The Law of Unintended Consquences
Rep. Tom McClintock gave the following opening statement to the House Labor and Education Committee on HR 3200, the healthcare reform proposal, on July 15, 2009.
Mr. Chairman: As we begin deliberations on this measure, we need to be mindful that the law of unintended consequences is beyond the jurisdiction of the Congress, and needs to be considered carefully.
This proposal affects the lives of every American, and ought to be approached with a high degree of humility and caution.
As imperfect as the current system is, it is well within our power to make it a great deal worse.
A mistake here could place burdens on employers at a particularly vulnerable time for our economy, resulting in millions more Americans without health insurance – or jobs.
A mistake here could result in the loss of health coverage for millions of Americans who currently have it and are satisfied with it as private insurers are unable to compete with the heavily subsidized public plan and go out of business.
A mistake here could produce a further implosion of the economy as high taxes send more investors and capital offshore. That was one of the critical mistakes that Herbert Hoover made by boosting upper income taxes in the Emergency Relief and Construction Act of 1932.
Even the Washington Post – hardly a bastion of conservatism – warned today that quote “There is no case to be made for the House Democratic majority’s proposal to fund healthcare legislation through an ad hoc income tax surcharge for top-earning households.”
The supporters of this legislation are correct that health care costs have skyrocketed and need to be brought under control. No one doubts that. But I hope the majority will understand that many of us are skeptical that the same government that pioneered $500 hammers and $1,000 toilet seats is somehow going to keep our health care costs down.
We all know from our own experience that a hallmark of bureaucracy is the waiting list. Waiting lists at the post office and the DMV are merely annoying and inconvenient. Waiting lists at our doctor’s offices and hospitals can be fatal.
I hope the majority will give sincere consideration to the alternative offered by Republicans to take the same tax advantages that we currently give to businesses to provide health care for their employees, and extend those same benefits to the employees themselves – so that every family through tax credits and vouchers – on a sliding income scale – can have within their reach a basic health plan that they can choose according to their own needs, that they can own regardless of their employer, and that they can change if it fails to meet their needs.
By restoring control to families over their own healthcare choices – we can preserve the best of our current system and avoid the tragedy of socialist regimes while at the same time bringing genuine, consumer-choice-driven competition that will keep costs down, choices plentiful, and quality high.
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Hello!
Well, I'm in CA-05 instead of
Well, I'm in CA-05 instead of -04, but Doris seems to have gone missing for some reason. Heh.
Please run for Governor, Mr. McClintock. We need a sensible conservative to counterbalance the math-challenged Dems.
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$500 hammers and $1,000 toilet seats? Who makes these toilet seats? I'll bet it isn't our government! When we hear about ridiculous prices like this, who is getting rich off of our blind eyes? Is it the corrupt politician? The greedy capitalist that funds his campaign? Or both?
If there was no profit to be made, would we still be paying $1000 for a toilet seat? Someone is making a huge profit, and it isn't the government, it's the greedy capitalists behind the scenes manipulating both the public, and the system.
Our Health Care middlemen are a lot like these $1000 toilet seats. If there wasn't such a huge profit involved, it wouldn't ever cost that much.
The 'public plan' will be far more efficient than insurance because the 'public plan' does not include the rediculous expence of multi-million dollar CEO salaries, multi-million dollar bonuses, huge political contributions, the army of lobbyists, or the heaping pile of anti-government propaganda. It's easy enough to understand that any plan without these expenses will be more efficient than any plan that includes them. It's not a matter of opinion, it's simple math.
Welcome to district 4 Tom, you're new here, aren't you?
Jimmy Hovland's comments
To blithely pronounce that public plan will be more efficient and cheaper than private plans is, well childishly naive. How has the government monopoloy on mail delivery worked? Has it made a profit for us? That's just one example of government inefficiency, but let's not waste space here articulating the various well intentioned government programs that cost too much money and achieved few results. To be sure, our country needs some new (not necessarily more) regulation. Clearly greed amongst our politicians and greed among opportunistic business people has created the economic chaos we find ourselves in. But, to fall prey to the populist panacea that the federal government can fix this and none of us will have to worry about anything or want for anything in the future is just plain silly. I hear this philosophy from people who watch too much television and get their news from the popular news outlets. Are you one of them?
This so called amazing
This so called amazing "public plan" gives us, the consumer, only one place to go for health care. If we can not choose where we are to spend our money, then this monopolized health care you are creating will have no competition to stay accountable for its actions. Their will be no competition to keep costs low and care good, and without competition and incentives this system will become more corrupt and expensive then it is now. I, as the consumer of health care, do not want the FREEDOM to choose what type of healthcare I pay for torn away from me just as many other freedoms have been.
