Healthcare, should people get it or not? If so, who should that be? Should they pay for it or should they not pay for it? How much should they pay? Blah, blah, blah.
Before I really get rolling let me get most of today's biggest catch-words out of the way so they don't distract us from the issue at hand:
.......what's best for all Americans.
.......trillion dollar deficits.
.......bankrupting our economy.
.......the end of private healthcare as we know it.
Wait. Wait. Wait. Enough of this crap already. Let's first dismiss these stupid phrases in the order in which they came. They all quite literally are emotional arguments that when reasoned out just a little equate to a huge, steaming pile of bullshit. What is best for all Americans? Over 18% of Americans under 65 do not have healthcare at all, not to mention the 40% or so that are not covered under employer plans. So it would seem to me that holding the status quo would not necessarily be in the best interest of all Americans.
Trillion dollar deficits. Now this is a really good one. More than $800 billion has been spent on war since 2001 and we are worried about spending money on healthcare reform. There is so much doom and gloom being thrown around with spending estimates by our friends over in the GOP, but let us not forget their incredible estimation skills with how much the Iraq War Part II would cost. Answer: 50-60 billion. Oops, only off by a factor of 10.
For those who believe that our financial system is not bankrupt, think again. It already is. We just issue debt in this country and hope the Chinese will keep buying it. This country runs on deficit spending, and if no one buys our country debt, we will collapse like a house of cards. True story. What is really amazing is the millions of ways that we find to squander the money that we do collect. A surtax on the rich is plain old stupid. Whoever thinks that rich will simply put up their hands and say, "Hold on, there is more money over here you can have," please step off a cliff. Your naivity is no longer needed in this country. Countries like Switzerland, Cayman Islands, Bermuda, etc. make their economies function with the illegal tax shelters rich people in America use to avoid stupid 8% surtaxes. Don't believe me? Ask yourselves why Switzerland won't turn over the 52,000 names of tax evaders it has to the US? Answer: Everyone with a tax haven that isn't caught will leave, and the ones who were caught will sue. That is a lose, lose situation. My point is, the rich surtax is stupid because no one will pay it.
That leaves the crap about the end of private healthcare......GOOD! Is anyone really happy with their healthcare provider? The GOP will make really interesting quotes like, "65% of Americans are happy with their current healthcare provider." This is one of the most useless statistics I have seen. First, who is polling those without healthcare. I bet they would say 100% are pissed off. How about the 35% who hate their healthcare. Furthermore, of the 65% who do like their insurance how many of them have tried to get any specialized treatment or needed to do anything "non-medically necessary"? I have to believe any responder with gynomastoplacia (bitch tits) is one of the unhappy 35% since he technically can survive life with man boobs. Hyper-elongated eyelids? Cosmetic. Achne that scars your skin for life? Not covered. Got hit with a crossbow dart on your Transylvanian vacation? Out of network, proceed to pay your life savings. The current system has passed on one cost after another while at the same time marginalizing the care it gives. This is the very definition of a broken system. America is the country with the best doctors, the best equipment, and yet not the best healthcare. There is a disconnect, and private insurers are square in the middle of that void.
Now you all must be wondering what do we do. I am smart enough to point out the flaws, but am I smart enough to come up with any meaningful solutions? Yes, but the problem is that none of them will ever be politically popular or personally lucrative for those lawmakers who sponsor them. The result, nothing. That is the problem. However, I will throw these ideas out there and will watch in sorrow as the DC sun takes its toll and rots them away on the tree.
Ideas:
Cap Malpractice Suits: One of the main costs of healthcare comes from the cost of having doctors covering their asses. A $400 million dollar lawsuit for accidently cutting off the top of my finger? Huh. Doctors in New York pay almost $100,000 a year, EACH, on malpractice insurance. If you do not think that this would free healthcare from some real odious costs, you are a lawyer.
Ditch high fructose corn syrup: This has led to a national epidemic of obesity and one of the roots of the staggering growth of healthcare costs. Corn growers will never let this happen because corn = America in most peoples' minds. Not to mention that half the Senators on Capital Hill take in huge contributions every year from corn lobbyists and have no interest in pissiing off this support base. Ditch the syrup, watch people get less fat. Really that simple.
Allow Personal Investment of Social Security Funds: There is no transparency in the social security process. In other words, what I put in probably does not equal what I get out. Someone else spends it. Either the money is lost by the people who run the fund, or it is swallowed up by those who are older than I am. Whatever the answer, I will never see anything close to a benefit equal to my contributions. How about I invest my own contributions? WHAT ABOUT THE MARKET! LOOK WHAT JUST HAPPENED! First, that market probably destroyed a good portion of the social security fund. That would be because there is no accountability for the returns on the social security fund, and because the people running it know that it is vastly underfunded. Since it is underfunded they have to take huge risks to make bigger returns. Epilogue, the fund probably got its teeth kicked in. We will not find out for a while, but probably. If the government forced everyone to contribute the same amount of the social security witholdings into an account that they would not have access to until age 55 and they limited your investment options to 1) government bonds 2) money markets and 3) a total stock index fund we would all be much better off. No derivitives. No difficult choices. Plus, at the end of the day you know exactly how much money you have. The real good news. The government does not have to pay trillions of dollars to keep this stupid system alive. Money that could be used towards.....................healthcare.
Stop Fighting: End the wars, close up shop, and save around $50 billion a month on domestic programs that have been left out to dry for the past nine years.
Institute a Flat Tax: Time to make life easy. Take a flat tax and stop trying to finance the lunacy of this country with surtaxes on the rich. The only people who pay those taxes are people who were not rich enough to hide their assets overseas. No one is their right mind would pay 56% tax per year when they could move to tax oppressed France and pay 50%. Trust me, these people would jump ship at 55%. We would save a whole lot of money on limiting the size of the tax force needed to handle our system, plus more people would actually be paying tax. Collecting more money each year would be good, but what would we do with the extra loot? Hmmmm.........Healthcare.
Unemployment Benefits Restrictions: Wow, talk about a tough one to deal with right now. People would carry off the sponsor of this bill and throw him in a lava pit. What am I talking about? Look, I am not saying get rid of unemployment. I am saying make people actually go look for jobs. Take California for example (as in most states really). Californians must prove that they are looking for jobs to be eligible for unemployment benefits. How is this done? Interview sheets, centralized employment management systems, etc? Nope. A check box on a form. Yup, I looked, money please. Absolutely crazy. As a result, seasonal laborers make money during the in-season, and take 6 months of the year "off" by "getting by" on unemployment. These people are sucking the system dry across the country and should be cut out. All I am saying is make people look for work. Is this such a terrible suggestion? It would also help if these changes were put in place alongside some incentive program for small business owners (read tax breaks). That would help both sides of the equation. Again, unemployment benefits are not directly related to healthcare in the normal sense of things, but it is directly related to the problem of funding it.
What should a national health plan entail? That is the subject of another blog. This one was created for the sole purpose of blowing the whistle on the stupidity that is regurgitated to me via all forms of national media on a daily basis. Funding shouldn't be the problem. Current healthcare plans should not be the problem. The problem is that Americans do not always understand the finer points of finance and healthcare, and people in Congress have no incentive to fill them in. After all, Congressmen and women collect lifetime pensions and full health benefits after 4 years in office. If they had the same interests as you and me then maybe we wouldn't have to wait in perpetuity for any real systemic change in America.
