"Let Me Be Perfectly Clear"

In a Democracy, who provides better service, private enterprise or government? It sure as hell isn’t government. They are the biggest bureaucratic waste of time and taxpayers money. The government cannot do anything efficiently or cost effectively.

Obama accuses the health insurance industry of being deceptive and dishonest. I think it is the other way around. If this field was so lucrative in profits, there would be far more insurance companies offering services. The suggestion of government insurance pretty much puts these private companies out of business.

This health care plan won’t cover people who don’t work ( I didn’t say unemployed, there is a difference). Obama talks about the 43 million people not covered, well, they feel they don’t need it and spend the money on other things. If the worm turns, forget the other things, you will now spend it on health insurance, it will be taken out of you pay check. Then there are the 40 million people in this country illegally, they don’t need to qualify, the hospital emergency rooms will still take them.

Health insurance is relatively cheap if you are young and it gets progressively more expensive as you age. At age 65 it could be unfordable if you have retired, but that’s where the government plan kicks in. At this point, you are talking about insurance that even the insurance companies will not write without extremely large premiums. They know what their costs are, and they know what profits are. If you can keep costs and profits in reasonable perspective, you will succeed and survive. These health insurance companies seem to be doing OK.

The only real hang up we have is people don’t want the insurance until they need it. And when they need it, it is too late; the insurance companies don’t want them. Notice if you are in good health, an insurance company will offer you insurance at reasonable rates. At about the age of 55, rates start to rise and could be considered unfordable by low income workers. The individual has the option: is the 200 dollar premium per month worth it or do I skip health insurance? On a statistical basis, 8 out of 10 people without insurance, don’t get nailed and have a free ride, the other two pay the piper.

What Obama’s plan does, is get rid of the free ride. Everyone pays for health care. All of the people that didn’t pay into health care and never filed a claim now have to pay into the program.

It sounds great when government touts that the employer pays half of the Social Security tax and the employee pays the rest. If you are self employed, you get to experience the full reality of that, you pay both parts. The government wants to tax us another 20% of our earnings for health care and the employer gets to pay half. An educated guess is that 80 percent of what is paid out from premium payments, will be paid to those over the age of 65. And they already have Medicare. This health insurance program will be used TO FUND A PROGRAM ALREADY IN PLACE.

With private health insurance, your age and health determine your rates. With the government plan everyone will probably pay the same rate (keep it simple stupid). An insurance company knows down to the dime how much its needs to charge to make a profit, otherwise they face financial ruin. Does this sound like a government approach to problem solving? I doubt it.

Can the government allow private insurance to exist if everyone under the government plan pays the same rate? If they did, the insurance companies would cherry pick the young with a very good rate and the government would be stuck with the dogs. If I can’t short Bank of America or Citi Bank stock, without government changing the rules, you can see the hand writing on the wall – those thieving insurance companies need to go.

The thing that irritates me, is that it appears to be against the law to make a profit in this country (if you sell health insurance). Our Fuhrer has stated that the insurance companies are overcharging us.

I think that this guy we call president is too arrogant. This is a Democracy. It’s not his playground for solving social problems that we cannot realistically pay for.

Addendum added 10/19/09:

A government health care plan is an ambitious idea. I have no problem with the concept. The problem I have is with the excess reserves collected. Our government and its present finances are like a cocaine addict asking for $2,000 for “doctor bills.” It is obvious where it will be spent, just like our Social Security taxes were.

Social Security contributions currently are being paid out as fast as they come in. There are no excess unspent funds like there were in the past, to use in the budget. If this health care plan gets passed, figure that 10% of the funds will go towards health care and the other 90% will go towards” your account.” This means, Congress will write an IOU and spend it on the budget. It’s a little like promising your son a Corvette when he graduates from college and when the day arrives it turns out to be a Ford pickup.

The health care issue is not quite what it appears to be. Just use Social Security reserves as a measure. Congress has spent the reserves, they are gone. Your benefits come out of tomorrow's tax collections.