“Cash for Clunkers” Proves the Government Can’t be Trusted With Healthcare Reform

  When Obama became the president his first priority was to pass a stimulus bill. We were told that there could be no delay, any delay would lead to a catastrophe, and so on. Because of the president’s flaunting of a crisis to pass his stimulus bill the bill was pushed through too quickly. The bill was not read and we have seen the results– with one exception the bill is a failure.

  That one exception was the “cash for clunkers” program. This program was wildly popular and got consumers out buying brand new cars. But, again due to the administration rushing the stimulus package through, there were not enough funds allocated to the program. The program, like the rest of the stimulus bill, was not thoroughly studied. Because of the government’s shortsightedness the program ran out of money within six days. SIX DAYS! The program was supposed to run either until November 1st or until funds ran out, needless to say nobody in the government expected the funds to be exhausted so quickly, so the government did what the government does best– it threw more money at the problem.

  Congress has allotted another $2 billion for the program, putting it temporarily on hold but saving it from being halted altogether. By my calculations that will extend the program for another two weeks or so. Will this be the end of the money thrown into this program? Nobody can tell.

  There are also administrative problems with the “cash for clunkers” program, large backlogs in the system, dealers are not getting their money on time. Some dealers still haven’t even been approved for the program, yet they are participating in it. Many dealers are afraid that they are not going to get their money.

  So the one popular program in the stimulus bill, the one program that was actually working, was wrought with problems– financial and administrative.

  That is what happens when a bill is rushed through congress by a fear-mongering president hell-bent on using a crisis to promote his agenda. Congress, and the president, are now in the process of doing this once again– this time on healthcare reform.

  We can use the “cash for clunkers” program to illustrate exactly the reasons why healthcare reform should never become law, much less rushed through congress. There are several parallels.

  The healthcare reform bill is also being rushed through congress as the president is trying to claim that there is a healthcare crisis that demands immediate action. As legislators push to meet the president’s self-imposed deadline nobody knows exactly what is in the healthcare reform bill because nobody is going to read it. John Conyers admitted as much when he questioned reading the bill without the proper time, and without lawyers to interpret it for them. He said there was no reason to read the bill.

  Nobody is going to know the actual cost of healthcare reform, and when the government failed so miserable on a minuscule $1 billion plan how are we supposed to trust them when we are talking about a plan that will cost an untold trillions of dollars? With the additional $2 billion tacked on to keep the “cash for clunkers” program afloat for a few more weeks the costs of that program have tripled the original estimates and we do not know if the program is fully funded yet or if the costs will continue to rise.

  Are we to trust the government estimates on the cost of healthcare reform? If you do you are one bold person. Healthcare reform is forever, unlike the “cash for clunkers” program it will not end. If the cost estimates for the “cash for clunkers” program were off by so much, can’t we expect the same from a much larger program?

  If the costs of healthcare and the government option keep rising Americans will be forced to keep paying into the system. I am not saying that the costs of healthcare reform are going to triple but we surely know that the government is downplaying the costs to make the bill more palatable to the American people. The actual costs will be higher and unlike the “cash for clunkers” program we will be paying for this forever. Our children will be paying for this.

  In an effort to cut down the costs of healthcare is it plausible that the government will look towards population control through forced abortion and sterilization? That may not be as outrageous as it seems, after all President Obama’s science czar, John Holdren, has advocated for just this type of policy in the past. Is this the reason he was hired by Obama in the first place?

  Perhaps the costs of healthcare reform will be reduced by deciding that some older “useless eaters” would be better off with end of life counseling and a trip to hospice to die rather than to have the government spend the money to treat problems that would normally be treated with a private healthcare plan. 

  And then there is the administrative aspect of healthcare reform. The problems with the administration of the “cash for clunkers” program will only be increased for a program as large as government run healthcare. With the “cash for clunkers” the money has been slow in being released to those that are supposed to get it, but with healthcare reform it will be treatments for ill Americans that will be bogged down in bureaucratic red tape. A matter of life and death, a much larger problem than just money being slow in arriving. Care will be slow in arriving.

  As Americans wait in line their case will proceed through the system until their ultimate treatment is assigned to them. We have all seen how the government operates, the government never takes over anything and makes it more efficient or cheaper. I ask you, do you want your life or the lives of your loved ones put in the hands of a government bureaucracy that could not even efficiently run a fucking rebate program? I didn’t think so!

  When compared to healthcare reform the “cash for clunkers” program should have been a relatively simple, inexpensive, and easily administrated program and yet the government could not be counted on to effectively run that program. There is no way in hell that the government can run healthcare and there is no way in hell that the American people should ever believe that the government could properly run healthcare.

  While “cash for clunkers” is a small problem we should learn a big lesson from it. Do not let the government run your healthcare plan, your life could depend on it.