Money In Their Mouths

Today I am shedding "lyte" on socialism.  This word is getting a lot of air time lately.  The Republicans and the rabid right are constantly throwing it out there.  McCain tried to use it to win the presidency.  Fox News trumpets it 24/7 like some demented town crier, "It's 3 o'clock and Obama is a socialist!"

Maybe they are not aware that we have had socialist programs in this country for quite some time.  They are called Social Security and Medicare.  They work well as a safety net for our elderly and infirm.  Medicare runs more efficiently than any private insurer, with administrative costs in the 3% range, as opposed to private insurers who have costs ranging from 12-18%.  

Social Security needs reform.  Mostly due to simple demographics, there are more people retiring and receiving it than people working and putting into it.  If they removed the salary cap, limited pay outs to those that needed them, and instituted common-sense immigration reform that had those workers contributing to the system, a lot of the projected short-falls would disappear.

But the Republicans and the rabid right like to use socialism as a boogeyman.  And they certainly have never let a little thing like facts or reality stand in their way.  Now they are clamoring against universal healthcare.  According to them, giving people a choice of opting into government-run health care would make us all communists.

The key word in that last sentence is "opting".  The President's plan would not require all of us to use the government-run program, if you like your present plan, you could keep it.  It would merely set up an option to private insurance.  The fact that free-market advocates are against giving us more choices is ironic, but not surprising.  

The thing is; if we have a for-profit medical system, then there is no incentive to keep people healthy.  Healthy people do not need to visit the doctor or take pharmaceuticals.  Healthy people don't line the pockets of Big Pharma.  When you have a chronic condition, like high cholesterol, you are a virtual ATM for your doctor, your pharmacist, your lab, and your pharmaceutical company.  You have to visit a doctor regularly, have your blood tested regularly, and get drugs regularly.  And everybody (except you) profits.

If Republican lawmakers are so dead set against government run healthcare, they should literally put their money where their mouth is and opt out of the government run healthcare that they get as members of Congress.  They should support the free market that they love and try to get private health insurance.  I am sure they would be socialists in no time.