Senate leaders are starting to panic over the prospects for their cancerous healthcare bill. They can't seem to find the votes they need. The main problem seems to be the so-called "public option" -- a complex scheme that would create a tax-funded government health insurance company. Senate leaders are proposing to remove this objection by . . .

Creating a different kind of public option. Brilliant!

But it gets worse. Their clever new public option scheme is the already-existing public option -- Medicare and Medicaid. Problem is, both of these programs face bankruptcy, which can only be avoided by cutting benefits to patients and/or payments to doctors.

Only a politician would think it makes sense to expand insolvent programs. Please send Congress a letter opposing their latest cancerous healthcare idea: https://secure.downsizedc.org/etp/campaigns/114

Here's what I said in my letter . . .

The new proposal to replace the "public option" by expanding Medicaid and Medicare is like replacing one cancer with an even worse cancer. These programs already face $89 trillion in unfunded liabilities, and now Senate leaders want to make the problem even worse?! No wonder politicians are held in such low regard. http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba662

Look, this is really simple -- if you want to make health insurance and healthcare less expensive, while also improving healthcare quality, then you have to restore consumer control. There are two SIMPLE things you can do to achieve this . . .

First, pass legislation permitting consumers to buy health insurance across state lines. This will allow us to avoid the corporate welfare mandates imposed on insurance policies by state governments. That, in turn, will force state legislatures to compete with each other by repealing their corporate welfare mandates. This one simple change will . . .

* Help restore the traditional major medical policy as the dominant form of health insurance
* Make insurance premiums plummet while the number of people covered soars
* Cause consumers to start paying the cost for basic procedures, and only use insurance for the big stuff
* Make consumers cost-conscious, leading to increased competition between healthcare providers, which will drive down costs and increase quality.

This is simple. You could do it with a short bill -- so short you could actually read it! DO IT!

Second, break the tax incentives that tie health insurance to employment. Create incentives that will lead consumers to own their own health insurance policies, so they won't have to risk losing their coverage if they lose their jobs. All you have to do is raise the amount of money people can contribute to a Health Savings Account. Here's the goal . . .

Expand HSAs to the point where the tax benefits of having one are equal to the tax benefits of having employer-provided health insurance. This will . . .

* Cause people to favor owning their own health insurance, instead of having it tied to their job
* Reduce the number of people who lose coverage because of unemployment or pre-existing conditions
* Give people tax-free money they can use to pay for preventative care
* Allow people to save for the future, further reducing their dependence on insurance
* Make consumers cost-conscious, leading to increased competition between healthcare providers, which will drive down costs and increase quality.

This too is simple. Once again, you could do it with a short bill -- so short you could actually read it! SO DO IT!

I mean really, favoring costly complex schemes that will make things worse, when there are simple, low-cost solutions that will make things better, makes you guys look pretty stupid. It also makes a lot of us question your motivations.

END OF SAMPLE LETTER

You can send your letter here: https://secure.downsizedc.org/etp/campaigns/114

And share this message with your friends: http://tinyurl.com/y9nmbb5

Perry Willis
Vice President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.