Federal Health Bureaucracy Growing? Don’t Blame (Just) Obamacare
Libertarians and conservatives and others have spent five years complaining about the increased bureaucratic burden of Obamacare. New research by Sam Batkins of the American Action Forum, while not letting Obamacare off the hook, shows the problem predates the current Administration. The following chart shows the burden of paperwork has increased linearly since at least 2005:
Batkins measures the millions of hours of paperwork required to comply with regulations emitted by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. 2005 was the first year of the Medicare Part D drug benefit. So, regulations pertaining to that hand-out to seniors surely accounts for much of the burden. However, the law which brought the benefit into existence was signed in 2003. And before that we had the Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996. And before that……
So, I expect if Batkins extended his chart backwards in time we would find the same linear trend going back decades, notwithstanding which party is in power. It is difficult to see how this will change as long as both parties insist it is the federal government’s responsibility to ensure access to health care.
It IS the responsibility of government to ensure access to health care. It is enshrined in the Preamble of the Constitution.
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense,[note 1] promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
And just where do you read healthcare in the preamble? It says ‘general welfare’, which means well-being. If you read ‘well-being’ as healthcare, then you also could say the government owes every person a house, a car, and all the accouterments to go along with them.
The meaning is we have the FREEDOM to acquire these things on our own without hindrance from the government.
The role of government interference in healthcare is exactly why we have the problems we have- from cost to over-regulation.
Before the government began to involve itself more into healthcare in the 1980’s, we could afford healthcare, even without insurance. A doctor visit, even a specialist (gyn, ENT) was just $20 PER OFFICE CALL. These same office calls are now over $300 per visit.
I suggest we have less government involvement and see what the free market does. As it is now, there are some brave doctors who are not accepting insurance and charging $60 per month for all the medical care one needs. This is what happens when the government gets out of healthcare.
That’s what makes it so funny when politicians who’ve never worked in healthcare wonder why they can buy a wheelchair using a credit card online for $2500 whereas that same wheelchair costs$4000 through Medicare. Those millions of hours of paperwork come at a huge administrative cost.
I’m working with a medical equipment company that does only online retail sales with 5 administrative people and $6 million in revenue. They now want to start billing insurance and I told them they would need to potentially double their administrative staff to secure and submit the necessary paperwork. They had no idea.