Healthcare is too Important to be Left to Politicians

In the 1940s Canada and the United Kingdom implemented National Health care. Sixty plus years later, Canada with a population of 34 million and the UK with a population of 61 million struggle to provide health care for their people. Their citizens who can afford it come to the US for health care instead of waiting for extended periods of time in their own country. The president and members of congress are proposing health care legislation to provide medical care for the US with a population in excess of 306 million. The U.S. population is nine times the size of Canada’s and five times the size of the U.K.

They want to transform the medical care treatment of Americans virtually over night without any idea of the consequences. How can our country’s health care system absorb these massive changes without descending into chaos.

Congress does not need to pass legislation that will affect every citizen and almost every business in this country. Instead we need to start with the uninsured and help them first.

How is congress going to address the country’s healthcare costs associated with the twelve to twenty million undocumented immigrants in this country whose healthcare needs are currently being met at emergency rooms through this nation?

Congress should work through each healthcare issue and coverage slowly and methodically and not let the President bull-rush them into passing massive health care legislation that is unread and un-debated. We do not want this legislation to end up like the Energy legislation House Bill 2454 that was still in the process of being written when passed by the House on June 27th. That’s like signing a blank check and leaving it up to the lobbyist and a few staff members to insert whatever they want into this bill. It should be mandatory that every word of every bill be read and its impact known before being voted on by Congress.

One thing to remember: while President Obama, Harry Reid, Ted Kennedy and Nancy Pelosi are proposing legislation that will drastically affect the healthcare of the American public this legislation will not have any impact on the quality of their own healthcare.

U.S. Senators and U.S. Representatives have access to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. They pay premiums but the taxpayers subsidize 72 percent to 75 percent of the cost of their health plans.
Congress not only has the Federal Employees Healthcare benefits but doctors and other health professionals ready to serve their needs. They also have access to the Naval Medical Center.

When it comes to domestic legislation, our president and congress remind me of General Custer at the Little Big Horn who decided to attack the Indians without concern for the number of Indians he would be fighting. We have to stop passing legislation without counting the costs in dollars and the impact on the American people.