(Reuters) – “The Obama administration on Friday said it would stop enrolling new beneficiaries in a special $5 billion insurance program for people with pre-existing medical conditions, because of rising costs and limited funding.”
Back in 2010, Obama advertised his greatness by creating a program to provide insurance to the uninsurable. Obama’s messianic followers lavished syrupy praise upon their God King for his seemingly endless and lavish gift of “free” insurance, and when I say “free” I mean the kind of “free” that you and I pay for.
Unknown to low information voters, aka the majority of Americans, providing free insurance to the uninsurable is really expensive. The petty $5B of our money that Obama set aside for this program is running out, so Obama’s Government has stopped accepting new applicants to his uninsurable program.
This program was meant to be a stop-gap until Jan 1, 2014 when it will be illegal for insurance companies to refuse insuring someone. Obama’s Government miscalculated how much of our money they would need to fund this program, and the unexpected cost overruns are requiring them to terminate this program a full year early. What do you think will happen on Jan 1, 2014? Insurance companies will be forced to cover all the “unexpected” cost overruns which means higher insurance for everyone, which will drive private insurance companies out of business and all of us into a single-payer, Government controlled healthcare program, which was the plan all along.
When Obama famously said in defense of Obamacare to prove that it would only be an available option to private insurance, “If you like your Doctor, or your insurance company, you can keep’em!” what he meant was that you can keep ’em for only as long as it takes his Government to bankrupt them and force you into Government-run healthcare. Now even his first attempt at providing coverage to just the uninsurables has failed.
You know what that means right? People will die. If Obama is refusing applications, then uninsurable people, which will include people with terminal illnesses, will not be insured and will die as a result. Can you believe it? What nerve! What gall! You mean to tell me that Obama is going to let people die? I thought if we just did what Obama told us to, everybody would be insured, it would never rain, and there’d be a rainbow outside every window.
People railed against death panels but there is, in fact, a death panel. It’s called money, and when you run out, people have to die. Whether an individual runs out of money, an insurance company, or a Government program, ultimately a decision is made that enough money has been spent on someone, because money is limited no matter how much you tax the rich, and it’s time to turn off the spigot. The only difference between what we had before Obamacare and what we have with Obamacare, is who controls the spigot. We were in control of the spigot before, but Obama is in control of our spigot now. So yes Virginia, there is a Death Panel and as this article points out, it’s Obama and his healthcare bureaucracy when they decide they’ve spent enough money on each of us.
Categories: Corporate Fascism, Government Tyranny, Healthcare Reform, Obama - Our God King, Socialism
Angrywoodchuck's Blog 
I am on pcip. I pay a monthly premium. I also paid over 80k in federal income tax last year. I doubt you did. It would break my heart if you or someone you love, if you are capable, got cancer like me and was cancelled by their insurance.
I am sorry to hear about what has happened to you in your life. Unfortunately, the position that I take is not the one that makes everyone feel good. Obviously, I would prefer to take the easy position, the one where I simply agree that everyone should have health insurance. I mean, there is nothing in it for me, so why don’t I just sign up and join everyone in their self-congratulatory support of what clearly sounds on the surface like a good idea, and I too can enjoy the smiles and nods and back slaps of those around me. Why would I intentionally ostracize myself from the group, and segregate myself from society like a leper? It’s because as good as that sounds, to be part of the crowd and feel emotionally satisfied in taking the superior position of wanting to help all of humanity, I am incapable of avoiding reality, and facts.
My position is based on reality, facts and on freedom, which ironically, are the most disliked positions anyone could have. The position most people take is based on emotion, and slavery – and that makes them feel good about themselves, and I understand that. It is the most emotionally satisfying and requires the least effort of thought.
I don’t want to be insensitive, but I will have to skirt with insensitivity in order to support my principle because reality is insensitive. Life is dangerous and life is unpredictable and life is not fair, by any stretch of the imagination. I could be hit by a bus this afternoon crossing the street to get a coffee leaving my family homeless, my daughter without a father to learn from, and my parents to contemplate the horror of having their child die before them. Or I could get cancer. Or have a heart attack. Or be maimed or stricken with a virus or bacteria that destroys my ability to lead a normal life, or even live. The reality is, life is hard and life is deadly and the time and means by which each of us die is as random as spinning a roulette wheel. So what are we to do about that?
