re: #232 subsailor68

I know - that’s the plan. But it doesn’t change my point, really. First, to cover the cost of the $1.2 trillion, we’re looking at increased taxes, cuts in existing programs (e.g. Medicare), and ephemeral concepts like “eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse”. And quite frankly, I’m skeptical. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid - all supposed to be self-supporting, etc. But the same people (i.e. congress) who created these programs couldn’t help themselves. They had to get their fingers into those cookie jars to fund new projects, or cover losses in other areas. Hell, it started with Medicare in about 1939.

I can’t imagine that Congress - even if they actually saw a $104 billion “profit” - could resist spending it elsewhere.

But we’d still have destroyed our health care system.

Once health care is driven by political considerations, it’s game over. Every constituency will immediately start haranguing their representatives for special coverage of either conditions or treatments, and taxpayers will be responsible for providing dick pills and boob enhancements to anyone who asks, because it will become a “right.” And as noted earlier, every quack treatment, from homeopathy to ear candling, will also find coverage - not because it passes scientific muster, but because it’s politically popular.

And those capable of shrieking the loudest - rather than those with the best evidence - will win the day. The Jenny McCarthys, colon cleansers, dowsers and colloidal silver swallowers will be in the ascendancy, and you don’t have to look any farther than Europe to see this happening.