The Title of the Article is called HELP For Whom? food for thought I think.

HELP For Whom?
By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Monday, July 06, 2009 4:20 PM PT

Health Reform: A Senate health care bill will force Americans to buy health insurance whether they want it or not. Where the extra doctors to treat them will come from is anybody's guess.


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IBD Exclusive Series: Government-Run Healthcare: A Prescription For Failure


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When even the venerable Helen Thomas gets upset at an Obama show and tell, you know the sales job for health care reform and other goodies is not going well. "I'm amazed at you people who call for openness and transparency," said Thomas, a view we share.

Thomas accused the White House of "controlling the press" and said just about all Obama events are "prepackaged." White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was dismissive. "We've had this discussion before," he said. "Of course you would (say that)," Thomas shot back, "because you don't have any answers."

Perhaps what Thomas had in mind is that Debby Smith, the uninsured cancer patient hugged by President Obama, is also a Democratic operative. She is a member of Organizing For America, a group that is a project of the Democratic National Committee, and Smith was invited to the event by the White House itself.

Like Thomas, we get the impression the White House and the Democrats in Congress are making it up as they go along. Acknowledging that many are uninsured because they choose to be, a Senate version of medical reform imposes fines of $1,000 for uninsured people who decline coverage. Families who do so will pay more.

They are, in Orwellian fashion, called "shared responsibility payments" instead of fines. They are to be at least half the cost of basic medical care, which is sure to go up whatever the Obama administration promises. We need only look at Medicare to see government promises of care on the cheap are bogus.

The Senate legislation is sponsored by the usual suspects, Democrats Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts and Chris Dodd of Connecticut. It's modeled on Massachusetts' plan, which also imposes a $1,000 fine. The godfathers of health care are making us an offer we can't refuse.

The CBO estimates the "shared responsibility payments will bring in about $36 billion over 10 years. This Senate Health Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) bill also calls for a $750-per-worker "annual fee," $375 for part-time workers on companies with more than 25 employees that do not offer coverage to employees.

So if you're a small business seeking to expand beyond 25 workers, you have quite a bit to think about. That's sure going to help job growth. In a statement released by the White House, Obama welcomed the revised legislation, saying it "reflects many of the principles I've laid out."

The Kennedy-Dodd bill also provides for a government-run insurance option to compete with private plans. A competing Senate Finance Committee version does not.

According to the CBO, under its plan "the number of people who had coverage through an employer would decline by about 15 million, and coverage from other sources would fall by about 8 million." The number of uninsured would decline by only a third.

This seems to fly in the face of the Obama promise that if you like your current coverage, nothing will change. Around 80% of Americans — 243 million of us — have indicated we like our current coverage and doctors. Too bad, for that will change.

Suppose health care reform passes and all are insured, by force or otherwise. The U.S. will be short 124,400 front-line physicians by 2025, according to the Association of Medical Colleges.

That does not include the 15,585 new primary-care providers the administration plan is estimated to require.

Put together fewer doctors, more patients and government insurance, and that spells less access to care, even rationing. HillaryCare died in 1994 when Americans realized it would force them to give up the coverage and health care providers they liked.

ObamaCare is no different.