Contrary to the
postmortem committees view, I believe that the Grand Old Party needs a tune-up,
not an entire makeover.
By the way, one
point made by the postmortem committee was that the Republicans needed to speak
more to women's issues. BS! Women’s issues are the same as the rest of
Americans’ issues. The Republican
message was anti-gay, anti-poor, and anti-Hispanic. It was NOT anti-women.
Yes, I am aware that
the Republican message was a hand-up: not a hand-out. However, it was delivered so poorly that it
came across as anti-poor: even anti-middle-class.
The Republicans need
to separate moral value judgments from policy making. For example, if the religious zealots cannot
accept gay marriage, then do not allow anyone to be “married” by a government
entity. Heterosexual and homosexual
couples can both get (equally legal) civil unions from their local
government. If a couple (of either
persuasion) wants to get married, they should go to their place of worship. The Republicans can surely figure out a way
of being fiscally conservative while retaining the “silent majority” of far right
Christian voters.
The “civil unions
for everybody” was my proposed solution before the 2012 election and it was
included in my book. Had the Republican
Party used my book as its platform (and put forth a candidate that could
connect with real people) we would not be having a postmortem of the 2012
election. My book also defines America
I am not trying to
convince you of an entire political platform today. (I’d rather you buy my book so that I could
make a few pennies in the process of accomplishing that.) I just want to allay the fear and panic of
the Republican Party. Obamacare is going
to be the savior of conservatism. The
implementation of Obamacare in 2014 will cause the public to starve for
Republican leadership.
The following is
some background information that will support the case for Obamacare being the
savior of conservatism. The information
is from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Census Bureau.
From the Department of Health and Human Services:
The charts that
appear below are from the “ASPE ISSUE BRIEF - Overview of the Uninsured in the United States
Insurance Trends, 1999-2011
I apologize for the smallness of the charts. You can view them in their full size at the above listed website. The charts point out that 15.7% of Americans are uninsured. They also indicate that both "Employer Sponsored Healthcare" and "Direct Purchases" of healthcare is declining.
From the
The
following chart is expropriated from 2008 data on the Census Bureau’s
website. The website can be found
at:
Number of
Employees That Work for Businesses
with Fewer than
50 Employees
Company Size
(number of employees)
|
Total Paid
Employees
|
Total Paid
Employees (at business with fewer than 50 employees)
|
1 to 4
|
6,086,291
|
6,086,291
|
5 to 9
|
6,878,051
|
6,878,051
|
10 to 19
|
8,497,391
|
8,497,391
|
20 to 99
|
20,684,691
|
7,756,759 *
|
Employees working at
businesses
with fewer than 50
employees
|
29,218,492
|
|
Total
|
120,903,551
|
|
* It was
assumed that 3/8s of the businesses that range in size from 20 to 99 employees
have 49 or fewer employees. This was
based on the fact that 20 to 49 is 30 employees and 20 to 99 is 80 employees.
Based on the chart above, 24% of
all workers in the United
States
From the Department of Kaiser Family Foundation:
Another tidbit of healthcare
information comes from the Kaiser Family Foundation at their website:
According to the Kaiser Family
Foundation, in 2012 the average the average annual healthcare coverage costs
$15,745 for a family of four.
To summarize all of the above charts and statistics:
- The employers of 24% of American workers will not be required to provide healthcare to their employees,
- In 2011, 15.7% of all Americans were uninsured,
- The trend of healthcare coverage for both employer provided and individually purchased (“Direct Purchase”) is going down, while
- The trend of government provided healthcare and the uninsured is going up, and
- Healthcare costs are too expensive for the average American to afford without either employer or government assistance.
Obamacare-2012: Ah, life is wonderful. Everyone will receive free healthcare. The government will take care of all our
needs. Why should anyone vote for anybody
by President Obama?