If we suspend reality and think emotionally, then the answer is obvious. We need to make sure that everyone, no matter what time or means by which life’s deadly side comes to visit them, is taken care of. That they receive all of the medical care that they need, at the time that they need it including all of the medications, the surgeons, the doctors, the support staff, the equipment, the robotics, the overhead…whatever it costs should be brought to bear. I mean, what is one life worth? You cannot put a value on a human life, so there is no cost too high to save one. Hmmm…I feel better about myself already just writing that.
Now if we consider what I just wrote, and apply reality and rationality to it, we come up with something different. All the costs that are brought to bear should be born by whom? There is no denying the fact, in reality, that there are in fact costs associated with all of the doctors and surgeons and equipment and medications, etc… so who will pay those costs? They must be paid. We cannot ignore this. That is reality. So we have two choices in how these costs are paid…
The first choice, is that we buy insurance. Insurance is based on the profit model of capitalism. Insurance relies on a large pool of healthy people to pay their premiums so the smaller pool of sick people can be taken care of. This insurance principle is the same for car, home, boat, motorcycle, fire, flood, etc…, the only difference, and the only reason why there is contention and dispute over health insurance in particular is because nobody really cares if a car, home, boat or motorcycle is lost, there is no emotional value to that loss, but there is one to the loss of a human life, and that makes all the difference. So people want health insurance to not work like all other insurances. People want health insurance to not be based on the profit principle, or on statistical analysis, or actuarial figures because those are all so insensitive to the loss of a human life.
Unfortunately, just like car, home, boat and motorcycle insurance, it is precisely the profit principle, statistical analysis and actuarial figures that make it work. The higher the risk for your car, home, boat or motorcycle, the higher your premiums. The less risky, the lower the premiums. The more claims you make, the more likely you are to get dropped. This is just reality, because the reality is what makes sure there is enough money available, from the less risky pool, to pay for the more risky pool when they do make their claims. Now if we suspend reality, and embrace emotion, we ignore the fact of what makes insurance work. We ignore that there are in fact costs associated with providing insurance. When it comes to health insurance, we suspend all logic on how insurance is made to work, and demand that it just work for everyone, at all costs, forever. If we know that the way insurance works now, some people are not covered, or lose coverage, and some people die, and that this is necessary to maintain a system, albeit imperfect, that provides reasonable insurance for the greatest number of people against the greatest number of threats, then how much more would it cost to provide all the insurance necessary for all of the people for every threat imaginable? Obviously, a profit motive means there must be losses. Some few must lose so that many others may win. If we abandon that, and want everyone to be winners, all the time, no matter what the cost, what would that cost be? Obviously the costs would be astronomical, but again, what is one life worth? Clearly, based on emotion and the suspension of reality, it is worth an astronomical amount. So where do we get this astronomical amount of money to pay these costs? If we are going to demand that all reality for how insurance is made to work be abandoned, then what mechanism will pay all the costs for all the claims for all the people, if not the profit motive, statistics and actuarial analysis?
Well that’s easy…we go with the second choice by simply doing two things. First, we just take the money we need by force from those who have it, and give it to those who need it. Second, we make those that generate the costs, like doctors and surgeons and pharmacy companies, part of the Government. We nationalize the system so we can control what those people can charge. We won’t let them charge what they charged the private insurance companies, they will have to be paid what we say they will be paid and if they don’t like it, we won’t use them and without us, they have no customers because the Government is now the only customer so they will be forced to do what we say.
