Medicaid, Medicare Unsustainable
Written by Sam on March 3rd, 2008While Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama fight over who has the better health plan for the uninsured, they say little about a more immediate challenge that will confront the next administration: how to tame the soaring costs of Medicare and Medicaid.The programs, for older Americans and low-income people, cost $627 billion last year — 23 percent of all federal spending. With no change in existing law, the Congressional Budget Office says, that cost will double in 10 years and the programs will account for more than 30 percent of the budget.Economists and health policy experts say the programs are unsustainable in their current form, because they are growing much faster than the economy or the revenues used to finance them. Medicare’s hospital insurance trust fund is expected to run out of money in 11 years.
23% of Federal spending. Can you believe that? We could eliminate these programs and cut Federal taxes by 1/4. That would save me a few thousand well needed dollars a year and I don’t even get any benefit from either of these socialist handouts.
This is your Universal Health Care on a microeconomic scale and this is what the socialists want to do to our entire health care system. How long will that take to reach the same unsustainable level, as is already happening in Europe?
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PM
The substantive point is that all of you benefit from these catastrophic health care programs in the sense that they reduce your risk. Do you complain about paying your car insurance every year when you “don’t get any benefit”?
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Like it or not, these programs are unsustainable, but the American people could care less is the problem. There are three options: kill the program, raise taxes, or substantially reform it. Personally, I say go for number 1, but that is not realistic so lets go for 3.
Basically, number three needs to be something like a catastophic insurance for things outside your control. This would logically mean that if someone smoked for 30 years, they would not get treatments paid for out of the public coffers for their lung cancer treatments. If you cannot bring true personal responsiblity in the front door, bring part of it in through the back door.
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Does that mean people who eat junk food and get high cholesterol don’t get covered for heart surgery?
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“Does that mean people who eat junk food and get high cholesterol don’t get covered for heart surgery?”
Exactly. While we’re pointing out the absurdity of this: will those who eat red meat on a regular basis be denied care for heart disease and cancer?
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One of the main issues that liberals don’t really like to acknowledge with regards to socialized healthcare is that it really diminishes the level of care offered to individuals. All you have to do is look at socialized systems in Europe, which yes, Sam is right, are very unsustainable economically, but also the healthcare itself is not nearly to our standards. This is for both regular care and catastrophic care. Hospitals are dirty, doctors are underpaid (and hard to find) and pharmaceutical companies do not offer the same level of scientific advancement as we are accustomed to here. For all the talk about how we don’t cover “all people,” we really offer the best healthcare system in the world.
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“we really offer the best healthcare system in the world.”
I don’t think the scare quotes around “all people” can hide the fact that when a large percentage of our citizens can’t access this health care, it *is* a major problem. If a heart surgeon practices in a forest, and no one’s there to see it… ok maybe that analogy doesn’t work.
I saw this amazing clip from 60 Minutes, about the Remote Area Medical Volunteer Corps going to TN (you can find the video at the Crooks and Liars blog, if you’re interested, or probably on youtube). Because apparently, our health care system is at such a crisis point, that we need the same charities we send to third world countries, to practice here.
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Since when do people not have access to Health care? Everyone receives coverage in a hospital regardless of their ability to pay. Basic services are available at free, city, or county health clinics.
Now if you are arguing that they should not be responsible for paying for those services that is a whole different questions. But to say people do not have access to health care is a lie.
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Access exists practically everywhere with the exception of the most remote areas. The government dominated healthcare system in Canada does not provide that type of coverage either.
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Dare I mention that the oft-quoted “45 million uninsured” includes millions of illegal immigrants, millions of young people that choose NOT to obtain healthcare, and a percentage of the wealthy that choose to pay out of pocket.
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Gceres,
That’s definitely true. However, it also includes millions of poor legal residents who can’t afford doctors.
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Yes…but should we discount the fact that 95% of those legally here that want coverage can get it and throw out the whole system and reconfigure our health care coverage to cover the additional 5%?
The number 45 million is thrown around in an attempt to justify the destruction of the current system because it is more useful than saying about 5% of the people that need coverage cannot get it.