You, James, have obviously never been to the DMV.
$1000 toilet seats
Not from this planet are you James?
The $500 hammer and $1000 toilet seats are well documented results of goverment beauracries meddling in the market. They refer to the government putting so much red tape in place to certify your product for government use that they cost an addtional 10,000%. The point is they were regular hammers and toilet seats, but the cost reflected the burden that the runaway government regulation placed on them.
America is a great country built by the currently hated capitalists. Unless you work for the government, you work for one. Not like the great socialist country of......wait, there are none. They all failed or are failing as we speak. Goverment is not the answer to everything. No one owes you or anyone else anything more than the opportunity. If someone works hard and saves and is successful, where in the constitution does it say the government should take that wealth and give it to someone not willing to work hard and save? I would submit it says just the opposite.
$500 Hammers
"When we hear about ridiculous prices like this, who is getting rich off of our blind eyes? Is it the corrupt politician? The greedy capitalist that funds his campaign? Or both?"
It is neither, actually. When the bureaucracy creates a military specification (mil spec for short) for a hammer (or a toilet seat) that requires the hammer to exceed stress tests far in excess of daily use and then requires that the hammer be warrantied for replacement with hammers of like specification for a period of several decades, the cost of that hammer gets blown far out of proportion. It's one thing to go buy an F-150 pickup. But if you require the pickup to carry a minimum of 100 tons and to be warrantied anywhere in the world for the next 30 years, its price is going to skyrocket.
Because bureaucracy is the one-size-fits-all tool that government has for quality control, silly results like $500 hammers are the inevitable results. Government interference in private enterprise is necessary to restrain evil (theft being the most obvious). However, government interference has *never* resulted in reduced prices and greater efficiency. Attempting to use the government for such (as the current healthcare legislation proposes) is at best misguided and at worst wildly foolish.
Reply to healtcare comments
No million dollar CEOs. Just government employees deciding your future. Been in the line at your DMV lately? Could you bear standing there ill and in need of care? Only to beturned away because you did not have the required documentation with you? Even after you had asked, looked up what the requirements were?
"Oh sorry, we do not accept your original DD214, we want the one that is wallet sized.............
Regulation of health care insurance is one thing. Government run health care is quite another.
KILL HEALTHCARE / REPEAL STIMULUS
I have read HB 3200, and I can only assume that some of the people who have posted here have not. A very user friendly site is Open Congress, you can scroll through the bill and read it for yourself.
DON"T BE UNINFORMED this is a list of the 48 things you need to know that are in the bill and you can go look them up:
· Page 22: Mandates audits of all employers that self-insure!
· Page 29: Admission: your health care will be rationed!
· Page 30: A government committee will decide what treatments and benefits you get (and, unlike an insurer, there will be no appeals process)
· Page 42: The "Health Choices Commissioner" will decide health benefits for you. You will have no choice. None.
· Page 50: All non-US citizens, illegal or not, will be provided with free healthcare services.
· Page 58: Every person will be issued a National ID Healthcard.
· Page 59: The federal government will have direct, real-time access to all individual bank accounts for electronic funds transfer.
· Page 65: Taxpayers will subsidize all union retiree and community organizer health plans (read: SEIU, UAW and ACORN)
· Page 72: All private healthcare plans must conform to government rules to participate in a Healthcare Exchange.
· Page 84: All private healthcare plans must participate in the Healthcare Exchange (i.e., total government control of private plans)
· Page 91: Government mandates linguistic infrastructure for services; translation: illegal aliens
· Page 95: The Government will pay ACORN and Americorps to sign up individuals for Government-run Health Care plan.
· Page 102: Those eligible for Medicaid will be automatically enrolled: you have no choice in the matter.
· Page 124: No company can sue the government for price-fixing. No "judicial review" is permitted against the government monopoly. Put simply, private insurers will be crushed.
· Page 127: The AMA sold doctors out: the government will set wages.
· Page 145: An employer MUST auto-enroll employees into the government-run public plan. No alternatives.
· Page 126: Employers MUST pay healthcare bills for part-time employees AND their families.
· Page 149: Any employer with a payroll of $400K or more, who does not offer the public option, pays an 8% tax on payroll
· Page 150: Any employer with a payroll of $250K-400K or more, who does not offer the public option, pays a 2 to 6% tax on payroll
· Page 167: Any individual who doesnt' have acceptable healthcare (according to the government) will be taxed 2.5% of income.
