Nurse Hillary

Guess it's time I get back to this. Lots of misinformation out there, as usual. Tons. On some pretty critical issues, too.

I blogged several months ago about SCHIP, a government program created in the 1990s to provide health care for children in families whose income was "slightly" above the poverty line and, thus, disqualified them from receiving Medicare benefits. I use quotes around "slightly" because the program's benchmark was 200 percent of what was considered the poverty line or roughly $40,000 per year for a family of four.

Thing is, individual states were allowed to create their own benchmarks, and then those darn limits and standards got all pliable, and that's how we wound up with families making more than $80,000 getting free health care on the taxpayers' dime. Not only that, but the definition of a child apparently varies from state to state to the point that in some places, you can be 25 years old, live on your own and still, somehow, qualify.

Well, SCHIP, as anyone who follows the news knows, is about to expire. And The Shrill's plan, put into motion in recent weeks by the Democrat-led Congress, approved a newer and better SCHIP (with a drastically increased price tag, of course). And President Bush, as he promised he would, vetoed that bill yesterday.

And as I predicted earlier this summer, the headlines screamed "Bush denies health care for children!" The Libs, as I also predicted, ran to microphones screaming that "Bush hates poor children!" And the media, which I didn't need to predict, failed to correct the record.

Perhaps SCHIP wouldn't need almost twice as much money to continue operating if our taxes weren't insuring people who make more money than a lot of us do. Maybe the program could continue operating as is (which Bush would have gladly signed off on, by the way) if we weren't insuring 20-somethings who, apparently in Rhode Island, are considered children.

This is one of the oodles of reasons I cringe when I think about The Shrill becoming president and, with the help of what likely will still be a Lib Congress, instituting her socialized medicine scheme. You’ve heard about this one, no doubt. Nurse Hillary is promising FREE HEALTH CARE FOR EVERYBODY.

Hurray! Let’s run out and vote!

Not so fast. Let's start with some numbers first, shall we?

Depending on which Lib’s lips are moving, there are roughly 45 to 50 million uninsured in this country. Mark my words that by the end of next summer, that number will grow to 75 million. It may even hit 100 million. After all, it'll be the height of election season, and the media certainly won't correct a mere slip of 25 million or so.

Libs occasionally will cite a 2005 census bureau statistic when using 45 million. There's another census bureau number from the same year, though, that's pegged at around 19 million. How can that be, you ask? Well, the 45 million represents those not privately insured. That word just seems to be omitted an awful lot.

Also omitted are a few facts the census bureau included in its findings. Among them:

--Over 9 million of that number aren't even Americans. They're foreign nationals living and working or studying here temporarily, and most are covered in their countries of origin.

--Another 9 million or so aren't even uninsured. They're on Medicare or caid or what have you. It also doesn’t include the more than 6 million insured under the SCHIP program.

(A quick injection here. I was talking with a co-worker about all this recently, and when I brought up that Medicaid factor, his response was "Medicaid?? You consider that suck-ass program health care?? My response? "No, I don't. I consider that government-run health care.")

--The census bureau also notes that the 21 million remaining includes a rotating population of sorts ... those who were insured but aren't at the moment because they changed jobs along with people who are between jobs. And then there is the vast army of 18- to 34-year-olds (the bureau puts that number at about 18 million) who simply decline health care coverage because they're single, seemingly immortal and would rather spend their money elsewhere (or live in states like Rhode Island, which sees them as really big children and allows them SCHIP coverage).

Side note: Many of those 20-somethings also do not carry life insurance. Or pay homeowners insurance. They live their lives unencumbered by the mind-numbing "just in case" trappings of middle age.

--The census number also includes a handful of the filthy rich, who don't carry insurance because their semi-annual trips to Doctor Improvement wouldn't be covered anyway, and, well, if they slip a disk getting down off the massage table, they simply write a check.

So where’s that number now? It’s certainly not a very accurate 45 million, is it? The actual number, and we can dicker over a million here or there, is hardly a reason, in my mind, to rip apart an existing system that works and institute something that’s been an utter failure everywhere it’s been tried.

Seems to me that if there’s a percentage (and a pretty low one at that) of the population that’s having a problem, we could offer a tweak here or there to help. The problem is overseeing these programs, because Medicare is basically bankrupt, and I’ve illustrated just the tip of the iceberg where fraud associated with SCHIP is concerned.

It’s just like the aftermath of Katrina, like welfare and several dozen other government programs. The waste is enormous, and that often is the case of mismanagement and fraud. The government has proven, time and again, that it cannot do the job. Any job.

But Nurse Hillary, as she has since 1993, wants the government to control all of our health care. In fact, her plan would make health insurance mandatory. Just like car insurance. In order to get a job, you’d have to prove you’re insured. Unless, of course, you hail from Guadalajara and aren’t supposed to be here in the first place.

But I digress.

What of the price tag? The Shrill puts that number at $110 billion per year, which is laughable considering the fact taxpayers already foot the bill for 40-some-odd social programs to the tune to $400 to $500 billion per year. And estimates for 2005 on what was spent for health care in this country was $2 trillion.

Nobody knows what the price actually will be. But I’d bet my last dollar that you could take her number and the most exaggerated guess out there, and the actual cost will wind up closer to the latter.

The Shrill is quick to point out that this isn’t government health care. And she’s right … to a degree. (This is really a precursor to socialized medicine, which she’s been on record pining for since the day she stepped foot in Washington, and something we can discuss in a future entry.)

No, this is merely the government saying we must all have health insurance.

Here’s the rub. The 10s of millions of us who can afford it and/or work for companies which offer it as a benefit already have it. That won’t change … yet. And those who can’t afford it or work for smaller companies that don’t offer it?

Nurse Hillary rides to the rescue! Well, actually, you and I do. Because for every social program, and this one is no different, there is a price tag. And for every government price tag there is?

You got it. A tax increase. In this case, The Shrill says “the rich” will write the checks. Libs always say that.

One way or the other, though, you and I always end up footing the bill.

(Imported from Oct. 11, 2007)