Rove's Review

" More with Karl -- Health care which is seven -- not bad at Midnight Oil pivot trying to -- but think about health -- well look we need we need health care reform. I've got my own views about what that health care reform lot of be -- but I've I've written a column for Thursday morning's Wall Street Journal which had talked about one element of health care reform that's been talked about abortion that we should not have. And that's the so called public option. The idea here is is that in addition being able to get insurance from thirteen hundred companies that sell insurance private. Insurance that the government would set up -- in -- its own government run insurance program to compete with all of thirteen hundred private private companies. -- we don't need it. We got thirteen hundred robust companies out there. Compete with each other we've seen what will let people don't have we should have can't afford insurance well but you know there's there are ways that -- that the private sector is trying to find ways to. And provide them product effective speed restrained by government the government restraint there is that they've got to put a lot of things into the -- into a basic policy. That that most people don't need and it drives -- to cost for everybody these so called mandates. But we see the -- of pot of competition among private health care providers. In the Medicare prescription drug benefit where there was a big battle -- over this in 2001 and 2002. We're proponents of a so called public option then said we need every government delivered. Prescription drug benefit in. The majority in congress and no we're -- have this delivered by private companies competing with each other. The Congressional Budget Office estimated to cost to the program -- last year 2008 would be 74 billion dollars here. The actual cost was 44 billion dollars or 41% less despite the fact that there are more seniors who signed up for the program and they signed up earlier. And we use it and more in what kept prices down. -- kept prices down was all the companies nearly a hundred companies providing plans competing with each other on price and benefited services."

" That's -- to. Two distinct groups -- those who have insurance and let those insurance companies compete to lower the price of feed on purely capitalistic. Viewpoint. Yeah of the people who don't have insurance and how did they get covered him -- under your plan will remember there are different."

" Kinds of people of that pool of people who are not covered. A twelve may have a very illegal aliens I don't think anybody suggested that the United States taxpayer ought to pick up the tab for health insurance policy for somebody -- here illegally. I suspect that if they show an emergency room and we haven't had to pick up the tab and basically do an epic epic tale -- insurance -- else we don't have it we don't pay a premium we don't give him incentive to come here there's an additional incentive. There are both of -- people I think the number I'm going to be awfully these numbers a little with the roughly seven million of them are more than 300% of the poverty line has to say these are people making. 57. 8000000. Dollars should just make a decision I'm not gonna get health insurance. A bunch of them are people who are eligible for Medicaid. Or -- today in or not and have not enrolled in those programs it is to see there's already a program. If we're doing a better job -- people who were eligible to be covered since the Bush Administration left office on January treatment government certainly has gotten involved in our lives and -- loved it it really mean it really has -- profound profound -- right -- disclosing -- worries me go back to this public option -- that's been talked about -- lot of Democrats I -- should be what -- government running huge private insurance program because the other thing that's -- do -- it's -- utterly -- the market for private insurance because the government -- today like -- Medicare. The government pays 81% of what it pays hospitals to be cod hospital 71%. Of what. The private insurers pay those same hospital for the same procedure. And it pays doctors 81% of what. Private insurers -- So the government comes in says were able they were gonna use our our our purchasing power it worries are monopoly power. To trip tell you exactly we're gonna fix the prices and here's what we're gonna pay. In what's going to happen is that. Right today the bill for that and for that care that we get that we get from under Medicare that that that is not picked up by Medicare. Gets paid for -- all the people are not in Medicare or Medicaid. That is to say everybody else picks -- the -- average family of four has roughly 1800 dollars a year in health care expenses. They're not theirs is the cost they're picking up for somebody else American Association pediatric hospitals. Thinks he gets back 35 cents -- 65 cents out of every dollar of expenditure puts out. For a person covered by a government run health plan. They'll utterly claps -- healthcare system of private health care insurance system because all happen is people say well you know what I'm running a business it's cheaper for me to just turn it over to the government now. What that means is the government will be your insurance company if you think do when an insurance companies bad. How about if you have to deal with the government where the government says you've got no alternative -- yet."