My car was recently broken in to, and I had to work together with my auto insurance company in order to replace the damage. I was a bit unfamiliar with how this process would work because I do not need to use my auto insurance very often. This got me thinking....why do I never use my auto insurance, but every time I get any sort of health care I use my health insurance? This is the question is worth a bit of pondering....

We must first start by learning how our current form of health care system made its run to the top. The HMO Act of 1973, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_Maintenance_Organization_Act_of_1973, an act unbeknownst to most, mandated managed care for everyone. To answer the escalating costs in Medicaid and Medicare, Congress turned to HMOs for help.

In 1973, the HMO Act was passed which mandated companies with more than 25 employees to offer HMOs as a health care option. Until then most employers had avoided HMOs fearing increasing costs.

In 1995, Congress repealed the HMO-employer mandate, but it was too late. HMOs had already gained a staunch position in the medical marketplace.

By mandating managed care for some people, and by passing legislation allowing HMOs to deny care to Medicaid patients (via Medicaid Section 1115 waivers), the government had assured HMOs maximum profits, with very little downside risk. Public officials also profit politically by promising "free" health care. This new type of managed health care allows politicians to promise health care without actually guaranteeing access to it.

Now it's 2009, and Health Care is back on the table, and Obama wants sweeping changes to the system. Are Medicare and Medicaid broken? YES! Is it because the greedy doctors charge too much? Well that is a part of it, but they are just trying to cover their asses, and get paid. The root causes of the high cost for health insurance falls on the US Federal Government. Let me explain.

When comparing health insurance and auto insurance, I came to a very interesting point. Do you use your auto insurance when you get your tires rotated or oil changed? No, but do you use your health insurance when you go for a simple physical? YES! Why do we prefer using health care for simple "routine maintenance" on our health, but not for our cars? Simple, the government has subsidized health care with taxes, and we have become over reliant on health insurance.

Remember, if the government wants more of something then they subsidies it, and if they want less, they tax it. Currently we, the average American worker, get our health insurance through our employer. Currently we do not have to pay taxes on employer health insurance, but we do on our income. This is a subsidy on health care. Since we pay taxes on our money, we want to keep whatever Big Brother doesn't take from us, and therefore we use our health insurance every chance we can. Got a splinter...go to the doctor and pay your co-pay. Need a new set of tires....go to Tire King and pay for them out of pocket. Only in health care does a 3rd party pay for nearly everything we have done.

Few experts will debate the fact that health care, along with Social Security, are going to be the largest financial drains on the US in the future. We have a generation of "baby boomers" that are just now reaching retirement, and not enough young people to pay for them. Remember, these government programs were set up with the expectation that an ever growing base of people would expand and pay for the elderly. When the young people get old, there will be more young people to fill in the gaps. This, as we all know, hasn't been the case. This is an endless, vicious cycle.

What can we do?

Prez Obama is trying to sell a "public health care" option to the American Medical Association or AMA. This is being sold as a "competitor" to private health care providers, whose prices are already set by the States. This is nothing more than a state regulated monopoly already,, but with a never ending fund of tax payer money, I don't see how real competition can be expected.

Side note: Did you know that the US Government jumped in to save the failing AMTRAK saying that it would be returned to the private sector in 2-3 years? While under government control, AMTRAK has never turned a profit, and is still under federal control 40 years later. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amtrak#Public_funding

Some call this new public health care "competitor" a "Trojan Horse" which is sneaking in to the nation's health care system, and will eventually take over control. When the government wants to FINE you for not having healthcare, and make theirs affordable (via taxes that you've already paid), then the choice is clear; you get Obama's health care or get fined! Employers that do not offer health care plans already face Federal fines. Talk about busting down the door socialism.

I think a good solution to the problem would be to end government regulation of who must buy health insurance, and who must provide it. If I do not want health insurance, I should NOT be fined by the government just because they want to push a socialist agenda. The more the government is involved in an industry or service, the higher the prices go up. Another good example of this is education.

