Eighteen Reasons Why I Resent Obama's Health Care Bill and Eighteen Ways To Fix It

The word "resent" has been bouncing around in my head since the Obama Care health care bill was forced into law so I decided to get an official dictionary definition:

Resent - to feel bitter or indignant about.

This pretty much sums up my feeling and probably the feelings of many, many Americans when it comes to the health care reform bill. Since I have never voted for a Republican for national office in my life, this post is not a Republican vs. Democratic party argument, it is a logic and common sense argument. Thus, I present the seventeen reasons why I resent the Obama health care reform bill (despite the fact that I definitely see the need for drastic action to solve the health care crisis in this nation):

1. I resent the fact that this legislation and all that led up to it never identified and quantified the underlying root causes of rising health care costs. High health care costs are not the core problem, they are a symptom of the core problems. Without understanding the root causes of high health care costs, you have very little chance of actually correcting the underlying problem and alleviating the symptom, which in this case is high costs. As an example, assume you have a coughing problem. This legislation would remove your lung in an attempt to remedy your cough. It would be a very complicated and expensive procedure but since your cough was caused by a strep throat infection, you would still be coughing despite the lung operation. A simpler, less costly solution, antibiotics, would have solved the underlying root cause of your health care problem, without costly procedures that do not work. In this case, the doctor never understood the root cause of your cough. Since this legislation never identified and quantified the underlying causes of high health care costs, those causes will still be operating when this legislation takes effect and thus, high health care costs will continue.
2. I resent the fact that medical tort reform was never a major part of this legislation despite the fact that several states have had tremendous success in reducing health care costs by introducing reasonable tort reform. Score a victory for the trial lawyer lobby.
3. I resent the fact that cross state border insurance reform was never a major part of this legislation. The only way to gain efficiency and cost reduction in any market is to open it up to the most competition possible, something this bill does not do.
4. I resent the fact that this legislation is very similar to health care legislation that was passed in Massachusetts several years ago that has proven to be a disaster, indicating that Obama, Reid, and Pelosi learned nothing from a real life test run of their legislation. According to The Week magazine issue of August 29, 2009, the Massachusetts plan has resulted in expenses that were much, much higher than planned (just a few years after it started), the state has tried to slow enrollment even though the intent of the legislation was to get health care insurance for everyone, the state eliminated dental coverage in order to reign in costs, and recent polls indicate that more Massachusetts citizens feel that the quality of health care has gotten worse than those that think it has gotten better and more think that the reform is not working than those who think it is. This is what we can look forward to.
5. I resent the fact that so much energy was spent on this bill while massive fraud exists within the current government health insurance programs. Without solving the underlying fraud problem, increased government health care program spending will result in just more fraud and waste.
6. I resent the fact that this legislation does not solve the conflict between the insurance industry which wants to minimize care (to the possible detriment of patients) and doctors who want to maximize care (to the detriment of costs).
7. I resent the fact that government is forcing American citizens to sign up for health care insurance whether they need it of not. From a liberty perspective, I am very, very concerned that agents of the Federal government will now be empowered to track and identify citizens that do not obey this coercive measure. Combine this new government intrusion into our lives with current Patriot Act and other privacy violations and the concept of freedom takes a significant hit. This was obviously a deal made behind closed doors to appease the insurance companies to the detriment of our pocket books and freedom. The final affront to freedom occurred this past week when a prominent Democratic Congressman stated that it will take several years to get the bureaucracy in place to "control" America's citizens. The word "control" coming from a politician rarely results in more freedom for all of us.
8. I really, really resent the fact that a Democratic Congresswoman from Texas likened those of us that disagree with the tenets of this legislation to racists that tried to block the passage of Civil Rights laws several decades ago. I find that type of stereotyping and comparison despicable. As an American, I have the right to nonviolently disagree with my government's actions and not be likened to racist behavior by those in power.
9. I resent the fact that Obama, Reid, and Pelosi stooped so low to get this legislation enacted, threatening the use of the so-called "Slaughter Rule" and using reconciliation to back door pass this bill. Resentment is twofold. First, this legislation is so large and so sweeping that traditional methods should have been used to enact its passage. If those methods would not have resulted in the passage, than the bill should have been changed, like every other bill is, in order to get passage. The stakes are too high to sleaze the bill into law. Second, I fear what will happen in the future when the Republicans regain control of Congress and the White House, which they will at some point. By crossing over the line in this instance, I foresee the Republicans doing the same thing when it comes to gay rights, abortion rights, gun control, etc. They will have no qualms of using Slaughter rules, reconciliation, back room deals, etc. since Obama, Reid, and Pelosi have now opened the door to these types of tactics.