So we will say that the insurance companies make too much money, that they are greedy, that the wealthy have too much money and need to share it with those who need it. The the middle class has too much money and needs to pay. Now, the Government cannot just come in and take your money…well, it can actually, but let’s assume it can’t. What is a Government to do to make this dream of so many come true? We are in fact in a capitalist system where freedom is the spine of our Constitution. How does a Government succeed in removing this evil profit-motive capitalistic system and destroy freedom at the same time in such a way that nobody notices? That’s easy, the Government uses regulation, coercion, manipulation, compliance. The Government simply requires insurance companies, by passing laws, to pay for all types of services that most people will never use like chiropractic exams and drug abuse treatment and marriage counseling, etc… Well, in reality these things cost money, and when they are given for free, more people use them simply because they are free, but the costs must be paid notwithstanding. What happens now is Government’s distortion of the free market system that prevents it from functioning correctly. It’s like a virus inside a healthy body, making it react in ways we don’t like. The free market system will keep trying to adjust to this Government invasion, to counteract it, but it cannot, no more than a body’s white blood cells can overcome an invincible virus. The free market system is forced to work in reality, but the Government can work in fantasy, and the Government can overwhelm the free market by ignoring the laws of reality, by demanding things by law that can’t be done based on facts, or logic or math.
So in a capitalist system based on facts, logic and math, how are these additional costs, mandated by the law of fantasy, to be paid? It’s math. Raise premiums. And so as the Government forces insurance companies to pay for more and more things that people don’t need, premiums go higher and higher and higher, until they reach a point where people are demanding free healthcare because the healthcare being provided by capitalism is too expensive. And that is how the Government wins. The Government demands that premiums be lowered with one hand, while they pass laws that drive premiums up with their other hand. That is how the Government finally has the authority, finally granted to them by the People, to use force, to take money from every American thus taking away your freedom to keep what you earn, and from every insurance companies profits, from every wealthy person, and redistribute it to cover the astronomical costs of insuring everyone against everything forever and ever. Forever and ever?
It is possible to insure everyone for everything, but not forever, even if the Government does it. The Government can steal as much money as it needs from every American. The Government can take over the doctors, the surgeons, the pharmacy companies. The Government can dictate how much anything should cost and not a penny more. The Government can do all of these things. But in the end, reality wins. In the end, there is no insurance against death. In the end, the Government will use the profit motive (to know how much money to steal to cover their costs), statistical figures and actuarial analysis, they will use the very same concepts the private sector did to determine who gets what treatment and when, who gets which medication and how much and for how long, the Government will decide, just like the private insurance companies did, on who lives and who dies. Who lives and who dies. In the end, this never changes.
The only difference will be, once this entire metamorphosis has transpired, and we emerge from our chrysalis with a Government-run national healthcare system, is that our healthcare will be run just like the DMV, just like the IRS, just like Amtrak, just like the Post Office. In other words, it will be run inefficiently, expensively and without concern for costs because the profit-motive has been removed. There will still be winners and losers, there will still be people who die from not receiving treatment or medications, but we will have to wait longer for everything, we will be denied services or medications even if we are willing to pay for them ourselves, and without the profit motive there is no incentive for companies to come up with new drugs or new machines or new surgical techniques. In the end, more people will die than would have under a capitalistic system, but people won’t care, because reality is insensitive, and all people want to feel is good…about themselves, about the world around them, and by knowing that everyone has insurance, even if that means the Government instead of a private insurance company is picking the winners and losers, even if that means there are more losers than there were before, they prefer the emotional narcissism to the reality. To the cold, hard, facts of reality.
Lastly, I noticed you paid $80,000 in Federal income taxes last year? What if you had been allowed to keep that money instead? If the Federal Government had not stolen that money from you, and if you add up all the Federal and State Income Tax you have ever paid over years and years and whatever rate of return you would have gotten on all that money…what kind of private insurance would that have bought you? Perhaps one that would not, or could not, drop you? Perhaps one with extremely high premiums, but you could afford it with that extra money? I remember when I was looking at life insurance, my broker was telling me about 80 year old people that were insuring themselves for $1M. The premiums were outrageous, but they paid them, and the insurance company was willing to insure them even though they could die tomorrow. There is always a premium an insurance company will take for any risk. It’s just that for high risks, such as 80 year old’s and life insurance, those premiums are too high. But if they have the money…why not? And that’s what they do.
