Wilson Destroys Bingaman on Health Care Bill

I did not always see eye-to-eye with Heather Wilson when she was in Congress. She was never fiscally-conservative enough for my tastes and was one of the worst-scoring Republicans year after year in ratings like NTU Rates Congress.

Nonetheless, I was thrilled to see her come out swinging in the Albuquerque Journal regarding the passage of ObamaCare and New Mexico Sen. Jeff Bingaman’s strong support for the “reform.”

Wilson writes convincingly of ObamaCare’s lack of any real cost controls:

The biggest problem with health care that Americans want addressed is spiraling cost. Year after year of cost growth at two or three times the rate of inflation makes it difficult for any business to offer insurance. One of the biggest reasons take-home pay hasn’t increased much over the past decade is that health care benefits are absorbing what would otherwise show up as pay raises.

The law passed does virtually nothing to address the escalating cost of health care. In fact, health insurance premiums will continue to rapidly increase under the new law, particularly for younger Americans. The law is based on an assumption that greater government control will put a brake on costs. But experience with both Medicaid and Medicare shows this just doesn’t work.

Consumer-driven care and more choices can help control cost growth. The cost growth for medical procedures where the consumer makes a decision — like elective plastic surgery, dental care, chiropractic care, LASIC, hearing aids and eye glasses — are much closer to the regular rate of inflation.

Although Wilson seems to have no plans to run for office in the near future, it was good to see her jump into the health care policy debate on the side of those who opposed even greater federal intervention in Americans’ health care.