10. I resent the fact that Obama, Reid, and Pelosi think Americans too stupid to understand that this bill front loads the revenue and back loads the costs in order to make the short term financials look better than they actually are. While this tactic falsely improves the financials, it delays providing health care to the very people who Obama, Reid, and Pelosi say need the most help. In order to rig the accounting, they delay relief and continue the suffering of those without health care insurance.
11. I resent the fact that Obama has remained silent so many times during this debate when derogatory names were flying and the country was becoming even more divided. When Pelosi said that those who opposed this health care legislation were un-American, Obama was silent. When a Florida Democratic Congressman called Republicans that opposed this legislation "knuckled dragging Neanderthals", Obama was silent. When an ordinary American demonstrating against the health care bill was roughed up in St. Louis by ACORN-affiliated union members, Obama was silent. Free speech is an American right and should not be abused by those in power who see dissent as unpatriotic or coming from sub-human citizens.
12. I resent the the fact that Americans actually believe that the United States government can actually get this legislation to work. Over the past forty years, through Republican and Democratic control of the White House and Congress, the American political class has solved virtually no major problems. Public schools continue to fail, the war on drugs has been lost and is resulting in a lawless, narco state just south of our borders (Mexico), we still have no national energy policy and strategy, our borders leak and we have no strategic immigration policy, our homeland security apparatus failed us miserably on 9-11 and almost failed us again on Christmas, 2009 because of the underwear bomber, Social Security and Medicare are rushing towards insolvency, our national debt and deficit spending are bankrupting the nation and its citizens, our national infrastructure is falling apart, government safety agencies continue to fail us whether it is the importation of lead based toys that poison our kids or faulty autos that don't stop, etc., etc., etc. After all of these failures, what in heaven's name makes us think that Obama, Reid, Pelosi and the rest of the political class will score their first success with this massive, ineffective legislation?
13. I resent the fact that some Americans continue to allow government to increasingly dictate what goes on in their lives. Government forces now control our retirement funding and old age health insurance, they control our financial lives by stripping away about 40% of our wealth each year through taxation, they control how we vote by gerrymandering Congressional districts to their advantage and controlling when and how primary elections are held, they control the purse strings of political campaign donations which virtually ensure all incumbents will always get re-elected, and now many Americans want to allow government to more strictly control their pre-retirement health care needs. Giving up control to government forces is the same as giving up freedom and when Americans give up freedom, the nation loses touch with more of its heritage and strengths.
14. I resent the fact that while this legislation will be imposed on most of the country, the political class will continue to get gold plated health care service at the expense of the rest of us. If this legislation is so good, then the President, Vice President, Cabinet Secretaries, and all members of Congress and their families should be covered by its implications as equally as the rest of us.
15. I resent the fact that I am supposed to be impressed by Obama, Reid, and Pelosi when they say that this legislation will reduce the deficit by $143 billion over ten years or about $14.3 billion a year. Even if this optimistic estimate comes true, the $14.3 in savings is less than a measly 1% of the $1.5 TRILLION deficit spending that this Democratic administration will incur in this year alone. We are rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. If the country goes bankrupt as a result of Obama's deficit spending, saving just 1%, if that much, of the deficit spending through this health care legislation will be meaningless.
16. I resent the fact the Obama, Reid, and Pelosi positioned this legislation as the only solution to the problem. They wanted America to think that if you were against them and this specific piece of legislation, you were against fixing the problem. Nothing could be further from the truth. Most rational Americans realize the system is broken but they wanted health care reform that actually works, which many of us feel is inconsistent with what actually got passed.
17. I resent the fact that this legislation apparently does not specifically and aggressively attack at least some of the major diseases, namely lung cancer, breast cancer, and Alzheimer's disease. Additional funding and research would be a good start to further investigate and remedy the underlying cause for these big cost treatments.
18. And finally, I resent the fact that through the first fourteen months of this new administration, the only thing we have to show for it is an inadequate, non-problem solving, piece of health care legislation. The entire spectrum of the political class was either not smart enough or not working hard enough to get anything else accomplished of consequence despite the fact that Obama had overwhelming control of both parts of Congress. For this, we pay 40% of our annual income.

