TylerPaper.com - Cornyn Unhappy With Health Care Vision
Op-Ed
TylerPaper.com - Cornyn Unhappy With Health Care Vision
Health care reform is on the fast track in Washington. The elites have promised to pass a bill quickly, even though their specific proposals and how to pay for them have been slow in coming. We don't know yet whether this train will deliver its passengers safely or if we're headed for a train wreck.
I believe we can lower the cost of health care without giving Washington more control over the decisions of doctors and patients. Yet more control in Washington is the vision behind most of the proposals favored by the White House and Congressional leaders. These proposals will not lower costs or fix the problems in our health care system.
Sen. Ted Kennedy's bill, for example, will cost at least $1 trillion over the next 10 years. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates this huge price tag will reduce the net uninsured population by less than 30 percent. The taxpayers' $1 trillion does not include the cost of increasing eligibility for Medicaid for people up to 50 percent above the poverty line.
Sen. Kennedy's bill also includes a government-run health care plan that will force millions to lose their current private health insurance. No current provider can long compete against a government calling the balls and strikes even as it takes the field. According to the independent Lewin Group, a government plan could eventually force 119 million Americans into a Washington-run health care plan.
This new Washington-run plan will also increase the cost of private insurance. "Cost-shifting" occurs when a health care provider accepts low government reimbursement rates, but only if it can charge extra to those with private insurance. One respected actuary estimates cost-shifting increases the average American family's health care premium by more than 10 percent, or more than $1,500.
There are alternatives to a Washington takeover of the health care system, and the best of them will give patients more control over their care. Encouraging competition for patients' business has lowered costs for both government and private sector health plans.
We've learned the right incentives can encourage patients to make healthier choices, and providers to deliver services that truly improve care. These are the ideas that can drive successful reform of our health care system.
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn
Texas
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