· Page 170: Any NON-RESIDENT alien is exempt from individual taxes (Americans will pay for them).
· Page 195: Officers and employees of Government Healthcare Bureaucracy will have access to ALL American financial and personal records.
· Page 203: "The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax." Yes, it really says that.
· Page 239: Bill will reduce physician services for Medicaid. Seniors and the poor most affected."
· Page 241: Doctors: no matter what speciality you have, you'll all be paid the same (thanks, AMA!)
· Page 253: Government sets value of doctors' time, their professional judgment, etc.
· Page 265: Government mandates and controls productivity for private healthcare industries.
· Page 268: Government regulates rental and purchase of power-driven wheelchairs.
· Page 272: Cancer patients: welcome to the wonderful world of rationing!
· Page 280: Hospitals will be penalized for what the government deems preventable re-admissions.
· Page 298: Doctors: if you treat a patient during an initial admission that results in a readmission, you will be penalized by the government.
· Page 317: Doctors: you are now prohibited for owning and investing in healthcare companies!
· Page 318: Prohibition on hospital expansion. Hospitals cannot expand without government approval.
· Page 321: Hospital expansion hinges on "community" input: in other words, yet another payoff for ACORN.
· Page 335: Government mandates establishment of outcome-based measures: i.e., rationing.
· Page 341: Government has authority to disqualify Medicare Advantage Plans, HMOs, etc.
· Page 354: Government will restrict enrollment of SPECIAL NEEDS individuals.
· Page 379: More bureaucracy: Telehealth Advisory Committee (healthcare by phone).
· Page 425: More bureaucracy: Advance Care Planning Consult: Senior Citizens, assisted suicide, euthanasia?
· Page 425: Government will instruct and consult regarding living wills, durable powers of attorney, etc. Mandatory. Appears to lock in estate taxes ahead of time.
· Page 425: Goverment provides approved list of end-of-life resources, guiding you in death.
· Page 427: Government mandates program that orders end-of-life treatment; government dictates how your life ends.
· Page 429: Advance Care Planning Consult will be used to dictate treatment as patient's health deteriorates. This can include an ORDER for end-of-life plans. An ORDER from the GOVERNMENT.
· Page 430: Government will decide what level of treatments you may have at end-of-life.
· Page 469: Community-based Home Medical Services: more payoffs for ACORN.
· Page 472: Payments to Community-based organizations: more payoffs for ACORN.
· Page 489: Government will cover marriage and family therapy. Government intervenes in your marriage.
· Page 494: Government will cover mental health services: defining, creating and rationing those services
What's Your Proposal?
Rep. McClintock,
I live in the 4th District and I vote.
What's so scary about a public option? If you like your health care/insurance situation now, the public option doesn't force you to do anything different. I find the prospects of the current system much more frightful than anything I've heard here.
I'm tired of the making health care a political game of scare tactics and misleading claims. This is no time for partisan political games! Have you no shame?
My families health care insurance is $1200/month, and we are a healthy family of 3. My wife's business' health beneift costs for her employees have tripled in the last 7 years and are crushing her business making the next step eliminating health insurance as a benefit for her employees. My sister in-law cannot get insurance because of a previous case of cervical cancer - it's not that it's too expensive, no one will insure her!
The way this is all going there will be only more costs and more people without insurance. I find "socialized" fire and police departments, mail delivery, etc., to be working pretty darn good. My child is getting a good public school education. My roads are doing pretty well. My countries military and national defense is the best in the world! Clearly "government run" works pretty darn good most of the time. Why can't you make it work for health care?
How are you, Rep. McClintock, addressing the cost other than trying to scare people with $500 screw driver analogies about "goverment run" health care? You ARE the government - it's your job to make it work better, not just whine about how it can't solve public problems - get to work and stop wasting my tax dollars on non-solution whining! Start drafting some legislation that will address the problems.
If your solution is tax credits, I'm interested in hearing more on how this will work. I don't see how are tax credits are going to get working families who don't have insurance insured in an affordable manner. How are tax credits going to address the fundamental problem of bringing health insurance costs down? How are tax credits going to help people who can't get insurance because of a pre-existing condition?
I await your response.