Okay, these are the reasons that I resent this health care legislation. It has been a long, ugly, divisive journey that will likely end in failure for many of the reasons discussed above. Plus, the way it was done will leave the country more divided and unfocused for years to come. The ultimate, ultimate problem with this bill is that it tries to legislate a solution that is not a behavior based solution. Unless you change the behavior, all the legislation in the world will not solve the problem or the root causes.

Thus, if I was writing a health care reform bill I would consider the following information first:

• According to a March 25, 2010 Associated Press article, recent studies have shown that the incidence of breast cancer (190,000 new cases and 40,000 deaths every year in the U.S.) can be reduced by 25-30% through the modification of BEHAVIOR as it relates to smoking, diet, and exercise.
• In a March 28, 2010 article in Parade magazine, it was reported that the New England Journal of Medicine found that reducing the daily intake of salt by just three grams by every American would "reduce the annual number of new cases of heart disease by 60,000-120,000, stroke by 32,00 to 66,000, heart attack by 54,000 to 99,000" cases. This would reduce annual health care costs by up to $24 billion a year. Another change of BEHAVIOR.
• In a Fortune article in the March 1, 2010 issue, an interview of the head of the Cleveland Clinic asserted that poor smoking, diet, and exercise BEHAVIOR was the cause of 40% of the premature deaths in this country every year. Obviously, reducing the amount of premature deaths would significantly reduce health care costs.
• The same article reported that these same bad habits and BEHAVIORS are responsible for 70% of the chronic diseases in this country such as heart disease and diabetes and that this this 70% accounts for 75% of the nation's health care costs.

Are we seeing a trend yet? More data: two thirds of Americans are overweight and one third are obese. As a country, we smoke too much, we do not eat right, and we do not exercise enough. These are the causes of higher than necessary breast cancer rates, heart disease, lung disease, diabetes, and a whole host of other health care problems that drive up health care costs. These are the ROOT CAUSES of high health care costs. Attack and solve these problems and you will drive down costs and make health care insurance affordable for everyone. The Obama, Reid, and Pelosi legislation does not change this underlying behavior, it just raises taxes, moves money around within the Federal bureaucracy, and further restricts our freedom of choice, without attacking the underlying causes.

Thus, if I was writing health care reform legislation it would focus on the following principles ("Bruno's Health Care Reform Solution"):

