Bentzen’s Blog

Today’s Letter to Congress
by Brian Bentzen

Since joining DownsizeDC.org, I’ve been trying to send 3 letters every day on issues that are important to all of us as Americans.  Our future will depend on our actions today.  Sitting back and watching the TV as our Congress overregulates and overtaxes us into failure is not a good option.  Get involved in one way or another.  Run for office locally or on a state level.  My action is letter writing, and hopefully they will be counted.

Please oppose increased government involvement in health care. Please work to reduce government involvement in health care.

As an anesthesiology resident set to graduate and start a job in a private hospital in 2011, I’m concerned about additional government intervention into health insurance and payment for medical services. 

 Health care is not a right.  I am free to deny my services to anyone and cannot be forced to provide care, except in life threatening emergencies, in which I am both professionally obliged and glad to help.

Health care is the responsibility of the individual, not the government.  A patient who actively maintains their health through diet, exercise, and other lifestyle modifications is less likely to have chronic illnesses than those who engage in more risky behaviors like overeating, smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, unsafe sex, or abusing drugs. 

Medical services rendered require payment.  The healthy patient who takes care of himself should pay the same rate (which is different from total amount) as the chronically ill patient who became sick due to poor decision-making.  The chronically ill patient, however, would utilize care more often and thus accrue a larger bill.  Medicare underpays.  Hospitals make up the difference with payments from private insurers and federal funding.  End the funding.

Insurance companies aggregate data from millions of individuals and can predict cost of medical services for an individual or group.  They price their plans accordingly, so they can invest premiums and make a profit.  The unhealthy patient pays more for premiums because their care costs more.  You wouldn’t suggest that everyone should pay for gasoline by the number of miles they traveled, so why should health care be paid for by the number of years lived?

Funding for health care should be spread amongst all individuals, not disproportionately placed on the rich and businesses.  This practice will lead to job losses for obvious reasons.  If I make $1 million a year, I’m probably a business owner.  If I’m now forced to pay $54,000 in health care tax, I will not be hiring a new employee for the same amount of money.  I may even work less to drop myself under the $1 million mark to avoid paying an unreasonable tax. 

End government involvement in health care.  Start taxing health insurance plans.  Don’t force employers to provide insurance.  Deregulate health insurance across state borders.  Due to competition, the result will be more affordable health care plans that include coverage for what individuals want: basics and emergency care. 

If there must be health insurance regulation, require that individuals obtain basic insurance on their own, or part of a group.  Health care is not a right.

Brief Thoughts on Health Care Reform
by Brian Bentzen

I happened across a few interesting articles on the subject of what seems to be an inevitable push towards socialized medicine.  Superficially this seems to be a lofty goal.  How could anyone oppose “free” health care for all? 

The Libertarian Party Blog

The Libertarian Party published this post on its blog.  Donny Ferguson starts:

Last week I shared with you the disturbing fact the White House wants total control of the nation’s health care system so they can ration your access to medical procedures.

Well, it’s already happening in Oregon.

Sarah McIntosh reports in this month’s “Health Care News” “the Oregon Health Services Commission has drawn up a formal procedure for rationing health care services available to recipients of taxpayer-subsidized coverage.”

The rest of the article goes on to say that both Republicans and Democrats favor this type of socialist health care policy, and cites the example of the Oregon Health Services Commission as an example.  The Oregon Health Services Commission webpage states, “Both the Governor’s Recommended Budget and the Ways & Means Co-Chair’s Budget currently under consideration include funding of the new list for the services listed on lines 1-503 out of 680 for the 2007-09 biennium. This level of funding best equates to the OHP Plus benefit package represented by lines 1-530 (the funded portion) out of 710 on the 2006-07 list.”  The full prioritized list is available from their website or here (Oregon Health Services Commision Prioritized List).  The list of items which are not covered begins on page 71-C.

This document essentially states that if you have the ailment listed on lines 1-530, the plan will pay for it.  If you have the ailments listed on lines 531-710, you are out of luck.  The Oregon Health Plan Plus benefit package “program is for people who are aged, blind, disabled, under age 19, pregnant or receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families benefits.”

Steve Forbes Speaks

Steve Forbes posted a commentary today on Forbes.com entitled Real Health Care.  He predicts that this June, Obama will introduce a new plan to give all Americans health insurance.  Forbes predicts this new insurance policy will be offered as a false choice and will crowd out the existing insurance industry.  As a result, he believes fraud will increase and cause both insurance systems to collapse.  

My Thoughts

The question you must ask yourself is this:

Who can I trust to manage my health and medical care? The correct answer is that you have to trust yourself to manage your health and the physician of your choice to manage your medical care.

You are the only person who cares about you.  If you refuse the responsibility of taking care of yourself, no one will stop you.

Our pseudosocialist medicare and medicaid system is underfunded. The “trust fund” contains treasury bonds that have no value. The system is heading to bankruptcy, and the only thing that can save it is additional capital infusion. If the solution to a failed system is to force it on all people, making those who succeed pay for those who fail, and making those who want to have private insurance pay for those who don’t, we will all be doomed to talk about the great country that was The United States of America.