Dear Senators Voinovich and Brown,

I am writing today because I would like you to oppose the health care reforms that passed the house this weekend.

I base me opposition on a few simple premises that I would like to share with you.

I am one of the uninsured Americans that this legislation is designed to help.  I can tell you that it won’t.  As a 28 year old man of average health I soon realized that the cost of health insurance is far greater than my actual health care needs should I pay them out of pocket.  And as somebody with very low income I found it a tremendous waste of money to purchase health insurance at ANY PRICE.  And I have had emergencies from time to time where I went to the ER, got treatment and simply didn't pay.  As I am currently allowed to do under current law.  Despite what some would have you believe there are absolutely no credit repercussions to doing this.

Furthermore, the countries uninsured are the ONLY downward pressure on healthcare costs!  Those who are insured or get their health care through government plans treat health care as though money were no option.  This has caused a virtually unlimited demand for health care and has caused the massive inflation we've seen in the health sector.  So if the government is going to pick up the tab for even more people we'll see prices go even higher.  So what would be next?  The government programs would go into the red and they would have to do one of a few things: 1) Raise their government program premiums to consumers (or reduce services) which won’t be politically popular.  And we all know that won't happen. 2) Lower their payouts to doctors the way Medicaid and Medicare do.  This means doctors will have to charge more to insurance companies (which they already do).  This would cause a greater "de facto" tax on insurance companies which will be paid for with higher premiums.  This will push more consumers onto the cheaper government plan and push that program further into the red. 3) The final and inevitable conclusion will be price caps on doctors and hospitals.  That would amount to nothing less than a full government takeover of the health care system.  It would also cause a massive brain drain in the medical industry.  I know we would like to believe that doctors are only in medicine to help people, but the reality is that many of our best and brightest are in the medical field for its financial rewards.  And if their talents could lead them to earn a better living elsewhere who can blame them for leaving.  Not to mention those who will be forced out of business by price caps. (Though we know in this situation the government will step in and offer subsidies to these doctors, which will cost more money, and then we have a situation where government pays for the consumer, set's the price and pays the doctor... sounds like a government take over doesn't it?)

It's my observation that the current health care legislation can only lead to one thing, a full government takeover of health care.

Instead why don't we focus on supply and demand oriented solutions to health care?  Plans to allow interstate competition between health insurance companies is by far the best idea.  Or how about this: currently virtually no middle and lower class Americans shop for health insurance.  They simply take whatever insurance their employer offers.  So how about we remove the employer based insurance system.  So that way all insurance companies will have to compete for EVERY CUSTOMER!  Employers can still offer a health savings account help with costs, but with each consumer in charge of their own health care expenditures competition for their business will explode and you can bet those premiums will drop mighty quick!  And inevitably healthier people like me will choose not to buy insurance but use their health savings account to purchase services as they are needed which will cause a dramatic downturn in the price of doctor visits as they will have to charge less to keep seeing the same amount of patients.  This is already happening.  Did you know that most doctors and hospitals offer a large discount to customers who pay in cash instead of using health insurance!  Finally if the government is so enthusiastic to spend large amounts of money on health care, why don't they simply build free clinics?  These will require far far less bureaucracy and will actually give downward pressure on health care prices.  For most common everyday illness this would be more than enough.  They wouldn't even need to staff doctors regularly.  In most cases a nurse practitioner can perform all of the necessary duties including writing prescriptions for most common medications.  It's a cheap and effective method of health care that is in place on nearly all college campuses today.

These are just a few things to think about when that terribly destructive bill comes to the floor of the senate.  I hope that you will join with republicans and the many moderate democrats in opposing the radical health care reform that was passed by the house.

Thank you for your time,

Michael J Folker

Columbus Ohio