Wednesday, August 19, 2009

PUBLIC OPTION HEALTH INSURANCE????

Very bad idea created by uninformed, power hungry, Federal Bureaucrats of the liberal persuasion. These bleeding hearts say everyone has a right to have health care, and the government should control it. They also say that having government health care will reduce the cost and improve the quality of health care. This idea is a misguided recipe for a national disaster. Let's look at some history. Let's look at some facts. Everyone has a right to health insurance and health care only if they can pay for it. Everyone has a right to food and shelter, if they can pay for it. In this world, no one has a right to any service or product if they are unwilling or unable to pay for it. I'm sorry, but that is how it is.

The poor among us are currently being taken care of by charity, existing government programs, and family. They are not starving to death,and they do receive basic medical care and shelter. It would cost billions of dollars (which the government cannot afford) to extend benefits to them similar to the benefits enjoyed by hard working people who have to pay for it.

Can anyone in their right mind think that the government can do something more efficiently than private enterprise? I don't think so! In this day and age, we are privatizing government services because the government cannot do it as economically. Of course, the government is needed for national defense, maintenance of infra structure, safety regulations, and enforcement of laws to protect our citizens.

Health care insurance is currently provided, primarily, by the Blue Cross Companies. Because of free market competition, they have become as efficient as possible. They pay out 95% of premiums in benefits. A 5% expense factor is pretty damn good. Also, for the most part, policyholders are happy with the service. The alarming increase in the cost of health care is caused by two factors: First of all, rapid development of expensive medical technology. Secondly, clients of medical service providers have no incentive to "shop" and to make reasonable economic decisions. Because they have insurance coverage, usually provided by their employer, they have no idea what services are costing. Furthermore, since they have the coverage, they say, "give me all those expensive tests and procedures_I don't care what it cost!" So, what is the solution? I think high deductible health insurance is what is needed. Let's have catastrophe coverage but not provide coverage for basic health care. If we did that, people would start asking, "how much does that cost?" and "Do I really need to have it done?" and Whoa, I think I will shop around. These are the questions that would put a brake on medical cost inflation.

Oh, by the way, because of the negative feed back from townhall meetings, Obama and Pelosi are now saying that they could accept a nonprofit health care cooperative as an alternative to a new government insurance plan. Guess what folks; Blue Cross is a nonprofit cooperative! I guess we already have the needed reform.

2 comments:

  1. Agree but this just in: Democrats, realizing the success of the President's
    "Cash For Clunkers" rebate program, have revamped a
    major portion of their National Health Care Plan.
    President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and Sen. Harry Reid
    are expected to make this major announcement at a joint
    news conference later this week. I have obtained an advanced
    copy of the proposal which is named....

    "CASH FOR CODGERS":
    ...and it works like this... Couples wishing to access health
    care funds in order to pay for the delivery of a child will be
    required to turn in one old person.
    The amount the government grants them will be fixed according
    to a sliding scale. Older and more prescription dependent
    codgers will garner the highest amounts.
    Special "Bonuses" will be paid for those submitting codgers
    in targeted groups, such as smokers, alcohol drinkers, persons
    10 pounds over their government prescribed weight, and any
    member of the Republican Party.
    Smaller bonuses will be given for codgers who consume beef,
    soda, fried foods, potato chips, lattes, whole milk, dairy
    products, bacon, or Girl Scout Cookies.
    All codgers will be rendered totally useless via toxic injection.
    This will insure that they are not secretly resold or their body
    parts harvested to keep other codgers in repair.
    Run my old friend, Run!

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  2. Thanks for the warning! My God, those democrats will stoop to anything to get their way. I'm running, and I am running hard. Too bad you have a bad knee. It was nice knowing you.

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