Dakota Beacon

I received my letter from Congressman Earl Pomeroy last week with a convoluted explanation justifying his vote for the Affordable Health Care for America Act. In keeping with Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s talking points, he attacked the “evil” insurance industry exclusively for the “soaring” costs of health care, Medicare and Medicaid.

What he didn’t explain is how the cost of the “something-for-nothing” expectations will be borne by a few Americans while at the same time reducing the national debt. The group that takes continues to grow; the group that pays continues to shrink.

Pomeroy’s explanation sounded a lot like the warmed-over justification he used to explain his vote in favor of cap and trade. Possibly his unspoken thought is to reduce everyone to the same level of misery and call it “fair.” Weird. Interchanging equality with egalitarianism insults the public’s intelligence.

Meanwhile, unemployment continues to climb with over 16 million people out of work. Tax revenue continues to slump and government spending, thanks to TARP, chugs on at $200 million an hour. Out-of-control spending coupled with pending national health care plus cap and trade presages monstrous national debt. Where, oh where, is the skeptical media?

Nitpicking the specifics in any of the health care proposals at this time is mere straining at gnats.

                        --Health care coverage for everyone.

                        --Reductions or increases in Medicare benefits.

                        --Competition for private insurers.

                        --Co-ops.

                        --Pre-existing conditions.

                        --So called “death panels.”

We may quibble about the validity of any given issue, but to do so misses the point. It is like rearranging the proverbial deck chairs on the Titanic.

Any way you slice it, if the government is deeply involved in health care, that is, by definition, a government option. Otherwise, why have legislation that reorganizes the entire health care system?

Absent from the health care debate is the biggest issue of all -- the loss of freedom and liberty for all Americans except for the political elite.

For the federal government to appropriate 1/6th of the market economy comprising the current health care system is to control the lives of its citizens. And appropriate they will. Have we so soon forgotten GM, Chrysler, AIG, the banking system and pay “czars” capping pay?

Any aspect of our lives linked to health, which involves most of our behavior, qualifies for federal scrutiny. We’ve already seen isolated efforts involving tobacco and obesity. Subordinating behavior to the health bureaucracy with rules enforced by the IRS is already written into the House bill. Once sweeping health care legislation is enacted, the details will be worked out and managed with regulations and policies written under the Secretary of Health and Human Services and whatever “czars” the executive branch deems necessary.

Government keeps raising the cost of doing business and the handwriting is on the wall. The brain drain has started. In the face of federal takeovers, some former banking and insurance industry executives are testing the waters overseas. Singapore, Switzerland and Dubai are wooing U. S. talent.

If the outrageous health care reforms come to pass, many doctors and other medical professionals contemplate an exodus one way or another. Early retirement is always an option. Otherwise, attractive overseas locations like Costa Rica, with its American enclaves, offer quality environments for medical professionals giving high caliber care at very reasonable prices. Even now some insurance companies are forging arrangements between patients and doctors to fly patients overseas for necessary medical care.

            Senator Conrad!

            Senator Dorgan!

            Please! Stop this insanity! Enough already!

Focus on repairing Medicare and Medicaid with all its graft and fraud, but don’t overhaul 1/6th of the market economy.

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at P. O. Box 337, Stanley, ND 58784 or (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).