Bob McCarty Writes

By Foster Friess, Guest Blogger

The idea of a government-run HMO proposed by President Barack Obama and Democrat leaders should scare us all.  Further cause for concern stems from $1 billion of taxpayer dollars shoehorned into the stimulus to fund research into the comparative effectiveness of medicine.  Referred to as “Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER),” Sally Pipes writes, “In theory, such research could provide doctors with important information. But because the research is government-funded, it will likely be used to justify cuts in government health spending… That’s what’s done in Britain. The British comparative-effectiveness agency routinely denies cutting-edge medicine because of cost.”

To prevent Washington bureaucrats from steering America towards a socialized system, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) introduced an amendment that seeks to put patients first and block health care rationing.  Explaining the dangers of CER, Kyl says, “In other words, the government, not physicians and patients, sets the rules and makes the health care decisions.  The government weighs if your treatment is an ‘effective use’ of its resources.  And, the government puts a price tag on what an extra year of life is worth to you … Think about this for a moment.  Do you want Washington bureaucrats—like those who brought you the AIG mess—to make your health care decisions for you and your family?”

We must rally the Middle Majority of America, uniting people of all political stripes to put our country ahead of our political persuasions.  Politicians often speak of medical malpractice, yet what happens in Washington is often equivalent to political malpractice.  As Newt Gingrich points out, there’s something fundamentally wrong as America moves towards a model of government that owns the country rather than a government that is owned by the people.

I’m reminded of my trip to Covington, La., just days after Katrina where our volunteer crews from all across the country worked alongside each other as if we’d been on the same assembly line our entire careers.  Food prepared by the Southern Baptists was then transported by the Salvation Army and served by the Red Cross.  Bottled water, chain saws and generators were provided by Wal-Mart and Home Depot while FedEx flew in additional supplies overnight.  It was the immediate efforts of the private sector and faith-based communities that made immediate impact while FEMA was still ‘coordinating’ back in DC.

FEMA and Katrina paint a picture of what we can expect from government-run health care.  Instead, we must turn to the free enterprise system which breeds innovation, development and competition necessary for success… it’s what makes America great.  We simply cannot afford to compromise the future of our health care by turning it over to a government HMO.

As daunting as health care reform will be, our real challenge lies in curbing the massive growth and expansion of the American government.  Our country thrives on the separation of powers, yet what we see today is a dangerous concentration of power in Washington as President Obama seeks to redirect the US economy away from the private sector to the public sector.  I admire President Obama’s charisma and a recent CNN poll showing his personality to be more popular than his policies (75 percent favor personality vs. 57 percent favor policies) reflects the president’s likability.  While his personality captivates America’s attention temporarily, the policies he enacts are changing America permanently.

Final perspective comes from insights SC Governor Mark Sanford recently shared with me.  Quoting British historian Sir Alex Francis Taylor he said, “The average age of the world’s great civilizations has been 200 years for a nation to progress to a sequence from bondage to spiritual faith, spiritual faith to great courage, great courage to liberty, liberty to abundance, abundance to selfishness, selfishness to complacency, complacency to apathy, apathy to dependence. And from dependence back again into bondage.”

I encourage you to think about that quote and together let’s muster ‘great courage’ to rally the Middle Majority of our country for American renewal.

God Bless.

Note: More of Mr. Friess’ work can be found at FosterFriess.com.