Healthcare and the NASA Budget

Are the above two items related? Not at first glance, but I felt that a comment was necessary about just how political circumstances might cause American “healthcare reform “and NASA to be very intimately related.

First, a comment. After 25 years in defense and aerospace I have made some observations about the politics of said industries. [Others might say that my observations reflect nothing more than accumulated cynicism, something I can’t really disagree with.] The observation– one man’s opinion, certainly disputable in official circles – is that NASA’s budget, since the 1960s, while prepared by each Administration in complete sincerity, is nothing more than management reserve for the Pentagon. Meaning that the NASA budget is routinely siphoned away for defense priorities or defense emergencies. It is not overtly stolen; but it does mean that in times of military crisis, or budget challenges, NASA’s growth is small, zero, or negative while defense grows. Just the size of the two budgets reveals that the contest isn’t fair. To wit: defense will consume $650 billion in FY2010 while NASA is budgeted at around $20 billion. Meaning, if a crisis hits somewhere else in the world, or a military satellite program overruns by 50%, the savings will be “found” elsewhere, often in NASA’s budget for space exploration, manned space flight, or the Space Station.

Well then. How does healthcare relate to NASA? Mightily, I postulate. Especially if a “government option” becomes reality, and especially if such option eventually mutates into single-payer healthcare delivery in the USA.

One might find many reasons to oppose single-payer healthcare, but one very salient reason is that it will probably cause NASA to wither into irrelevance. The damage done will be worse than that done by defense. The linkage is as follows.

(1) Once the Federal Government is responsible for healthcare, the party in power, regardless of political affiliation, will be continually trying to balance cost control with expanded coverage.

(2) Healthcare czars in 2015 will be wrestling with matters such as hip replacements for seniors and in-utero surgery for babies with heart defects.

(3) Public sentiment will demand that regulations allow for these treatments, and the Congress and President will be making tough budget choices.

(4) Now there will be two compelling needs – national defense AND healthcare – looking for funds in times of crisis. And of all the budget line items for non-essential programs, NASA will look mighty inviting as a source of free money.

Under the current Administration we can already see this happening. The deficit doubled in a single year to $2 trillion. The Obama Administration spent $780 billion on an economic stimulus package mostly focused on “shovel-ready” projects in Congressional districts. Many other hundreds of billions were spent bailing out failing banks, shoring up General Motors and Chrysler, and subsidizing the renegotiation of bad mortgages. The Administration recently spent $4 billion in 60 days subsidizing relatively wealthy people who decided to replace the old Suburban with a fuel-efficient Lexus. Yet the Obama Administration announced in August that the necessary funding for a new manned moon mission ($3 billion per year), calling it “over-ambitious and no longer viable.”

How sad this is, and how great the loss to the nation. In June the nation celebrated the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11’s successful mission to the moon. My previous post revealed just how marvelous are the images from space taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. The awe and national pride that derives from the release of awesome space photos or a Mars Rover video are priceless. Equally valuable are the technological advances achieved. The space program, when in favor, has also meant a huge surge in students who pursue aerospace as a career.

But imagine today’s Congress making budgeting decisions each year. Do we provide more healthcare benefits because of the upcoming midterm elections? Or do we fund NASA? You know what the answer will be.

Healthcare should remain the domain of the private sector and personal decisions by millions of citizens. Because once it becomes a Federal Government responsibility, America’s aerospace leadership will continue to erode, and we might well be marveling at photos taken by Chinese space telescopes by 2030.