course, insurers also gave $20,175,303 to President Obama’s 2008 campaign, roughly triple what McCain netted.
On one hand, this might look like the dog biting the hand that feeds. But really, it isn’t.
If the health care legislation passes, there is a good chance that every American would be required to purchase health insurance.
Suppose that happens. $40 million and change plus some antitrust troubles is a really small price to pay for a legal guarantee of vastly increased business, forever. Plus looking like you didn’t want the favor.
As my friend Jeremy Lott is so quick to remind, it is a wonder that politicians can be bought off so cheaply, given what they could charge for their services.
It is just as surprising that insurers would spend $20 million opposing legislation that would yield many times that in profit. As economist Bruce Yandle notes, “industry support of regulation is not rare at all; indeed, it is the norm. And in the United States it is as American as apple pie.”
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrErshmvP0M 285 234]
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights says Obama’s health-care plan is racially discriminatory. The House health-care bill backed by Obama is filled with “sections that factor in race when awarding billions in contracts, scholarships and grants” and give “preferential treatment to minority students for scholarships.” Taxpayers of all races will end up paying more because of these arbitrary racial preferences. The Civil Rights Commission has concluded that this racial discrimination is unjustified, and that it will neither “reduce health care disparities among racial and ethnic groups,” nor “improve health care in underserved areas.”
Earlier, I wrote about other provisions backed by Obama that would mandate affirmative action in health care to promote “cultural competence” — whatever that means — and fund left-wing community organizers. “ObamaCare” also contains preferences for illegal aliens, who are exempt from its taxes and penalties, but can access its benefits due to lack of eligibility verification safeguards. The safeguards were blocked by liberal lawmakers allied with Obama.
Historically, affirmative action did not apply to health-care in general, only to employment, education, and government contracts, although Obama has advocated expanding it to health-care in his published writings. When critics of affirmative action passed state constitutional amendments banning racial preferences in California, Michigan, and Nebraska, they applied such bans only to “employment,” “education,” and “contracting,” because it never occurred to them that anyone would advocate affirmative action elsewhere. But Obama seems determined to go further than any other president in pushing affirmative action. In his 2006 book “The Audacity of Hope,” he advocated race-based “affirmative action” in the form of “targeted programs to eliminate existing health disparities between minorities and whites.”
Earlier, the Civil Rights Commission chided the Obama Administration for letting an Obama poll-watcher and Democratic official get away with racist voter intimidation against non-black voters in Philadelphia (even though they were caught on videotape wielding a nightstick and using racial epithets) and for backing a hate-crimes bill designed to allow people who have been found innocent of hate crimes in state court to be reprosecuted all over again in federal court.
One of Obama’s own advisers says the Obama Administration’s health-care plan will harm people with insurance while raising their taxes. ObamaCare will take away 5 important freedoms, notes a CNN commentary. It will also destroy many affordable health-care plans while breaking Obama’s campaign promises.
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