-VJ
VJ
You raise some cogent, valid issues related to the healthcare crisis. However, it appears there is much to be concerned with in the various iterations of Healthcare overhaul as proposed by the Obama administration and legislators. My issue with your whining is this: if one has legitimate concerns about the content of a bill, why can't they contest the bill? Why can't they question specific provisions of it? Clearly we need some significant changes to make sure healthcare is afforadable, accessable and equitable. But, why are many Obama supporters falling slavishly into line to support a bill that few of its supporters have even read? (I'm assuming now that Conyer's et al have actually read the bill at this point after public criticism). I, for one, would like to see the chuckle-heads up in Washington to get this right.
R.E. VJ
I am also a resident of district 4 and I vote also...
It is so refreshing to hear a representative like McClintock point out just how serious a bill this is that some politicians are trying to quickly jam through the system. Health care reform is a enormous undertaking that as Tom pointed out has the potential to ruin our current health care and possibly the economy as well. It makes no sense for lawmakers in washington to quickly pass a bill with out going over it page by page with a fine comb to ensure it is the right step for our country after all isn't that what they are there for? Isn't that there job? In re guard to VJ you insurance is high no question but imagine how expensive it will be when you have to pay for your family to be insured and also all the other non-taxpaying citizens to be insured. The idea that the government will take over a system and somehow make it cheeper is a pipe dream. In re-guard to all those "good government run programs you spoke of... You must be seriously deceived if you believe your child is getting a quality education from the public school system, and have you been to the DMV lately, How about the post office?
My point is I think the time table Obama is pushing for his healthcare bill is ridiculous. It is way to important and will effect everyone in the country so why is there such a rush to pass a 1000+ page document into law that no one has even read? Slow down think it through then decide on it. If it is truly the best thing for our country more research and careful thought will let it emerge as the best option. I'm sick of hearing Obama and the Democrats trying to shove this down our throats telling us it is the best thing for us with out taking a second to analyze the facts and find out what the majority of americans really want. A family wouldn't rush into buying a million dollar house with out careful consideration and financial planning. Why should the government rush recklessly into a bill that could potentially cost trillions and trillions of dollars?
Thank You Tom McClintock for your service and level head in this situation. You have my full support! Thank you for caring for us the people you represent and looking out for the effects of bills on us in the house.
Sincerely,
Nate
Nationalized Healthcare
The women and elderly in this country will suffer the most if Obama get his way on government run Healthcare. I agree that if Medicare can not be sustained after years of every working person paying into it, then how can anyone believe this new program would pay for itself or only effect the very wealthy? We need to stop the abuse in the current system before we move forward or the abuse will just expand exponentially. The primary focus of this government should be to create JOBS not kill them!
I resent the misinformation
I resent the misinformation on your homepage as well as your conference call! Why don't you direct people to the House website and have them read the actual bipartisan bill being discussed and passed out of committee! WE NEED honest information to create real bipartisan reform! We don't need a representative whose sole purpose is to block any legislation. I am a woman and a senior and I support reform! Unlike you, I also live in the district you represent!
Government run healthcare
I have experienced firsthand what happens when the government gets involved with your healthcare. In 2006 I fell and got injured on the job. I tore a disc in my lower back and needed surgery. Because this was a work related injury, and the Governor's reform package it took 2 years of the insurance company dragging it's feet before I got the surgery I needed. Due to the delay of care I have suffered severe nerve damage and have a lifetime of severe pain to look forward to. I can't work anymore as a result.
Mike Swofford
Mike's story
Mike,
Your story sounds horrible, but the details about it say more about the sorry state of the current health insurance situation than about preventing expanding health care coverage to people who don't have it, can't get it, or can't afford it. No one forced you to to go through socialized worker's comp. You could have paid for your own private care, but I doubt you could afford such an alternative. I wonder if the worker's comp "reform" was to prevent raising taxes. If so (and if he represented at the state level) I'm sure Rep. McClintock would have supported those cutbacks too.
Mike's comment
I think what you just said is that a government sponsored insurance plan, although cheaper, cannot be expected to provide efficient and effective care. Maybe the private plans are priced that high because of the rampant fraud that exists and because the personal injury attorneys that gorge themselves on the system. Is this what we have to look forward to with the new nationalized healthcare?
Healthcare
John & Steve,
No on is proposing the same system the people have in Canada and the UK. You can keep the same insurance you currently have. The emphasis in healthcare overhaul is to get the uninsured covered, so we are not treating the flu in emergency rooms! We are also creating a more efficient system with incentives to keep people healthy. All this and it will not increase the deficit. This is a great opportunity to achieve historic solutions to a lifelong problem. I hope you all stop this fear mongering and look up to see an intelligent, progressive congress making a difference. If not, you will see the consequences when you are retired and your legacy costs will be a back breaking burden on your children.
