{"id":2930,"date":"2009-12-30T18:20:35","date_gmt":"2009-12-30T23:20:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/?p=2930"},"modified":"2009-12-30T18:20:35","modified_gmt":"2009-12-30T23:20:35","slug":"tom-harkin-the-heath-care-homebuilder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/2930\/tom-harkin-the-heath-care-homebuilder\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom Harkin, the Heath Care Homebuilder"},"content":{"rendered":"

If there is anyone still clinging to the notion that Democrats have relented in their pursuit of a single-payer healthcare system, yesterday\u2019s op-ed<\/a> by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) should help to pry those fingers free.\u00a0 Among the shinier pieces in his gleaming collection of fool\u2019s gold is this nugget:<\/p>\n

I think of the current health reform bill as something of a “starter home.” It is not the mansion that some might want. But it has a solid foundation, giving every American access to quality, affordable coverage. It has an excellent, protective roof, which will shelter Americans from the worst abuses of health insurance companies. And this starter home has plenty of room for additions and improvements.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Earlier in the article Harkin gives some examples, like promising to eventually ban the current practice of refusing to cover people for pre-existing conditions.\u00a0 Forget the fact that insurance companies are businesses that make profits by insuring low risk patients.\u00a0 The more companies pay out in medical expenses means there is less money there to pay employees and shareholders.\u00a0 For Harkin though, solving the problem of profitability means prohibiting sellers from choosing their buyers.<\/p>\n

But the health care \u201creform\u201d bill does more.\u00a0 It also requires every American to purchase health insurance.\u00a0 It is aptly named the \u201cindividual mandate\u201d.\u00a0 If the goal of reform was to end up with a government-run, single-payer health care system, but such a plan didn\u2019t have the votes to achieve it directly, one way to get there would be to require both buyers and sellers to contract with each other.\u00a0 Next, remove the incentive (then the ability) to make a profit.\u00a0 Finally, declare that since the private health insurance companies \u201cfailed\u201d, it\u2019s time for the federal government to step in and take over.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s curious that Senator Harkin would liken the Democrats\u2019 \u201creform\u201d bill to a housing project being readied for additions and improvements.\u00a0 After all, when most Americans hear \u201cgovernment housing project\u201d they think of areas overrun with crime, corruption, and poor quality.\u00a0 If Democrats pass their bill into law Senator Harkin may live long enough to complain about the shoddy locks, paper-thin walls, and lack of central heating in his dream home for other people.\u00a0 That is, assuming his golden years aren\u2019t cut short by a government cost-control panel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If there is anyone still clinging to the notion that Democrats have relented in their pursuit of a single-payer healthcare system, yesterday\u2019s op-ed by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) should help to pry those fingers free.\u00a0 Among the shinier pieces in his gleaming collection of fool\u2019s gold is this nugget: I think of the current health […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[465,673],"class_list":["post-2930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-posts","tag-health-care-reform","tag-tom-harkin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2930"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2930\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2937,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2930\/revisions\/2937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}