Floyd Bayne advocates REALLY SCARY Health Care Plan
Floyd Bayne is the Independent Green Candidate running for Virginia’s 7th District Congressional seat against Incumbent Republican Eric Cantor. While Bayne talks the talk of a Constitutional Conservative, does he walk the walk?
You make the call.
According to Bayne’s campaign website, Bayne says “I will advocate for and seek to have implemented The American Health Care Plan as authored by Dr. John Lanzalotti, which can be seen at – www.jhpf.org.”
We visited this website where the American Health Care Plan is laid out for all to see. There is a massive amount of information on this site – nearly as much as the ObamaCare bill. It is written to make one think it is a brilliant plan to provide Health Care for all and fix all the problems. But when you dig beneath the rhetoric and look under the hood, this is one horrible, scary plan wrapped in flowers and perfume, but it stinks to high heaven.
It is not possible that Floyd Bayne could advocate Conservative Constitutionalism and support this plan filled with government regulation, subsidies for the poor and yes, rationing. Either Bayne has not read the bill or is really in favor of big government and his entire campaign is a charade. Either way, visit the website and dig around as we did.
This is really the most socialistic plan I have seen to date.
So, what exactly is the American Health Plan?
Back in 1995, John A. Lanzalotti, MD a physician and surgeon from Williamsburg , Virginia and the current head of the group pushing the Plan lists as a crowning achievement the Public Funded Health Care Assistance Act of 1995. This Act allowed for a sliding tax credit for the “working poor”, which essentially means taxpayers not considered poor pay more. This portion was repealed in 2005. It also allowed tax credits for Doctors and Hospitals that gave reduced rates, or free service to HAS participants, which means taxpayers subsidize health care. This was also repealed in 2005. The Act is now called the Virginia Health Savings Account Act and no longer has taxpayers subsidizing health care with tax credits.
Dr. Lanzalotti also states that those who believe health care is a personal responsibility and not a right simply “seek justification for rejecting the single payer universal care government system”. That is a troubling statement for those who truly believe health care is not a right.
Lanzalotti states that “all Americans, once they have paid for health insurance or when they do get care, should get access to appropriate and equitable medical care.” The underlined words are very troubling. The plan Bayne advocates seems to believe universal health care is a right and one deserves “appropriate and adequate medical care” if you paid or not. Sounds like the good doctor believes health care is a right.
And the plan Bayne advocates believes the current medical system is inherently racist and “The disparities are so stark that whites in the U.S. are expected to live six years longer on average than African-Americans.”
The Bayne plan also decries that our free market system that believes companies should make profits is flawed. “With a mercantile, government-industrial system that values profits over people, it is no surprise that health care costs continue to spiral out of control for ordinary Americans even as HMOs and pharmaceutical companies accumulate record-breaking profits.”
How dare those corporations profit, right?
The Bayne plan states “Health care must be accessible and affordable to all Americans, irrespective of race, gender, religion, geography, and income.”
So Bayne proposes we simply give tax money to the poor:
Economic theory suggests that it is probably better to give the money as a transfer payment to low income people that would have been spent on a health care program and let them decide which additional goods and services they need since the money has more utility than the program. It also eliminates the moral hazard issue.
And we should all have equal purchasing power, too!
It is ultimately important that every American have equal purchasing power in health care and have means to pay a reasonable price for their non-discretionary health care. This is the least expensive and most efficient way to achieve universal access and equitable care.
With the savings from making our system more efficient, we can generate funds to be used for subsidizing the insurance premiums of the working poor uninsured, and those with chronic illness making this proposal budget neutral.
Wow. Let’s share the wealth! A true Socialist medical plan.
“Ensuring that free and open markets operate fairly and that competition is based on price and quality rather than on the selection of the healthiest patients, and making sure that disadvantaged Americans can participate in the market, that is, how will we subsidize the poor and chronically ill.”
Subsidies and heavy handed Government intervention.
And more Government control:
I prefer to create a new approach that maximizes the good that a free enterprise market system can do while at the same time does justice to the economically disadvantaged.
That is why we propose to replace this system with a lump sum payment from insurance into a reformed health account from which the patient can pay for all of his medical expenses directly, giving the patient true transparency, portability and control over all of his health care dollar. We must also redesign the market institution in order to create a level playing field with rules of engagement to maintain it.
Level the playing field? Karl Marx would be proud!
So, what does the Bayne plan see as the role of government in Health Care?
o Subsidizing the premiums of the poor, the disabled, high risk individuals and those with chronic illness.
o Subsidizing a product or procedure that constitutes a public good, that has been determined to provide a substantial gain to society, that are either under-produced or not produced because a firm cannot recover its cost.
o Government contributions where positive and negative externalities exist. Examples would be immunizations or cigarette smoking.
o Oversight of market functioning to make sure every participant is playing by the rules of engagement.
The good news is that the Bayne backed Health Plan does not believe we need new mandates to force us to buy Health Insurance. The bad news is, he wants to use Worker’s comp, a mandatory system already in place, to avoid letting the voters decide. Pretty sneaky.
I propose that we use a current mandate for Worker’s Comp insurance instead that also has other advantages in providing a source of funding for the working poor and will ensure universal insurance access to necessary care for all employees.
Bayne supports Mandatory Purchase of his Health Insurance Plan:
Once the employee accepts the funding they are obligated under current law to purchase a Worker’s comp policy or a 24 hour policy. A 24 hour health insurance policy covers all illness and injuries irrespective of whether they occur on the job or after work. The reformed health insurance in our plan is designed to be a portable 24 hour policy. Of course this proposal assumes that all Worker’s Comp laws will stay the same.
By creating access to insurance for every American through premium subsidy and improving the way we spread and mange risk we can save about half of the money that we now spend for health care but for which we receive little to no utility.
So, how does Bayne propose keeping costs down on his plan? Simple. Give the patient a limited budget and let him try to find a doctor to do the work for the money the patient receives.
In our market design we introduce competition by having the doctor manage the patient’s care given the budget represented by the lump sum insurance payment by giving the patient different options.
This would be decided by the government one must assume. Prostate cancer? Here’s a couple grand. Good luck with that! Imagine after having a car accident being told that for $10,000 they can save your leg, but today only they are running an amputation special for only $2,000 AND you get a free wheelchair.
This plan balances the physician’s selling expensive procedures against the patient’s choice to spend money in his asset/health savings account that exceeds the insurance lump sum payment, for which he may have other use in the future.
There is a lot more to be afraid of in the Bayne endorsed plan. The government would also get to decide which pharmaceutical companies get to work on which drug – or research the cure – to save money. Competition in Bayne’s world leads to too much duplication of work.
This plan is full of smoke and mirrors. It mentions Adam Smith’s belief in the invisible hand, but relies heavily on the heavy hand of government regulation and subsidies. When you take away the smoke and mirrors, what is left is a medical system so crippled by rationing and regulation that American life expectancy will be cut by decades.
It will save money, but cost lives.
Article written by: Tom White
