The "Sacred Cows" of Government:
Health Care
Health insurance is tricky: most often you don't know what you have until you need it. Does the Federal Government pay for your health insurance? Examine the graphic below:
! IMost Americans get their health care from their "employer", meaning that their employer "pays"most of their monthly bill, or "subscription" to health care, and just charges the employee a smaller fee. This "smaller fee" can vary: A public school teacher, for example, might pay $15 per month for health care while their school district picks up the rest of the bill. Conversely, a businessman in a private business (Starbucks, for example...) might pay $200 to $300 per month. It all depends.
But, as you can see Medicare / Medicaid covers about 30% of the American people, which equates to about 90 million people and costs $800 billion per year. It's also a fact that over 3 million "bills" from hospitals across the country are paid by Medicare / Medicaid every single day that equates to about $1,500,000,000 in payments per day!
But, as you can see Medicare / Medicaid covers about 30% of the American people, which equates to about 90 million people and costs $800 billion per year. It's also a fact that over 3 million "bills" from hospitals across the country are paid by Medicare / Medicaid every single day that equates to about $1,500,000,000 in payments per day!
Examining the graph above, you can see that hospital costs in this country are extraordinarily high! And that's why the Federal Government has to pay $800,000,000 per year to help these people! The problem is not why the Federal Government pays for health care, but why is it so expensive? Why, when you examine a "hospital bill" do you find:
- The charge to have a doctor simply read a CT scan? $261.00
- The price for one “ALCOHOL PREP PAD": $7.00. This is a little square of cotton used to apply alcohol to an injection. A box of 200 can be bought online for $1.91.
- "Niacin" is a drug used to lower cholesterol. A charge for (1) niacin pin? $24.00
- The charge for (1) diabetes test strip? $18.00
- And yes...there was a bill for attaching a shade to an examining lamp...
So...come up with a "solution" for "exploding health care costs" and explain it to me. How would you make sure that everyone is covered, everyone (hospitals and doctors) get paid, and the government is not exploding in debt? After all, these are sick people like you and me!
Additionally, would you "continue" the Medicare / Medicaid program? Abandon them altogether? Or tweak them a bit? Tell me what you'll do...and how you'll do it!
Additionally, would you "continue" the Medicare / Medicaid program? Abandon them altogether? Or tweak them a bit? Tell me what you'll do...and how you'll do it!