Health Care BS

An easy way to bring a self-satisfied smirk to the face of an Obamacare supporter is to mention Ronald Reagan’s early opposition to Medicare. It’s an article of faith among these people that history has proven the Gipper wrong when he objected to the program for the following reason:

One of the traditional methods of imposing statism, or socialism, on a people has been by way of medicine. It’s very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project.

But he wasn’t wrong. It is becoming increasingly clear that Reagan was right when he suggested Medicare was a foot-in-the-door for socialized medicine. He believed that, once the government got into health care, its influence would metastasize throughout the entire medical delivery system.

And the metastasis continued apace this week in the Senate. It’s difficult to imagine better proof of Reagan’s prescience than the Senate’s ”compromise” on the public option. And what was the substance of this much-vaunted compromise? Expanding Medicare, of course:

Liberals agreed to drop demands for a government-run insurer. In return, the bill would let people ages 55-64 “buy in” to Medicare.

This is a giant leap forward for socialized medicine, but that’s not the worst of it. The current program, which covers patients over 65, is already on a fast track to bankruptcy. Here’s a table showing Medicare’s unfunded liabilities. You’ll notice that they dwarf those of Social Security:

In case there are any AP reporters reading this, here’s the arithmetic: The total unfunded liability for Medicare, parts A, B and D, comes to $89 trillion (that’s trillion with a T). This, remember, is only for the Medicare program as it now exists for people over 65 years old. 

Now the geniuses who run the Senate have come up with a plan to expand the program so that 28 million more people are eligible. They’re calling it a “buy-in,” which suggests that the new 55 to 64 beneficiaries will pay something, but no one has made any commitment on that.

Would they be required to pay the full price of their Medicare benefits, or would taxpayers pick up some of the cost? [Senator] Conrad said he was told that premiums would pay the full cost of benefits, but he hadn’t ’seen it in writing.’

Nor will he, if the Senate follows the precedent set by the House. But the main point here is that Medicare is being used in precisely the way Reagan predicted. Medicare was originally a program for the elderly. Now, it will be extended to anyone over 54 years old.  And the metastasis goes on.

Reagan tried to warn us.