I am going to write this because Ron Morris, one of our local radio hosts here in Pittsburgh and a man that I met a few times while a I was a salesman at WPTT here in Pittsburgh, went off on another of his anti-Limbaugh rants Friday because he did not like some of the things that Rush had to say about “Obama Care” which is currently winding its way through Congress. Now, mind I think Ron is pretty smart but his tirade about the “truth” came just as he had just finished up a segment of his weekday show (last Friday) where he had a man named Conway Lackman (who scary enough is actually a professor at the A.J. Palumbo School of Business at Duquesne University teaching our children) on feeding all sorts of bull about how government getting involved in the Health Care system more than it currently is would help induce competition, etc. as well as propagate many of the other myths leftists tend to tell about their economic policies while ignoring the fact that they fail at every turn. Maybe I completely misunderstood Mr. Lackman’s points but to me it sure seemed like he was making the case for a government option/plan. As though we don’t already have several that are belly up or close to being belly up right? One of his popular talking points was about administrative costs being lower in nations with socialized medicine than in the United States. So forgive me Ron if I have a problem holding you up as a pargon of “truth” when you allow this man to ramble on with incoherent psychobabble that is easily refuted by facts without interrupting him through his myriad of “ums” and “uhs” as he stumbled though figuring out how to spin his words.
He postulated government control would add competition and then promoted this as a reason for accepting that government bureaucracy brings down costs for the better part of the hour I listened without much of a peep and despite several callers who were much more salient in their points and that Mr. Lackman obviously had no real response to. But a topic he never did broach is the fact that the reason the administrative costs in these systems are so much lower is because costs are regulated (i.e. set artificially low and price is place below the cost), that the responsiveness to patient needs is lower and it takes longer to get care partially because there are not enough bureaucrats to manage the system. Basically, like is often the case in collectivist systems of economics, things look really good until you look at the results. In short, administrative costs are lower because the systems are regulated to make the costs lower and are less efficient at delivering care. This fact is well documented in the WHO report touted by liberals who claim the United States is ranked #37 in health care. But in reality the United States is ranked #37 in SOCIALIZED health care. We are in fact #1 in responsiveness to patients needs.
You can clearly see from these ranking that lower administrative costs lead to lower responsiveness.
You can actually see this data from the WHO’s own report and by fast forwarding to page 164 where the data for the United States is. It is not a fact liberals like to admit to but the categories we rank low in are basically all those that included forced government redistribution of services.
So the point of this is to ask would you rather have a system that spends X dollars per person on administrative costs and gets you the care you need and where you are paying for extra beds which are usually unused except in an emergency or a system that spends 60% of X dollars per person on administrative costs and where you have to sit around waiting for your care because there are not enough services due to government regulation? Oh, and FYI Canadian officials recently admitted that their health care system (socialized to the gills) only works because the United States and the quasi-free market health care system here (which is socialized too if you ask me but maintains just enough free market principles to keep it afloat) accepts their overflow and patients that they cannot treat.
Of course the point that is glossed over in this entire conversation is that the government plans for this health insurance program are unconstitutional and that the federal government has no authority for it in that document so Mr. Morris even allowing this man to go on and on about how it would work is skipping step one and jumping right to step 11. It is intellectual dishonesty at its highest form.
So to be honest I think Mr. Morris needs to clean his own house before he starts talking about other people and what they do and how he thinks they are spreading lies. But in Ron’s defense he is admittedly against the government option. He has stated so several times when I have listened to him. But why he then allows a man like this Conway guy on to basically talk about its benefits (which are all based on fallacies about government being able to handle such things which I am sure Ron understands) is really beyond me.
Anyway, Ron Morris decided that he did not like Limbaugh’s characterization of the Electronic Funds Transfer portion of the Obama Care bill. Limbaugh has said on this issue:
“Yes, my friends, the federal government will have direct, real-time access to all individual bank accounts for electronic funds transfer, meaning from your account to them. They will be able to debit your account for health expenses. That’s on page 59, go get the bill. I’m summarizing here for you.” (source)
Ron has a real bone to pick with Limbaugh. He seems to have a lot of animosity towards him which I firmly think is based on bad information being fed to him by other people also with a bone to pick with Limbaugh but that is neither here nor there. I reiterate again that Ron Morris is a pretty good guy but sometimes he gets in a little above his pay grade when talking about some topics. Politics is one of those topics.
