by: Brantley Oakley

We have been fed serving after serving of compelling rhetoric by President Obama and the Spendocrats throughout this healthcare debate telling us that we must act now to help all those poor Americans who are not getting healthcare. The major problem we face in this bill and in many other political issues is that our crafty politicians know that when they shroud their agenda into an argument that plays on Americans’ generosity and desire for equality they can sell us a ticking time-bomb and we’ll buy it with a smile on our face and give our life savings for it. This bill would be a terminal disease for America for so many reasons;I’ve briefly underlined just a few of the major issues involved with passing this bill. Irreversibility

One of the biggest problems I have with socialistic programs like Medicare and this healthcare bill is that they are essentially irreversible. Don’t think for a moment that when this legislation blows up and costs go through the roof that the Democrats will say “oops. We messed up. I guess we’re going to scrap this legislation.” Nor, will the Republicans be able to do reverse the bill because there will be millions of people receiving free healthcare who would be outraged. So, just like Medicare trudges on in spite of the fact that it is a failed program, so too will this legislation continue to grow and overburden Americans until it finally breaks us.

Unaffordability

The fact that this bill is called the “Affordable Health Care for America Act” is a farce. There is nothing affordable about this bill. The CBO estimates that this bill will cost over $1 trillion dollars in the first decade. I think it is rather self-evident that Congress has a long history of underestimating costs of its proposed bills, and it is doing so with this bill. There is no way we can afford this. Please understand, first and foremost, that the estimation is skewed because the government will collect revenue for 10 years to give 7 years of service. So, what happens for the next ten years? Also, keep in mind that Pelosi and the Spendocrats cut out the $250 billion that will be given to doctors. They are going to pass a separate bill for doctors’ compensation to avoid adding the number to the total cost of this bill—only in Washington is such a tactic rational or ethical.

Pelosi plans on paying for this trillion-dollar disaster by taxing the wealthiest people in America; specifically, she wants to raise taxes to an astounding 45% on all persons who earn over $500,000. Mark my words; this will not happen. These people are not going to sit idly by while their wealth is plundered, nor is there any way that this tax will be able to sustain the massive cancer of costs that this bill would create. The cost of running Medicare has doubled every four years since 1966. The reality is that this program will probably cost around $3 trillion by the end of the first decade and will grow unrestrained until it brings us to our death bed.

What about the Medicare cuts? President Obama said this bill would be paid for by Medicare cuts; what about that? Good question. Supposedly, the federal government, which hasn’t cut costs since Regan was there, is going to raise $400 billion by cutting out waste in Medicare. Well, I say if it’s that easy to cut the Medicare costs, why hasn't Washington done it? Do that first and then come talk to me about healthcare reform. Even if Washington can cut $400 billion—I’m not buying it—but even if they can, that’s not going to cover the tab when this thing doubles or triples or worse in the coming years. Remember, Medicare currently has $34 trillion in unpaid liabilities. That’s just for the elderly. What’s going to happen when you allow the government to take over healthcare for everyone.

2048 Pages

Perhaps the single scariest facet of this bill is that it is an incomprehensible mess. You do not need 2048 pages to state what they have said this bill states. No ordinary American and most of Congress does not really know what is in this bill. We don't know what little surprises this behemoth is hiding? If Washington wanted to play straight with Americans, they would write a lucid and legible bill, and I’m not buying this notion that legislative language has to be this way; this bill is deliberately protracted and obscure. To vote for this bill is to hand Obama, Pelosi and the Spendocrats a blank check and say “I don’t know what you’re doing, but I trust you.”

I agree that our healthcare system needs to be reformed, but this bill embodies the worst possible solution to the problem, which is why I only slightly disagree with the Wall Street Journal when it says this bill is the “worst bill ever.” It’s not the worst bill ever; that award goes to the Cap-and-Trade bill, but this healthcare bill is a close second.