Old and dying people are generally not effective lobbyists. But there is a real cost to the government playing politics with health care, especially over time. From 1992 to 1996, SNF patient days approximately doubled, from about 25,000 to 50,000. Yet, after the new law, and against all projections, the number of days patients spent in these nursing facilities declined two percent. Behind the numbers were real people who did not receive treatment because nursing homes are not going to treat patients if they are losing money.
Real people suffer from such government decisions.
The Feds have distorted the whole health care system for a half century. Individuals and families certainly care more than government or employers about their own health. Socialism does not work for ill people any better than for Russians. Donald Devine , former director Of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, is a columnist and a Washington-based policy consultant and Treasurer for the American Conservative Union.