Here is a brief summary of the 2-day "fly-in" to Capitol Hill Tuesday and Wednesday, asking our US Representatives and Senators to vote "NO" on Socialized Medicine/National Health Care. Contrary to what the President said last night on TV, the reality on the Hill is that there is virtually no chance of killing this bill only slight modifications they are willing to make to it. The most devastating part of this bill is the issue called, "public option". The public option is the absolute CORE of National Health Care. This option will force small employers and a great deal of larger employers to cut employees, go out of business, or force their employees into the "public option" when in reality there will be no option at all.
My husband and I lived in this type of health care in the European Union and it is a first class disaster. The most vulnerable people in a government run system are the people that get sick! The young and old or people in the middle with chronic or incurable conditions quickly lose access. That's the reason why people in other countries will sell their houses and make life-altering adjustments to get the money to come to the US to access state-of-the-art health care.
The second issue I learned about yesterday is the issue that is pure socialism and NEVER works; it is called "price-fixing". The Government would set the price at which reimbursement would be paid for a patient's care. For example, the bureaucrats in Washington, DC would decide how much you will pay for an office call to your doctor, for a CT scan if you need one, an MRI, or a hospital stay. As a legislator, I can tell you that the government has been up to $10 million dollars in default to our local hospitals right here in Michiana and our entire coalition of elected officials go and fight to get their money, and that's ONLY to pay for the back log in Medicaid payments. Forcing all Americans on to a government run system that has not adequately run ANY health program efficiently is an impending nightmare.
Thirdly, we all know there is no such thing as "free" health care....nothing is free. This program has a price tag of more than $1.5 trillion dollars. One Congressman told me yesterday that he was excited about trimming $1 billion dollars off of that $1 trillion dollar price tag...sorry, but there is a long way to go between a billion and a trillion and it will have to be paid for in tax dollars. We cannot afford "free" health care.
I left there yesterday with a sense that, unless the American people rise up and say, "no way"...this is going to pass in some type of modified form. This certainly isn't a partisan, political issue, this is about our families and our own lives. I implore you to pass this email around, call or email your congressman/senators and tell them to vote NO...not to modify the bill but to vote NO and start over.
If you have questions about this issue for me, email me back and I will get you an answer. I don't want to see the lives of Hoosiers and Americans jeopardized over an "experiment" that hasn't worked in any country...let alone the greatest country on the face of the earth!
Please call today and keep calling.
Thank you!
Jackie Walorski
Indiana State Representative
District 21