Rationing, bureaucracy in healthcare now

ITHACA, N.Y., Sept. 8 (UPI) -- Both political parties are promising to prevent the introduction of practices that are already widespread in the United States, an expert says.

"The healthcare reform debate has often descended into the realm of fantasy. Democrats and Republicans promise that there will be no rationing, no limits on choice of doctors and no bureaucratic interference with the patient/physician relationship," Donald Beachler of Ithaca College in New York says in a statement.

"Yet, all of these alleged dangers are commonplace for all but the wealthiest of Americans."

Beachler says it is extremely unlikely there will be a bipartisan healthcare reform bill because of the way the political parties are structured.

"The Republican Party is now rooted in the deeply conservative states of the south. For example, 19 of the 40 Republican senators are from the south," Beachler says.

"Democrats have their base on both coasts. Of the 10 senators from states that border the Pacific Ocean, nine are Democrats. Nineteen of the 22 senators from northeast are Democrats. This regional division of the parties reinforces a growing ideological divide over the role of government in providing social programs to Americans."