The Logic Lifeline

A logical approach to sorting out world events. Where logic, opinion and speculation are combined to produce a reasoned, but entertaining reading experience. The unofficial hometown conservative blog of Woodridge, Il

Thursday, August 06, 2009

Share the Health

I am thankful for my health care. In the last two years my family has really needed it. I wish everybody had it. That said, I am against my government forcing me to share a portion of my piece of the pie so others can have it.

Obama has stated for the record that he supports a single payer health system. A single payer health system means all health care payments come from a single source. That can only be a source that IS the government or is controlled by the government. In spite of White House efforts to blur / hide / distort the truth, Barack Obama has never to my knowledge come out and denounced his support for a single payer health system, so I can assume he still supports it. If the ObamaCare plan is passed, it will easily in the future be changed into the single payer system he wants. This plan's clear hostility to existing employer based health care benefits makes their future obselescence a near guarantee.

Setting aside the complete farce that my taxes will not go up to pay for this program, the fact is that this program will result in "Share the Health". Whether it is share the wealth or share the health, liberals always conjure plans based on the notion there is a finite pie. In order for others who do not currently have any pie to obtain some, they want to force me and others to give a portion of our slices to be shared. Setting aside the unfairness of taking from me something that
I earned, the fact is that I will have a smaller slice of pie.

Today I have a very good health care insurance program. My insurance will help me keep more of what I have worked hard for by reducing my risk exposure. My insurance will enhance my quality of life by providing thorough and timely care when me or my family needs it. In the end, my insurance provides care that will likely help me to live longer. When we are on a single payer system, my health care will certainly be less thorough and less timely leading to risks that have a good chance of reducing my life expectancy.

On a final note: watch out for the words "comprehensive reform" regardless of whether it applies to health care or immigration. Fix the root causes first. In this case, fix the causes of health care spiraling costs. The reluctance to do this is obvious. So Democrats are asking us to foot the bill for their package because the do not have the courage to fix the problems. Instead we are being asked to accept a "share the health" scam that will ultimately lead to more bearacracy and government control, higher deficits and higher taxes. No thanks.

P.S. If this post happens to make it onto the White House "Fishy" list, I have a special message for them: Talk about fishy, your propoganda machine puts out a stench worse than a seafood processing plant.

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11 Comments:

  • At 9:27 PM, Blogger paw said…

    What do you think are the causes of increasing health care costs?

     
  • At 12:14 PM, Blogger All_I_Can_Stands said…

    I think the CATO institute summarizes it pretty well:

    The excessive costs of our current medical system can be classified into three major categories:

    • The first, and by far the largest excess cost, is due to the current overuse of medical resources by patients. Overuse is the rational response of consumers who do not have to pay the entire cost of the medical services they use. The causes of those excess costs are Medicaid, Medicare, and tax laws that provide incentives for individuals to have their employers purchase their medical care in the form of private health insurance.

    • The second category of excess cost consists of administrative and paperwork costs that are unnecessary for the provision of health care, but that have come into existence because of the current patchwork of third-party payers and their attempts to control their increasing costs by closely monitoring the behavior of doctors and patients. Even worse is the fact that those cost-containment activities do not seem to have contained costs very well.

    • The third excess cost is associated with the fear of malpractice suits. Administering medically unnecessary tests and procedures helps to insulate doctors and hospitals from the potential wrath of patients or their families when inevitable accidents occur in medical treatment or when treatments just do not work.

    In some sense each of those costs has been brought about by the retreat from a market-based system of medical delivery. The first two of them could have been avoided if patients had been given incentives to make their own choices about medical care. The third cost could have been controlled if the courts had allowed patients and medical providers to use market contracts to detail liability in case of unforeseen accidents.


    The link is:

    http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa211.html

     
  • At 4:27 PM, Blogger SkyePuppy said…

    Excellent find in the CATO Institute!

    I would add one more cause to the first excess: Low co-pay amounts for routine office visits. It encourages people to go to the doctor for the slightest twinges or sniffles, rather than waiting to see if the sniffles go away by themselves. Granted, that excess isn't nearly the same magnitude as Medicare/Medicaid.