Sincerely, John
Healthcare Reform
Way to go Tom!!
You stay on those RINOs that want to kiss up to the Democrats.
Let the GOP know that we won't vote for another Gang of 14 member if they nominate him next time too. Only true conservatives like you are ever going to be considered for office from now on.
I sincerely want you to consider the Presidency in 2012. You are the only hope left for America at this point. I know you could turn it around in a heart beat if you had congress behind you.
People that want Government Healthcare think that they are going to get something for free if it passes. But why would they want the Government to take their money to buy them insurance when they could just buy it themselves? The Dem answer to this is that some people can't afford insurance and this would get them covered. (This is the getting something for free part)
Of course, some people can't afford auto insurance either, should we all pitch in and help?
And the argument that insurance companies operate at a profit is hogwash too since all companies do. Not may takers for your insurance if you always deny benefits.
Keep up the good work Tom !!!
Video Eddie
Health Care Reform
Dear Senator McClintock -
I am in agreement that our health care system may need some work. We haven't enjoyed the insurance companies making medical decisions for us either. However, having a government run healthcare system is very frightening. Especially since I have heard that the Congress does not have to be part of this system. Until they have to deal with the same system we do - it should never pass! If I have to wait to see a doctor, I want the members of Congress to have to wait right along side of me! Oh yes, and the President and his family too! NO special treatment for anyone! If Socialism is the theme then it must start at the top. What effects me, MUST effect them!
I would like to have some true numbers given to us about who it is that does not have access to healthcare now. What can we do to help them? The rest of us should be left alone!
I am looking for you and your fellow Republicans to make a stand here! I want the majority party to understand that we are not in favor of this, and certainly not in favor of passing something in just a few weeks! If there is no choice but to make these sweeping changes, make sure eveyone reads the whole bill before they agree to it. I don't want to see additions or deletions made after the signing. I don't want to hear that there were last minute changes made that our representatives did not have time to read, and digest! I want to see the bill too - make the whole thing public - BEFORE it is signed.
I am tired of not being heard! I think there are many more like me.
Be tough, we support you!
Thank you,
Kathy
medicare
For many years we all heard about how Medicare was going to collapse due to lack of enough monies, even though many of us have paid into it all of our working lives. If this is true, how can the present administration even consider another program, health care coverage for everyone, when the U.S. government can't keep up with one program, Medicare!
Healthcare
Tom,
Thank you for taking a stand for common sense. I'm appalled at the "We must hurry" tactic that seems aimed at passing this enormous reform without enough time for proper scrutiny.
I agree with you that although it's not perfect healthcare is not broken. It needs some adjustment and correction by not an overhaul. I'm particularly concerned that healthcare will be taken over by the government which is failing at running Medicare, Social Security, US Post Office, Amtrak, etc. I'm particularly concerned that our president has no history of success with any such projects.
Please do everything in your power to delay and ultimately defeat this massive powergrab.
Thank you,
Ron
Hey Tom, As a wise man once
Hey Tom,
As a wise man once said, if man had integrity, there would be no need for rules. Along these lines, evidence has overwhelmingly shown that health insurance companies are only guided by profits at the expense of those that need medical care. Their formula is simple...deny claims, boost profits. Isn't there is something fundamentally wrong with a system where the companies that should be looking after the health and well being of their constituents are highly incentivized to do just the opposite?
It's time for a government healthcare option, Tom.
Sincerely,
Dan
Well then shouldn't the
Well then shouldn't the answer begin with insurance reform rather then a total overhall of a healthcare system that most people are satisfied with???
Dan, How naive! You must be a
Dan,
How naive! You must be a product of California public schools. Look, whatever weaknesses we have in our current system (which is hamstrung in many ways by government regulation), health care will be much worse when government run.
It's ironic that as we move toward Canada's system, they are moving toward a more free market for health care. They see what rationing means: an average of 17 weeks to see a specialist, 12 month wait for knee replacements, years of waiting to get on waiting lists for critical cancer treatements or surgeries (cancer survivial rates in Europe and Canada are about half that of Americans). And the elderly pay the ultimate price, being asked to die to save money.
So when you and others demand health care for everyone, that's what you'll get. Sound good?
Steve
Hey Dan - Let's take your
Hey Dan -
Let's take your logic one step further. The Government takes over health care. It doesn't have to make a profit -- it just must control costs.
How does it do that? Simple: Deny coverage or delay coverage until patient dies, lower costs. That's how it works in Canada and the UK. Not here, please.
Fight on, Tom.
John