Let's Not Fall for the Demagoguery Concerning Pre-Conditions

The day of reckoning for Obama Care is rapidly approaching as the Republicans have scheduled a vote next week to repeal this unconstitutional, job killing piece of socialism.  They plan to schedule two votes; one on the full repeal of Obama Care (Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act), and another on a resolution which instruct four committees to craft a new health care bill.  The resolution dictates that the Committee on Education and the Workforce, the Committee on Energy and Commerce, the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Committee on Ways and Means, report a new bill that includes the following twelve provisions:

1.  "foster economic growth and private sector job creation by eliminating job-killing policies and regulations
2.   lower health care premiums through increased competition and choice
3.   preserve a patient’s ability to keep his or her health plan if he or she likes it
4.   provide people with pre-existing conditions access to affordable health coverage
5.   reform the medical liability system to reduce unnecessary and wasteful health care spending
6.   increase the number of insured Americans
7.   protect the doctor-patient relationship
8.   provide the States greater flexibility to administer Medicaid programs
9.   expand incentives to encourage personal responsibility for health care coverage and costs
10. prohibit taxpayer funding of abortions and provide conscience protections for health care providers
11. eliminate duplicative government programs and wasteful spending; or,
12. do not accelerate the insolvency of entitlement programs or increase the tax burden on Americans."



Although many of these principles sound a bit ambiguous, they all seem to represent a general conservative view of health care reform.  That is, except for provision number four- to "provide people with pre-existing conditions access to affordable health coverage".  In theory, there are several ways in which congress can encourage such an outcome through free market reforms by deregulating the insurance industry and allowing more flexibility for insurers and consumers.  However, mark me down as slightly suspicious of leadership in regard to the issue of pre-existing conditions.

Last month, The Hill reported that Majority Leader Eric Cantor informed a college student that the Republican bill would cover pre-existing conditions.  We all know that the Democrats and the media have successfully distorted and demagogued this issue to the degree that it has become very popular with the typical "rent seekers" throughout the country.  We also know that Republicans have a hard enough time pushing unsullied conservative ideas when they are popular, let alone when they are not supported by the majority of the public (example: privatizing social security).

Conservatives need to ensure that the most costly provision of Obama Care is not implemented under the Republican plan.  We must demand that Republicans reject every premise of socialism and educate Americans about the true cause of the high costs of health care and health insurance.  Otherwise, we are doomed to fall into the trap of "compassionate conservatism", by implementing the very policies that precipitate the social ills which the Democrats exploit for political purposes.

Throughout the health care debate most of the leadership focused their attacks on Democrat proposals, dubbing them "government run health care".  While most Americans obviously share this disdain for government run health care, they also suffer from the high costs of health insurance.  If we don't educate the voters on the causes of those high premiums and how they are directly related to the very mandates and government programs that already exist, they will not connect the dots on their own.  They will embrace the "good provisions" of socialism that don't appear to be "government run health care" on the surface.

We need to uproot every false premise that is promulgated by the Democrats/media and show how it is these "issuance guarantee" mandates that have caused a spike in insurance premiums and will rise exponentially if we impose a "pre-conditions" mandate.  Instead of letting the Democrats seize the populist card of righteous indignation against rising health care costs, we should pin the tail on the donkey at every opportunity.  Otherwise, we let them get away with murder and are forced to acquiesce to the popular parts of their solutions that caused the problem to begin with.

We must educate voters that it is the liberals' ownership of Medicare, Medicaid, S-Chip, ambulance chasers, portability regulations, arbitrary benefit mandates, guaranteed issue, limitation of risk pool ratings, and culture of entitlement that have spiked the cost of health care for all Americans.  As the Council for Affordable Health Insurance (CAHI) explains, “Mandating benefits is like saying to someone in the market for a new car, if you can’t afford a Cadillac loaded with options, you have to walk.”  Cantor and Boehner should be articulating how free market solutions that will roll back Democrat socialism and mandates are the only ways to deal with the high cost of insurance.

It is definitely refreshing and meritorious that they have posted the content of the legislation this far in advance.  However, we can't assume that with Republicans in charge, we can let down our guard and ignore the fine print.  Conservatives must continue to be vigilant for any return to the Bush era Republicanism.  In particular, we must carefully monitor any legislation concerning health insurance for pre-conditions.  After all, the GOP has a pre-condition to relapse into the disease known as liberalism.  We must be ready to preempt any such relapse.