First, let’s look at the bill that President Bush vetoed and that Congress is making such a fuss about.  This bill is funding for insurance for kids, like the C.H.I.P.S. program.  However, it is different from the original in that it raises the income of families that can get it to $80,000 which raises it to the middle class rather than just the low income families it was designed to help.  Does anyone see the need to raise the amount that high?  Let’s look at that.  At $80,000 a year that means you are making just under $7,000 a month, which brings down to just over $1,500 a week.  Are you telling me that someone who is making that much a week can’t afford a lame little $500 or less a month for insurance from one of the better insurance companies and get the coverage they want and be able to see the doctor they want and trust with their child? 

Now, let’s keep in mind that with government insurance it is limited what doctor you can take your children to, and just as with any other insurance company, any treatment must be approved before they will pay for it.  Do you honestly believe that using government insurance you would get approval quicker or easier or is it more likely that you get turned down for it, and it would take longer to do it through all the bureaucratic red tape the government in noted for?

Might I also add here that of the Presidential Candidates presently sitting in Congress only one voted for it—Senator Hillary Clinton—all the rest either didn’t vote or voted against it.  I guess all of them except for Hillary realized that to expand C.H.I.P.S. to the middle class children and even adults was not the way to go for the program and that this would simply be a step toward socialized medicine.

Now you must ask yourself—do you really want all aspects of medicine to be run by the government with them telling you when you see the doctor, what doctor you can see, what treatments the doctor can do for you or your child, and even whether you are permitted to go to the emergency room when you feel you should?  That is what you have to look forward to with this.  Oh, and one more thing, Hillary Clinton wants to make having insurance mandatory for everyone.  And that includes people with pre-existing conditions who can’t get insurance now. 

What does that mean for everyone?  That means the insurance company is going to raise the cost of insurance due to all the medical care they would be required to cover for those they take on who are already sick and undergoing treatment.   In other words, it will make it harder for people to afford regular insurance thereby forcing them to take the option of government coverage with all of its restrictions, or be in violation of the law.

This is not addressing the real problem within the medical community which is the reason for the high cost of insurance.  Instead it is simply making it worse.  And, this is not what the American people want.  The polls say they want lower insurance costs in the private sector, not government insurance.

The true cause of the high cost of insurance is that the hospitals and doctors charge the insurance companies right around double what they would charge you if it was self pay.  I know as I went through this a couple years ago.  When I talked to the hospital about the cost of my surgery they quoted me a price of $17,000 until I informed them I had no insurance, suddenly the cost became $9,000.  The same went for the doctor who charged me $1,000 dollars to do a 2 hour simple surgery whereas his officer personnel had originally told me it would be $2,000 they would bill my insurance.  I went through all this in this way, not as a test or anything, but I had purchased what I thought was insurance over the net only to find out it was a scam and I ended up having to pay for my own care as they only thing that organization was out to do was collect the money of unsuspecting people out there.  I’m glad to have learned what I did though, in order to pass it on to you.

What our government needs to do to help us with the high cost of insurance is to force medical professionals to stop overcharging the insurance companies for their services.  I mean really, do you think it really cost the hospital $9,000 for my doctor to spend two hours in a operating room doing surgery and for me to be in a room for about an hour while I woke up from the anesthesia?  And, for that matter don’t you think $1,000 was sufficient pay for 2 hours work?  I sure do and don’t see why anyone would need to double those amounts just because who was paying the bill.

Now, would you rather have the government adding yet another aspect of their control to your life by forcing you to have insurance for your health like they presently force you to have for your car, and force you to pay taxes, or would you rather they address the problem within the industry and save us all some money in buying insurance if and when we want it and stop trying to stick their noses further into your business?

After all, if we overlook this and let them do it how long do you think it will be before they want to mandate something else, like how many hours you work each week, so they can control how much they get in taxes, or where you are allowed to shop, or what you are allowed to buy, or any number of other things? 

That bill was the first step toward socialized medicine which would be the first step toward socializing every aspect of your life.  Did they forget this was the U.S. of A. and think they were in the U.S.S.R. of the ‘80’s?  If they did we need to remind them and stop them from taking away our freedom and our children’s freedom one step at a time.  For an example of socialized medicine look at Canada with the extensive delays for them to get emergency surgeries (a delay that could cost lives) and at the longer delays for necessary though not emergency surgeries that could make someone live in pain and discomfort for an extended period of time, their long-term health and well-being hanging in the balance.  Is that the way you want to live?  With your child having to wait possibly months to get their tonsils out or with their lives in the hands of the government as you wait for approval for the surgery when they have appendicitis?  I think what it might have been like under those circumstances when I needed my gall bladder out and wonder how long it might have been that I would have had to live with that excruciating pain every time I ate and am glad we don’t have that in this country.

Thank President Bush for blocking them now and help make sure they don’t take any more steps towards socialization in the future.  This is America and we are free.