Fear of government hinders health-care reform

What if all the hysteria over health-care reform isn't about health care at all? What if it's more a deep-seated fear of government interference in our lives?

It's the $64,000 question, isn't it?

So that you know where I'm coming from, I do not have an inherent mistrust of government. I do not buy into the "death panels" frenzy, nor do I think that access to health care can be strictly left to the private sector.

But listening to Mike Leavitt speak last week gave me new insight into the political realities of reform and the visceral, gut reaction many Americans have to the whole affair.

Leavitt, former secretary of Health and Human Services, addressing the National Conference of Editorial Writers, spoke about his great optimism when he became the head of the agency under former President George W. Bush. As such, Leavitt had his hands on the steering wheel of the nation's largest health-care programs. He had designs on making the systems more efficient and cost-effective and improving the quality of care.

The problem was, 535 other people — members of Congress — also had their hands on the wheel, which made meaningful change next to impossible.

Take the agency's brief flirtation with a trial competitive bidding process on 10 durable medical goods in 10 cities. The demonstration project revealed huge savings could be achieved through this process, an average savings of 26 percent on the 10 items, with the cost savings as great as 43 percent on specific items.

But in a competitive bidding process, low bidders who meet the specifications win the contracts. The rest go away empty-handed. So they start complaining to their congressional representatives. And their industry representatives start pressuring members of Congress to pull the plug on the pilot project, which they did.

"I was, essentially, politically stoned," Leavitt said.

Never mind the folks who pay the tab to keep the government afloat and who would have appreciated the substantial savings the program could have achieved.

Leavitt, who was elected Utah governor three times, said he understands why so many Americans are wary of the health-care proposals coming down the pike. They don't like change in general, and they cannot see how they will benefit from these particular changes. And they don't understand how the government will pay for it.