Health care discussion leaves many worried

Remember that old line, “We’re with the government and we’re here to help you.” It used to be funny.

The way Congress is handling the health care debate makes one wonder how the government will handle actual health care insurance.

One gauge might be the paperwork. A version making the rounds at the Capital is more than 1,000 pages and should give us a clue as to what to expect should the health care reform bill pass as currently written.

Many are worried about the overall cost of the proposed health care plan; the cost to the individual and the cost to the nation. Some sources have the national cost  in the trillions of dollars just in the next few years and that’s a price tag this country’s taxpayers are ill-equipped to pay, especially in today’s economic climate.

People often complain about Medicare and Medicaid because they have a hard time getting seen by a doctor. That’s because physicians say the government only pays a portion of their treatment costs

Both are government-run programs that are poorly managed, yet the backers want us to believe this time it will be different.

Still more people simply don’t like the idea of more government in their lives.

Or their businesses. The insurance companies are understandably upset because they don’t want to be in competition with a company that can print its own money. It’s a pretty safe bet that a Ford dealer would be miffed if Uncle Sam’s Discount Motors opened across the street.

There is no doubt improvements are needed in our health care system, but the proposed package is not the answer. As written, this plan would be akin to replacing the engine and transmission in a car that has a bad alternator.

Not all the health care debate has bad, though.

In a story by Patricia Murphy in The Capitolist, Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley added an amendment to the bill requiring all members of Congress and Congressional staffs to buy their insurance like the rest of us. When his amendment passed, Grassley said, “The more that Congress experiences the laws we pass, the better the laws are likely to be.”

That’s refreshing.

Now if our leaders could whittle that 1,000-page document down to something more manageable to read, say 20 pages, that would be even more refreshing.