As much as I support and see the necessity of health care reform, I do not believe that the Senate Bill or indeed any modification of the same that could readily be achieved through so-called reconciliation will do much more that cause the defeat of the Democratic majority and any hope of progressive government for the foreseeable future, and I am thinking in terms of decades. Without the prospect of a public option for all and not just for those not covered by their employers, I see the proposed legislation as a highly toxic mix that will ultimately engender almost universal anger or rage and very few supporters, and will be quickly aborted by an upcoming Republican majority.
Aside from such legitimate concerns as the public deficit cost, the proposed retention of the anti-trust exemption by the insurance companies, and the virtual certainty of increases in insurance caused by the increased risks to insurers from the elimination of pre-existing conditions and turnover in the work place, the proposed mandatory purchases of insurance by those not covered by their employers will almost certainly lead to an almost universal anger or rage by such individuals at what they will regard as an unfair and selective tax on them that will almost certainly lead to a quick repeal of the same by an oncoming Republican majority in the same manner as occurred when Congress initiated a tax on the elderly on certain portions of social security.
The fact that the government will in part subsidize such premium payments will not solve the problem but indeed make it worse because: it will create consternation in the home and work place at any point where the break points in the reimbursement chart will occur; thereby result in distortions and contortions in compensation practices and in the disclosure of income on applications for governmental aid; and lead to further lack of confidence in and respect for governmental institutions.
In any event no-one will appreciate the concept that the government knows what is best and the individual has no choice but to buy the insurance whether he or she wants it or not. Many of such ‘benefited individuals’ will feel that they do not need or cannot afford such payments and that they can presently get health care for free in the emergency ward at a local hospital if they should need it and will resent any plan that causes them to pay a fee, which they no doubt will regard as a tax. And if such individuals would not think such thoughts of their own volition one may be sure that the forces opposed to the legislation and those who hope to come to power on its back will fuel the fire of such thoughts through massive propaganda in the media.
And Just in case those ‘benefited individuals’ may not be aware of it there are those who will make clear to them that they are being discriminated against by such legislation since those who receive their insurance from their employers are privileged to receive it both apparently free of charge and in any event out of pre-tax dollars while those who are supposed to be the beneficiaries of the legislation will be forced to buy the insurance out of their after-tax dollars.
I will conclude by saying that although I am greatly saddened by the failure of Congress to move forward on the issue of health care reform I think that Scott Brown has done the Democratic Party and the progressive movement a very great favor by rescuing us from the third rail of political suicide and providing us with the opportunity to place the blame on the Republican Party for their obstructionism and for the economic consequences of future health care premium increases that will inevitably come from our antediluvian system of dealing with the problems of health care through private insurance.
