The Cost of Health Care: What will you Pay?
James DuganAs you have seen in the recent posts, health care is on the American conscience. It is becoming a topic to discuss at lunch with the ease of religion or politics. But today I had a good conversation that began: How much are you willing to pay for your health care?
This is what all the arguments in Washington and in the business boardrooms and at our tables boil down to. We do not ask Washington or our employers to pay our car insurance? Our life insurance policies benefits by our employers and Social Security are minimal at best. Most Americans do not ask for help with home, fire or flood insurance. And yet health care insurance is something we view differently. People have come up to me and ask me how much will universal insurance cost? My reply is how much are you paying now? There are no clear numbers but no one seems to know exactly what their whole cost of health care insurance is unless you are part of the 12% who pay out of pocket. Even more disturbing, no one really has a clear idea of the cost of the health care industry on the American public as it exists now. What we know is that it is expensive and we can not afford any more costs to our budget. We also know that any more taxes would shrink our budgets further.
Health in America is very expensive as you can see in Heath care Costs between Countries. America ranks highest in every category. Why is this? Is it the hospitals that are soaking the insurance industry and government? Is it the better safety measures that make up for the added costs? Why do drugs cost more here than anywhere else? If we will one day be responsible for our own health care costs, as the rising cost predicts, will Americans continue to pay more than twice as much for services as any other country? I am willing to contribute to my health care costs but they must be in line with other countries. We hear that our system can not sustain itself financially but if we are to pay, whether individually or by our government, we should demand the cost to come down.
For a more economic view of health care costs, How much does health care cost you? addresses how much each family household pays based on the amount of money the health care industry receives each year. The cost of 15,000 dollars a year per household and 7,500 per individual seems to be solid numbers. Now as the articles suggests:
“I’m talking here about the distribution of insurance premiums and the like. But we know that people with higher incomes bear more health costs. They have more generous insurance plans. They pay more out of pocket for various services. And they pay more taxes.”
So depending on how much you make, you will carry a heavier burden in this equation since our system has different health care plans and tax brackets. Are you willing to pay this money? This is what it cost this year, but based on the past the plans will continue to accrue in cost. The money breaks down to around 1300 a month for a household and 800 a month for an individual (this is not including parking fees or cafeteria food at the hospital). Can your budget take another mortgage payment? Not only am I not willing to pay 1300 or 800 a month, is it not feasible.
How much does it all cost? allows us to compare the health care and insurance impact on the economics of China versus America. The article addresses the 32% profit hospitals are getting from the liberal pricing for services and how the system will by 2015 cost over 25,000 per family. It also talks about the tremendous burden employers are taking on to insure their workers and how the costs grow each year for employer and employee. The whole series gives sound review of the hotly debated issue of health care in America. The information above calls for government oversight into this industry that will bankrupt this nation and its people, 46% of the people use government funded health care already, if we do not change something.
How much are you willing to pay for health care insurance? I guess I am willing to pay around 300 dollars a month for my family of four. It is about a car payment and it will help me sleep at night to know that they are protected if they get sick. I hope the insurance includes dental and vision and specialists for skin problems and emergency visits. The number is nothing like the real cost but this is what I think I could afford and is fair for my age and health. We need to get use to this bill because it is coming for all of us, like cable, electricity, and cell phone. The whole trick is getting America to think about their health care as much as their cable. Twenty years ago we didn’t pay for television either.
Reader Comments (1)
James, James... I noticed that your post was nothing but typical "Liberal" whining. What do you propose as an alternative? A public option perhaps? Ha! If the costs of health care are going up, that's just too bad! You can whine all you want, but we all know that the government should never try to regulate private enterprise. Thus I propose two "free market" solutions, keeping with both the spirit of the founders, and the vicissitudes of the times:
Given that we have a "free market" economy, I have a "free market solution." It's time to start selling our organs, and the organs of family members to pay the rising costs of living. We can offset rising healthcare costs (and at the same time we limit population growth) by encouraging families to harvest organs from family members who aren't pulling their economic weight. Let's say, for instance, that you can't pay rising tuition costs, and thus can't afford to put your kid through college. Why not turn a drain on your family into an economic asset? Harvest your child's organs instead. Sell them to hospitals, insurance companies - whoever will pay the highest price. Imagine if organs became publicly traded commodities! Imagine buying "livers" if you see a rise in alcoholism, or buying "hearts" on the commodities market if you see an increase in fatty food consumption! It would allow perceptive entrepreneurs to succeed in this socially darwinistic world. It would reward the smart, the clever. Thus America would be a meritocracy again!
If you look at my argument, you will be forced to admit that it is a "free market" solution, whereas the alternative is socialism, and thus morally repugnant and unacceptable. For instance, I would NEVER suggest that we adopt a single-payer system like Canada. For Christ's sake, that's socialism, and we all know that the founding fathers were entrepreneurs. They took economic advantage of the social conditions of the time, and as a result of their large slave plantations, were able to turn a tremendous profit. If reducing people to commodities to be bought and sold was acceptable then, why not return to the values of the founders? People are already commodities, but no one wants to admit it. Let's go the extra step and start harvesting organs.
But that's only one of my radically "free market" solutions. The other involves the establishment of Vonnegut-style suicide booths on every corner. Can't pay the rising cost of healthcare? Doomed to a slow and painful death from a disease that you can't afford to cure? Can't afford to operate on that tumor? No problem! Just go to your friendly neighborhood suicide booth! For those of you who are shocked, let me remind you that this is a "free market" solution, in that it would be a purely "private sector" enterprise. Thousands of entrepreneurs would jump at the chance to provide a needed service in this troubling time. It would create thousands of new jobs. Imagine all the workers who would be employed by removing the bodies of the suicide booth "customers." Imagine how the stock prices of suicide booth companies would soar! I mean damn, imagine the Dow after stock in publicly traded suicide booth companies became available during an economic recession...
Wow... I'm giving myself a raging capitalist erection just thinking about it, so I'll have to end here. If anyone has any further "free market" suggestions, I'd be happy to hear them. I invite anyone who disagrees with to move to communist China...