I have good health-care insurance, fully paid (for myself only -- but I have no dependents) -- at least, for now -- by my employer. I'm happy with it, and it has paid something around a half-million dollars for my medical services over the past quarter-century. I realize some are not so lucky.
On the other hand, the 47 million "Americans" widely reported to have no health insurance include:
- 5.2 million illegal immigrants;
- 5 million legal immigrants;
- 9 million Americans who earn $75,000 or more annually;
- 9.7 million who are eligible for government health programs;
- 6 million who are eligible for employee-based health plans, but voluntarily demur (many of these are young and healthy, and have few health-care costs);
- 12 million without affordable health-care options.
It's only the last group that is truly uninsured. The others either are not the responsibility of the U.S. government; have the means to pay for their own health-care costs; receive government health-care benefits already; or voluntarily do without insurance available to them. So, it's only c. 2% of the U.S. populace which really has a stake in the current health-care 'reform' debate.
Most of us have discovered from personal experience that tinkering with something that is near-perfect, or even just acceptable, more often makes it less so than brings it closer to perfection. There is no reason to believe that federal bureaucrats will necessarily translate Congressional legislation into a net gain regarding health care, even if motives and intentions are pristinely pure (which I don't think is the case!).
Still, I suspect that the large Democratic majority in Congress will not allow the issue to pass without government meddling. Democratic leadership will whip their members into a positive vote on health-care reform. But, given the likelihood that unintended (and some wholly intended), negative consequences will accompany such passage, it will be a Pyrrhic victory so damaging it may duplicate the cost to Democrats that the Clinton Administration's attempt at health-care reform caused: the 1994 loss of control of the House of Representative, from which Madame Pelosi's current Leftist radicalism emanates and holds sway.
Not many of us trust the steadfastness of the GOP regarding fiscal responsibility after its abrogation of the 1994 "Contract With America" that led its revival. Still, when the demonstrable choice comes down to whom can we trust? vs. whom can we survive?, the American electorate will not commit political suicide.
