Bob Greene postulates about the possibility of stopping Saturday mail delivery at CNN Commentary and it brings up an obvious question. Well a few obvious questions, not the least of which is “if competition is good for the health insurance companies, then why don’t we allow true competition for the Postal Service?” But that’s for a different post.
The question I have is “and what does this tell us about the possibility of government control of health care?” Now, you left wing nutjobs can espouse “it’s not government control, it’s just an option” and the ridiculous “it won’t be taxpayer subsidized” all you want. The goal is as – it has always been – single payer, universal, required healthcare. Because it’s a “right”. Right?
So what happens in a government program when it runs out of money? You either cut services or you go out and get more money from the taxpayers. But just the “rich” ones. And then you adjust what is “rich”. One thing you certainly don’t do is trim the fat. Especially when that fat is unionized inflated salaries that don’t have any competition to keep them market-based. No, you go get the government to steal more of what other people have produced. What happens when other people’s money runs out, as the great Margaret Thatcher once said? But that’s for another post as well.
The problem I have is envisioning this government option and what happens when it is run like everything else government run – Medicare, TARP, IRS, the “Stimulus Plan” that has hardly seen a “shovel-ready” shovel lifted, Amtrak, and most notably the US Postal Service.
Now USPS is considering the end of Saturday delivery to cut $3 billion out of their $7 billion shortfall. After all, Saturday services aren’t essential.
So what happens when (not if, when) the government-run bureaucracy ends up with a billions upon billions shortfall in the providing of health care services? It doesn’t take a big leap forward to reach the possibility of the cutting of services. God forbid they reduce the workforce or wages or find inefficiencies to eliminate. There will always be some political reason to keep employees on and fat right where it is. So get ready for “no non-essential care on weekends or government holidays” with Obamacare. Oh, or after work hours on those other days either.