MEDICAID: The Death of Medicine and the Real Birth of Socialism in America
Considering the anti-trust case involving Microsoft, the number of Americans on welfare, and the present day Vietnam in Kosovo, it is obvious that hints of socialism are creeping into the American system. However, in no such area are these hints as bold and clear as in the present field of medicine, especially those coming from the Medicaid program. Republicans blame Clinton while he attempts reform. Clinton blames Republicans as they block his ideas. But what these people do not realize is that they are attempting to salvage a small branch of a tree with dead roots that was planted by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965. Reforming Medicaid will do nothing to solve the problems it has created. Since it began in 1965, Medicaid has killed aspirations in doctors, caused millions to receive inadequate care, and sent medical costs through the roof.
In the 1960’s and 70’s, the Federal government first began to take an active role in our economy. President Lyndon B. Johnson decided it was high time to wage his “war on poverty,” envisioning his Great Society in the near future. Even thought his idea began before Vietnam, Johnson saw it as an opportunity to improve the lives of the very people he was lying to. But the fact was, and remains, though that poverty is not a war America is fighting. It is an individual battle waged by every American citizen every day of every year. The United States (as in Kosovo) has no place in individual battles. Johnson began implementing his laws (40 of them) with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. When considering racism, that is a valid and noble cause, due to the evil it promotes. Economically, however, people must persevere to become great. Along with these laws came the Medicaid program, a Federal and State funded program that would provide medical service to the nation’s poor. The government agreed to match between 50% and 83% of a state’s money spent. Johnson made it his personal cause to make everything and everyone in America equal. And if that were going to occur, everyone needed to receive adequate medical care. In a speech in Michigan in 1964, Johnson said, “For in your time we have the opportunity to move toward not only the rich and powerful society, but upward to the Great Society. ” (What else could make a society “great”?) The program currently (as of 1992) covers adults who fall into economic brackets determined individually by each state and all children born after September 30, 1983, who belong to families that fall into these brackets. Luckily, Medicaid recipients become ineligible one month after they rise out of the income bracket. Limits like these were put into policy because people were lying and committing fraud. Johnson also added, “The Great Society rests on abundance and liberty for all…” (How could a poor or weak society produce abundance and liberty for all?) This statement is terribly ironic considering Medicaid has lowered America’s medical standards for the past four decades. Common sense tells us that if some people are able to receive medical care for free, paying customers will obviously be forced to make up the difference. Ask anyone who has been in the hospital recently how much they paid for an Aspirin, a Tylenol, or an Advil, and they will explain. Average medical costs have doubled every decade since Medicaid was created. Medicaid has been reformed several times, and is being right now, however in the wrong direction. And this is combined with all of modern medical technology at work. In 1995, Medicaid expenditures reached $152 billion and in 1996 they increased to $163 billion. It grew another 4% from 1997-98. One can only imagine how high these costs will become in the future considering there are currently 36 million Americans who qualify for Medicaid and people will never stop needing health care. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that costs will increase 40% from 1995 to the year 2002. Statistics like these have caused Hillary Clinton to put Medicaid (and Medicare) reform high on their priority lists.
Combined with the obvious socialistic evils that Medicaid promotes, it also has basic problems of its own. Fraud, inappropriate prescriptions, “under” service, and marketing abuse all concern Medicaid supporters, Congressmen, and the President and have caused many new policies to be created (all powerless, though). Hundreds of retirees have been known to liquefy and get rid of all of their assets to become eligible for free health care. Since this activity is legally justified, patients who commit fraud of this type are seldom reprimanded. Drug companies and hospitals are being punished for prescribing unnecessary medicine in order to receive more government funds (and who could blame them). Hospitals and doctors also have a problem treating seriously ill patients. When sicknesses are small, like flues, colds, and fevers, Medicaid works effectively. However, it fails on a regular basis with more complicated procedures like heart transplants and brain surgeries. And one of the most serious problems that Medicaid creates is the practice of paying commission to people for joining certain HMO’s (Health-Maintenance Organization). Groups of doctors come together and charge a base rate, or premium, for health care. Patients must see the doctors who belong to the “group.” The bandwagon of people against HMO’s gets greater every day due to the fact that the roots of the problems are not discussed. Again, punishment is seldom used because the practice is not closely monitored.
Some strong supporters suggest DRG’s (diagnosis-related group) to keep fraud and inappropriate prescriptions from occurring. This severely communistic idea suggests that each patient be given a set amount, an average cost, each time he/she visits the doctor. So, realistically, I could go into the doctor with a severe headache, or with a severed arm and the doctor would be allotted the same amount of money. More liberal supporters suggest an average cost to be established for each ailment. With that in place, two patients, on two sides of the globe, could go to doctors with the same problem, and get the exact same amount for their care. I, for one, would be incredibly unhappy if either one of these methods were applied. Attempts like this one to completely socialize medicine are the main culprits that have caused medical standards to drastically fall and prices to drastically rise. An example: A man goes to the doctor complaining of chest pains. The doctor clearly sees a need for a cardiogram to be used. The man is a paying customer, cash for the purpose of this story, and is quite able to pay the needed costs. However, since Medicaid has only allotted the hospital so many dollars, considering they are not actually making any money, a cardiogram was not approved in the budget. It seems that they are needed only 17% of the time and this is not a sufficient need. So due to the leaches and moochers who are sucking our system dry, a paying customer’s care is hindered. Now, since the man is incredibly wealthy, he drives to a hospital down the road a few miles. But what happens if the man was having a heart attack? What happens if the hospital isn’t miles away, but a state? Socialism cannot answer these questions, not with desirable answers, that is!
The fact is, capitalism can, and would if allowed to, answer these questions. To begin, to go against everything Lyndon B. Johnson stood for, I state that no man has a right to medical care. Just like no man has a right to success and happiness. Every American citizen possesses the unalienable right to the “pursuit of happiness.” If a man cannot afford medical care, like anything else, he must depend on voluntary charity. Government has no business in making America into a collective. That was tried years ago in Russia and we have seen the results clearly. Consider the problems that would arise if a liberal president decided that every American had a right to food. Stores like Randall’s, Kroger, etc., would be given a certain amount of money to buy products so that everyone would have supplies. Do you think the hard-working man would be able to treat himself to a fancy meal? No. Because all the stores would carry only the bare necessities. Without profit, businesses have no incentive. That is clearly what has happened in the field of medicine. Medical schools are having their lowest enrollments in decades because there is no honor and respect left in them.
If medical care was viewed as a privilege, if only those who could afford it received it, and individual doctors were free to make their own decisions in treating a patient, without worrying about the budget, or some bureaucrat standing over their shoulder, medical standards would rise dramatically. Hospitals would become better equipped, better managed, and more respected. Young medical students would have a desire to enter that irreplaceable, honorable position of a doctor. There would be a reason to be a good doctor. These are the things that Medicaid, Medicare, and other socialist programs smother out of existence. And that is the reason why the roots of Medicaid, not the branches that are being fixed today are to blame. Not Clinton, not the Republicans, but Lyndon B. Johnson and his “Great Society.”
Email: blair-ad@juno.com
