No, you can't have that Twinkie!

Socialized medicine...wow...where does one start when describing what an absolute boondoggle this will turn out to be? It's bad on so many fronts I can barely figure out where to start. Speaking for myself, I've boiled it down to three major areas of pending disaster if this abomination is allowed to be implemented:
1) Cost, not just in dollars but in lost jobs.
2) Quality of care.
3) The ever increasing level of government control over our lives.

COST
As it stands right now, the current legislation is estimated to cost 1.5 trillion dollars over ten years. Trouble is, the CBO estimates that the plan will cost 284 billion dollars per year over ten years. Last time I checked, that's 2.84 trillion dollars at the end of the day. That cost will be passed onto the wealthy by way of raising their taxes to levels not seen since Jimmy Carter was president. That alone will have a crippling effect on job creation in the prvate sector but when you add the fact that many private sector jobs in healthcare will then be converted to the federal government, it gets even worse.

Even the Washington Post, bastion of liberal thinking agrees that simply taxing the wealthy to pay for the current plan won't work. There simply isn't enough money out there to pay for it. So who then will ultimately pay for it? We the people will by way of higher income taxes, gas taxes and our "sin" taxes on alcohol, tobacco and the like. Taxes on tobacco have already been hiked quite a bit over the last few months despite the anointed one's promise that he wouldn't dream of raising taxes on anyone making less than $250,000 a year. Or was that $150,000 a year? I get confused because Joe Biden, human gaffe machine, can't seem to get his facts straight. Just a side note, the vast majority of people who use tobacco, earn LESS than $150,000 a year. So much for not taxing the "poor".

The cost of this plan will enslave our children and grandchildren to the federal government through taxation that can't even be imagined at this point. The plan calls for taxing businesses who don't provide healthcare to their employees somewhere in the neighborhood of $750-$1000 per year, per employee. To put this in perspective, the company I work for pays $750 per month for my healthcare. What do you think would happen if this company were given the choice between paying $12,000 a year for my healthcare or $1,000 a year? They'd drop me like a bad habit and feel good about it because I still had coverage, just not with them. That little fact is the insidious truth that isn't talked about in this debate. Private coverage will simply dry up and cease to be when the government gets into the business of healthcare. That ultimately is the goal here. The complete destruction of private healthcare as we know it. Nationalizing one seventh of the nation's economy in a single pen stroke.

QUALITY OF CARE

Who hasn't heard the horror stories in the news about the level of care in countries where socialized medicine is the norm? The elderly being denied services simply because they've "lived a full life and aren't eligible for further treatment" or being diagnosed with cancer when it's treatable but waiting so long for that treament that by then it's terminal. The French now have to buy supplemental private insurance due in large part to the gaps in their government system. The Canadians have begun turning to private healthcare facilities to skirt the system for the very same reasons. Who wants to wait 6 months to a year for an MRI because the system is swamped? How would any of us like to be told that their elderly loved ones dialysis or cancer treatment has been declined simply because of their age?

What will most likely wind up happening will be that the wealthy who can still afford private insurance will still get better coverage than the masses that Obama claims he wants to help. The rest of us will be left with sub-standard coverage and no options when the system doesn't work. To think that the federal government will manage anything better than the private sector is ludicrous. The federal government can't manage to keep it's own roads in workable condition most of the time. Why would I want them in charge of something so vital as healthcare?

One bright spot in all this? Under government control of healthcare, there will be no one to sue for malpractice. You can't sue the government after all... can you?

GOVERNMENT CONTROL

It's a simple thing really, anytime the government provides money for anything, they assume a level of control over how that money is spent. In simple terms, if the govt. pays for my healthcare, they will then be able to, logically, tell me what is and is not "acceptable risk behavior".
For instance, my love of the occasional greasy cheeseburger and fries will come under the banner of "risky behavior" to my health. Sugary drinks are already one the list of soon to be high taxed items.

Let's say that I like to go skydiving. Who's to say that the govt. won't find a way to tax me or penalize me for that simply because of the risk? So many facets of our daily lives are linked to our health after all. The cars we drive, our commute, the foods we eat and the activities we engage in all play a part in our health and ultimately the govt. will be able to tell us what is risky and what is not. I might be told one day that sitting at my computer, writing my little rants is bad for my back and may cause carpal tunnel syndrome so that activity should be curtailed at all costs.

That's a stretch I'll admit but it illustrates the level of control we can eventually expect over our daily lives.

Socialized medicine is nothing more than the biggest power grab in history. For those of you who believe the govt. has no business telling you how to live your private lives, get ready to have that premise squashed into dust.