1. I would reward businesses and companies that provide free smoke cessation classes to both their employees and their families like the Cleveland Clinic did (resulting in a reduction in the local county's smoking rate from 28% to 18%). Rewards could be tax credit based or other, more innovative rewards.
2. I would reward businesses and companies that provide free weight reduction programs to their employees and families like the Cleveland Clinic did (resulting in a cumulative weight reduction of 120,000 pounds).
3. I would reward businesses and companies that provide free exercise programs for their employees and families like the Cleveland Clinic did (contributing to the 120,000 pound weight loss).
4. In three years I would encourage companies to not hire people that test positive for nicotine in their blood stream and would not allow the Federal government to hire smokers or those that test positive for nicotine.
5. In ten years, I would relieve any Federal employee of their job if they continued to be smokers and tested positive for nicotine.
6. I would turn the Agriculture Department loose to research and investigate more profitable uses for land currently used to raise tobacco without violating the property rights and freedoms of the current tobacco land owners.
7. I would prohibit all insurance companies from dropping coverage for customers that get sick and would prohibit life time caps on insurance payouts but would allow insurance companies to charge extra premiums for smokers and overweight customers (unless a panel of doctors determines that the overweight condition cannot be helped via diet and exercise).
8. I would allow health insurance companies to compete across state lines.
9. I would enact the best of the Texas and other state medical tort reform policies and the trial lawyer lobby be damned.
10. I would allow children to remain on their parents' insurance plans until the age of 25.
11. I would require that members of the executive branch and legislative branches of the Federal government be subjected to the same health care options and costs available to the vast majority of Americans.
12. I would divert the funding and resources that would have been used to track down and punish Americans who do not purchase insurance under the Obama bill and place those resources under the Justice Department to track down and prosecute real criminals that defraud the current government health care programs of billions and billions of dollars every year. Since less than three percent of monthly Medicare claims are examined for validity before being paid, the potential for fraud is enormous as is the potential for recovering billions Prior to the crack down, I would offer an amnesty program to those that have defrauded the government and allow them to repay the amount of the fraud, including fines, interest and penalties, after which I would vigorously press for their prosecution and imprisonment. All funds recovered would be directed to provided grants for the lower income uninsured citizens to obtain health care insurance on the free market.
13. Some of these recovered fraud funds would be funneled to solving two or three of the biggest health challenges facing the country today, probably lung cancer, breast cancer, and Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's is particularly important because as the baby boomer generation matures into the Alzheimer's years, this will certainly break the health care bank if the disease is not curtailed. It is my understanding that this focused approach to health care for specific, big ticket costs is not included in the Obama legislation.
14. I would establish a nationwide education program to change behavior through education as it relates to smoking, exercise and diet. A similar program regarding seat belt usage has worked and a similar effort regarding the detriment to health would also work over time.
15. I would work with food processors, restaurants, supermarkets and famous chefs to reduce the amount of fat and salt that works it way into American diets. If a voluntary effort was not successful after five years, I would impose mandatory restrictions of harmful food ingredients. I would not waste my time on posters in restaurants that list out the ingredients and fat contents of the offerings since research has proven that they are useless.
16. I would come up with a negotiated mechanism that balances the insurance industry tendency to minimize care and the medical industry tendency to maximize care in order to optimize the cost/benefit structure for customers.
17. I would reform the legislative process to ensure that the short cuts and sleazy tactics used by Obama, Reid, and Pelosi are not repeated in the future to the detriment of the nation's well being but to the advantage of the party in power.
18. And finally, I would never require or force Americans to purchase health care insurance and turn them into criminals for not doing it but I would hold them accountable for any costs they incur for treatment of their illnesses including forfeiture of all assets to cover health care, if needed.

If my legislation passed, we would not curtail freedom by mandating everyone sign up for insurance, we would manage the underlying root causes of high health care costs which would reduce disease and costs in the future, we would still mange to get needypeople health care insurance that cannot afford it, we would not establish a new, ineffective government bureaucracy that would just eat up tax dollars, we would not impose new taxes on businesses and individuals (taxes under the Obama, Reid, and Pelosi plan that will likely further depress the jobs market), and Americans would live longer, healthier lives. And, we would not have to understand a 2,400 page document. It is not hard, I am sure that smarter people than me could improve on my suggestions above and make them a reality. Unfortunately, none of these smarter people work in Washington D.C. or we would already be past rational health care reform and working on solving the many other important issues. Now that is something we all can resent.

Our new book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at www.loathemygovernment.com. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Several simple steps within the fifty steps further address the health care issues and solutions we discussed above.