Archive for July, 2009

As I cruise the web the last week or so, the topic that comes up over and over is Health Care Reform.    I dug deep into this confusing subject, trying to understand exactly what is proposed to be done fix it.  Either I am stupid, nut there seems to be some glaring issues with the proposed plan to resolve our health care issue.

I do not deny that the current system needs some work, and that the populace at large many care little about health care until they need it.

First let us talk about numbers. 

The cost for health benefits went up in 2009 by 6% from 2008.  The numbers vary on my Google searches, but they are all in that ballpark.  Even one article that boasts 10% increase, still also claims it could be as low as 5.7%.

That does mean that it costs the employer and the employee $9,552 per year, with the employee contribution varying from $2,040 to $2,364 per year.  At $2,400 dollars per year that is $200 a month.  Not a small chunk of change.

Statistics from the National Coalition on Healthcare claims that from 2007 to 2008 the price of health insurance rose about 5-6% that year also.

More Google searches revealed the average price of a loaf of bread in July 2008 was $1.59 to $1.65 in the United States.  In July of 2009 the average price is $1.79, an increase of 8 to 10 percent.

The cost of living adjustment on www.ssa.gov indicated a 5.8% increase from 2007 to 2008.

So is 6% more for health care understandable?  I would think it is.  So if the increase is reasonable, why is it all of a sudden spiraling out of control?  I guess the question is, is it worth $200 a month?  How much a month do you spend on Auto Insurance?  How expensive is your car compared to your own personal health?

So those that throw out the numbers to make a 6% increase to be highway robbery, are slightly mistaken.  I do not disagree that cost of health care is a lot, but is it really going to double in the next 10 years as President Obama stated.

Every year, the cost of living goes up, and no multi billion dollar plan from the US Government is going to fix that.

Next let’s talk about President Obama’s Health Care reform cost.

$1,000,000,000,000.00 over the next 10 years.  That is $100,000,000,000.00 per year.  Remember at the beginning of the year he spent 700 to 800 Billion to jump start our economy, now he is tagging some more money on it.

So where is the money coming from?  President Obama says, taxing the rich.  Well that is all well and good, and it sounds like a very noble thing to do, however, who owns and operates most of the businesses?  The rich people do.  So if you tax them more, what might the trickledown effect be?  Higher prices as they cover the difference in their business, very similar to how a middle class man may grab an extra part time job to earn extra money.

So in the end, who pays for it?  Where does the money come from?

In Conclusion

I am not judging if we need reform or not,  I think we do need to review the structure to fix problems that are there, but I am not sure if the US Government needs to be making this drastic of a change.  This is a huge bill that costs a lot of money, and it is being pushed through so fast I am not sure if any of us really understand what it can do.  Maybe it is the fix all, but somehow I doubt it.

Impatience builds over slow-moving stimulus

The $787 Billion dollar package sold to us at the start of this year, somehow is not having the impact we all hoped.  Likely it is just that, impatience, but here is another theory.

Obama says it is a two year plan, which we have not given it enough time.  Why a two year plan?  Is that so on the second year of his presidency the economy gets better, followed by even a better year the third, then it is reelection time.  Wonder if it could have been done quicker?