Several presidents have tried to push health care reform in the past, but none have been as successful as the country's current president, Barack Obama. However, President Obama and the Democrats have created two health care bills that would not benefit the country, as they believe. Instead, these two bills would severely damage the country's health care systems.
At this point, there is definitely a need for health care reform. Costs are skyrocketing, insurers are denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions, and insurers are charging different rates just because of someone's medical history. The provisions that eliminate those last two problems need to be included in any health care reform bill. When someone with a health condition tries to purchase insurance, the companies will deny them because of that condition, but the patient really needs health care because of whatever condition they have. Also, a person should not have to pay a much higher rate just because of their medical history, which they mostly cannot control.
However, there are also many provisions in the two bills that would damage or even destroy the nation's health care system. The most important of these is the government-run insurance option, also called the "public option." The Democrats included this plan because they want a cheaper health insurance option that could compete with private insurers and help lower costs. However, this public option would only be the first step toward a single-payer system, which is where the government is the sole health insurance provider. This would happen because the public option would be extremely less expensive than private insurance plans, which would entice people to leave their private insurance plan and buy a public plan. Also, private insurers would have to lower their costs to compete with this, and then they would be unable to operate because of the lower income. These two factors combined would cause private insurers to go out of business, creating a single-payer system.
Another damaging provision in the bills is the creation of many new taxes that would pay for the reform. The version of the bill passed by the House of Representatives includes a surtax on people with a yearly income of $500,000 or greater. This money, which would be forcibly taken from wealthier people, would just be given to poorer people to help them buy health insurance. This is called "spreading the wealth," which is a form of socialism (where everybody in a society is equal). Everyone is not equal, and awarding money to poorer people would just encourage people to quit their jobs and be lazy so they could qualify for financial assistance from the government.
The House version of the bill also requires illegal immigrants to buy coverage. This is perhaps one of the worst provisions in either health care reform bill. Because illegal immigrants are "undocumented," they do not pay taxes, and therefore legal American citizens would be the sole people paying for these illegal aliens' health insurance plans. The American people should not be required to pay for health insurance for people who moved to this country illegally and do not pay their fair share of taxes.
Also, the Constitution does not grant Congress, the president, or any other government bodies the power to require individuals to purchase health insurance or to require businesses to provide health insurance to their employees. The government must operate within the Constitution, which does not give them any power over controlling health care. The government would end up being the single payer for health insurance because of the public option, and the Constitution does not give them this power, either.
In the end, the health care reform bill will not help the United States' health care business, as the Democrats say it will. Instead, this plan will damage or possibly destroy the country's health care system, and could end up making the government a single payer. Barack Obama and Congress should not pass legislation that will hurt the country and its citizens.