It's Been a Long Time

I have not posted comments in a while...so, I have many things to say and not enough time to say it all (at least right now). So here are my stream-of-conscious observations:

My new mantra for the times: "Workin' harder, makin' less money"

Here's a good idea: let's give the government a larger role in health care...after all, look how well they done controlling costs and improving the quality of...

1. Public primary school education...Federal Department of Education founded in the early 70's under the Nixon administration...big improvements since then in the cost and quality of our public schools...'nuff said.
2. Higher Education - the federal government funds a significant portion (through loan guarantees and grants) of college and post-graduate education and viola, the costs of higher education have gone up roughly double the rate of inflation in the last 30 some odd years.
3. Medicare - whatever you think of the quality, the program has an estimated future unfunded liability (deficit) of 37 Trillion Dollars.
4. Medicaid - has wrecked several state budgets (I live in CA - worst case) and will take down many more in the years to come.
5. Postal Service - I waste more stamps every year than I use since the first class stamps I carry in my brief case are always a few cents short of the CURRENT price of a first class stamp (I am dating myself - I actually remember a time when the price of a first class stamp stayed the same long enough that most people actually knew what it cost).
6. AmTrak.

No system is perfect, so we choose paths that provide the best trade-offs. If you want to improve health care, cost and quality, then...

1. Equalize tax treatment of employer-provided health care premiums and individual health care premiums.
2. Allow individuals to purchase health insurance across state lines. This would allow people to find policies that meet their needs rather than be forced to buy policies that are loaded with state mandates for coverages individuals would otherwise choose not to insure for.

What to do about pre-existing conditions? It is not an easy problem...probably need to create a high-risk pool (similar to auto insurance in many states); but, the disincentives or penalties need to be severe to sufficiently discourage people from waiting until they are sick to purchase insurance.

Health insurance costs have risen above the rate of inflation for many years now. We get more for our health care dollar every year (in the form of new medicines and procedures) and health insurance is mandated (by government) to cover more health care procedures (chiropractic, substance abuse, etc.) every year. Health insurers do not make usurious profits (if they did, more companies would offer health insurance)...you get what you pay for.

Glad to be back...I enjoy the ranting.