AG Lawsuit and the Political Theater of Healthcare

"The audacity of the Democrats to pass an unconstitutional healthcare reform law is only matched by the Republicans' recent posturing as anti-government crusaders," said Patrick Dixon, Chair of the Libertarian Party of Texas.  "If the Republicans were serious about their constitutional concerns, they would raise the legal argument that no healthcare spending by Congress is anywhere authorized by the US Constitution.

 

"Republicans passed the largest government takeover of healthcare in 30 years when they granted senior citizens an unfunded Prescription Drug benefit known as Medicare Part D," said Dixon.   "The Prescription Drug benefit will cost taxpayers $727 billion in the next nine years.  The Democrat's current plan will cost an estimated $950 billion over the next ten years. Both parties have dramatically increased the federal government's role in healthcare. The Republican response to the Democrats appears to be complete theater."

 

The Republican Party has a long history of supporting the Federal government's expansion into healthcare. In 1997, the Republican Congress passed CHIP, the largest expansion of taxpayer-funded health insurance coverage for children in the U.S. since Medicaid began in the 1960's.  It was sponsored by the late Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy in a partnership with Republican Senator Orrin Hatch with the support of then First Lady Clinton.  The Republican Congress repeatedly voted to expand SCHIP throughout the 2000's.

 

"Let's not forget that the Democrat's original plan to take over healthcare this year was copied from Republican Mitt Romney's plan for Massachusetts," said Libertarian Executive Director Robert Butler.  "Apparently it's OK when Republicans reform healthcare, but when Democrat's enact a similar plan it's an 'obamanation'."

 

The Libertarian Party has a completely different approach to the current high prices of healthcare. Libertarians propose that all federal regulation of the healthcare industry be repealed so that prices can fall back to the market-determined prices.

 

Consumers do not realize that healthcare prices would dramatically drop if the government ended its monopoly of the industry.  In 1910, 56% of hospitals were privately owned and for-profit; that number shrank to only 10% of hospitals in 1989, according to the late Nobel-laureate economist Milton Friedman.  And this small number of private, for-profit hospitals actually hire more staff to administer government compliance than patient care.

 

Butler concluded, "We know that government alternatives cost more than the private sector, so decreasing cost by expanding government is a plan doomed to failure."