Obamacare-2014: What do you mean I have to purchase my own
healthcare coverage? President Obama
told me that I was getting it for free. You
must be kidding - I will be fined by the government if I do not purchase
healthcare insurance? This cannot be
true, President Obama promised me free healthcare – and I voted for him. Why can’t we just raise more taxes on the
rich so we can have free healthcare?
There it is – the salvation of
conservatism. To sum up how Obamacare is
the salvation of conservatism: there is
no such thing as a free lunch!
The one caution of this essay is
included in the sentence above that stated: “Why can’t we just raise more taxes
on the rich so we can have free healthcare?”
I can imagine the Democrats stating that they intended to make
healthcare free for everyone but the Republicans refused to raise taxes on the
rich – so it’s the Republicans’ fault that we cannot afford free healthcare. To the Republican Party: please be prepared
to answer that question. It is not a
difficult question. Then again, I
remember so well the delivery of the message during the 2012 election. So be prepared with the easy answer and
deliver it in a sensitive manner – PLEASE.
A Few Obamacare Facts:
(1)
Most hard-working Americans that cannot afford healthcare insurance
today think that on January 1, 2014, they will be receiving free healthcare
from the government. They will not.
(2)
Those same hard-working Americans will be taxed for not purchasing the
healthcare that they thought they were getting for free. Most
are not aware of this new tax.
(3)
Americans with more substantial
means will pay more for the healthcare they already have. This has already been felt by increased rates
the past few years because children must be covered until they reach the age of
26, reproductive healthcare must be provided, etc... More increases to those that can afford
healthcare are coming. And, those
premium increases will make healthcare more unaffordable to many Americans that
struggle to purchase it themselves today.
(3a) The federal government is establishing the
minimum standards for healthcare insurance.
These standards will cost everyone
more and they are excessive. They
are establishing “bronze”, “silver” and “gold” level plans – with “bronze”
being the minimum required coverage.
(3b) The “bronze” plan has a maximum “out-of-pocket”
deductable of $2,000 per year. I
personally identify with this $2,000 maximum deductable. My wife and I are in our mid-50s. We are both healthy and we have enough money
in the bank that we can afford a higher deductable. Instead of paying $2,000 per month for
healthcare insurance with a small deductable, we have elected to purchase a
healthcare plan with a $5,000 per year deductable. In doing so, we save $1,000 per month on our
premiums. With Obamacare, we “Direct
Purchasers” of healthcare will be forced to pay an extra $12,000 per year. Thank you Mr. President.
(3c) We have already accepted that children must
be covered until they reach the age of 26 and that birth control medication
must be provided. There will be many
more requirements. For a preview of the
minimum healthcare benefits that will be required check out the government
employee healthcare plan. Then ask
yourself if we can afford to provide that level of benefits to every American.
(3d) The “bronze” level plan also requires more
mental healthcare coverage than the typical employer sponsored plan. Therefore, employers and employees will have
to pay more. You can bet there will be
many more “minimum” requirements that are above the average plan of today – so
hold on to your hat with regard to the premiums that you (and your employer)
will have to fork over. The underlying
problem is that our dear government employees have Cadillac healthcare
coverage. If the government establishes
minimum requirements less than those now enjoyed by our dear government
employees (read Congressman and Senators) then, our dear government employees’
benefits may have to be trimmed. Else
wise, our dear Congressmen and Senators may be criticized for pinching pennies
while doling out “free” healthcare while they live high off the hog.
(4) Employers with fewer than 50
employees have no requirement to provide healthcare to their employees. For employers with more than 50 employees
they only have to pay a $2,000 per employee, per year fine for not providing
healthcare coverage. Remember 24% of
working Americans work for companies with fewer than 50 employees. Also consider that the trend of employer
provided healthcare coverage is going down (see the above charts).
I am a small business owner. Recently, I participated in a nationwide bid
for my services. The purchaser is one of
America
The average family of four
healthcare cost ($15,745) is about $7.87 per hour (assuming an employee only
gets 10 days paid time off per year).
The cost of healthcare is more than our minimum wage.
