ObamaCare's Redistribution of Health

By BETSY McCAUGHEY--September 27, 2010
New projections from the federal Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid paint a stark picture of the impact of the ObamaCare law:
We're in for a massive redistribution of health resources.

When the projections were released this month,
news reports stressed that the president's "reform" utterly fails to
slow the growth of health-care spending. Every year through 2019, employers and
consumers will face higher premiums than if the law hadn't passed.

But worse news is how radically the Obama law
spreads the health wealth around.

In 2014, a staggering 85.2 million people -- 31
percent of all nonelderly Americans -- will be on Medicaid and CHIP (the
Medicaid-like children's health program). This accounts for the majority
of those who'd gain health coverage. Amazingly, only 3 percent more people will
have private insurance.

President Obama pledged to reduce the number of
uninsured by making health plans affordable -- but that's not how his law
actually does it. Rather, it loosens Medicaid eligibility by raising the income
ceiling and barring asset tests.

In short, it pushes our country toward a welfare
state.

Often, workers put up with low salaries to get
good health benefits for their families. But the new law stipulates that
Medicaid recipients get the same benefits that employers are required to
provide workers. That will diminish the incentive to work -- another step
toward reversing welfare reform. Why stick it out on the job if the benefits
are just as good in Medicaid?

ObamaCare is the health component of an overall
move to make more people dependent on government. In the last two years, we've
seen a breathtaking expansion of food stamps, Medicaid, welfare and housing
programs. One in six Americans depends on them.

That's partly due to the recession -- but the
Obama administration projects roughly doubling spending on these programs by
2018, even in years it predicts the economy will be booming.

Two fundamental American sentiments get trampled
in the process: our culture of hard work and self-sufficiency and our
commitment to stand by the generation that nurtured us.

To expand Medicaid, the Obama law eviscerates
Medicare. It's like robbing Peter to pay Paul, only it's robbing grandma and
grandpa. The new projections show that in 2019, for example, ObamaCare cuts
Medicare funding by $86.4 billion -- which works out to $1, 428 less for each
elderly patient that year. Baby boomers will face difficulties accessing care
that seniors now get. Richard Foster, chief actuary for Medicare, has spoken
with brave bluntness about the possible impact, warning that some hospitals
might stop taking Medicare. Where will seniors go?

Figures don't lie. The projections from the Obama
administration's own agency, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, depict the
truth in stark terms.

Higher premiums are bad enough, but to see the
older generation victimized in order to expand a welfare culture is a total
reversal of American values.

Betsy
McCaughey is a former New York lieutenant governor and author of "The
Obama Health Law: What It Says and How to Overturn It."