INCOMING!

In 1969 I was stationed at Pleiku AB, in Vietnam.  The first day I got there the base was hit with several rockets and mortars as the result of an attack by the Viet Cong.  The first notice of an attack was often the sound of a rocket exploding.  Instantly the more experienced veterans would shout “incoming.” to make sure everyone knew we were under attack.  The reason was that Pleiku was also close to an Army base that fired artillery.  It was really important to understand the difference between “outgoing”, or shells fired at the other guys, and “incoming” shells aimed at us.

Health insurance costs are already skyrocketing.  For small business owners the cost of health insurance is increasing by a minimum of 15% and in some cases as much as 80%.  We are soon going to see some significant fall out from these increases.  The Obama administration will try to use this as evidence of the need for health care reform.  If they are successful in convincing people of that, he may just succeed in transforming this country.

The major reason for the increase in cost of private or employer sponsored health care is current government mandates.  Doctors and hospitals are already required to treat Medicare patients for fees they consider to be inadequate.  They are also required to treat uninsured people with chronic illness without any reimbursement at all.  As a result, doctors and hospitals must increase the costs they charge to insurance companies.  This situation has been made even worse by the Obama administration deciding that insurance companies can no longer exclude pre-existing conditions.  While we would all like to see coverage available for people with pre-existing conditions, the reality is that someone must pay for that.  Today, it is the insurance company, but apparently Obama thinks they can just absorb this with their outrageous 3% profit margin.

We must communicate the truth to people, or there is a significant chance that health care reform will gain undeserved support from the American people.  If people believe the insurance industry is the problem, as Obama claims, then they will support the health care reform bill.  But if they understand the real cause, which is poorly designed and implemented government mandates, then we can stop this mad rush to socialized medicine.