The Real Health Care “Issues.”

The Real Health Care “Issues.”

I’m writing this from Washington D.C., just having experienced the TSA experience many have come to know and love.  The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons invited me to participate in a congressional briefing with Rep. Paul Broun, GA and I feel compelled to make a report. 

Very few in power here have shunned the influence peddling that seems to go along with the job.  Those who are principled seem a bit sad, much of their vigor gone with Justice Robert’s ruling..  Lost with Robert’s ruling was a real opportunity to roll back the commerce clause’s grip on states and on the federal overreach.  The likelihood that a court challenge will occur again in our lifetime presenting this opportunity is remote, according to one legislator speaking to me.  The beast of big government has the upper hand, like never before. 

The beast is bankrupt, however.  One libertarian congressional staffer told me openly that Medicare is going to vaporize whether this is politically palatable or not.  The money coming in doesn’t remotely cover the anticipated expenses by as early as 2017.  The implosion of this Ponzi scheme will be accelerated by the court’s decision to uphold the Unaffordable Care Act (UCA,) bringing fiscal insolvency to this program likely prior to 2017.  Any legislator in office when that happens is probably finished.  I found it interesting that there was more discussion about how to unwind or dissolve Medicare  and Medicaid than how to reform this ill-conceived entitlement program. 

The legislative “kick the can” approach, always leaving tough decisions and issues for the future legislators continues and will bring collapse and chaos to the medical arena and many others.  So many corporatists have bet their future on loot from Uncle Sam to fund their various market-unworthy scams.  These folks will soon be bankrupt and deservedly so.  Hopefully, more bailouts will be politically impossible and these companies will be reorganized and sold off, cleansing the marketplace of this mall-investment. 

What will happen after the government medical juggernaut hits bottom?  We will have to fiercely oppose any “top down” solution that does anything other than remove all federal interference.  I’ve come to some conclusions.  Health care is not a federal issue.  It is not a state issue.  It is not a government issue at all, at any level. Making health care a government problem makes one’s health, another’s liability and begs for control, rationing and euthanasia, ultimately.   

Health care is a service that physicians provide to patients utilizing whatever necessary resources are at their disposal to achieve the best outcome.  That ‘s it, isn’t it?  Anything that interferes with this process is the “issue.”  Robbing one individual for the health benefit of another is an “issue.”  Government created scams like PPO repricing and uncompensated care, two of the primary culprits of the high cost of medical care, are “issues.” 

Government has been the massive “issue,” interfering with the delivery of health care for several decades now and bringing us from a time when no one needed insurance to a time when even with insurance, bankruptcy is a reality for the sick.  Federal “solutions” to health care have focused on insurance coverage, rather than an examination of the true costs, an approach designed to distract attention from those profiting from the finance of health care while having nothing to do with its delivery. 

There are some glimmers of hope, though.   There is general acknowledgement that the high price of care is Washington’s fault.  There is a realization that the politicians must choose their path:  take the money or lose their power.   The collapse of government health care will be a rough political ride for those who are in office when it happens.  If for no other reason than preserving their own political fortunes, we might yet see a roll back, one that will occur in tiny, almost imperceptible bites, though. 

There are some good people in D.C.  Not very many though.   “The reason people think politics is dirty, is because it is dirty,” as Lew Rockwell has said.  I think this is why I always feel like I need a hot shower when I get back.

G.  Keith Smith, M.D.