Health Care Legislation Unraveling as Details Emerge

A little weekend catching up on health care reform. The New York Times headlined yesterday Obama and Congress Clash on How to Pay for Health Care. They weren't talking about cash or credit card, although the debt build-up on the Congressional credit card makes cash the only currency most providers should accept. But the exploding deficit is the critical issue according to the NYT.

It has become the trillion-dollar question: can President Obama find that much in spending cuts and tax increases to keep his campaign promise to overhaul the health care system, without adding to already huge deficits? Mr. Obama and the Democrats running Congress are deeply split over the possibilities. House and Senate leaders do not like his ideas but cannot agree on alternatives.

None of the options, the president's or Congress's, seems workable. The Times provides a rundown: more taxes on the wealthy, tax employer-provided benefits, cut Medicare spending, and that old favorite, "sin taxes." The Seattle Times also offers a Washington Post review of the Senate package.

Speaking of Medicare, the Washington Policy Center says the program is a good preview of the proposed "government option." It boasts a huge unfunded liability, massive paperwork, and inadequate provider reimbursement. Not to mention having the market and regulatory clout to dismantle private health insurance industry.

A popular YouTube video contends that eliminating private health insurance has been the goal all along. The public option simply advances the single payer goal. Watch it.

Rich Lowry explains how it works.

Private insurers are at a disadvantage vis-a-vis the federal government because they don't have the power of the government to dictate prices to doctors and hospitals. That's what Medicare does, and why it pays less for health services than private insurers.

...If the public option in ObamaCare underpays providers in a similar fashion, it will charge cheaper premiums than private insurance. Employers will dump their employees into the public plan, and a massive "crowding out" will occur. The respected health care research firm The Lewin Group estimates as many as 119 million people could migrate from private insurance to the government plan...

Read the whole thing. There's really little dispute about the effects of the public option, despite the fervent claims of supporters that they're just providing consumers a competitive alternative. Nevermind that most consumers are happy with the insurance coverage they have.

The more we learn about Congressional health care reform, the less there is to like.