Alternatively, would all that money the Government stole have been enough to pay for whatever medications or procedures you needed? Obviously you worked hard enough to achieve a position where you earn significant income, and if only the Government had allowed you to keep ALL that you earned, instead of redistributing it to others in exchange for votes, the outcome may have been different. You may still have insurance, or you may be able to pay yourself for what you need. Since I don’t know the specifics, I can’t say for sure, but these are certainly plausible theories.
So just in summation, you just want to let me die. This is exactly why your ideology won’t get my vote. Do you think that we should care for wounded veterans? Spend billions in body armor? Why pick winners and losers there. War sucks so you get shot just leave to die on the battlefield right?
No, I don’t want to let you die, and I would in fact be happy to donate to a cause, or towards your specific case, as either of those may help prevent you or someone else, from dying. In fact, you may have heard of the websites where individuals explain their situation and ask people to donate, and I have donated to those sites several times. The situation can be a sick child, or for funeral expenses, or for someone’s wheelchair, etc.. I believe that most people, if given the opportunity, will help other people in need, voluntarily. Americans donated $316B last year, despite all the money the Government stole from them first, and the fact that much of that will not be written off as a tax deduction. Think of how much MORE would have been donated, if the Government had let them keep their earnings.
My ideology holds people higher than yours does. My ideology actually believes that humanity, on net, is humanitarian and would help you pay your bills or receive your treatment. What your ideology believes is that humanity cannot be trusted to voluntarily help others. That humanity is evil, by nature, and will hoard for itself and look out for itself, and therefore, Government must be used, like a crowbar, to use force to extract money from people so it can be used for a greater good. That is exactly why your ideology won’t get my vote.
I believe in freedom, and that people are good, and that they will help other people in need. Your ideology believes in slavery, and that people are bad, and that the only way to make them do something good is to pass laws that steal the product of their labor, under threat of violence, and give it to those who need it, or just want it.
As for war, we have not had a war since WWII. I believe most of those veterans have already left us. If you are referring to the unconstitutional invasions of other sovereign nations for the last 60 years by an America that likes to toss its weight around for political junkets, then yes, I believe we should take care of every veteran that we unconstitutionally put in harms way. In fact, if I had it my way, the same capitalist methodology that I explained previously regarding healthcare should be no differently applied with regards to warfare. Again, we must discuss costs and reality.
Based on capitalism, we would have to pay them significantly more than they get paid now, to more properly reflect the risks they are taking, just like how the free market prices risk. Those risks, and their costs, would include every medical expense and the cost of supporting every family member that the solider was responsible for supporting, for the rest of their lives.
War is a choice, unlike what happens to you in Life that is out of your control. There is nobody to blame for a disease or a true accident. There is someone to blame, however, for the death of a soldier, and it is never the one who shot him. Politicians send citizens onto the battlefield under the assumed risk that every single one of them dies. To think any other way would not be realistic. The reality is, they all may die.
So I don’t blame the soldier. I blame the aristocracy. The politicians are responsible for every soldier’s death, disfigurement or handicap, which is why the Constitution requires that Congress (The People) approves a war through an official declaration of war, which we have not had since WWII. That makes the past 60 years of death, disfigurement and handicap for every soldier fall squarely on the shoulders of every President and politician who has unilaterally, without the will of The People, and without paying the true costs of making such a decision, the responsible party for sending citizens to die in the name of political expediency.
War is only immune to economic forces because politicians make it that way. The true cost of war is all the lives lost, the families destroyed, the medical expenses of those injured, the costs to the families of lost incomes…if we actually paid our soldiers what war really costs them, we would almost never go to war because we could never afford it. And that is the way it should be. But like anything else the government interferes in by; creating welfare, price controls, subsidies…free universal healthcare, the cheaper you artificially make something, the more people suddenly show up asking for more of it, and war is no different.
In the case of becoming sick, there is nobody to blame. But for some reason, that means every innocent citizen must be forced to pay for it. In the case of a citizen becoming a dead soldier, the politician is to blame. But for some reason, the guilty politician is not forced to pay for it. If that isn’t backwards Government, I don’t know what is. If that doesn’t show you who is really in control of all of us, I don’t know what does.