That Crazy Conservative

I think a good first post for this blog is something that is on the mind of most Americans, the future of healthcare. This could be the entitlement that "broke the camel's back" so to speak, and has certainly placed an undue burden on future generations. In a recent study from the American Action Forum, it is estimated that enacting ObamaCare will cost over 18,000 American jobs and over $24B in regulatory costs, more than the GDP of the entire country of Jamaica. Most of these costs fall on the states and private insurers. If your health insurance premiums are rising, now you know why. When your state decides to increase tax rates, you'll know why. According to the AAF, this only scratches the surface of the costs associated with ObamaCare, as many of these costs have been kept from the general public and are not yet available. You can read the full report from the American Action Forum here - http://americanactionforum.org/sites/default/files/ACA_regs.pdf

If you think the middle class won't be impacted much by ObamaCare, you'd be dead wrong. According to the American Enterprise Institute, "the president wants Americans to believe that ObamaCare is painless and without cost for the middle class, but most Americans, using their common sense, don’t believe him. They are right to be skeptical. It is certainly true that ObamaCare expands the entitlement rolls to some 30 million additional people, and thereby reduces — at least on paper — the numbers of uninsured Americans. But there is a massive cost to doing this, running more than $200 billion annually by the end of the decade ... that works out to nearly $8,000 for every newly insured American, or about $21,000 per newly insured household ... The sum total of the new taxes and Medicare and Medicaid cuts is about $278 billion in 2020. That’s nearly $1,000 in costs on average for most of the country, or $2,500 per household." Given what we know about government efficiency, who wants to bet $278 billion ends up being a very conservative estimate? I'm all for helping those who can't help themselves, who have disabilities or are somehow physically unable to work or obtain private health insurance, although I believe this could be handled through expansion of the Medicare and Medicaid programs and closer oversight surrounding fraudulent activity. According to Forbes.com, "Medicare and Medicaid together made $65 billion in improper payments, and that number rose to $98 billion in 2011." Essentially, we need to focus on efficiency, ensuring that those who truly need help get help and those who are using the system improperly are promptly removed and dealt with appropriately, with significant repercussions. It's just part of the liberal mentality though - if there's a problem, let's just throw money at it. We see it all the time when it comes to education. Rather than putting pressure on the states to come up with innovative ways to improve education in their state, we end up just throwing federal and state money down an endless hole hoping that a few extra computers in a classroom will somehow fix everything, or a few extra teachers will suddenly make the problem go away. It's time to start holding people accountable in this country. I think the liberals have forgotten their golden boy's famous line - "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." Stop with the entitlements and let's get this country back to work!

B

That Crazy Conservative

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Let's talk ObamaCare...

Thanks & Welcome!