They say if you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door. But if you build a lousy mousetrap, one that can’t possibly work as well as established mousetraps, then your only choice is to lie about how good your lousy product is.
That’s the current status of the health care proposal from Congress. It stinks. They know it stinks. It’s all about power, not health care. They know that too. But what they hope is that you don’t know that and on the off chance you don’t … they’re lying through their teeth about how much better we’ll all be with their latest health care scheme.
Since their product stinks so bad, they can’t go out and sell it as better than what’s already in place. So, they have to drive up the negatives of their opposition. The object being trying to fool you into thinking their plan stinks less than the alternative.
This is the same process whereby a worthless incumbent politician, faced with a viable challenger, will try and convince you that he stinks less than the other fellow by making all kinds of accusations – supportable or not – against his opponent. If your negatives are high, your only choice is to make your opposition’s higher – by hook or by crook. That’s the way the game is played. It’s politics 101.
The process started during a speech by Obama when he told two whoppers back to back. He said pediatricians were scamming the health care system by ordering tonsillectomies when they weren’t needed in order to pocket some extra cash. Only one problem there Barry – pediatricians don’t take out tonsils, surgeons do. He expanded his untruthfulness by then claiming certain doctors were doing unnecessary amputations to fleece the system for a quick $50,000. He actually said that. Unfortunately for Obama, amputations are about a tenth of that cost, if that. The doctor’s cut is not enough to induce that kind of fraud. You have to wonder whom is advising the president and why are they always trying to make him look like a fool?
Now Congress is chirping in claiming that insurance company profits are “obscene,” “immoral,” or worse. This too is a gross deviation from the truth. Remember, the point is drive up the negatives of the alternative, truthful or not.
However, the facts are completely differnet from the congressional story. Insurance companies rank 35th in profitability, behind numerous other industries like railroads and chocolate makers. They average a profit margin of between 2 and 5 percent. High-tech companies – which contribute heavily to Democrats – average around 20 percent. But, you never hear a Democrat selling the high tech companies down the river for making obscene profits since some of that loot makes its way to their campaign chest.
Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid also rail about premiums having doubled over the past several years. Well, Nancy and Harry, here’s a piece of history for you.
Historically, medical insurance premiums tracked inflation, with slight deviations from time to time due to new technology coming on line. That trend was constant for decades. It stayed that way until the government got into the health care business in the 1960s.
The government, in its infinite wisdom, set the price they would pay for their health care programs at less than providers could deliver it. Providers, having to make a profit to continue providing, shifted what they were losing on the government to insured patients – thereby driving premium increases well past the annual rate of inflation (2.3 times to be exact). That’s why insurance premiums increase faster than inflation – because the federal government is a deadbeat.
Of course, the bottom line here is if this were a great plan whose time had come, it would be an easy sell. It’s a heavy lift because it’s a piece of garbage … and your congressman and senators know it. But they want that extra power and they’ll stop at nothing to get it – even if it kills you. It just might.