Unfortunately, I had to eliminate
healthcare benefits to my employees four years ago – before the cost escalation
of Obamacare. I could no longer afford
the benefit and remain competitive in my line of business.
I was not willing to participate in
the low-ball bidding my perspective client demanded. However, there were plenty of other vendors
that were willing. I now realize that my
business has no room to grow. I cannot
compete in the cut-throat tactics of today’s business world. I have almost 50 full-time employees. The realization has sunk in – I can not grow
any larger. I cannot compete with more
than 50 full-time employees. I cannot
add $8 per hour of healthcare to my cost of service.
Wait a minute, I can grow. I can just pay the $2,000 per year tax for
not providing healthcare coverage. That
is $1 per man-hour. Furthermore, (per
Obamacare) I can exclude the first 30 employees from my fine calculation. SMACK:
I just woke up from that dream.
In my business, I cannot add $1 of cost and remain competitive. I am stuck at 50 employees. My poor employees make too much money to
qualify for free healthcare and too little to purchase their own. I feel sick about this.
(5)
The reality is that more and more small businesses will not be able to
afford the “bronze” level healthcare insurance.
More and more employers will be forced to drop their healthcare
benefits. The trend that has already
started in declining employer provided healthcare benefits (see the chart
above) will be accelerated by Obamacare.
Most employees that lose their healthcare benefits will not be able to
afford to purchase it themselves.
Instead, they will be taxed for not purchasing it.
(6)
Large companies that are “self-insured” do not have to provide the
“bronze” level healthcare benefits.
“Self-insured” means that a business has enough money that it pays for
all its employees’ healthcare services.
They usually hire a healthcare insurance company to “administer” their
healthcare benefits (line up approved doctors and process the medical claims). They pay the healthcare insurance company a
fee to be their “third party administrator” but they pay all the costs – no
matter how high. Mid-sized companies
cannot afford this because the risks are too high. One employee with cancer can cost hundreds of
thousands of dollars per year. To save
money, some midsized companies utilize a hybrid approach to
“self-insured”. In the hybrid mode, the
mid-sized companies purchase catastrophic insurance so that the healthcare
insurance company only pays if a single employee’s annual healthcare costs
exceed a certain amount (say $200,000) or if the entire populations of
employees annual cost exceeds a certain amount (say $200,000,000). Under Obamacare, these hybrid healthcare
plans do not receive the exemption that the “self-insured” companies receive.
(6a) An easy conclusion to reach from fact number
(6) above is that large corporations that can afford to be “self-insured’ will
be better able to manage their healthcare costs because they are exempt from
Obamacare. They do not have to provide
the “bronze” level minimum requirements.
The follow-on corollary is that mid-sized companies will not be able to
compete against the large companies.
(6b) If you work for a large corporation, you will
never get healthcare benefits that are equal to your Senator and Congressmen.
(6c) If you work for a mid-sized company with a
hybrid healthcare plan, your premium contributions will be going up. Or, you may loose your healthcare benefits
altogether.
The Bottom Line:
The mid-term elections of 2014 and
the presidential election of 2016 are far enough away for Obamacare to have tipped
over the apple cart. Republicans need to
get off their moral high-horse but they do not have to become liberals. America
Obamacare is severely flawed, but it
does provide us with a chance to do something about healthcare. It is easier to fix something that is broken
than to build something from scratch in Washington
Healthcare should be affordable for
every American. Let the public become aware
of President Obama’s false promises.
Then fix healthcare by establishing a reasonable minimum standard of
health benefits that should be available to every American. And, figure out how to pay for it without
giving large corporations an advantage over the little guy. If you want some more ideas, read my book
(yes, that was a shameless plug).
Finally, while all this plays out:
stop being the party of NO. Pretend that
you are big boys and girls and practice a little compromise. A party that has done a postmortem on how it
conducted itself during the last election should realize that stopping all
progress in the name of conservatism is not “holding ground”. It is moving backwards. America America
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