Now What?

Like most Americans I am completely baffled as to what awaits our nation now that healthcare legislation has been passed. I am not someone who supports bureaucracies, whether they be in the form of governments, corporations, or even religions. Bureaucracies are bloated institutions that inevitably collapse under their own weight. Bureaucrats exist only to obfuscate their group's responsibility to the public. So, not surprisingly, my initial reaction to a universal healthcare bill was one of skepticism, regardless of its contents.

Yet, there is no denying that healthcare needs fixing.

Healthcare costs are outrageous. Providers increasingly demand higher deductibles from their members while simultaneously reducing the number of tests they will approve. Republicans are either clueless or lying when they imply that many Americans who are without health insurance can afford to pay for it, but choose not to. That may hold true for the country club cronies of Republicans, but everyone I know who is without coverage lacks it because of financial shortage. They have had to make the choice between paying their mortgage/rent or paying a monthly premium for health coverage.

For the past 20-30 years Americans have urged that something be done about healthcare costs. Is this healthcare legislation the "something" that is needed? Maybe, but there are some concerns I have about it. Below are a few examples:

• House Ways and Means Republicans "estimate the IRS will need nearly 17,000 new employees to meet its new responsibilities under health reform." 17,000? For what? Is this Pres Obama's idea of job creation? What is in this legislation that requires the IRS to become an even greater behemoth? And for those who argue that the 17,000 estimate is an exaggeration, why were the Democrats virtually silent in responding to it?
• Democrat Rep John Dingell was quoted during a radio interview yesterday stating, "It takes a long time to do the necessary administrative steps that have to be taken to put the legislation together to control the people." Control the people? What does that mean? For those of us who believe that Democrats like Pres Obama and Nancy Pelosi increase government entitlement programs for the purpose of deepening the American public's dependence on government, this is a Freudian slip.
• The nation's economy is already in shambles with unemployment hovering around 10%. (And if you add those who are underemployed, those whose unemployment benefits have expired, and those who have given up looking for work, the number is closer to 22%) If companies are forced to provide health insurance for their workers or pay fines, what are the chances of these companies hiring new employees anytime soon? If anything, these new regulations may cause unemployment to rise. Can our economy continue to withstand high, and maybe even higher, unemployment?

So I say again. Now what?

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