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Friday, August 14, 2009
Charles Krauthammer :: Townhall.com Columnist
The "Preventive Care" Myth
by Charles Krauthammer
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Will Congress pass Obamacare by the end of the year?

WASHINGTON -- In the 48 hours of June 15-16, President Obama lost the health care debate. First, a letter from the Congressional Budget Office to Sen. Edward Kennedy reported that his health committee's reform bill would add $1 trillion in debt over the next decade. Then the CBO reported that the other Senate bill, being written by the Finance Committee, would add $1.6 trillion. The central contradiction of Obamacare was fatally exposed: From his first address to Congress, Obama insisted on the dire need for restructuring the health care system because out-of-control costs were bankrupting the Treasury and wrecking the U.S. economy -- yet the Democrats' plans would make the problem worse.

Accordingly, Democrats have trotted out various tax proposals to close the gap. Obama's idea of limits on charitable and mortgage-interest deductions went nowhere. As did the House's income tax surcharge on millionaires. And Obama dare not tax employer-provided health insurance because of his campaign pledge of no middle-class tax hikes.

Desperation time. What do you do? Sprinkle fairy dust on every health care plan, and present your deus ex machina: prevention.

Free mammograms and diabetes tests and checkups for all, promise Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, writing in USA Today. Prevention, they assure us, will not just make us healthier, it also "will save money."

Obama followed suit in his Tuesday New Hampshire town hall, touting prevention as amazingly dual-purpose: "It saves lives. It also saves money."

Reform proponents repeat this like a mantra. Because it seems so intuitive, it has become conventional wisdom. But like most conventional wisdom, it is wrong. Overall, preventive care increases medical costs.

This inconvenient truth comes, once again, from the CBO. In an Aug. 7 letter to Rep. Nathan Deal, CBO Director Doug Elmendorf writes: "Researchers who have examined the effects of preventive care generally find that the added costs of widespread use of preventive services tend to exceed the savings from averted illness." Continued...
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About The Author

Charles Krauthammer is a 1987 Pulitzer Prize winner, 1984 National Magazine Award winner, and a columnist for The Washington Post since 1985.

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(270 comments so Far)
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Reply # 1
Date: Aug 17, 2009 - 11:18 PM EST
Yeah! Let's get rid of Preventative Med
Mr. Krauthammer is correct! Who needs preventive medicine?

I think you should all stop taking your kids to the dentist and save that 100$. Then by the age of 40, you'll have 4,000$ saved up so you can get all their teeth fixed.

You can save even more by stopping all those wasteful preventative doctor visits too. Just save up the money until you have diabetes, or heart disease, then fix it then.

Oh wait, I forgot, most Americans don't save their money.

Of course preventative medicine costs money! Who doesn't understand that! How many people here spend their money on keeping their car in working order? Do you just drive it until it stops and then get it fixed?

Do you think it's a waste of money to get your oil changed, brakes and engine checked out once in awhile?

People, wake you. The health care system in this country is one of the worse, and is broken. Stop complaining and do something about it!

Let's hear some ideas from the Republicans and stop being the party of NO

G
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Reply # 2
Date: Aug 16, 2009 - 4:03 PM EST
Threowing Crap against the wall...
..,. to see what sticks.

This is what the dems and Obummer have been doing since the beginning of the health care "Debate".

Think back to the beginning, they were pushing UHC on altruistic grounds. "We are obligated to cover the "47 million" without coverage!".

That strategy was a loser because far too many people knew the 47 million figure was pulled out of Pelosi's hind-end, and had no basis in reality.

Next they claimed that UHC would be more fiscally responsible than the current plan. (as if congress ever did anything responsible)
Of course this lie was outed as soon as the CBO (The only honest ppl in DC it seems)came out and said it would add a Trillion+ to the deficit.

Then they changed tactics again, and claimed that "Preventative care" would create the savings to pay for UHC. Thinking americans could see through that lie too. Dr K just put the final nail in the coffin for That lie.

What tactic does that leave the admin?

Demonizing and marginalizing anyone who disagrees with them.

Which means that according to rasmussen polls 54% of America now belongs to the "Angry Mob" of "Astroturfers" engaged in "Un-American" "Manufactured outrage".

Forget Grandma, Pull the Plug on Obamacare




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