GOP Senators Get an Earful on Health Reform From Utah Businessman
Opinion piece in Salt Lake Tribune
This is a great opinion piece by Utah businessman Tom Diegel. Thanks for the well written piece.
By Tom Diegel
Sens. Mitch McConnell and Orrin Hatch anticipated they would go home for the holidays and hear the anger regarding the health care reform bill. They are right; I’m angry.
I’m angry because the GOP is using this landmark legislation as a political wedge to position itself favorably for future power and elections and deepening the partisan divide.
I’m angry because even though there was a bipartisan alternative presented by our own Sen. Bob Bennett, still the Republicans offer nothing more beyond “no” as an alternative.
I’m angry because after most of a year of negotiations, our own Sen. Hatch distills an extraordinarily complex issue into a simple and very unhelpful “We need to start over.”
I’m angry because Hatch and his ilk had the audacity to complain about not being consulted (“backroom deals”), despite making it very clear that he was non-negotiable.
I’m angry because the public option was killed in part because it would provide a competitive option to the insurance companies, which would benefit Americans but threaten insurers. It’s therefore clear who our senators favor. And those favored are being awarded 30 million new customers.
I’m angry because Republicans paint the legislation as being a huge expense, yet the nonpartisan Congressional Budge Office has indicated that the cost savings associated with the plan offset the expenses.
I’m angry that many of the same Republicans stonewalling the current bill and the “moderate Democrats” who insisted on dramatic compromise are the same folks who voted to dramatically expand Medicare in 2003 with no payment/savings mechanisms.
I’m angry because opponents of health care reform conveniently neglect to associate “higher premiums” with “higher taxes.” Whether we pay for health insurance via taxes or premiums, we will pay. Yet our senators don’t acknowledge this salient fact.
I’m angry because my ratio of premiums and co-pays to HMO payments for my care over the past seven years has been 4:1, and this deplorable ratio will not change.
I’m angry that despite this much-vaunted “reform,” my premiums will continue to rise at four to eight times the annual inflation rate. If the current trend of 7-12 percent annual increases continues, a family of four could be paying more than $20,000 a year in premiums in 10 years. Yet a public plan that was initially projected to cost approximately $1 trillion to implement equals approximately $3,000 for every American.
I’m angry that in an era of extreme economic hardship, employers — both large and small — are going to continue to shoulder the burden of providing extraordinarily expensive health insurance to their employees.
I’m angry because our highways, schools, national parks, law enforcement and military are paid for with tax dollars, but applying tax dollars toward health care is inexplicably labeled “socialism” and is therefore vilified.
I’m angry because I won’t have the option to buy my way into Medicare in 10 years when I turn 55, when I could both help fund it and take advantage of its benefits. This option was on the table, then taken away in yet one more capitulation.
I’m angry because despite the fact that most of the effective drugs and medical devices come from U.S. manufacturers and we have the best medical schools in the world, many Americans seek their care in other countries where these same drugs, devices and treatments are a fraction of the U.S. costs, and the “reform” will not change this.
I’m angry that our senators are denying Americans the health plan that they themselves enjoy, and they have no idea what it’s like to pay a significant chunk of their after-tax income to premiums and co-pays or be denied coverage.
So you are right, Sens. Hatch and McConnell. I’m angry.
Tom Diegel is the owner of a product design company in Salt Lake City.