     
  • At 6:09 PM, Blogger All_I_Can_Stands said…

    SkyePuppy,

    I think that would also fall under category 1 - Overuse.

    I think that under a government managed system there would be an overuse problem that dwarfs what we see today. Of course the answer to overuse by other countries with socialized medicine is rationing - basically punishing those that really need care because others abuse the system.

     
  • At 11:28 PM, Blogger paw said…

    Thanks dude. Of course we disagree, but I'll spare everyone the arg. I appreciate knowing where you come from. Good to see you back in the saddle. Hope your fam is ok.

     
  • At 12:47 AM, Blogger All_I_Can_Stands said…

    Thanks paw. I plug away here when I can. Toughest two years of my life.

    Hey is that your pic in your icon? Can't tell if it is a celebrity I should know.

     
  • At 12:07 PM, Blogger paw said…

    That's me. For a couple real good reasons I'm unwilling to put my name out here. Using a real pic in my mind compensates for that a bit and keeps me a little more square than with total anonymity, helps me own up to what I'm doing.

     
  • At 1:27 PM, Blogger All_I_Can_Stands said…

    I understand. There may come a day when I put my clear pic or name, but in a world where we are hated and threatened for our ideas, it is not a good idea at this time for me.

     
  • At 9:18 PM, Blogger Joe Smoe: American Citizen said…

    Hey Pal,
    Good post and very thought provoking.

    But, what do you suggest for someone that is maybe one of the MILLIONS that is currently unemployed or underemployed, has lost their health insurance and has no prospects on the horizon to obtain any? Should they pray to almighty God that nothing happens to them or anyone in their family in the meantime? Or listen to the BLATHER of rich corporate shills like Limbaugh and Beck and fight any kind of reform as dictated by their Insurance Industry sponsors even though they have none?

    Just wondering cause there are a LOT of people currently in this position.

    JOE

     
  • At 10:55 AM, Blogger All_I_Can_Stands said…

    Joe,

    Very good comment and excellent questions. There are many questions, and the trick is determining which to answer first. Two questions I would like to see answered before yours are:

    1) Just because somebody is in need, does it give them the right to demand money that I have worked hard for in order to help them?

    2) When people are irresponsible (either by poor education and career choices, or by not setting aside funds while they have a job to help them when they don't have a job) is it the rest of society's responsibility to bail them out?

    3) Is government the best vehicle to address the problem of health care?

    4) Considering the financial position of this country, can we risk such a huge financial obligation (go with worse numbers than the snake oil Obama has been trying to sell us on since he hasn't gotten a forecast right yet)

    I don't believe that well thought answers to those questions can EVER lead us to the conclusion to adopt Obamacare. Those asked, and that said I will try to answer your questions.

    I will be honest. I made one bad decision 10 years ago that has taken me all this time to correct. Recovery from that plus huge expenses from situations out of my control - if I lost my job today I would be in bad shape. I don't think it would be society's duty to cover my health care.

    I would be for a health care reform addresses the three points I found from the CATO institute above. I would add to that list a program that would address the problem of people using the expensive emergency room as their primary source of health care. I don't believe people in need should be turned away, but I think a secondary and less expedient system could be setup where at each emergency room people would be first triaged by a government employee (to protect against lawsuits to the hospital). Those not needing emergency care would be sent to the secondary less expensive system.

    I am not for reform that expects the productive members of society to pay for the health care of those who by choice are not productive.

    I have a haunting flashback during this discussion about "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" where they insisted on claiming to address both illegal immigration and putting those that are here illegally on the path to citizenship. Of course they had no intention of enforcing the former. With health care reform, they have no intention of reducing costs by addressing any of the CATO points. That leaves rationing.

    The bottom line is that I have no confidence in Obama or the Dems that the situation will be improved. If as my post claims they end up "sharing the health" by reducing the quality of care for the producers and increase care for the non-producers, Obama and crew will feel they did a job well done. That is the mentality I fight against.

     
  • At 10:56 AM, Blogger All_I_Can_Stands said…

    Oops. I originally had two questions and came up with four while writing the two. Ha.

     

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