Note: This essay was written after the first debate and before the second debate.
It’s premature to write an assessment of the Democratic presidential debates because we’ve only heard from half the group. But, the priorities and perspectives voiced on Tuesday night were telling and frightening.
Many topics were covered, but none was more controversial than health care. It’s abundantly clear that all the liberal contenders think this debate is critical, and it will be an important issue in the 2020 Elections. There is no doubt that every liberal contender has assumed the mantra that “health care is a human right.” This characterization is a bit melodramatic, but it was expressed many times during the evening.
Frankly every American and every politician thinks that health care is an important entitlement. The problem is that it’s a multifaceted conundrum, and there are many different ways that it may be improved and tailored to meet the needs of Americans.
The most important factors pertaining to universal, one-payer health care are:
- Even though advocates of universal health care say it’s free to participants, it’s not without monstrous cost to the taxpayers. If any person receives health care “free,” taxpayers will be pay for it. If health care is restructured as per Bernie Sanders, trillions of dollars must be allocated to pay for each and every visit to doctors and hospitals, including illegal immigrants that liberals want to include. It’s very difficult to estimate the cost of this “free” entitlement. If each American generates $10,000 annually in medical expenses, the cost (330 million times $10,000) is $3.3 trillion annually. This excludes the operational costs of the bureaucracy and start up costs. Over ten years the total cost would be more than $30 trillion.
- If every American is able to get “free” health care, the number of visits by an average American to doctors and hospitals will likely increase markedly. We already encounter significant delays when making appointments to have major surgery and to see the most capable doctors. There will be utter chaos as Americans fight for the attention of their preferred health care providers.
- Many of the Democratic candidates support a one-payer system. This means that all existing private medical plans will be terminated. No one will be able to buy priority treatment. For many union members, who have sacrificed cash compensation for “Cadillac” health care coverage, the new system would effectively decrease their overall compensation.
- And finally, the source of payment for universal health care is unknown. Democrats would like us to believe that raising taxes on the 1% will fund the program. This is utter nonsense no matter how often Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren scream and holler to the contrary.
One moderate on the panel of candidates, who is totally irrelevant to the election, wisely suggested that Democrats are promising entitlements that will never come to fruition, and that one-payer insurance would take away health care insurance from 150 million people with private plans. Since there are only 30 million, or so, who are uninsured in America, why reconstruct the entire medical infrastructure at great cost? Obama did the same thing a few years ago and grew the deficit by over $2 trillion.
Sanders and Warren are bull sh—-g America. They are trying to seduce people to vote for them by offering “free” things that are not free and not deliverable. Universal, one-payer medical insurance will never happen because the country cannot afford it. It will take insurance away from millions of satisfied Americans. It will result in massive hospital failures and a revolution by doctors. It will essentially take away money from other American priorities. It will bankrupt America.
It will never be enacted by Congress.