The Horrors Revealed in the Scandal Now Should Serve as a Warning for the Future

Jim Martin: “The shocking truth is that the VA scandal tragically underscores the fact that government cannot run healthcare for the nation.”

(Alexandria, Virginia)–60 Plus Association Chairman Jim Martin, leader of the nation’s largest conservative seniors organization with over 7.2 million senior supporters, today issued the following statement illustrating what the future could hold when it comes to healthcare, parallel to the revelations of the VA scandal.

“In the midst of the ongoing investigations and attempts to fix the VA following the current scandal, seniors should take note of what disastrous consequences can be expected following the implementation of Obamacare.

“The VA is the perfect model for the oncoming failures we can expect to stem from the Obamacare system. Obamacare currently is not a single-payer healthcare system, but instead is putting large amounts of regulation in front of private insurers and expecting them to deal with it. And the results? Not very good.

Martin continued, “These regulations have increased the price of insurance premiums, and many consumers are simply choosing to pay the penalty tax instead of participating in Obamacare because the proposed cost of their insurance is too high and the quality of care is disappointing. This is creating what has been called a ‘death spiral’ for the program, further raising health insurance premiums to pay off costs. However, things could get a whole lot worse if Obamacare chooses to take on a single-payer system, as seen in the VA.

“The best outcome for the American people cannot be found in a single-payer system for healthcare.  A single provider would not be able to handle the demand compared to multiple providers in a free market, thus creating a resulting shortage. This “shortage” would create huge new costs, and not in the form one would typically expect on the price tag.

‘The VA had horrific waiting times causing veteran deaths. In order to sort out who gets treatment, consumers will also be subjugated to these kinds of lines, limitations, and cutoffs in Obamacare. The administration has not looked carefully enough into the kind of incentives they are giving healthcare providers. Policy without this kind of consideration is doomed to failure.

‘The government should never be put in charge of healthcare!  Obamacare can very easily turn into the VA fiasco on a much larger scale. No matter how much taxpayer money is poured into the system, a government-run program cannot serve the American people in a way that provides both high quality care and efficiency.”

-30-