OPINION — Editorial

Peek into the future

The future that can be, but ought not

Allysia Finley's column in the Wall Street Journal the other day gave Americans a glimpse of what the future might look like, should America stay on its current health-care path. That is, expanding programs like Medicaid to include able-bodied, working folks who aren't living below the poverty level.

If these 50 states of the Union are all laboratories for democracy, and they are, then California has a remarkable experiment going on out West. And the rest of us should pay attention.

California, like Arkansas, expanded Medicaid to cover many more of its residents after Obamacare came online. Out there, they call it Medi-Cal. The old joke is that you've got Medi-Cal now, but can you get medical care?

Ms. Finley's column notes that California allowed younger, healthier people to get on Medi-Cal because Obamacare outlawed bare-bones insurance that young folks might have chosen otherwise. And now, irony of ironies, Californians are having more trouble getting health care.

Forget about the money for a minute. Or at least put it off. (How can you forget that California spends $103 billion a year for Medi-Cal? Arkansas won't even spend that on its entire budget!)

It's worth repeating: Obamacare and the expansion of Medicaid in many states created not one new doctor.

Obamacare was supposed to, among many other things, ease the crowded conditions at emergency rooms because folks were supposed to be able to afford friendly neighborhood family doctors first. Instead, current doctors can't handle the crowds and--because folks are "covered" but can't get appointments--the ERs in California are flooded with more people than before!

And, this being America circa 2017, lawsuits are flying accusing the state of racism. You see, doctors are limiting the number of Medi-Cal patients they see every day, as you'd expect, and a lot of those patients are non-white. Therefore The Man is keeping folks down. Never mind that The Man was Barack Obama, the 2009 Democrats & Co., which forced Obamacare through Congress without a single Republican vote.

If this is what a single-payer system looks like--and the nation might be heading that way--then this country would have taken a flawed health-care system and thrown the whole thing over a cliff to be bashed beyond repair on the rocks below. California might prove an example for the rest of us. An example to beware.

It might've been ol' Ben Franklin who said experience is a dear teacher, but fools will learn at no other. Here's hoping that Congress, the president and We the People are overcome with a severe case of reason before our betters make a flawed system even worse.

Editorial on 07/21/2017

Upcoming Events