Congress Can't Empty A Boot With Instructions On The Heel

The Republicans have passed a federal budget proposal that demonstrates once again that whether the ideas in Congress come from Republicans or Democrats that the American people can depend upon Congress and its denizens to get it wrong. It's not that they're stupid, well it's not just that anyway. Congress' problem is that they fashion their policies, programs and plans from the ideological puffery that endears them to their core constituencies. Their attempts to beat their accursed foes consistently takes the fore in their efforts, leaving the matter of serving the public either in the background or completely out of the picture. It is in this context that Paul Ryan has set out his plan for 'The Path to Prosperity'.

The plan is not very long and does repeat itself a lot; much like a political speech at a fund-raising rally. In it he explains that if you take a lot of money out of government spending, that the government will spend a lot less. This may be math beyond the understanding of most Americans, but I am not sure that it would dazzle any 8th graders. He also refers to other areas where he would save money by cutting many of the items that have been noted by others here and there, including the bi-partisan committee that issued a set of recommendations for how America should deal with the national debit.

Ryan included in his plan a proposal for saving Medicare. He is sure of his plan working because he has some principles, some beliefs, that will resolve the problems that the current program is unable to deal with. And this one aspect of his plan illustrates the very reason that you cannot rely upon any one in Congress, Republican or Democrat, to solve America's problems. Ryan, our case study object of scrutiny, has put his faith in his “beliefs”, his “principles”. It's the free market, competition, and the ability of individuals and their own doctors in making the best decisions concerning their health care that Ryan knows in his heart will reduce the cost of Medicare.

My first issue with Ryan's claims is that his feelings and beliefs are the stuff of mom, home and apple-pie. I don't dislike his feelings and beliefs; but they don't constitute a plan, they don't assure anyone (except perhaps Ryan) that this will work better then the current abysmally run system, and they don't do anything like coming close to reducing the cost of Medicare. So once again we have a Congressional “Prince Vagueness” charging to the rescue with his plan to kill the evil dragon of government Medicare. He is going to replace it with the kind, generous and benevolent corporate behemoths that always do everything in their power to serve the public. And the government will be there to insure that the health care industry is fulfilling its role through the control of the government subsidies to public health care that they will manage on our behalf.

Say! Haven’t we seen this movie before?

I don't care what Paul Ryan believes. I want his plan to stand on something more firm and practical then a Congressman's intellect, particularly one warped and distorted by political ideologies that haven't worked before.

What will the free market guarantee under Ryan's plan. It will guarantee what a free market always guarantees. It will insure that the price will be what the market will bear. It may or may not be cheaper than one that is constricted by governmental involvement. Let's hope that it will be as efficiently and effectively run as say the financial institutions were over the last decade, or that the CEO's of the health care industries won't suffer too much with salaries and bonuses that will probably only be 200 to 500 times what the average American makes. Surely the public will not find the premiums to high to accommodate such sacrifices made by the officers and board of directors of these companies. Besides the public will receive a government provided subsidy to help off-set the higher costs of delivering services via for-profit institutions. Of course, the subsidy comes from our taxes, so we are getting subsidized with our own money again. Unless you are too well-off, then your money will be used to help support those who earn less. Well! At least the government won't be redistributing wealth like other plans would.

Maybe, it's the competitive factor that will insure Ryan's plan is cheaper and better than the current Medicare program. Now why is this? Because the insurance companies have boards that review and oversee what costs are covered or not under their plans. They seek to pay as little as possible for what they do pay for, and that must be how the insure that the price will go down. Well, I am glad that I won't be facing a government death-panel and can instead rely upon these corporate review boards to determine if the drug, procedure or cost of treatment is acceptable versus deciding on letting me die. And in medicine, we also always see that the price a medicine goes down with competition. Except in those cases where there is no competition like a patented drug, or a procedure performed by a capable surgeon, or the profit made by everyone if the patients have the greatest number of everything: drugs, treatments, tests, …

The reliance on the patient and doctor making the best decision thus leading to the lowest cost. You have got to be joking. If you don't see the falsifies in this logic then the drugs are not going to help you.

And now the really sad part. Ryan got close to an approach to revamp Medicare. He almost saw the way through the fog. But I think his 'feelings' got in the way. His 'beliefs' blinded him.

Ryan will be just another politician who stumbled down the road and took the wrong 'Path'. He isn't headed to Prosperity; he's on his way to Perpetuity, a place where Congress just keeps trying to get it right but lack the knowledge, skills, tools and understanding to have a chance. A pied-piper so to speak.