Obama Kool-Aid

Editor’s note: This is the first of two essays by Dr. Todd Stewart about the new health care law. The second essay is scheduled to post April 18. Any reproduction of all or portions of this commentary requires full credit to both the author and The City Wire.

guest commentary by Dr. Todd Stewart, an independent Fort Smith physician, and author of "The Dilemma."

For those of you who do not support the new law in health reform, keep reading. Those of you who are in love with the new law, just move on to the next article. You won’t like this one.

Those who are still reading, ask yourself a question. Is Barack H. Obama an idiot or is he a genius? Seriously, is he monumentally dumb or is he an evil genius? I propose an analysis of Health Reform that may enlighten.

Obama campaigned hard for health reform as a Senator, being strongly in favor of a single payer system with the government in charge. That is a fact. (Link here for single-payer comments from U.S. Sen. Obama.) Now, practically speaking — and he is a practical politician — he knows that a straight up vote for single payer healthcare would die like an armadillo on the highway. So, what’s a guy to do? Go sideways into it.

The current health reform bill forbids insurance companies to refuse coverage based on any pre-existing condition and limits premium hikes as well based on such terms. Now, they require everyone to have insurance or else pay a fine. But, the fine for not carrying coverage is tiny compared to the cost of premiums. So, an obvious question is why carry insurance at all when you’re not sick? Why not just wait until you get sick and buy a policy then?

It’s a good question. I wonder how many people are going to do the math like this and simply refuse to buy insurance when they are well. I know for a fact that the number is not zero. I’m pretty sure that the number won’t be below 10 million or 20 million. So, I’m pretty sure that for those of us who do buy insurance when we’re not sick and carry it continuously will be paying a hefty additional sum to cover the (now covered) costs of those who won’t buy coverage until they have a need for someone to pick up the big check.

So, to sum it up mathematically, the cost per person for those suckers who are paying the premiums will skyrocket. We’ll see premium inflation like we’ve never seen before. This will start this year, because the coverage guarantees start immediately as I read the bill.

But, I thought Obama said that premiums would go down. I heard a montage (Listen here, and watch the whole thing for effect) of him saying at least 20 different times that the costs would go down by "up to $2,500 per family per year with my plan."

Government math. Not real-world math. What he is talking about is a potential tax credit, not the real premiums before and after health reform. I call that a Bill Clinton Special — when there is a difference between what the man says and what you hear … until later when you figure it out.

So, what’s going to happen when these premiums skyrocket? I’ll bet we’ll hear how the greedy evil insurance companies are for sticking it to us. We’ll hear stories about their posh bonuses and corporate retreats. We’ll see the media glowering over them. And the general public will be taught that it is the insurance companies’ fault and that they just cannot be trusted. People will be told that the only solution is for the government to finally step in and save the day and put an end to this corrupt system once and for all.

And that, my friends, is how we’ll end up with a government-run single payer health care system.

So, back to my first question. Is Obama an idiot or an evil genius? I think he’s brilliant. And I think it’s already checkmate in this shell game.

Pass the Kool-Aid, please.