Senator Kyl Addresses Concerns Regarding Health Care Reform

by Linda Kor
   Arizona Senator Jon Kyl, who is the second ranking member of Senate Republican Leadership, spoke to a group of business and community leaders during a luncheon held at the Pinetop Lakes Country Club in Pinetop Aug. 26.
   The concern that prompted the gathering was the issue of health care insurance reform. President Barrack Obama has introduced the idea of a comprehensive health care reform plan that he states would provide affordable health care for all Americans. This plan was introduced to Congress just prior to the August recess and met with mixed reaction.
   The plan was presented as a public option that Obama claims will provide all Americans without insurance the coverage they need, and provide the option for individuals to select whether they would like to keep their insurance coverage or opt for an alternative government plan subsidized by the taxpayers.
   “To begin with there is no one in America who is denied health care,” stated the senator. “It’s true that for people that can’t afford health care it’s a challenge; but anyone, whether a legal citizen or not, can walk into an emergency room and receive care.”
   According to Kyl, Obama’s plan has been met with sharp criticism from the Republican Party and prompted concerns among some Democrats. “This plan will increase spending by more than $2 trillion once fully implemented and add to the burden of an already unstable system,” Kyl said.
   The figure presented by the Obama administration of 47 million Americans going without health insurance last year is one that Kyl insists is a misrepresentation of facts. “The truth is that there are five to seven million people that are eligible for Medicaid that have not signed up for it. There are millions of individuals who make enough money, but are young and healthy, and choose not to buy health insurance,” he stated. “The real figures are that today there are 18 million Americans that have no health insurance. Tomorrow might be a little higher or lower, but that doesn’t mean its all the same individuals. The total of 47 million comes from a year’s total of people who at some point in the year did not have health insurance coverage.”
   By Kyl’s estimates there are 12 million people who are having a legitimately hard time affording health care. “There are specific problems with health care with specific solutions,” stated the senator, who believes that government control is not something anyone should want and who found it ironic that the government should be put in charge of keeping the private sector honest.
   In regards to how such a plan would affect business owners who provide insurance for their employees, Kyl said he felt that the incentive to not provide insurance was greater than the incentive to do so. “Both bills would require that employers provide insurance for their employees or be fined or penalized. For businesses with more than 20 employees, the owner will be fined $750 per employee per year. What’s cheaper? The employer will simply pay the fine and his employees will go on the government run health plan,” related Kyl, who added a better plan would be to allow small businesses to band together to receive lower insurance rates and to allow insurance programs to cross state lines.
   “This health plan reform is more than 1,000 pages that were not reviewed prior to being presented to Congress. It’s still not written in legislative language,” said the senator, who believes that Obama was hoping to get the bill rushed through Congress before the August recess because he suspected public support for his plan was waning.
   According to Kyl, health experts with The Lewin Group have estimated that 119 million people will shift from a private plan onto a government-run plan if it is created. That would affect two-thirds of the 170 million Americans who currently have private insurance, all but ending private insurance in America.
   The biggest concern that Kyl has regarding the plan is that it will mean rationing health care. He believes that Americans would be subjected to long waits for serious health care needs, that there will be a shortage of healthcare providers to provide adequate care, and that the poor and elderly will be put last in line to receive treatment.
   An example used by Kyl was countries with socialized medicine. “If you get sick in England, you’d better hope it’s at the beginning of the year. These countries (with socialized medicine) will budget 17 percent of their budget to health care. If, for example, it’s late in the year and it’s determined that I need a quadruple bypass after that 17 percent runs out, they’re going to say, ‘Sorry, Jon, we’ll address this issue after we get our new budget.’”
   Another example given by Kyl as a failed health system was the Bureau of Indian Affairs Indian Health Services. “The U.S. has trust responsibilities to the Native Americans, sort of a fiduciary obligation. From everyone I’ve talked to who receives services from this system, it’s never had enough of anything. They will go to other health care facilities if something urgent comes up and they need immediate attention,” he stated.
   Another aspect of the health care reform program that disturbs Kyl is the bonus for doctors who provide end of life counseling to the elderly every five years. “This is not mandatory for doctors, it’s a bonus. This counseling does nothing but put a guilt trip on our seniors; making them question if they’re being a burden and maybe should take their own lives. I won’t subject my family to government run health care and you shouldn’t either,” stated Kyl.
   One of solutions to health care problems that Kyl supports is to have Americans prioritize what’s important to them. “If health care is what’s most important for you and your family you should be willing to save your money in a way that when an emergency arises, you can take care of it,” he stated.
   According to Kyl, the health plan presented by the President was in response to what Obama felt the people expected of him. “Obama was very popular and somehow he got the idea that he was being elected to do big things. When he stepped in the economy was already taking a dive and the only way to justify it was to name it a crisis situation. Americans want to slow down and work on the deficit and produce more jobs,” emphasized Kyl.
   “Every government takeover is the result of a crisis. What was the crisis for the Cash for Clunkers program? We didn’t need to bail out the auto industry, I’m sure they’re nice guys, but why help them and not, say, appliances makers? They’re nice guys, too. Do you really think there is a crisis in health care today, no; but problems, yes.”
   The concern for the deficit is one that Kyl said should be the more serious issue to address. “The deficit will be at $9 trillion in the next 10 years. That’s almost $1 trillion per year, putting us right behind Japan and Italy. By running a deficit that size you reduce taxes, not raise them,” he explained. “The more you make, the more the IRS takes. This is just punishing the economy.”
   Kyl went on to explain that the same outcome will be for the country what would be for any of us as individuals. “What happens when you mortgage out your home and max out your credit cards and then ask for another credit card? They either turn you down or say sure and charge you at a 30 percent interest rate. It’s no different for the government. Pretty soon that’s just the way the Chinese and the Arab states will be treating the U.S,” he said.
   The senator admitted he does not have all of the solutions to health care concerns, but he does have some ideas and told those present that he’s open to any ideas that the people feel would work.
   “These changes do not require government takeover of the healthcare system, or massive new spending, job-killing taxes or rationing of care,” he said.
   An area that he feels does need reform is Medicaid.
   “There is waste, fraud and abuse in Medicaid. For example, if you have people with respiratory problems and need oxygen, it costs a fair amount of money. However, if the government would put that item out to bid, they could take the best price and save a great deal of money. But the lobbyists have pushed hard for those interests they represent and have succeeded in lobbying strong enough for many years to keep those bids,” he said. Kyl estimated that 10 percent to 15 percent of Medicaid billing is fraudulent, adding that he had heard reports that it may be as high as 30 percent.
   Kyl also addressed the issue of malpractice reform. “In order to prevent lawsuits, doctors practice preventative malpractice. If doctors are careful in their work they would figure out what treatment is needed. Instead, every person that walks through his or her door with a headache will get a CAT scan. Do they need one? No, but doctors are afraid that the one person they don’t give one to will have a brain aneurism. That one person will cost them their career, so they overpractice medicine,” stated the senator, who added that billions of dollars could be saved in health care costs each year if doctors didn’t have to practice defensive medicine.
   “What we need to focus on is getting the economy going again and focus on jobs in the private sector, then the deficit and then the other issues, many of which, will be resolved by the previous,” stated Kyl.
   Although Kyl does not believe the healthreform bill will pass, he stated that if it should it would not actually go into effect until six weeks after the next presidential election.