"Hatch's Health Care Stand Is Correct"
Posted by: Staff in Health Care Reform on
Jul 21, 2009
Rep. Brad Daw -- from Utah House District 60 -- writes in the Ogden Standard-Examiner . . . "Hatch's Health Care Stand Is Correct":
I want to take a moment and offer a sincere best of luck to Sen. Orrin Hatch as he leads the fight against Washington's idea of health care reform.
As a member of the Utah State Health System reform task force, I can state without reservation that the only hope of genuine, long-term reform lies in less government interference and fewer barriers between patient and doctor. All variations of health care reform I hear coming from the current administration are going in the opposite direction.
I was pleased to learn that Sen. Hatch had sent a letter to President Obama which very clearly stated the problem with the current proposals. It stated: "At a time when major government programs like Medicare and Medicaid are already on a path to fiscal insolvency, creating a brand new government program will not only worsen our long term financial outlook but also negatively impact American families who enjoy the private coverage of their choice."
He also pointed out that these government programs already incorporate a large hidden tax on every insurance dollar we spend: "A recent Milliman study estimated that the cost-shifting from government payers (specifically Medicare and Medicaid) costs families with private insurance nearly $1,800 more per year."
Supporters of a government-run health insurance plan claim that it will be only one "option" in the insurance marketplace. Given that current federal plans already place a serious burden on the rest of us through price controls and cost-shifting, it is clear to me that the expansion of this type of plan would ultimately drive all private insurers out of the market.
Another part of the administration's plan is a mandate that all people be required to purchase full health coverage. The Congressional Budget Office noted that "an individual mandate ... would require people to purchase a specific service that would have to be heavily regulated by the federal government." Washington would dictate what acceptable insurance coverage would be, while pricing its own coverage lower than private insurers'.
Sen. Hatch has noted: "Forcing free market plans to compete with these government-run programs would create an unlevel playing field and inevitably doom true competition."