So let’s look at what is really in the bill. I want to do this because the bill is vague and I think the problem here is you have one person (Limbaugh) that understands liberals and how they will use powers they are given butting heads with another person (Ron Morris) who has a much more naive view of the left. We’ve been there and done that before. Remember Chamberlain’s proud proclamation of, “peace for our time?” To show what I mean with regard to this I will quote EXACTLY from the bill and you can decide for yourself whether Limbaugh is right or whether Ron Morris is right in that Limbaugh is full of hot air.
Then I will tell you my rationale for my own thoughts. I will not quote executive suammaries or other people’s opinions on the matter. We will look at only what is exactly in the bill itself and which would be legally binding, even if unconstitutional, once passed.
Let’s begin …
The section in question begins on page 57 of the bill as is titled, “SEC. 1173A. STANDARDIZE ELECTRONIC ADMINISTRATIVE TRANSACTIONS”
Section A 2 (D) states the goal is to, “enable the real-time (or near real time) determination of an individual’s financial responsibility at the point of service and, to the extent possible, prior to service, including whether the individual is eligible for a specific service with a specific physician at a specific facility, which may include utilization of a machine-readable health plan beneficiary identification card;”
Ok, got that? You are going to be checked out as to your “financial responsibility” at the “point of service.” In other words at your doctor’s office they will check to see what you owe them be it a co-pay or some other amount for the given service.
Section E that follows specifically states that this will, “enable, where feasible, near real-time adjudication of claims;”
Ok got that? This is saying that on the spot the “claim” will be settled up.
Under Section 4 C is where we get into the EFT subject because it states that this is being instituted to, “enable electronic funds transfers, in order to allow automated reconciliation with the related health care payment and remittance advice;”
Ok so take all those parts of this plan together. First you will be judged as to what your financial obligation under the Obama Care plan will be. Then you will have a “real-time (or near real time) determination” of your obligation made. What your obligation will be is still unknown. Will it just be a co-pay?
Will it be to cover whatever the plan does not cover above and beyond a certain amount? Who knows. Those things are not yet determined.
Then after that you have the procedure to allow EFTs (electronic funds transfers) to reconcile the costs. In other words, “payment is due at time of service,” as we are all used to being apprised of by those lovely signs in our doctor’s office these days.
Now here is where I think Ron Morris is right. This section is specifically entitled “STANDARDIZED ELECTRONIC ADMINISTRATIVE TRANSACTIONS” implying that it will apply only to the administrative transactions by government. But here is where I also think Ron Morris is falling into a typical trap that many who do not understand the true evil of liberals often get stuck in. There is nothing, not that I have found, that prevents this “reconciliation” from accessing funds in your bank account in the future to allow payment of other fees such as a co-pay. Admittedly there is nothing that allows it either. Ron Morris is of the belief that the government would never, ever do this. While I can understand this, I admittedly understand it about as well as why my daughter likes to say “L-M-N-O-P” over and over again and nothing else while trying to learn her alphabet at age 2. Limbaugh on the other hand I believe realizes that there is no such prohibition and is looking at what liberals have done in the past with power and making, what I would call, a reasonable assumption as to how they could use this power granted to them.
Ron Morris thinks that Limbaugh is scaremongering by suggesting this and that he is spreading false information. My take on it is to respond by asking do you really trust the government this much that you really think that they wouldn’t do this under the claim of making things easier for people on the plan?
After all the bill specifically calls for reconciliation of your debts. A distinction of whether they are covered by the government or you are personally responsible for them is not mentioned although at best loosely implied in the section title. If you do not have the money on you to reconcile your debt on hand or there is something that the government plan does not cover it is logical to conclude that one means of reconciling this debt is to use a EFT from your own accounts to do so? After all, we already do this as many doctor’s offices accept ATM and credit cards. So why on Earth would it be beyond reason to think that the government would use those same methods in their own plan to collect fees? You can already pay your taxes this way and have your account on file with the IRS to do so. So again I ask why do you think that the same thing will not be done with this abomination of a health insurance and care regulation bill?
Some people in my opinion are just a little too trusting of government and take a politician at his word that they would never do something. Of course we have seen how good a politician’s word is over the past century right? And we also see how people in their pursuit of power ignore clear language prohibiting them from doing something. After all, the first amendment is clear about Congress making no law
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