Re: Joe Conason’s Recent Column

Editor,

Your syndicated columnist, Joe Conason, obviously has not read the 2,733 page Senate health care bill, or a reputable digest of same, or he would know that it definitely paves the way for total control of the health care industry and eventually a single payer system.

It gives the federal government bureaucracy the power to determine if the health care insurance plan in place or offered by a business or industry is approved and, if not, it can direct the individual or business to choose one that the feds approve or one that the government sets up in competition, a single payer system. It can also assess fines or even put individuals in jail if they refuse to purchase health insurance.

The addition of 25 million non-tax-paying individuals to the system and requiring persons with preexisting conditions being included completely destroys the basis on which all insurance companies are founded.

Insurance of any kind is based on statistical risk. Including persons at high risk at standard rates destroys the determination of risk and turns the industry into another welfare program and shifts many more persons into the state medicaid pools which is a budget buster for most states.

The Democrats in the Senate, when faced with less than 60 votes needed to pass the legislation, stooped to the use of the reconciliation process, one which had never been used for such a far reaching intrusion into the lives of all Americans, to pass it by a simple majority. This bill was opposed by the general public.

And last but not least, the administration has authorized the hiring of 16,000 or more new IRS agents to enforce the provisions of this bill. There will also be thousands of pages of administrative requirements which will be developed by the bureaucracy to implement the takeover of the health insurance industry. The persons hired to write the regulations and the new IRS agents will further add to the ranks of federal employees.

The authority given to the IRS for enforcement will open all private information of individuals to this agency; so much for privileged health information. This is the only segment of society which is hiring these days and adds to the increased cost of government whose salaries will be paid by the taxpayers. How lucky can we be?

C.J. Cornelius, M.D.,
Sidney