Lessons from health care policy paranoia
Published September 19, 2013
by Chris Fitzsimon, NC Policy Watch and NC SPIN panelist, September 18, 2013.
By now the scene has become all too familiar, folks on the far-right railing against expanding health care to cover the uninsured, warning that it marks the end of freedom in America as we know it and completes a socialist takeover of our government.
But I am not talking about the current obsession on the Right with defunding the Affordable Care Act, even if it means shutting down the federal government, or the characterization of the ACA as Marxism in America even though the law was based on a blueprint developed by the Heritage Foundation and the Reagan Administration and implemented in Massachusetts by that renowned leftist Mitt Romney.
No, I am talking about the bitter, hyperbolic and paranoid opposition to Medicare more than 50 years ago when the health care industry actually hired Ronald Reagan, not far removed from his acting days, to warn the country about what would happen if Congress passed a program to provide comprehensive medical care to senior citizens.
In a specially produced album featuring a dashing Reagan on the cover, he had a clear message for rank and file Americans if they didn’t rally to defeat the creation of Medicare.
“…if you don’t do this and if I don’t do it, one of these days you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children, and our children’s children, what it once was like in America when men were free.”
But Medicare did pass of course and not only were millions of seniors able to see a doctor, the capitalist Republic managed to survive and thrive for the last two generations.
Medicare became so popular that the same Republicans now leading the efforts to defund the Affordable Care Act disingenuously attacked President Obama during the last campaign for his efforts to control Medicare costs, saying he was slashing Medicare for seniors.
And who can forget the “Keep government’s hands off my Medicare” signs that popped up at Tea Party rallies?
It turns out that the children of Reagan’s generation, even the conservative ones, like knowing that their parents and grandparents can actually afford to see a doctor when they need to.
The lesson in the history of the creation of Medicare is not only that like now, all the breathless predictions of capitalism’s demise are ridiculous, it’s that once people actually understand and experience the thoughtful expansion of health care, even a modest Republican-inspired version like the Affordable Care Act, they like it.
That’s a lot of why of the folks on the far-right are in such a panic these days as the enrollment period for individual coverage under the ACA approaches. When people actually take the time to read about the plan and learn that they are guaranteed coverage even if they have a preexisting condition like diabetes or hypertension, they will realize why the law is so important.
When almost a million people in North Carolina find out they are eligible for a subsidy to help them afford insurance, many of them will realize that for the first time in their lives they don’t have to worry that a serious illness will leave them bankrupt. They will also find out that the ACA will not force them to change doctors and that there are no death panels right around the corner.
It is all there are at www.healthcare.gov. Check it out today and enroll starting October 1.
And the next time you see a slickly produced commercial against the Affordable Care Act filled with lies and dire predictions of ruin for America, remember that Reagan was wrong in 1962 and the far-right fear mongers are wrong today.
The Affordable Care Act has already helped millions of seniors, young adults and children with pre-existing conditions. It will help tens of millions more people starting in January if they enroll in a couple of weeks.
More affordable health care for millions of people is just around the corner. The extremists on the far-right can’t stand it because deep down they know the ACA will actually work and that like Medicare, once the American people understand it and experience it, all the lies in the world won’t make any difference.
September 19, 2013 at 8:10 am
Norm Kelly says:
It's no longer just the far right railing against socialized medicine. The IRS has joined the railing. The unions have joined the railings. Can either of these be considered far right?
The Right is definitely talking about defunding Obamacare. But it's the left that's talking about shutting down the government. The plan on the Right is to fund all of the federal government, except socialized medicine. It's the Democrats in the Senate, and His High Holiness himself, that are talking about shutting down the government. They are so dedicated to expanding socialism, and so dedicated to eliminating just one more part of freedom in everyday life, that the left is willing to risk shutting down the federal government to make their point.
September 19, 2013 at 8:34 am
TP Wohlford says:
Reagan was right. We have simply borrowed against the fortunes of the 1960's recipients' grandchildren to postpone judgement day.
September 20, 2013 at 11:48 am
Norm Kelly says:
Almost a million NC residents will find that they qualify for a government subsidy to buy health insurance for the first time? So states this blog post. What's missing? Who is going to pay for this subsidy? Contrary to the opinion of Democrats, liberals, and apparently media types, money from Washington does NOT grow on trees. Money is not free. So either people who pay taxes are going to pay more taxes or people who pay for their own insurance (or the company that provides benefits) are going to have higher premiums. Money comes from somewhere, so someone has to pay for this free/subsidized insurance premium for at least a million NC's and all the other millions across the country.
From the blog "the ACA will not force them to change doctors". Actually, this statement can not be made truthfully. Just like doctors choose whether to provide other government insurances (like medicare & medicaid), they will have a choice of what insurance they accept under the ACA/socialized medicine. Either doctors will be forced to accept all forms of coverage under socialized medicine or they will be allowed to go out of business instead. Doctors have free will still. If the government decides to force providers to accept any & all forms of government insurance, even if the payments don't cover the cost of the service, then doctors will start going out of business. When doctors go out of business, patients will have no choice but to find another doctor. This statement can not be guaranteed any more than when His Holiness said that we would be allowed to keep our current coverage plan.
From the blog "there are no death panels". This statement has already been proven false. The only way to control costs is to have someone, somewhere control who gets treatment and who does not. Sarah Palin was lambasted by liberals for making this claim. Not too long ago, it was revealed that she was right. Don't remember which Democrat or bureaucrat said it, but sometime over the summer this part of socialized medicine was leaked out. I don't remember who or when, but if you don't remember either, google it, as they say. This statement is also false.
When the premise of socialized medicine has to be lied about to justify it, doesn't that mean the premise is false? Well, duh!
Since medicare & medicaid are such stable programs, the costs are less than ever predicted when created, and coverage is so well accepted by doctors & hospitals, then I say continue to use these programs as proof that socialized medicine will also be successful. Or is it that you are trying to say that medicare & medicaid aren't as successful as they could be because there isn't enough government control of the medical system? You are trying to claim that MORE government control of health care will improve the system?
If a federal government take over of the health care system is as successful as medicare & medicaid, what part of the private economy will liberals/Democrats want to take over next? Democrats have already made it known that they want to socialize the energy industry, specifically "big oil". Since the people and SCOTUS have already allowed at least retirement benefits, and health care (any other parts of the economy I don't remember?) to be taken over by the feds, what's to stop them from invading other parts of the economy? What ever happened to the Constitution that specifically restricts the power of the federal government? The federal Constitution is NOT a limit on people or the states! The Constitution specifically says that all powers not specifically given to the feds in the document are automatically given to the states or the individuals. When did the people decide to relinquish this control? When socialized retirement benefits were implemented. Since then, socialism has simply spread one little bit at a time.
Chris, in this blog and most others he produces, is saying that it's just one little step, what's to worry about?! That's the usual way that socialism invades a country. One little step at a time. It doesn't seem to do much harm cuz, after all, it's just one little thing. But they add up to very big things and eventually cause countries to go bankrupt. History shows this to be true. Freedom has not shown this to be historically true. Show me otherwise, please. Attempt to convert me. Just like an ex-smoker, converts are very zealous.