The game is rigged. If this competing public health care system is actually implemented, the price will be subsided by your taxes. When the price of the government backed health care starts to fall (due to competition of course) watch for rising taxes, especially the "sin taxes" on beer and cigarettes. Eventually you have completely socialized, inefficient, bureaucratically taped red health care system that treats you like the DMV.

Does this cartoon seem to fit the economic situation today?

From Drop Box

I'm still amazed that every dollar added to our economy is created from debt. That's right, when our Government, and it's private, super-secret partner in crime the Federal Reserve, want to create more money to "bailout" or "stimulate the economy", it creates bonds (out of thin air) and sells that debt to either interests in the US or in foreign markets (China/Japan). China is currently the largest holder of US debt at over 1 Trillion dollars. Yes, we owe China over 1 Trillion dollars and borrow 3 Billion from them a day just to fund our deficit spending. Think about that for a minute. What would happen to you if you even had to borrow $300/day to keep living your current lifestyle? What you borrow more to get yourself out of trouble? No.

I'm not sure what the future holds, but it can't be pretty. If China suddenly decided that it wanted to collect on all these debts it has been buying from the US, a MASSIVE sell-off of the U$D would happen and the value would drop tremendously. What does that mean exactly? It means that the US would have to print a lot of new money (turn on the printing presses) to pay off all of this debt. We obviously don't have this money (otherwise we wouldn't need to borrow it in the first place). The US wouldn't be on the line to purchase all of this debt back, as other foreign entities would auction for it with the Chinese. The Chinese may not get 100% of the debt back, but they would sell off the US Bonds to the highest bidder. It looks like supply > demand for the USD. Can anyone tell me what happens when supply > demand? That's right Econ101 students; the price/value of the item being sold decreases. The dollar's value would decrease causing massive inflation. Of course, SOME of the bonds would be bought back by the US and we would have to print money to pay for them. So let's see:

1. ebay style betting for US bonds and treasury bills
2. drives down the value of the dollar (supply > demand)
3. US prints more money to pay for the bonds
4. again, drives down the value of the dollar (inflation)
5. your money = worth less

Looks like that's the 5 easy steps to hinder the good American saver....YOU and ME! What have we done to deserve this you may ask? I tell you NOTHING. I haven't done anything. I've saved, payed off my credit cards, paid off my car, worked hard, saved, didn't buy a house that I can't afford, didn't over extend myself and have always lived within my means. Oh yeah, I've paid ALL of my taxes on time even though I despise them. What have I gotten in return? I've lost 50% in my 401k and will be hit with MASSIVE INFLATION in the future.

Remember, the Government is BROKE. They have NO money. The only money that they can spend must be created 1 of 2 ways:

1. Create more out of debt (see paragraph 1)
2. Increase taxes

I don't know about you, but it seems that the Federal Government got caught with it's hand in the cookie jar with a mouth full of cookies. They are in a mess, and they know it. Spend Spend Spend can only prolong things. It's the small hit of crack to get you through the day. What happened to savings, personal responsibility and living within our means? President Obama recently said that American families are doing the right thing by cutting back, saving more and tightening their belts, yet the Fed Gov spends more than ever. Does this sound hypercritical to you? Is the only way for us to get out of this recession really for our Fed Gov to spend more?

The only reason that the US is still the super power of the world is because we own the bombs. In 2008, 68% of our Federal Budget was spent on the Military. Now, ask yourself, why was so much spent on the Military? What's going on here? Don't believe me?? Check this out!! Has anyone warned us about the Military Industrial Complex before?

We are bullies, and there's no denying it. I welcome the new era of US history, where we don't have the means to push people around to get what we want. Welcome to the reality that all other countries live in, America.

-Desh

PS: Please contact your representatives to support Ron Paul's bill HR1207. This is very short, and they should be able to read the whole thing (unlike the 1000 page bailout bill). This would give Congress the right to audit the Federal Reserve. You know, the private, super-secret organization that creates and controls all of our money. Yeah, we don't have the authority to actually audit them, and see what they are doing....

He wants to conserve all the failed policies of Bush.

Have we lost our minds? Why such support for Keynesian? I'm just so confused to how more debt will save us. Free Market forces cannot be controlled any more than Gravitational forces.