Skyrocketing Costs for Universal Health Care?
House Bill 1 - the Democrats' number one priority of this session - would expand the state's AdultBasic program in an effort to meet the health insurance needs of Pennsylvanians, even though 92 percent of state residents are covered by some type of health insurance plan. The AdultBasic program was created in 2001 to serve as a health care safety net, not as a health care entitlement program.
Top 10 Flaws of House Bill 1:
- There's no long-term price tag. How do we know who and what's going to pay for it if we don't know how much it's going to cost?
- Three major sources of funding defined in the bill may not be there in the future: Tobacco Settlement money is slowing; with fewer people smoking, tax revenue on cigarettes are dropping; and there is no guarantee of any federal funds.
- All this and they still only address less than one-third of the AdultBasic waiting list.
- This is, essentially, an expansion of Medicaid. This government-run health care system is a mess. Too much money helping too few people.
- Was rammed through committee and onto House floor too quickly. When was the last time that made for positive public policy? No benefit of any public hearings.
- Completely depends on approval from the federal government, yet federal officials say the proposal does not meet the requirements of its waiver program, and the feds have denied states relying on similar funding sources. A denial of federal dollars allows even less money to work with.
- Puts a new tax on existing health care insurance policies, thereby encouraging employers to drop private coverage and force more people on government-run plans.
- Adds high-ticket services that will skyrocket the cost to taxpayers.
- Puts government in charge of health care decisions, not the patients and their doctors.
- Will inevitably lead to rationing of health care services. More patients in the government-run health care delivery system plus a finite number of health care professionals equals long wait times.