Why politicians can't be trusted with our money

By Alieta Eck, M.D., of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons

Congress just passed – without even reading it – a trillion-dollar spending bill. The continuing resolution (CR) allows the government to keep spending in the absence of a budget. The "omnibus" package – "omni" means everything and the kitchen sink – adds in 1,600 pages of pork all mixed together. No amendments, no extractions: Take it all at once or shut down the government.

Obviously, congressmen who voted for it don't live in the real world of mortgages, food budgets and car payments, where real Americans actually have to pay their bills.

The legislative mix includes a lot of things Americans just rejected at the polls – like the Obamacare website, consultants and subsidies.

Congress doesn't even know the real cost, and neither do the Obamacare winners, the ones who get subsidies from other Americans to pay for their insurance. Those enrollees only know the amount they are expected to pay. So we have people who are very pleased at having to pay $69 per month for a policy that costs $1,500. But who is paying the difference?

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Much of the Affordable Care Act "success" is based on the expansion of Medicaid. Taxpayers, state and federal, and their descendants, will pay 100 percent of the cost of this coverage.

A Daily Caller New Foundation analysis of the Congressional Budget Office data revealed that Obamacare will cost taxpayers $1.38 trillion through 2024. The number of newly insured is estimated to be 25 million. Thus, the cost to insure each new person will be about $55,000.

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Is this good value? How many would freely choose to pay it? Does it even mean access to actual medical care? No, it means a promise that people might get care that's included in the politically correct mandates. These assume that Americans, just as Jonathan Gruber said, are stupid. Left to themselves, they might purchase what they themselves think they need instead of what special-interest groups want them to have.

Most Americans are willing to work to support their families and live the good life that had always been possible for those who worked hard. Politicians have made this far more difficult, as they have made the cost of living outpace our ability to pay for it – especially the cost of medical care.

Previously, Americans went to see a doctor they trusted when they felt ill. He charged a reasonable fee, which was simply paid, like any other bill. In the early 1950s, insurance companies saw an opportunity to help cushion the cost of major medical events and offered "hospitalization" coverage. Sure, they made a profit, but it was reasonable, as the insurance covered only major items, and the premiums were affordable. For those who were poor and unable to afford care, towns developed safety-net clinics, mostly housed in the hospitals and staffed by residents who were eager to learn and volunteers who were kind and compassionate. All medical care was local – and affordable.

The cost of a doctor visit – when paid directly – has not outpaced inflation. The cost of health insurance, however, has increased to something in the range of a mortgage payment. Americans need relief.

The solution lies in minimizing the very expensive middlemen who have benefited greatly from the third-party payment system. While the number of physicians has gone up 200 percent, the number of administrators, those who do not provide actual care, has increased by 3,000 percent.

This system was created with the help of politicians who specialize in getting elected to office. The Affordable Care Act was written by people who seem unable to relate to those giving or receiving actual care. In fact, no practicing physicians were consulted.

The new Congress needs to listen to the people who elected them, especially physicians and patients, not academics, executives and economists – those who engineer pre-paid "plans," which are erroneously called insurance.

The answer will come from people (who make up what is called the "free market") figuring out how to solve their own problems, not from prescriptions thrust on them by politicians and their multi-million dollar super-"smart" consultants.

Dr Alieta Eck was the 2014 Republican candidate for U.S. Congress in New Jersey's 12th District. She has been in private practice with her husband, Dr. John Eck, M.D., in Piscataway, New Jersey, since 1988 and has been involved in health-care reform since residency. She is convinced that the government is a poor provider of medical care. Dr. Eck, a member of the AAPS, and her husband founded the Zarephath Health Center, a free clinic for the poor and uninsured that currently cares for 300-400 patients per month utilizing the donated services of volunteer physicians and nurses in New Jersey.