Did you ever notice the number of
unintended consequences to federal government action?
During WWI, federal farm policies
artificially inflated wheat prices causing over production. That not only
caused a huge surplus of wheat and eventually a bust in wheat prices; but they
lead to the over planting of the land that then lead to the dust bowl.
In an attempt to spur low income
home ownership, Bill Clinton’s “Community Reinvestment Act” encouraged banks,
along with Fanny Mae and Freddie Mack to make more risky loans to people who
traditionally would not qualify for traditional mortages. This law led directly to the housing bubble
and subsequent recession.
Mandatory air bag laws lead to
the deaths of thousands of children who were buckled in child seats placed in
front seat positions.
The banning of DDT chemicals lead
directly to worldwide outbreaks of malaria that has killed millions.
Of course no one supporting these
actions intended for bad things to happen, it’s just hard to see all the
ramifications for huge far reaching programs on all 50 states when the programs
are conceived and enacted in Washington.
This brings us to the so called
“Affordable Care Act” (ACA).
In my home state of North
Carolina, Blue Cross and Blue Shield has just announced price increases of
50-100% for many health insurance policies.
The “affordable” part is a little hard to see. We have already learned that the President’s
promise that “if you like your insurance policy you can keep it” was a bold
face lie. And just in case anyone thinks criticism of the ACA is just from
right wing extremists, we have Sen. Max Baucus, (D-Mont) calling the bill a
“train wreak” and major union leaders calling for massive changes to the bill
in the letter below to Democratic leaders in Congress.
Dear Leader Reid and
Leader Pelosi:
When you and the
President sought our support for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), you pledged
that if we liked the health plans we have now, we could keep them. Sadly, that
promise is under threat. Right now, unless you and the Obama Administration
enact an equitable fix, the ACA will shatter not only our hard-earned health
benefits, but destroy the foundation of the 40 hour work week that is the
backbone of the American middle class.
Like millions of other
Americans, our members are front-line workers in the American economy. We have
been strong supporters of the notion that all Americans should have access to
quality, affordable health care. We have also been strong supporters of you. In
campaign after campaign we have put boots on the ground, gone door-to-door to
get out the vote, run phone banks and raised money to secure this vision.
Now this vision has
come back to haunt us.
Since the ACA was
enacted, we have been bringing our deep concerns to the Administration, seeking
reasonable regulatory interpretations to the statute that would help prevent
the destruction of non-profit health plans. As you both know first-hand, our
persuasive arguments have been disregarded and met with a stone wall by the
White House and the pertinent agencies. This is especially stinging because
other stakeholders have repeatedly received successful interpretations for
their respective grievances. Most disconcerting of course is last week’s huge
accommodation for the employer community—extending the statutorily mandated
“December 31, 2013” deadline for the employer mandate and penalties.
Time is running out:
Congress wrote this law; we voted for you. We have a problem; you need to fix
it. The unintended consequences of the ACA are severe. Perverse incentives are
already creating nightmare scenarios:
First, the law creates
an incentive for employers to keep employees’ work hours below 30 hours a week.
Numerous employers have begun to cut workers’ hours to avoid this obligation,
and many of them are doing so openly. The impact is two-fold: fewer hours means
less pay while also losing our current health benefits.
Second, millions of Americans are covered by
non-profit health insurance plans like the ones in which most of our members
participate. These non-profit plans are governed jointly by unions and
companies under the Taft-Hartley Act. Our health plans have been built over
decades by working men and women. Under the ACA as interpreted by the
Administration, our employees will treated differently and not be eligible for
subsidies afforded other citizens. As such, many employees will be relegated to
second-class status and shut out of the help the law offers to for-profit
insurance plans.
And finally, even
though non-profit plans like ours won’t receive the same subsidies as
for-profit plans, they’ll be taxed to pay for those subsidies. Taken together,
these restrictions will make non-profit plans like ours unsustainable, and will
undermine the health-care market of viable alternatives to the big health
insurance companies.
On behalf of the
millions of working men and women we represent and the families they support,
we can no longer stand silent in the face of elements of the Affordable Care
Act that will destroy the very health and wellbeing of our members along with
millions of other hardworking Americans.
We believe that there
are common-sense corrections that can be made within the existing statute that
will allow our members to continue to keep their current health plans and
benefits just as you and the President pledged. Unless changes are made,
however, that promise is hollow.
We continue to stand
behind real health care reform, but the law as it stands will hurt millions of
Americans including the members of our respective unions.
We are looking to you
to make sure these changes are made.
I have no doubt that the bill was conceived, written and
voted on with the best possible intentions. But as a wise man once said, “the
road to hell is paved with good intentions”. It is time that the government
stops making citizens pay for their bad decisions. (Actually it is time for our
elected officials to stop making bad decisions!) Since the ramifications are
hard to see and understand of a bill one thousand pages in length, maybe the
government should take a line from the Hippocratic oath and at first “do no
harm”.
A limited federal government is the only why I can see this happening.
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