“Total health care costs in the last 20 years have doubled to about 16 percent of the economy, with no signs of tapering. Along with universal coverage, Mr. Obama has made controlling those costs a central pillar of his health care overhaul, calling the current course “unsustainable.” The effort is a pivotal test of his campaign promise to break the stranglehold of special interests.”
from the New York Times today
I just want to know who did this. Who is the guy that keeps letting these health care costs get so high. I believe that if we all thought about it we could find a few very rich, smart white guys who are responsible for this health care cost escalation. Somebody or some group is complicit in letting health care become 16% of the economy. Can you really put that into perspective?
If you get $100 from your bookie do you realize that $16 of those hard luck dollars are going to pay for your medical costs. Except that wouldn’t be right. It wouldn’t pay for your medical costs. For most people, it would pay for someone else’s medical costs. I love my grandparents very much and they deserve everything that they have. But at least two of them could afford to pay some of their own health care costs.
I believe Ron Paul pointed out the difference between health care now and back in the 1940′s. The big difference is that we are spoiled. Used to be health insurance was insurance. Insurance implicitly means catastrophic. Now insurance can be used to pay for antibiotics that you shouldn’t even be taking.
The fact that you keep wolfing down those antibiotics actually has helped engineer a super bacteria.
Here is what we are looking at right now for those of you keeping score at home.
1. Health Care costs becoming the entire economy
2. Complete economic meltdown from government excess and poor regulation
3. Greenhouse gas and complete enviornmental upheavel which at the very least will kill millions by starvation.
Of course there are subpoints to those general points such as the dollar being inflated into Zimbabwe. Or running out of oil just as we need to build the world’s largest air conditioner to help cool the earth. I just wonder which of these three things is going to happen first and if I am going to be alive for any of them.
