September 19, 2009

Government Controlled Health Care would mean (cont'd from Part III):

8) The Government will have even more control over the rearing of children. The various levels of government already claim great influence over the rearing of children in the U.S.A. The most egregious examples are in the area of sex education. Now with a GCHC system, and with access to most children through the public school system, there will be efforts to direct parents in all areas that affect the health of children. And what doesn’t affect one’s health? Remember: health is interpreted by the government as including the psychological and emotional aspects of life. It is easy to see that the government will more and more tell parents how to raise their children. All sorts of things will be prohibited because they are thought by the experts to harm the psychological, physical, or emotional health of children. There is no obvious limit to this.

9) A multi-tiered health care system that favors the rich and influential. Some say that this is already the case, agreed. But the difference is that health care programs other than GCHC will likely become illegal after time. Only those who are rich and influential will be able to have the health care they need unfettered by the nation’s need to save money. Do you really think that the likes of Senator Kerry and Congressman Frank will be willing to sit in line with residents of Dorchester and Bellingham to wait to see their doctor? Be serious. Those in government will not give up their gold-plated health care. There will be ways for other important people to join it.

A foreign/offshore/underground system will quickly develop. Enterprising Caribbean and Central American countries will become health havens, much as the United States is now for much of the world. (Under GCHC this will end.) You will be able to get whatever you want, for a price. There may even be hospital ships in international waters offering all services. More likely, many doctors will go underground. It will be like a “medical prohibition era”. If you have money you will be able to get what you want when you want it. The poor and old and the weak will be relegated to the GCHC system.

10) Patients will have less time with doctors. This is because there will be fewer doctors in the system. As it is now, many doctors don’t take Medicare, or only take a few Medicare patients because the payments are low and late. Some doctors wait for months to receive reimbursements. This is likely to be the template for GCHC. Hence, a significant number of doctors will simply retire. Investors Business Daily reported this last September 15th that 45% of doctors polled would consider retiring if GCHC were passed.

Doctors do not receive as much compensation as many think, especially compared with those in the business world. They also put much more time and money into preparation for their vocation. Many are paying off loans for years after they have finished medical school. In addition, they have to pay for malpractice insurance, office rent and overhead, as well as for their family’s needs. Why go through all this in order to be told by the government how to practice as a physician?

Hence, GCHC will make medicine a much less attractive call in life and so a lesser number of young men and women will enter medicine. (At the same time there may be a superabundance of veterinarians!) This is not just because compensation will be lowered by the GCHC, but also because the doctor will be less in control of how he runs his or her practice. It is one thing to work for yourself, even though you might have to battle from time to time with insurance companies and hospitals. It is another thing to be a government employee. The end result is that there will be fewer doctors for the GCHC system. That means that you will spend less time with your doctor because under GCHC a fewer number of doctors will be caring for a larger number of patients.

More next week

Father Mullen

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