A couple weeks ago, Rep. Jim McDermott held a “democrats only” meeting, which many of us thought was to be an open-doors town hall.  We were dismayed but not deterred. 

I, along with others, including congressional candidate Steve Beren, peacefully protested outside and engaged in debate – mostly about government healthcare.  I was reminded by my ideological opponents that I am both a shill for the Republican Party and a gigolo for the healthcare industry.
 
I write this piece not to win points against McDermott’s faithful following, but hopefully to win over those sitting on the fence, or who do not want to get into the smack-down fray of local and national politics. 

Congressman McDermott declared at his meeting that “This is war!”  I agree entirely, and I appeal to those sitting on the sidelines to get involved.  The very notion of our constitutional republic is on the chopping blocks. 

McDermott is a lightning rod for an ideological movement, which if successful will bankrupt this country and take away our liberties.  A dramatic statement?  Yes.  True?  You be the judge…
 
First, let me put debate over government-sponsored healthcare into context by laying out some facts. 

(1) Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP consume 41 percent of the total federal budget. 

(2) This is important – interest on the federal debt consumes 9 percent. 

(3) The current “operating” federal debt (meaning direct obligations) is about $11 trillion. 

(4) This is also important - the unfunded liabilities for Social Security and Medicare combined are about $52 Trillion. 

(5) Federal law allows states to ban interstate commerce in health insurance – meaning you cannot buy your health insurance from a company in another state, as you can with just about everything else.  (

6) The current tax code allows companies to purchase their health insurance with pre-tax dollars.  The best you can do as a family is put away $2,850 pre-tax earnings into a Health Savings Account.  (

7) A study quoted by Kessler et al, Stanford University, puts the cost of defensive medicine and defending medical malpractice nationwide, at somewhere between $130 billion and $210 billion – or between $1,700 and $2,000 per year, per family.
 
Congressman McDermott, we who oppose the plan put forth by President Obama and Congress for government healthcare, are NOT for keeping the status quo.  Certainly, the current system needs to be fixed. 

I pay for my own private insurance and have seen costs ramp up dramatically each year.  It is that we see so many facts which are completely disregarded by our ideological opponents. 

Change has to come from removing band aids that smother the wound, not by adding more.  First, if government would de-regulate medical insurance, it would increase competition and drive down costs. 

If you want to punish insurance companies, then make them compete!  Let us buy insurance out of state if there is another company with a better product.  Let us buy insurance from a company which is not mandated to cover add-ons such as acupuncture and aromatherapy.  Second, tort reform has to be part of any “improvement” in the healthcare system. 

The numbers cited above comprise about 20 percent of total health care costs nationwide.  The majority of malpractice lawsuits are frivolous – not my opinion, but facts put forth by the health care community.  If malpractice payouts and defensive medicine were dramatically reduced, the savings could be passed onto us all, and bring coverage to the truly needy. 

Third, change the tax laws.  Let us use more pre-tax dollars – as large employers do – to buy our medical insurance.  This would level the playing field and create a large “demand-side” market to encourage competition and drive down costs. 

Fourth point: there is already plenty of government-provided healthcare insurance.  A conservative estimate is that in 2008 Medicaid spending was about $100 billion – for the uninsured, and Medicare spending was about $330 billion – for the elderly and retirees.  Is that not enough? 

If anything, these programs need fixing – get rid of the grifters who suckle off the government teat.  Get rid of the bureaucracy, which delays or disallows doctors from using valid drugs and therapy. 

Fifth and most important point – the cost.  The Congressional Budget Office says government health care will add another $1 trillion to the federal debt.  In only a couple years, federal spending will equal the Gross Domestic Product, and a healthy share will be spent paying off our creditors. 

With our federal government so massively and egregiously in-debt already, a government which basically practices a Bernie Madoff-type ponzi scheme with our social security and Medicare contributions, and demonstrates little ability to manage existing entitlement programs already on the books, a government which does not hold itself accountable to spend our tax dollar wisely or efficiently, why should we trust them to get this one right?
 
No – this proposal, of which Jim McDermott is so in favor, has very little to do with bringing universal healthcare to the masses.  This is a move to supplant private enterprise from 20 percent of our economy – as we know in our hearts that government is the final monopoly.  It is a move to take away our basic freedom to choose and make decisions for ourselves, bringing serfdom one step closer to our doors. 

James Madison, who co-authored the Federalist Papers, was instrumental in writing the Constitution, and served as fourth president of the United States is quoted as saying, “I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.” 

Jim McDermott is so wrong on this issue and needs to go.
 
Thomas Shafer lives in the Seaview area of West Seattle.