Gigantic, unintelligible, unaffordable, over-regulatory, federal legislation
October 28, 2009
Heritage Foundation
Owcharenko explains why this “opt-out” model is just another government-run plan that is guaranteed to fail:
States can only opt-out of the government-run plan, not the entire bill. But the rest of the bill contains hundreds of provisions, such as the expansion of Medicaid, which will place major financial burdens on the states.
It is still a government-run plan because the government will require non-participating states to meet federal conditions. These government-determined conditions could include the creation of state-level public options that mirror the federal plan.
States will likely select the public “option” because of the bureaucracy and enormous administrative complexity required for a state opt-out. Federal conditions will limit states’ ability to create alternatives.
State innovation will suffer under the massive health care proposal’s employer and individual mandates, and government micromanagement of an industry that represents one-sixth of our economy.