Big Sky Cairn

Just to clarify.

I’m not against withdrawal from Iraq.  I’m just against doing it before we win.

I’m not against alternative energy, clean energy or the fantastic economic opportunities they provide.  I’m just against relying on those sources before they are viable.

I’m not against universal health coverage.  I’m just against a single-payer government program to provide it.

Believe it or not, I support many of the goals that have become the platform for modern liberal dogma.  The sticking points are how we get there.  In debates, Democrats often talk about the importance of the goals they seek (suggesting that their political opponents don’t share these goals), and glaze over the details of how you get there.  For this conservative at least, the means they don’t talk about are often not worth the ends they do.

Reminds me of the famous South Park Underpants Gnomes’ plans for converting stolen undergarments into profit:

1. Collect underpants
2.  ?
3. Profit

The physician pay cut problem got me thinking on the broader health insurance issue.

One of the bigger flaws of single payer systems is provider reimbursements. This Medicare fiasco should serve as a warning of the dangers of letting bureaucrats - or formulas created by bureaucrats - dictate the payments for our doctors and hospitals.

Taking a look at the CBO score for the recent Medicare bill, it looks like it will cost $10.7 billion to maintain last year’s payment levels. Part of this is covered by assuming Congress will cut their pay by $5.2 billion in 2013-2014. A nice touch I thought.

This is an incredibly expensive operation here, and it is only for one section of the population. Obviously the country does need to take a hard look at our current system, but I do not see how we can afford single payer. I really do not see why any prospective medical student would want to work in such a system. Your wages are subject D.C. politics every year and rarely meet the cost of providing care, you are held hostage to increasing high medical liability costs, and your student loans are astronomical.

It is not rocket science why we have a shortage of primary care doctors. They are the most reliant on Medicare and Medicaid payments showing what happens when you combine all the above.

It is relatively easy to get everyone health insurance. The trick is to get providers to accept that coverage. Heck you could have the greatest insurance plan on paper, but if no doctor or hospital accepts it, who cares? For some reason, those on the left have been quiet about this part of the debate.

Government does have a role in providing safety net coverage, but it should not be the insurer of first resort.

Despite his cheerleaders on the lefty blogs, and in the newspapers, the fact Baucus failed to override the 10.6% cut in physician reimbursements is an astonishing display of inept leadership.

I will say a couple things about what Jay posted over at LitW; first, President Bush did not propose these cuts (more on that later). Next, I really do not see an issue that is going to break down on party and ideological lines more than health care in the next couple years - so lets give some credit to the fact that a wide majority of House Republicans supported the measure along with the House Democrats.

That last point makes it all the more astounding that Max Baucus, with all his power, could not sway one more vote. Worse still, you could have seen this train wreck coming since last December at least.

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Everyone loves the kids - especially for their political value. Nothing quite as appealing to a politician as exploitation of children. So it makes perfect (political) sense for Montana to raise the income level for Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

It makes a little less sense if you consider the fact that - even at current income caps - this program is only being utilized by a small percentage of eligible families. It would make more sense to put state efforts into “recruiting” already eligible participants - the poorest families - before adding more wealthy families.

Of course, it makes even less sense if you consider that Mr. Count-Your-Chickens-Before-They-Hatch Max Baucus has refused to work across the aisle to get “his” CHIP legislation passed in Congress. It’s been six months since Max declared victory after the Senate sent a bill to the President that everyone knew was going to be vetoed. No votes yet.

But you heard it here first. CHIP will rear it’s ugly head again - right around election time in September or October. Because everyone loves kids and nothing quite as appealing to a politician as exploitation of children.