August 12, 2009

Remember the time you stood in line at the Secretary of State's office to renew your driver's license, took a ticket stub and sat in a chair or stood by a wall for hours until your number was called?

Imagine waiting days, months or never receiving such assistance. Now imagine receiving your health care that way.

A bill recently unveiled in Congress would ration health care, increase taxes and eliminate the ability of patients to choose their doctors and hospitals. Such decisions would be determined by a massive new bureaucracy that would make the Department of Education after No Child Left Behind pale in comparison.

The same faceless Washington bureaucrats who determine whether schools and students are failing and impose penalties will now determine whether doctors and hospitals are failing and fine them.

They will determine procedures and treatments and decide how much the government will pay for each. It continues the erosion of the rights of individuals and state sovereignty.

The proposed government health care bill would cost about $1.2 trillion over 10 years and increase taxes considerably to fund it. It will tax individuals who cannot afford health care 2.5 percent, tax certain employers 8 percent of their total payroll costs if they cannot afford to purchase health care and impose a 45 percent surtax on small business owners who report more than $280,000 in income.

The proposed massive tax increases are occurring when the Michigan unemployment rate has reached 15.2 percent, and the federal budget deficit has surpassed $1 trillion.

The free market for health care is imperfect, and Americans should have access to health care, but we can move forward by expanding the number of innovative options available.

Portable health savings accounts provide an affordable and consumer-driven coverage option. Individuals could be allowed to access insurance across state lines. Businesses could be allowed to join together to purchase health insurance through Association Health Plans that would enable them to better leverage their purchasing power.

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