Anyway, some of this health care malformation crap I've been reading about this morning got my interest in this thing fired up again (and possibly the fact that it's nearly the end of 2009 and the profits on my blog are pretty low this year, relative to the last). I guess Ben Nelson of Nebraska has been successfully bought off with our money. Just goes to show that if you offer a whore enough money, you'll eventually get whatever you ask for. I'd be pleased with the restrictions on abortion he sought, but someone please start the countdown clock to the inevitable legislative circumvention of this "victory" - it'll happen.
So here comes the crowing about being "on the right side of history," the savings that will magically result from reducing supply (so sorry, no hip replacement for grandma because she's old), the reduced deficits (because when you raise taxes now and provide no benefits until five years from now, you can claim a "deficit reduction" - and don't worry, they won't raid the cookie jar just like they never did with Social Security... what, what?!), etc. etc. The only good thing I can see in the current proposals (thousands of pages of which will be revealed probably 24 hours or less before any vote) is the establishment of private health insurance plans that can be purchased by anyone in any state. As far as insurance premium costs go, that has been the real problem all along - the state-by-state hobbling of the health insurance market by legislative mandates. We could have nailed that one a long time ago by actually using the commerce clause of the Constitution correctly, but there's no way to do that while also stoking class warfare and generally attempting to advance socialism. And, hopefully, when the trash gets taken out in 2010, all of this unconstitutional nonsense can be thrown out, except for that part (and you House and Senate hopefuls out there really should consider decoupling HSA accounts from high deductible insurance plans - just let people establish HSA accounts, period).
But the funniest thing I've seen so far is the sucker bait that Harry Reid and the rest of the Merry Band of Comrades are putting out there for those of you who pertain to that last little bit about socialism that I just mentioned. From that article I linked:
The legislation includes new limits designed to limit insurance company profits and overhead, by requiring them to spend 80 percent of their premium income on medical care for individual insurance policies, and 85 percent for group policies. The industry says such a limitation is unnecessary because profits generally are in the single digits.
That stuff in the bill? Probably makes you feel good, doesn't it? Finally gonna sock it to those evil, rich insurance companies, won't it?
No, it won't. It's total fluff. Check it out:
See that green part on the right? That's what is ALREADY spent on actually providing care for each dollar spent on health insurance. 80 cents on the dollar for individual plans? Already done. 85 cents on the dollar for group plans? Way ahead of ya. Conclusion? This is meaningless legislation purposefully crafted to make you think the DNC just did something for you (which, ironically, may allow the insurance industry to spend less on care than they already do - lol!), when in fact not one thing is going to change in regard to your access to anything until 2014... but your taxes will go up in the meantime, and then be funneled into all kinds of special interest pet projects that have nothing to do with health care. That way, when it comes time to actually start doing stuff like doling out those subsidies millions of you are no doubt salivating over, they'll get to say "oops! The money isn't there, we need to raise taxes more!" Having trouble finding a job now? Just wait.
So, to sum it up: Congrats! You just got screwed again.
I presently pay $82 per month for what I consider to be very good health insurance, got an HSA, blah blah. I'll be watching my premium like a hawk though, as I'm sure this will reverse the trend of a 50% slowing of annual insurance premium growth that occurred in recent years without the government getting more in the way (it's true, read it and weep). I've made it a long term project and goal to seek shelter in some foreign locale one day, one that is running in the opposite direction of where we're going (which happens to be a lot of the formerly socialist/communist nations out there, ironically). It gives me some mental peace and quiet, the possibility of escape. Go ahead, destroy the system by "fixing" it. I'll be the guy off on the horizon watching the train derail from the comfort of a deck chair, umbrella drink in hand.
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