At one point, the President wrote: “Second, reform will finally bring skyrocketing health care costs under control, which will mean real savings for families, businesses and our government. We’ll cut hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and inefficiency in federal health programs like Medicare and Medicaid and in unwarranted subsidies to insurance companies that do nothing to improve care and everything to improve their profits. Third, by making Medicare more efficient, we’ll be able to ensure that more tax dollars go directly to caring for seniors instead of enriching insurance companies. … Lastly, reform will provide every American with some basic consumer protections that will finally hold insurance companies accountable.”
Raymond J. Keating, chief economist for the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, observed:
“There’s a great deal to argue with in the President’s New York Times op-ed. But one of the biggest issues is cost. The President continues to assert that more government involvement in health care will somehow reduce health care costs. Medicare, Medicaid, and a wide variety of other government health care programs, including examples in the states, make clear that costs skyrocket as government spends and regulates more and more. Economics 101 tells us the same thing, as third party payments by government translate into higher costs and increased utilization, and within government itself, no substantive incentives exist to control costs.
“And a second key issue to take the President to task on is the political tactic of demonizing insurance companies. In reality, if the President truly is concerned about costs and access to affordable coverage, then he should be talking about reducing rules, mandates and regulations on insurers, in order to reduce costs and expand choices in the marketplace. Instead, there is still more talk about more mandates. That only means higher costs, and pushing more people into government-run health programs.”
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