OpenGov - Open Government Brainstorm

There are many problems with health insurance, but that doesn’t mean we should put the government in control. If it’s decided that health care should be paid for with tax dollars, then it’s up to the government to decide how that money should be spent. There’s only so much money to go around, so the inevitable result is rationing.

It’s just the law of supply and demand. Lowering prices increases demand. Lowering the price to nothing pushes demand through the roof. Author P.J. O’Rourke said it best: “If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free.”

When health care is free, governments deal with all that increased demand by limiting what’s available.

The reality of “free” health care is that people wait. In the United Kingdom, one in eight patients waits more than a year for hospital treatment and the British government recently set its goal to keep wait times to less than 18 weeks  that’s more than four months! In Canada, almost a million citizens are waiting for necessary surgery and more than a million Canadians can’t find a regular doctor. In the small town of Norwood, Ontario, a weekly drawing is held in which a townsperson wins the right to access the town’s one family doctor.

Governments ratchet down health-care costs in different ways. Doctors went on strike last year in Germany because their government’s system pays them less than they thought they deserved and forces them to work thousands of hours of unpaid overtime. In the United Kingdom, one hospital was inspired to save money money by not changing sheets daily. British papers report that instead of washing the linens, nurses were told to just turn the bedsheets over.

Government is less the answer to our health-care crisis than the problem. It was our government that helped to create the absurd system in which two out of three Americans get health insurance through their employer. In a country where four in 10 Americans change their job every year, this system makes little sense; it leaves people like Readling without coverage when they need it most.

The government also makes insurance expensive by mandating the medical services that policies must cover. Required services vary state by state and include massage therapy, pastoral counseling, acupuncture, hair prosthesis and dentures. Such mandates are a reason why an individual policy in New Jersey costs around $4,000 a year while a policy in Iowa costs only a third of that. Yet insurance regulations make it illegal for someone in New Jersey to buy a policy from out of state…

…The more people control the money they spend on their own health care, the more people shop around and the more providers compete to attract patients by lowering prices while improving quality. It’s putting individuals in control that could turn our health-care sector into the vibrant, competitive marketplace that we see in nearly every other area of our economy.

After all, it’s our body and our health. Shouldn’t we be in control of how our health-care dollars are spent?

Harvard’s Herzlinger said, “Who should decide whether you live or die? Do you want the government to decide? Do you want a health insurer to decide? Who’s gonna make that decision? Is it gonna be a government? Is it gonna be an insurer? Or is it gonna be you and me?”

Putting individuals in control of our health  rather than our employers or the government  is a better way to cure what ails America’s health system.

Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman

Liberty Counsel

A crucial hearing will take place next Thursday.

Please forward this message to your friends. --Mat

We just received word that President Obama's attorney general, Eric Holder, will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee next Thursday in support of the anti-faith Hate Crimes bill.

This is a follow up to Attorney General Holder's statements earlier this week which amounted to nothing more than politically motivated fear-mongering.

It is clear what the Obama team is doing...

They are laying the political "cover" for the Senate to pass a Hate Crimes bill that gives special protections based on "sexual identity" while refusing to protect the religious liberties of millions of Americans!

+ + Let's Greet Mr. Holder with 100,000 Petitions!

I just asked for a count of our petition opposing this anti-faith Hate Crimes bill and have been told that -- thanks to you and so many others who have signed -- we recently crossed 83,000! So here's my challenge to you:

When you help me reach 100,000 petitions by next

Wednesday NOON, I will make sure these petitions get

delivered to the ranking members on the Senate Judiciary

Committee in time for the 10am Thursday hearing.

Please forward this message to your friends and urge them

to sign the petition now:

http://www.libertyaction.org/r.asp?u=19829&PID=20854830&P=1

The fact that the Senate's leadership has been forced to have hearings on the Hate Crimes bill is a tremendous victory!

The enormous pressure we have brought to bear through previous petition deliveries, massive fax campaigns and an avalanche of calls has forced them to change their plans!

++ Now is the time to really turn up the heat!

This new anti-faith Hate Crimes law isn't really about protecting anyone's rights. It is all about giving Holder's federal prosecutors more power to prosecute their version of political correctness!

We simply cannot sit by and let the Obama team dictate on this issue and paint Christians like you and me as evil doers and "haters" in this debate!

Again... the hearing is Thursday at 10am. I want to make sure this Committee receives 100,000 petitions, but to do so I need you to help me reach 17,000 more friends right away. Please forward this message to 10, 20 or 30 of your friends today:

http://www.libertyaction.org/r.asp?u=19829&PID=20854830&P=1

Thank you and may God bless you.

Mathew Staver, Founder and Chairman

Liberty Counsel

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