Monday, August 10, 2009

Health Care Remains Top ‘09 Issue
  Health Care piece by FreeCongressFoundation: E. Ralph Hostetter

Obama-Care, much like Hilary-Care of the mid-1990s, dominates the news today. The rhetoric, after nearly 15 years lapse, remains the same. Prudence should dictate at this point that both sides of the debate step back and review the present situation.

According to Economist Arthur B. Laffer, writing in the July 26 issue of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, “A recent CNN poll reveals that 70% of Americans are satisfied with their current health care arrangements, and for good reason. They work.” However, 55% of the respondents think the U.S. health care system needs a “great deal of reform.”

According to Bloomberg.com’s Kristen Jensen, President Barack H. Obama’s effort to revamp the U.S. health-care system is drawing increasing disapproval from all citizens worried about higher deficits.

The results of a poll conducted by Quinnipiac University (July 27 – August 3) show 52% of American voters disapprove of the way President Obama is handling health care while 39% approve. This compares to 46% disapproval and 42% approval in June. Nearly 75% don’t believe Obama’s claim that he can add health care without increasing the budget deficit. An impressive 57% say the health care bill should be dropped if it adds significantly to the deficit.

A major consideration is small businesses, those employing 100 or less workers, which represent 50% of the U.S. workforce. Fewer than half of small businesses, those with three to nine employees, offer any health insurance.

99% of large companies, 200 workers or more, do offer health insurance.

Small businesses are burdened with higher costs of health care, in some instances 18% more than for large businesses, giving credence to President Obama’s comments regarding small businesses being “crushed by skyrocketing health-care costs.”

One of the most frightening provisions insofar as small business is concerned is the penalty on small businesses with payrolls of more than $400,000 per year. Those who fail to provide health insurance will suffer an 8% penalty. Businesses with payrolls of $250,000 to $400,000 will pay a lesser penalty. Businesses with less than $250,000 payroll would be exempt.

No action has been taken by either the House of Representatives or the Senate prior to the August recess.

A national health care plan is not a new idea for those who remember the Clinton Administration years of the mid-1990s, particularly the year 1994, when President Bill Clinton had designated his wife Hillary to head the development of a national health-care program.

A law was enacted and become known, at the time, as Hillary’s Health Plan Law. The provisions of the law, without going into great detail, were about the same as they are today, with the exception of the provisions dealing with citizens 65 or older. The medical plan at that time provided for appointing a medical board to review all applications for health care for those 65 or older. According to procedures outlined for the board to follow, any medical treatment for an individual 65 or older that was determined not to significantly prolong the life of a patient could be withheld. This one provision is credited for the most part for the defeat of what had become Hillary-Care.

WASHINGTON POST reporter Ezra Klein draws a comparison between the Clinton and Obama strategies as follows:

“Where Clinton and his team crafted their health-care reform plan in the executive branch, Obama has left the details almost entirely to Congress. Where Clinton pursued an ambitious reconstruction of the entire sector, Obama has sought to preserve existing insurance arrangements and win the support of industry players. Where Clinton spent a year developing his bill before even getting to Congress, Obama lashed his efforts to a tight timetable. Clinton’s big push for reform came in a 1993 speech before Congress in which he offered painstaking details; Obama made his argument at a recent news conference, addressing concerns more than specifying proposals.”

Obama-Care will soon be put to the test when Congress comes back into session after the August recess. Speculation has been that chances for passage of the Obama health-care legislation have been less since it failed enactment before the August recess.

E. Ralph Hostetter

E. Ralph Hostetter, a prominent businessman and publisher, also is an award-winning columnist and Vice Chairman of the Free Congress Foundation Board of Directors. http://freecongress.org/

Posted by FreeCongressFoundation: E. Ralph Hostetter on 8/10/09

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