HealthScare!!!

I just visited the White House website to get some information about the Health Care Bill that is being debated by Congress. From the looks of things this reform is really going to be great http://www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck/ . Any question you have is answered right there on the page. Any misconception you have or myth they explain. They give you the facts about the new reformed health care system.  But what scares me is that there are no numbers. Not one estimate of the true cost of this reform. This is a statement lifted from the website “Jared Bernstein, Chief Economist for the Vice President and Executive Director of the Middle Class Task Force, debunks the myth that we can’t afford health insurance reform. To the contrary, not only has the President demanded that reform not add to the deficit in the short term, but reform is the only way to get skyrocketing health care costs under control that will be devastating not for families , businesses, and for government deficits in the long term under the status quo.” We know from experience that nothing the government ever does comes in under or on budget. Nothing. So whatever money they say it’s going to cost either it has to come from a current program or a new tax. Probably the new tax.

We as Americans are going to have to ask ourselves some very big and important questions. Do we want government in our life more than they are? Once they control healthcare who’s to say that they won’t ban many things in society that are deemed “unhealthy”? Those summer nights of going out for ice cream with the kids will be a thing of the past. Instead it will be frozen yogurt.  With limited sugar.

This paragraph I like it’s lifted from http://www.silverplanet.com/scams/protecting-seniors/volunteer-program-targets-medicare-fraud/price-fraud/55174 -” Despite the back-door approach, the numbers still tell the story. According to the 2009 U.S. Government Accountability Office report, “improper payments” throughout government cost the U.S. Treasury $72 billion in 2008—and 50% of that occurred in Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare’s Fee-for-Service program saw $10.4 billion in improper payments, and Medicare Advantage program, $6.8 billion. And this doesn’t even include figures for the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit program, which spent $46 billion in 2008 but did not report its error rate to the GAO. (The rest, $18.6 billion, came from Medicaid.) “Improper payments have been a long-standing, widespread, and significant problem in the federal government,” the report acknowledges”

So basically what they are saying is about half of the fraud the treasury department pays is in the healthcare industry run by the government. That could be anything from phoney doctors prescriptions to phoney medical equipment sales and procedures. And that’s with the current system. What will be good about the reform is that now the fraud will be strictly controlled by the government. It’s not a coincidence that health care reform is being brought to the table now that the “baby boomers” are getting set to retire. Money. This is what it is all about. “Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit program, which spent $46 billion in 2008 but did not report its error rate to the GAO”. That’s Medicare. $46 Billion. Wow. On prescription drugs. Think about the “skells” who are drug addicts on L.A. Boulevard they will have health insurance and will be able to procure their prescription pills for Vicodin to Oxycontin and everything in between. All the while Big Brother will be enabling them from the sidelines. The Drug Companies must be excited for this. Money.

America will be broke. Government will slowly seep into our lives. Just at the point in history when Medicine will be making a giant leap forward this century. With the knowledge we have now of stem cells, and DNA, nanotechnology, even robotics. All these things will play a part of the human future and either America will be at the cutting edge of it. Or will be left behind trying to play catch up as foreign companies continue to make head room into our market shares.

The status quo may be better for our nation-state and not so good for the individual. We must wade into the state run healthcare very slowly. Why not just provide the current programs we have now and expand health care for all kids under 18? How about  a National Catastrophic Health Insurance Fund where we the people can buy into this fund to protect ourselves from the medical costs of a Catastrophic Medical Condition. Such as a cancer, or tumor. You hear so many people say they lost their homes or other things because of an illness. This could be a way to cover people. If the large market in America was involved it could lower the cost of the payment. Say to as low as $20 or $50 a month.  

Gifts make slaves. Their was an episode in the Sopranos where one of Tony’s friends owned a sporting good store. The guy got into financial trouble and Tony generously offered to help his friend out. But now that the guy was into Tony. He found out real quick that he was in too deep. In the end he lost the store as Tony the gangster did what gangsters’ do. They come with a smile and rob you. This healthcare bill will be more of the same. We know it’s being written by lobbyists. The White House calls it “Health Insurance Reform”. I call it the healthcare bill. Government is going to do what government does. America is going to find out real quick, just like Tony’s friend, that they are in too deep.  And they are going to lose the store.

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