Obamacare

I continue to be fascinated by the number of otherwise reasonably intelligent people who are duped by the whole “we need socialized healthcare” mantra being spouted by members of the Left.

A Democrat Senator from Nebraska named Conrad asked the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) chair whether what he sees in the current plan will actually “bend the curve”. (BTW, “bend the Curve” is Obama’s term for how applying federal pressure will make the market costs go down and save us money in the long run bringing lower health care costs and lower deficits in years to come.) The answer was “No, Mr. Chairman. On the contrary, the legislation significantly expands the federal responsibility for health care costs.” He goes on to say “Over time, accumulating debt (from budget deficits and increased national debt) would cause substantial harm to the economy.”

Meanwhile liberals everywhere are trumpeting the greatness of socialized medicine in Europe. As an example… I was listening to a radio show where one of the show members went to Europe during the 4th of July break they took. Their kid got sick so they took him to a hospital in a small European town. The healthcare for the kid was free and the prescription was filled for about $4. So socialized healthcare is great right?

Umm…no.

What the host of this show forgot to mention was that the citizens of that country PAID for that healthcare while the show host dished out nothing.

For example, in France, through taxes the government forces about 19% of the average income from a family for their “nationalized healthcare plan”. So 1/5th of a family’s income is going towards paying for state run healthcare, not just for the family, but for ANYONE. The part you DON’T hear is that the plan is so bad the citizenry, in order to get better coverage and freedom of choice, is forced to get private insurance. For the average French tax-paying family this means 13% MORE of their income goes towards healthcare.

And like ALL tax based spending plans it depends entirely on those who are WORKING to pay for it. Worse than that, for the French working class the progressive tax rates means those who earn the most are paying the bulk of THAT while the bottom percentages pay nothing (just like we’re proposing/doing here). Couple this with the fact that France currently has a 10% unemployment rate and you have to ask is it any wonder France is shedding jobs, companies and people?

This brings me back to the United States plan currently sitting before congress.
Congress currently plans to pay for “Obamacare” with a healthcare surtax. And when added to what we already pay in taxes (state, local and et cetera) this raises us above FRANCE for the top marginal tax rate (according to CBO). Even worse…if the planned “savings” in the other areas that “bending the curve” promises to produce do not materialize by 2012, the surtax legislation gives congress the power to raise the rates even further to compensate.

The House Ways and Means committee has cleared their portion of the “Obamacare” program by Okaying the measure to raise taxes on couples making more than $350,000. Never mind that this figure encompasses a HUGE percentage of small businesses in this country that pay taxes not as corporations but as individuals. Never mind that this tax burden will cause the economy to shed jobs at a shocking rate heretofore unseen in this recession (nationally we’re at 9.5% unemployment, in Michigan it’s 15.2% and rising). And again…never mind the fact that those job losses will mean less income to the government forcing them to raise taxes even further, this time on a wider range of people.

How can ANYONE, left or right think this is good for America?

All facts and figures used here were gathered by reading stories on AP and Reuters news services.