Government run health care. If those words provide you some measure of comfort, let’s look at some well-known government programs and see how they have performed throughout the years.
The U.S. Postal Service was established in 1775 and losing a billion dollars a year…the same government that wants to run healthcare has had 234 years to get the distribution of lettered mail right and failed.
Social Security was established as a “safety net” in 1935. The original intent of Social Security was to provide a monthly benefit for workers who retired at age 65 financed by contributions these workers made over their career. The program has expanded over the years by, among other changes, extending benefits to the retiree’s family, the survivors of deceased workers, providing benefits for the disabled, allowing retirement at age 62, and providing cost-of-living increases. 79 years later, it cannot sustain itself and has grown well beyond its intended purpose.
Fannie Mae was established in 1938 as part of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal in the wake of the collapse of the national housing market during the Great Depression. Its original intent was to provide local banks with federal money to finance home mortgages in an attempt to raise levels of home ownership and the availability of affordable housing. It was “rescued” by taxpayers and is now broke. Seventy one years and it is insolvent.
War on Poverty was introduced in 1964 as part of Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society and expanding government programs. In effect, it broadened the scope of FDR’s New Deal. Throughout its 45 years of existence, about one trillion dollars has been taken from the American taxpayer and thrown at the “the poor.” Poverty among Americans between ages 18-64 has fallen only marginally since 1966, from 10.5% then to 10.1% today. Another government administered program that hasn’t worked.
Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965 as part of LBJ’s Great Society. Its roots can be traced back to Harry Truman’s call for a national health insurance plan. Medicare has continued to expand throughout its 44 year existence with premiums rising over 1000% since inception. Congress has been working national health care for 44 years and it is insolvent.
Freddie Mac was established in 1970 because Fannie Mae had become too big. In 1968, with the pressures of the Vietnam War straining the national budget, President Lyndon Johnson took Fannie Mae’s debt portfolio off the government balance sheet; Fannie Mae was converted into a publicly traded company owned by investors. Two years later, Freddie Mac was launched, primarily to keep Fannie Mae from functioning as a monopoly. So the government established two subsidized banking organizations to keep one from becoming a monopoly? Freddie Mac went public in 1989 and was a recipient of massive amounts of federal money to “rescue” it.
AMTRAK was organized by the federal government in May of 1971. Its preferred stock is owned by the federal government and the board of directors is appointed by the President. Despite the best attempts of the government to manipulate the rails, Amtrak has received billions of dollars of taxpayer money in order to stay in operation. Thirty seven years and still not profitable.
The Department of Education was established in 1980 by combining offices from several federal agencies. The department’s mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access. It has 4,200 employees and $68.6 billion budget. As a measure of effectiveness, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also called the “Nation’s Report Card, shows little improvement. Stuart Kerachsky, the Acting Commissioner, National Center for Education Statistics, stated: “We have not seen any significant changes in Black-White or Hispanic-White score gaps since 2004.” Hardly billions of dollars well spent.
The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) of 2009 took trillions of dollars in a thinly veiled political payoff to rescue companies that were “too big to fail.” Maybe too big to fail is just “too big.”
Last (up until this point), but certainly not least “Cash for Clunkers” was established in 2009 and went broke in days after its inception! The plan took older vehicles off the road in order to entice Americans to buy new cars as long as they got better mileage than the older cars. Instead of providing a boost to American care sales, imports saw the greatest surge courtesy of the American taxpayer.
With this long history of failure, is there any doubt as to what the results of a government administered health care system will be? Have we forgotten that the citizens and tax payers elect officials to represent us? Have we forgotten that capitalism, for all its warts, is much more efficient and produces a better product than that which is government run? Is there any doubt that if a national health care plan is adopted, liberals and statists will use whatever loopholes are inherently in the legislation to expand national control beyond its intended scope? Given past performance, Americans should be afraid, very afraid.
