SENATOR KAY HAGAN'S WILD HEALTH CARE RIDE

Senator Kay Hagan and her fellow democrats insist that their bill will make health care more affordable to families and businesses, and will reduce the deficit. She states on her website in a press release dated December 24, 2009:

"Today, the Senate passed a health care reform bill that reduces costs, expands coverage, and provides stability for North Carolina families. It prevents insurance companies from taking away your coverage when you get sick or discriminating against people with pre-existing coverage conditions. The bill reduces the waste, fraud and abuse that currently exists in the delivery of care, and it will save our country money by decreasing the mounting federal deficit. As we move forward, I will continue working to ensure that North Carolina's families, seniors, and small businesses have a seat at the table."

Spoken like a true statist. What Senator Hagan and her fellow socialist will not acknowledge or concede is that federal and state government regulations are responsible for the rising cost of health care insurance. A study by the Cato Institute goes into great detail on governments role: http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa527.pdf .

"The high cost of health services regulation is responsible for more than seven million Americans lacking health insurance, or one in six of the average daily uninsured. Moreover, 4,000 more Americans die every year from costs associated with health services regulation (22,000) than from lack of health insurance (18,000). The annual net cost of health services regulation dwarfs other costs imposed by government intervention in the health care sector. This cost exceeds annual consumer expenditures on gasoline and oil in the United States and is twice the size of the annual output of the motion picture and sound recording industries.

Senator Hagan in the same press release stated:

"In 1996, the average family premium was $6000. Today it's $12,000. Without health care reform premiums are expected to be $24,000 by 2016."

The Cato Institute addresses this assertion with a different conclusion:

"Based on consensus estimates about the impact of higher prices on how many would likely drop health insurance, this increased cost implies a 3.8 percent reduction in the demand for coverage. This translates into 6.8 million uninsured whose plight arguably might be attributed to excess regulatory costs, or roughly one in six of the average daily uninsured."

Senator Kay Hagan's assertion that her bill will cut down on fraud and abuse is laughable. The federal government can't answer for the billions that they lose now. The Cato Institute also addresses this issue with a twist:

"Even though the government collects $2.1 billion in enforcement penalties (treated here as a transfer), the gross cost of health care fraud and abuse regulation is estimated to be $3.2 billion, inclusive of government regulatory costs, industry compliance costs, and efficiency losses from tax collection and regulatory costs. All industry compliance costs (including enforcement penalties) are treated as roughly equivalent to an excise tax."

Senator Hagan and her ilk are all too willing to point at the splinter in the eye of health care providers, while refusing to address the tree truck in their own. If anyone believes that the federal government will provide cheaper coverage, then I've got a Fannie Mae mortgage backed security to sell you.