ObamaCare: What Happens Now? - Op Ed - Washington Policy Center

ObamaCare: What Happens Now? - Op Ed - Washington Policy Center

Health care reform laudably expands coverage but its expenses, more than $900 billion in the next decade, will put another nail in the coffin of the U.S. economy and gravely injure the sick along the way, as the US inevitably transitions to a single-payer system to control costs.

Reform contains no control of costs that already cripple global competitiveness. As a percentage of GDP, the U.S. spends roughly 70% more on health care than other universal coverage nations, yet cannot point to commensurate superiority in value, other than biotechnology and genomics.

Reform’s cost-controlling features rely primarily on public health-insurance marketplaces, labeled Exchanges, where private health insurers compete with public insurance, operated by Coops. These initiatives don’t control costs as much as shift them, to other payers, taxpayers, and our progeny, through deficits, cutbacks, and unfunded liabilities.

To picture their impact, imagine a government-run automobile dealership which sells cars made by Ford and Kia, along with government-manufactured cars. The legislators cater to voters with generous subsidies for buyers. All the cars are virtually identical, designed by the legislature with high-cost features buyers may not want. Legislators might, for example, cater to heated seats lobbyists by requiring them in every car.

Nevertheless, the price of the high-cost government manufactured cars could be artificially reduced, by passing some of their costs to future generations through unfunded deficits. Private competitors who cannot resort to deficit financing will thus be driven out. Ultimately, the high-cost cars and absence of entrepreneurs and competition will skyrocket costs and force government to ration cars.

The Massachusetts Exchange