Lessons From Hawaii: Will Obama Learn?

Aloha State Bides ‘Aloha’ … and ‘Aloha’ ... to Universal Health Care
by Gina L. Diorio

In a January, 2007 speech at the Families USA Conference, Senator Obama heralded, “The time has come for universal health care in America.”

Well, it seems that in one state, at least, the time has indeed come – and gone. After just seven months, Hawaii has halted its universal health care system, citing budget shortfalls and the fact that many with private coverage had (shockingly) opted to exchange their own, self-funded care for free, government care. After all, why pay for something Big Brother will give you for free?

When Republican Governor Linda Lingle signed the program – called Keiki (child) Care – into law in 2007, the intent was to provide health care to uninsured children. According to Hawaii Medical Services Association (HMSA), a private partner of the program, Keiki Care was to be “an individual plan that provides medial care for children age 31 days through 18 years,” and eligibility requirements included Hawaii residency, lack of other medical coverage, ineligibility for other state or federal coverage, and no insurance for the previous six months.

But as is so often the case with government programs, intent rarely translates into reality – and reality always involves increased or unnecessary government spending. And as Dr. Kenny Fink, administrator for Med-QUEST at the Hawaii Department of Human Services, attests, “People who were already able to afford health care began to stop paying for it so they could get it for free…. I don’t believe that was the intent of the program.”

And with the state facing a projected $900 million general fund shortfall by 2011, it seems Keiki Care’s price tag – approximately $50,000 month, or $25.50 per child, with HMSA more than matching this amount – was simply too much.

While the fact that Hawaii implemented the program in the first place is nothing about which to boast, the state does merit a bit of credit – if only a bit as the decision was not due to a change in heart in the Aloha State – for eliminating the program to meet the budget and end abuse instead of expanding the budget to meet the program while appointing fourteen non-partisan oversight committees and subcommittees to ensure the integrity of the system.

So, now the question is, what will the nation learn from Hawaii? If an Obama presidency becomes reality, the answer will be “not much.” Senator Obama has long touted a comprehensive, top-heavy national health plan that, among other things, requires that all children have coverage (note: not “encourages,” not “makes accessible,” but “requires”), imposes fees on large employers who do not provide “meaningful coverage or make a meaningful contribution to the cost of quality health care for their employees” (and who defines “meaningful” and “quality”?), and even inserts Washington into contracts between schools and local vendors to “create more healthful environments for children” (ah, house calls by Big Brother!).

And the cost of Uncle Sam's adding a permanent stethoscope to his wardrobe? Too high even for experts to predict. But even NPR reports the Senator’s plan would require “enormous public subsidies.”

When Obama addressed the Families USA Conference last year, he noted it had been more than sixty years since President Truman first called for a national health insurance system. Obama praised Truman for being “the first man who was bold enough to issue the call for universal health care,” and he said, "[W]e must finally answer the call first issued by Truman....”

Interestingly, Truman’s famous call was issued to – and rejected by – a Democratic Congress. (Perhaps back then even Democrats recognized socialism when it came knocking.)

One can only wonder if Senator Obama will change his tune given his native state’s recent foray into – and out of – universal health care. Actually, one doesn’t have to wonder. Never one to learn from history, Obama certainly won’t begin now.

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Gina L. Diorio is a full-time freelance writer. Please visit her site at www.LibertyWritingSolutions.com.