Healthcare Reform - Why Governmental Involvement?

Here is the question that I think most Americans are beginning to ask themselves as the healthcare reform discussion - or is it now the health insurance reform - continues with its series of town hall forums. When was the last time that governmental involvement made anything better? Think about that for a moment. Now be realistic. Drug prescription reform - the infamous Part D - created a nightmare of paperwork for most seniors. Has it significantly made obtaining prescriptions easier? Probably not.

Then there is the most recent CARS program - you know, the cash for clunkers. Yes, it has gotten some vehicles off the roads that needed to get off the roads. But at what cost? Car dealers are awash in paperwork with federal payments sporadic. Nonprofit organizations that depended upon people donating those very same vehicles to help subsidize their programs have found that those resources are now not available. Even junk dealers are finding it difficult as salvageable parts become increasingly more difficult to find. Yes, the concept was good...but there was little consideration given as to the consequences such a program would have upon others.

And now we want the government to operate our entire healthcare system. Medicare and medicaid - both governmental programs - are nearing insolvency. How soon before a total government-controlled healthcare would be in a similar straight? I have been told that, if the healthcare bill is passed, it will create 17 new governmental bureaucracies. How much money will it take just to run those entities? In spite of all the disclaimers, two things are true. One, someone - or should I say someones - will have to pay for this. That can only mean higher taxes for some, but also increased fees for all of us. And second, there will be a system of rationing that will be put into place. There has to be. If the pot of money is limited...and remember, the government has already assumed many other obligations with the debt load soaring to astronomical proportions...then thee will have to be a system as to how to distribute those funds available, thus rationing. Some will get the benefits; others will not. Who will and who won't will have to be determined by someone and I am not thinking it will be your doctor or your family who will decide.

There is already too much government intrusion into our lives today. Do we really want more? Perhaps it is time for the people to rein-in government. I know that will be difficult to do because we have become "entitlement conscious" - the government owes us. But perhaps it is time for the government to get back to doing with the founding fathers ascribed the federal government to do: to coin money and to equip an army for defense. It was not to regulate healthcare. It was not to purchase old cars. It was not to purchase shares in GM or AIG. Perhaps it is time for each one of us to take a refresher course in our country's Constitution. We just might learn a thing or two.