Compassionate Healthcare Heist?

Would it be truly compassionate to pay a hospital bill if it meant stealing the money from innocent passers by? Stated another way, would we hail Bernie Madoff as noble if his $65 billion ponzi scheme heist was actually being routed to finance healthcare for the urban poor? While it has a bit of a Robin Hood flare to it, we'd have to agree that the overall plan was unacceptable and still grounds for life imprisonment.

In order for public policy to be compassionate, it must be truthful. The Obama-Reid-Pelosi-Obey healthcare reform bill makes a number of assumptions which should not form the basis of honest cost projections. And then, with those ungrounded assumptions in place, even then the projections are based on the best-case scenario. History, on the other hand, has shown that such a public program should more reasonably assume worst-case scenario and multiply by 10 in order to approach the reality of the actual costs.

There is ample reason to believe that national health care reform bill is as financially sound as Bernie Madoff's ponzi scheme. One might counter that business has been done this way in Washington for years. Agreed, but this terribly invasive plan might actually bring us to tipping points both in public policy funding and in the patience of the American people.

Our Wisconsin Congressman David Obey wielded the gavel for that historic vote. While he will cherish that moment as a badge of honor, such honor would only be due if the program were noble and based in truth. This is not the case!

This is a significant reason why the Wisconsin northwoods needs to rally behind Obey's challenger, Sean Duffy. Sean stands with a team of conservatives who intend to tackle both the problems we are facing and the significant problems that have just been added. Representative Obey will campaign across the 7th congressional district this spring and summer with a message of how he and his Democrat teammates have brought compassion to America in a new way with this healthcare reform measure. Sean will be denigrated as cold-hearted and obstructionist for standing with the Republican opposition.

But compassion must be grounded in truth.

Republican Rep. Paul Ryan of Janesville, Wisconsin has been an eloquent leading voice in opposition to the Obama-Reid-Polosi-Obey health care bill. He voted no on Sunday, March 21, 2010. I've included here his response to the passage of the bill. Please consider the wisdom of adding Sean Duffy to Representative Ryan's team!

Posted: March 23, 2010

The legislative victory among Washington's political class comes at a high cost for Wisconsinites forced to swallow this bitter pill.

This massive health care overhaul - a remake of one-sixth of our economy - will exacerbate the very problems this reform effort sought to address. It will dramatically alter our deteriorating economic and fiscal conditions for the worse and may irrevocably impair the American identity.

Sky-rocketing health care costs are drowning families, businesses and governments in red ink - leaving millions priced out of the market and without coverage. This legislation - with its maze of mandates, dictates, controls, tax hikes and subsidies - pushes costs further in the wrong direction.

Premiums in the individual market would rise from 10% to 13% for families. Our debt and deficit crisis - driven by $76 trillion in unfunded liabilities - would accelerate from the creation of a brand new entitlement and an increase in the federal deficit by $662 billion, when the true costs are factored in. National health expenditures will increase by an additional $222 billion over the next decade, according the president's own chief actuary, and $2.4 trillion in the decade after the new entitlement is up and running.

The passion against this intrusion goes beyond the mind-numbing numbers. Health care affects each of us in an intimate and personal way. The American people's engagement is driven by our deep aversion to the federal government's unprecedented reach into our lives. The entire architecture of this overhaul is designed, unapologetically, to give the government greater control over what kind of insurance is available, how much health care is enough and which treatments are worth paying for.

The massive expansion of the federal government into the personal health care decisions will drive providers out of business and force employers to dump their workers on to government-controlled exchanges. Because Washington doesn't approve, millions of Wisconsin seniors will lose their Medicare Advantage plans and millions more will lose the consumer-friendly high-deductible health plans they enjoy.

There is another personal cost to this deluge of new government spending and control. Wisconsin remains in dire need of sustained job growth and robust economic recovery. This legislation will hit our economy with $569 billion in tax increases - tax hikes that will hit workers, families and job-creators alike.

The true shame of this debate is that there are real problems in health care that need to be fixed. Almost a year ago, I introduced the Patients' Choice Act to fix what's broken in health care, without breaking what's working. I've spoken with Wisconsinites for years about patient-centered reforms that would make possible universal access to quality, affordable health care with the patient and the doctor - not the government or insurance companies - as the nucleus of the health care market. These alternatives were ignored by Democratic leaders in Washington - and the concerns from Wisconsinites and an engaged American public were dismissed by Washington's political class.

The yearlong partisan crusade - right through its ugly conclusion - revealed that this debate was never about policy but rather a paternalistic ideology at odds with our historic commitment to individual liberty, limited government and entrepreneurial dynamism. The proponents of this legislation reject an opportunity society and instead assume you are stuck in your station in life and the role of government is to help you cope with it. Rather than promote equal opportunities for individuals to make the most of their lives, the cradle-to-grave welfare state seeks to equalize the results of people's lives.

We must begin anew on mitigating the disaster from this health care debacle. Let's repeal the costly missteps before they hit with full force. Let's make certain we do not simply retreat to an earlier point on the same path to decline. Let's chart a new direction that will restore the promise and prosperity of this exceptional nation - and let's do it together.

U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) represents the 1st Congressional District.