Unbelievable

The other day I attended a presentation by a well-credentialed and experienced executive in the health care industry. In it, he outlined the steps his organization was going to take in order to stay in business, in order to save jobs. Considering current economic conditions, such a message could hardly be considered extraordinary except for one thing. The strategic plan was not a reaction to the downward turn of free-flowing market forces; it was a defensive measure specifically meant to safeguard the quality and availability of patient care while continuing to provide around 1500 jobs in the local community. "Defensive" action implies an aggressor. Explicitly named as the obstacle, the oppressor, the negative force was none other than the federal government and its unchecked power.

To be quite honest, I didn't really hear anything that I didn't know. Those in power, when in the minority, have never hid the fact that they want a socialist, government-controlled health care industry; the only thing that has changed is that now they have opportunity. Furthermore, with programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, the government has already had its hands in the cookie jar for some time.

The material presented was well organized and documented containing numerous citations. The speaker reported first-hand experiences with congregational members including senators and representatives. He described his role as a leader in a major hospital organization, one that has been lobbying government entities, pleading with them to leave health care to the health care professionals. By the end of the event, the outlook did not seem promising.

Please allow me to step up on the soap box and rant for a moment...

Imagine that!! Allowing health care professionals to run the health care industry. What an absurd concept!!! Who is going to know better? Who is going to have more experience? Who will have the foresight necessary to address current problems? It makes total sense. Senators and Congressmen, of course. What folly exists to even consider that a HEALTH CARE PRO-FES-SION-AL would know more than a lawyer elected to the Senate or a community organizer vaulting to the Presidency!!!

It makes total sense. It fits. Its the "new way". You don't have automobile makers run the car business. Its the lawmakers who know better. You don't have bankers run the banking sector. Its the politicians who can do it better. Why? Because they have unprecedented credentials.

They run the retirement business. A huge success!!! Viva la Social Security!!! Bernie Madoff is going to jail for the same scheme.

Look at their degrees and experiences. Most of them have never run a business, never managed something as large as a convenience store. Most have law degrees which, or course, is what people study in order to build automobiles and work on Wall Street.

Here's the best part. While the only thing that these politicians excel at is saying the things that people want to hear, they get to manipulate and massage the private sector, and when they screw things up, they get to blame it on the actual professionals (i.e., Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae) from whom they wrangled control. And a la Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the very same politicians who cause the problems (i.e., Barney Frank and Chris Dodds) get to self appoint themselves to save us all from the...ahem...evil, corrupt, and greedy capitalist executives who got us into the mess.

Please give me a moment to step down...

It was surreal to hear what the new Obama administration, with a sycophantic press and congressional branch, had planned for health care in America. It was the first time that the Stalinist agenda had touched me personally, seeing it unfold immediately before my eyes.

I sat there listening as the speaker enumerated the different components of which the federal government was poised to control, what it intended to do with its "new toys", and what the likely consequences would be.

The scope of this post is not to reproduce the different elements; however, the most memorable one was the intention to regulate the amount that health care providers and companies can expect for reimbursement.

Now, to the uneducated 8-year-old child, such an approach sounds great. Free candy!!!! Free cookies!!! Whatever I want, I get!!!!

To the practical, experienced, and scholarly adult, such a notion is insanity. It defies the laws of supply and demand. It facilitates scarcity. It is irresponsible.

How does the shoe maker stay in business when his costs of production increase, but he is limited in the amount that he can charge for a shoe, even to the point where he cannot regain his expenses let alone make a profit?

How does the restaurant keep its doors open when food costs rise, but management is forced to leave prices the same? How long are the cooks going to have a job? The wait staff?

And if the federal government decided that Applebee's must provide the same experience as before, only now it must provide steak dinners at $2/piece. Imagine the line of people at its doors when this policy takes effect. I can see it now.

"Uhh, yes, can you tell me how long of a wait it will be for a table?"

"Okay, let me see here, we should be able to put you in a booth in about three months. Would you like to get a drink at the bar?"

"Sure, give me one of those little vibrator things to tell me when my table is ready. I'll go and sit at the bar and...what's that...you're all out of steaks....emmmmhehhh...okay...right. At $2/steak there's no more cows?"

And while we're on the topic of restaurants, having extensive experience in my younger years, let me be perfectly clear about this. I am terrified of eating something prepared by a disgruntled, underpaid cook. Now, I can look forward to my elderly years in going under the knife of someone who no longer gives a damn because the government has said there is no difference between the amount that someone can make fixing your car to that of someone who fixes your heart and keeps you from dying. As the presenter mentioned, there is a reason that people flock to this country for procedures from countries who already have government health care.

When he completed his material, the speaker asked if there were any questions. I had one, but I didn't ask it. Today's political climate has more religious overtones than anything, and no one is interested in truth. They follow their leaders as though they are divine, and to question their intentions is considered sacrilege. I wasn't in the mood.

What I wanted to ask him was this: Did you ever, in your wildest dreams, envision a time where, as a leader of a large health care organization, that an environment would exist that demanded defensive actions in order to save that organization from, of all things in the United States of America, THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.