Whether or not you are demanding “something” be done about America’s health care system, consider the following before deciding who should do the overhauling:
“Congressional Democrats, for instance, predicted that the Iraq war would cost roughly $93 billion, not including reconstruction.
Debate aside, there is general consensus that Congress will have allocated slightly more than $600 billion for Iraq operations through the 2008 fiscal year.” – The New York Times, March 19, 2008
“It’s worth remembering that the Bush administration once estimated that the Iraq war would cost only $50 billion to $60 billion, a small fraction of what the actual price is turning out to be.” FactCheck. Org, June 18.
“Just before Congress passed the law that created Medicare and Medicaid (1965), President Lyndon Johnson’s administration projected Medicare would cost $12 billion by 1990. By then, the program’s cost grew to $110 billion, and two years ago benefits payments for Medicare’s four parts totaled $426 billion. Now, the program’s trustees predict expenses will exceed income by next year, and reserves will be depleted in less than a decade.” Scranton Times-Tribune June 21
The population of the United States has increased by 37 percent between 1965 and 2007. Thirty seven percent, I repeat, while these programs have nearly quadrupled in less than 20 years.
The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services stated in 2007, “Private health spending growth, which includes the growth in out-of-pocket payments as well as the growth in all private health insurance (PHI) spending, is projected to peak at 6.6 percent in 2009. Slower economic growth that is projected for the latter years of the projection period is then expected to contribute to a deceleration in growth in private health spending through 2017.”
These deceleration figures don’t seem to be distorted as private source after source agree with them.
I have an idea that doesn’t seem to be on anyone’s table right now: public health clinics. I have used them in the past when necessary – primarily county-run. Payments were based on a sliding scale. Where did they all disappear to, eh? This would provide direct care to those who need it, which is the intention, yet would allow the free market to resolve its high costs, without the tremendous cost overruns and service limitations of a bureaucratic federal takeover.
For those who do not qualify for public assistance and have no medical coverage currently, major medical insurance, sometimes called a “catastrophic care plan,” is an affordable insurance alternative which will keep you out of the poorhouse. For the regular day-to-day medical problems, do what I do – pay as you go or arrange a payment plan with your provider.
LN Salsbury
Poulsbo
